Thomas Mallon is renowned for writing enthralling historical fiction, and his latest book “Up With the Sun” is no exception. The novel’s story is based on the real-life gay actor Dick Kallman, who was born in 1933 and murdered, along with his partner Steven, in 1980. Kallman appeared on Broadway in 1951 and was a guest star on a few TV shows, but he never became a big success. Much of “Up With the Sun” is about Kallman’s career in the second or third tier of showbiz. It is a story of Kallman’s ambitions, yearnings, and lusts and obsessions, including his desire for Kenneth Nelson, who stars in “Seventeen.”
Kallman is described as one of the creepiest characters ever brought to the page. He is so phony and such a social climber that he’s described as being “aggressively ingratiating.” In alternating chapters, Matt Liannetto, a pianist who worked with Kallman in “Seventeen,” narrates the novel. Matt is as sweet and endearing as Kallman is off-putting and slimy.
Through his authorial sleight of hand, Mallon makes you care about not only kindhearted Matt and his love interest, Devin, but also self-serving Kallman. Mallon’s writing immerses the reader in the smells, tastes, sights, sounds, language, and characters (real-life and fictional) of the 1950s through 1981.
Mallon makes history as entertaining as a bodice-ripper, intriguing as a mystery, and by turns as comic and/or poignant as the best literary fiction set in the present. His writing is as beautiful as the most gorgeous stage sets, yet there’s nothing safe or emptily nostalgic about his rendering of the past.
The novel is a captivating read that draws you in and makes you care about its characters. Mallon has crafted an engaging story that offers insight into the struggles of gay actors in the entertainment industry.