Ray Filar: Choke book review – A killer romance
This queer sex-work thriller promises radical politics but falls back on predictable tropes
For Leila, the flashy lifestyle of sex work outweighs its more grotesque and demeaning downsides. As an optimistic newbie, she insists that being a hooker isn’t as anti-feminist as some theorists suggest. It’s this youthful spirit that attracts Silvia, whose decade in the business has left her jaded and bitter. As their lesbian affair deepens, so does their desire to reclaim control from the men who violate them, eventually embarking on a brutal murder spree and falling deeper in love through their shared, twisted fantasy.
Vulnerable, action-packed and unabashedly filthy, Ray Filar’s debut novel is a playful queer romance. However, the book as a whole struggles to escape overdone romantic tropes between a fresh-faced rookie and a brooding veteran, making for a disappointingly predictable story, whose twists could be summed up in the blurb.
The promise of a radical edge, bolstered by references to feminist theory and infamous court cases, falls flat when put in the hands of underdeveloped characters, whose background and motivations remain frustratingly obscure. Their unimaginative murder plot seems to serve more as foreplay than a liberating escapade.
Instead, Choke conflates feminism with man-hating, a quirky personality trait that positions murder as a sexy rebellion. But it fails to interrogate the power structures it aims to challenge. By reducing the feminist movement to a risqué personal revenge plot, Filar risks romanticising the subjects they aim to empower. While the premise of a sexy, political queer novel is promising, the execution leaves something to be desired.
Choke is published by Cipher Press on Thursday 22 October.