The Cross Of Sins

Professional Reviews

In Geoffrey Knight's erotic, adventure novel, you'll find not one, but five, gay action heroes. Thrills and spills guaranteed. ?Tina Turner once sang: "We don't need another hero." She was wrong. Dead wrong! We need all the gay heroes we can find. And found one I did. Well, five actually: Luca, model and art expert; Eden, Brazilian biologist; Shane, Texas cowboy; Will, ancient history major; and Jake, adventurer. They make up Professor Fathom's five gay heroes who are nothing at all like Enid Blyton's Famous Five. These guys are hot. And fuck. Other hot guys.??Geoffrey Knight's Fathom's Five: The Cross of Sins (STARbooks Press) is a page-turning romp: a hard-core sex outer shell with a mystery thriller centre concerning a sacrilegious statue, The Naked Christ, which a secret sect of the church is attempting to destroy. Enter our heroes. And enter Sydneysider, Geoffrey Knight, who is taking on the big names of gay erotic adventure fiction and surpassing them.

"I've been writing stories since I was a kid," Geoff tells SX.

"I grew up on too much Aquaman in comics, too much Indiana Jones at the movies, too many Clive Cussler adventure novels and far too much Flash Gordon aka Sam Jones posing nude for Playgirl."

A pile of rejection letters "as thick as the white pages!" for his heterosexual action thrillers a decade ago convinced him to write the kind of novel that he wanted to read.

"There's really nothing out there that ticks all the boxes for a gay man who loves action fiction. So I decided to tick the boxes myself: it had to have lots of hot gay guys in it; it had to have lots of edge-of-your-seat action; and it had to have man-on-man sex to keep it moving. But above all, it had to have characters that I cared about and a plot that made sense. I wanted to write the kind of mass market action novel that Clive Cussler and Matthew Reilly write, only my characters just happen to be gay."

But is the world ready for not one, but five hot and horny gay adventurers?

"God I hope so! We gay men have been reading and watching the adventures of James Bond and Indiana Jones and Dirk Pitt all our lives; I think the adventures of five gorgeous gay heroes is long overdue!! Why should heterosexual men have all the fun with their over-the-top, page-turning action novels? This book is for gay men and bisexual men everywhere, guys who love a boys' own adventure, but instead of a busty blonde female being the object of desire, my heroes always get their man in the end!"

Considering the author's nationality, it's odd there is no Aussie hero. To make amends an Aussie will join the group in a future adventure. "His name is Travis, he's a jackaroo and a pilot in the outback, he's young and he's HOT! (This is one farmer who doesn't want a wife!)"

Geoffrey is already well into the sequels. "The Fathom's Five team is established now, and in the next novel, The Riddle of the Sands, it's straight to Egypt for a mystery adventure filled with secret tombs, ancient traps and maybe a steamy scene or two in a Cairo bathhouse. The action is faster, the villains are more evil, and the boys have to save one of their own by finding a secret, legendary pyramid consumed by the desert thousands of years ago. After that, we're taking the high road to China for The Eye of the Dragon."? Fathom's Five: The Cross of Sins is recommended for big boys who like their adventure gay and with lots of sweaty mansex. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Excerpt

Will and Jake followed Perron’s instructions to the letter: downstairs; through the courtyard; across the vast antechamber; down the marble staircase where, only two minutes earlier, Eric Landon had knocked Shane unconscious and carried him away; through the narrow corridor and into the antique weapons room where they would find a furnace that would open up to reveal the vault.

Only the furnace doors were already open.

And inside, Eden lay motionless, Jacques was bleeding and uncon- scious, and the chamber was flooding fast.

“Holy shit!” Will exclaimed before leaping through the furnace doors, down the steps and crashing into the water.

Jake wanted to stop him, but he knew this was no time for caution and bolted after him.

They reached Eden first, the water level already covering his face completely.

Will held his head up and rested it in his lap. Jake felt for a pulse. “He’s not breathing!” He looked around quickly, part of him scanning for trouble, part of him looking for somewhere drier to lay Eden. He saw an old stone altar. “We gotta lift him.”

Will took Eden’s shoulders, Jake took his feet, and together they hoisted him swiftly up onto the altar. Jake immediately tilted Eden’s head back, pinched his nose and clasped his lips firmly over Eden’s. He began pushing air into him, breathing hard into his mouth, filling his lungs.

He stopped and gripped his hands Eden’s ribcage and began to pump, counting under his breath.

He gave him the kiss of life once more. Breathing into him. Holding his face in his hands. Tasting his lips.

Feeling nothing back, until—

—Eden suddenly gasped and splashed up a lungful of water. His eyes shot open, and the first thing he saw were Jake’s piercing green eyes, staring down at him. Smiling down at him. “Welcome back,” Jake whispered to him, an unexpected tear of relief gathering in his eye. Eden sucked in the air. “Jake,” he breathed, startled and happy, then alarmed. “Jacques!”

“I got him,” Will shouted, dropping to Jacques’ side. The Frenchman was still propped up against the wall, unconscious, the water rising quickly up his chest.

Jake went back into control mode. “Get him up,” he told Will.

“He’s been shot,” Will shouted, lifting the soaked shirt off Jacques’ stomach and sizing up the wound.

“I don’t care,” Jake replied. “We gotta get everyone outta here now before the water gets any higher.”

“Where the hell’s it coming from?” Will asked.

“My guess is the Grand Canal.” Jake turned to Eden. “Can you walk?”

Eden nodded. “I think my arm is broken, but I’m okay. It’s him I’m worried about.” He was gesturing toward Jacques. “We’ve got to get him to a hospital now.”

“We will,” Jake said, easing Eden off the altar at the same time that Will put Jacques’ arm around his shoulder and lifted him up. That’s when they all heard it—

Clang!

Jake, Eden and Will looked up at the same moment to see the cast- iron furnace doors slam shut. The next sound they heard was the latch on the outside locking.

Then, from the other side of the furnace doors came the distinct sound of Dominic Dixon’s insidious laugh.