Every Breath You Take

By Robert Winter

When Zachary Hall leaves Utah for a job in Washington, it’s finally his chance to live as a gay man and maybe find someone special. In a bar he meets Thomas Scarborough, a man who seems perfect in and out of the bedroom. But Thomas never dates. He never even sleeps with the same man twice. Despite their instant connection, he can offer Zachary only his friendship, and Zachary is looking for more. 

Thomas is tempted to break his own rules, but years before, he became the victim of a stalker who nearly destroyed his life. Even though his stalker died, Thomas obsessively keeps others at a distance. Despite his fascination with Zachary, he is unable to lower his barriers. Frustrated, Zachary accepts he will never have what he wants with Thomas and soon finds it with another man. 

But young gay men in Washington, DC, are being murdered, and the victims all have a connection to Thomas. Once again someone is watching Thomas’s every move. Can it be a coincidence? When the depraved killer turns his attention toward Zachary, Thomas must face the demons of his past—or lose his chance to open his heart to Zachary forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: May 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635334968

Robert Winter

Robert Winter is Professor of Music at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is author of Music for Our Time (1992) and co-author of The Beethoven Sketchbooks (California, 1985). Robert Martin is Assistant Dean of Humanities and Adjunct Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Reviews for Every Breath You Take

[serenayates · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A new job, moving to a new town, and meeting new people can be great catalysts for changes in someone’s life. When Zachary, who finally wants to live openly as a gay man, arrives in Washington, DC, he is full of hope. But the man he meets and is very interested in, Thomas, has a dark past and is extremely commitment-phobic. As it turns out, Thomas has excellent reasons for being careful, and when his past returns to haunt him, things get really scary really fast. I should have taken the prologue more seriously – it really is a good indication of the level of creepiness of this novel’s central theme.

Zachary is determined to find a man to share his life with. He isn’t out to his conservative parents back in Utah, and he is fairly naïve, but that doesn’t stop him from exploring the gay scene in his new hometown. His attraction to Thomas is immediate and intense, but when it becomes clear that Thomas is unable to be the man Zachary needs him to be, Zachary turns elsewhere. Yet he and Thomas keep running into each other, then the murders and the investigation push them together, and Zachary discovers that things are not as they seem. It’s a good thing there is a core of strength underneath his sweet exterior – he needs it all to get through the mess that follows!

Thomas is not one to let others close. He has erected very high, solid barriers around his heart and follows strict rules about hookups (once only) and relationships (none). Even though Zachary tempts him, Thomas can’t get himself to change a set of behaviors that have kept him alive and safe – at least in his own mind. For him, being linked to the murders of young gay men in any way is a horrific experience. Seeing Zachary in danger from a stalker is motivation enough for Thomas to reconsider his principles, but deciding to change and actually doing it are two very different things.

The “depraved killer” – as he is described in the blurb – is a despicable excuse for a human being. It was as interesting as it was horrifying to find his point of view interspersed throughout the story. The methodical thoroughness with which the murderer follows his future victims and the intelligent way in which he sets things up makes him a sociopath of the first order. Very well done!

If you like suspenseful mysteries cleverly woven into your romance, if you think that two men who come from very different worlds might be a good match, and if you’re looking for a read that is intense, scary, and nail-bitingly fascinating, then you will probably like this novel.