If being raised by a bitter, closet alcoholic, single mother isn’t difficult enough, Tristan Tolken also had to deal with growing up gay in a Mormon community in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Mormons don’t accept homosexuality at all, which made his life even harder.

When Tristan reaches college age he flees to Santa Barbara University in California. At least there he isn’t tormented by others.  Tristan is comfortable being invisible while he pursues an art degree.  He has learned to function by masturbating and touching himself as often as possible, fantasizing about another student, the gorgeous Collin Stanley.

Tristan is struck speechless when circumstance makes his fantasy man his roommate.  No longer will Tristan have the privacy to masturbate for hours on end. Plus, it turns out that Collin is a prodigy, a psychology major and he’s figured out Tristan’s constant need to comfort himself.  Tristan looks up to Collin, idolizes him in fact, so when Collin insists he can help Tristan control his urges, he’s willing to try.  What happens in the next weeks not only puts their budding relationship to the test, but threatens to destroy Tristan once and for all.

At times a psychological drama, The Obsession is a complex, occasionally disturbing love story.  It feels almost like voyeurism at times, watching a tortured soul trying so hard to carve out a life for himself.  There is quite a lot of self gratification and a learning curve for the gay, virgin college student.  Tristan manages to rise above the ‘creepy’ level only just in the beginning and as readers learn more about his background his actions are easier to understand.  For the most part Collin is an enigma, he’s usually good for Tristan, but there are times when his motivations are completely unclear.  The Obsession almost made me think of a non-fatal car crash. You know you shouldn’t look, yet you can’t help yourself.  I found this story to be difficult to read, except I had to know what happened to this character, I had to know what Tristan’s future looked like.  The Obsession is dark and disturbing at times, yet, mesmerizing in the quest for love.