Books with TG Characters:
Spooker & Cabal

By Elizabeth Parker

Welcome to the second mainstream book column. I had so much fun writing the first column, I’ve had to keep myself from inundating you with new books this month. But I need to save material for future columns!

Last month I started out on a positive note, with two books featuring transgender characters who are positive role models. As I noted, that characteristic is relatively rare in mainstream fiction. So this month we’ll look at two books with crossdressing villains.

The first book is "Spooker", by Dean Ing. It reads fast and as the action escalates, so do the disguises. I am also pleased to report that FTM aficionados will not go away disappointed.

The premise of the book is that undercover agents of all kinds keep a "spooker", a false identity kit, handy in case they need to disappear rapidly. The book starts by describing a male Russian agent who disappears and then reappears through the years in different identities. It turns out he is actually a woman who was born with too much testosterone in her system. The Russians train her to impersonate both sexes effectively. She then vanishes and starts stalking undercover agents all over the world to kill them and steal their money and false identities. As time passes she kidnaps a baby boy from a nursery to give her a good cover as a single mother. She raises the boy in her image to help in her work. He learns all about disguises and become quite good at them. He is very adept with female disguises and his personal spooker contains a female identity. Alas, these are the bad guys, and there are some distinctly unpleasant scenes described. But there are also some very good gender and disguise discussions. There is a particularly good seduction scene where an actress the young man is infatuated with catches him as a female, accepts him as a crossdresser, and offers to help him.

This book is a lot of fun as a thriller, spy story, and transgender book. It is still widely available in both hardback and paperback.


The next review contains a spoiler. Unfortunately it is not possible to tip you off to many good transgender reads without ruining some surprises. I will do my best to warn you ahead of time.

Arelio Zen is an Italian police detective in the city of Rome with an unusual flaw in police fiction, at least for a hero. He is a corrupt cop. He is quite pragmatic and intelligent, but his efforts are oriented toward surviving in a very political environment. In this book, a suspect another detective has been trailing is killed, apparently in an accidental fall. The only bystander is an elegantly dressed woman. As Zen investigates, he is asked to fix the investigation. Thinking to set up his fellow detective, he discovers him dead in his apartment. The detective remembers spotting a young woman leaving the building ahead of his arrival. Later on, Zen travels to Milan by train and meets a magistrate enroute. During the meeting, an enticing blonde in a tight skirt and sweater walks through the train car, trailing perfume and drawing all eyes. After the meeting, the train goes through a tunnel, the lights go off, and when they are turned on again, the magistrate has disappeared. Zen searches only to find the man has been thrown off the train. The only person near was the blonde woman. As Zen narrows in on his suspect, he begins to suspect the truth, that the woman is a special kind of killer.

The book is "Cabal", by Michael Dibdin. It is enjoyable as a transgender read, and keeps your interest up enough in other areas to make for a pleasant reading experience. This book is out of print, but I've had no problems finding it in my local library.


Your tips are appreciated! Keep them coming at 72117.571@compuserve.com.

Next month we'll look at some teen fiction which contains cross-gender fun.

Bibliography

Ing, Dean, "Spooker", Forge, November 1995, ISBN: 0312857403 (Hardback)

Ing, Dean, "Spooker", Tor, January 1997, ISBN: 0812548426 (Paperback)

Dibdin, Michael, "Cabal/an Arelio Zen Mystery", Doubleday, March 1993, ISBN: 0385468067 (Hardback)

Dibdin, Michael, "Cabal", Bantam Books, October 1994, ISBN: 0553561731 (Paperback)