The Rope Above, the Bed Below

By Jason Fury

When The Rope Above, the Bed Below first appeared in 1994, Jason Fury's memoirs of a wild, sexually free Manhattan of 1980 before the AIDS epidemic became an overnight bestseller--first in America, and then around the world. Although beset with censorship problems, critics and fans quickly hailed the novel for its "feverish writing," its breathless plot of a mad killer stalking New York's male strippers, and its hypnotic remembrance of a sex-filled world now vanished. Fury's memoir is recognized today as a parable of the "Plague Years" that soon swept the world.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1504030001
• ISBN13: 9781504030007
• Release Date: May 2016
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media LLC
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Terrifying! Haunting!

This is a breathless suspense novel that has a lot more going for it than just a series of killings of blonde male strippers. It's New York in l980, on the eve of the AIDS epidemic. Jason Fury sets his tale against a rainy, cold, dark city, amidst a hypnotic evocation of the wild, gay life back then, especially within the gay strip joints. A powerful ending with the disturbing line from John Donne that begins the book: "I runne to Death and Death meets me as fast and all my troubles are like yesterday." A real classic. I read the re-issued version.

Haunting classic!

I've been hearing about this book for several years now. I finally got me a copy and was entranced. Fury weaves a haunting, brilliant tale of a serial killer whose butchering blonde, male strippers--like the hero of the book. Based on fact, the story is written at a feverish pace, with little let-up. Fury brilliantly evokes a vanished era, of live sex shows on 42nd Street, the pre-condom gay flicks just emerging. The author has stated that there were many editorial cuts due to the censorship of that time and he feels the edits watered down the power. Not so. A darkly, haunting classic that you should have next to "Eric's Body" by same author.