By making [the hero of Numbers] an Adonis, Rechy attempts to show that whatever his outward appearance, the homosexual is basically a person who is unsure of himself, a person constantly in search of acceptance. He continually relives the initial crisis, the trauma of parental rejection…. The homosexual, the "cruiser," is an eternal Morgan in search of his Pemberton. The monotony of Rechy's novel, which might be considered a technical defect, marvelously evokes the obsessive nature, the emptiness, of such contacts, and the cruiser's monomania. For the cruiser, cruising is not only a favorite pastime but a vital activity. He has the impression that he does not exist unless he can attract a partner: "The first one today! Johnny thinks. I'm alive!" And this thought makes us aware that the search for a partner is an act of survival, and that nothing can appease it, neither finding an...