This book seemed to become a victim of its own exhaustive and extensive research. Getting to know more about the murdered men was a great approach, but ultimately, for me, bogged the book down so much. For example, one worked in typesetting, so we got several paragraphs discussing typesetting trends of the time. I don't want to gloss over the hisotrical importance of a book that has conveyed an important topic so thoroughly, but in my opinion this book was primarily about what it was like for closeted, professional gay men of the 70s and 80s, with a subplot about some murders. And I don't really get the subtitle; we know the guys went to bars to be themselves and pick up on other guys, but there is not really much love or lust in this book.