Based on the semi-autobiographical book by Armistead Maupin ([Tales of the City]), [The Night Listener] is a timely, understated thriller. Gabriel Noone is a writer agonizing over a recent break-up with his long-term lover. Working on a late night radio show reading short stories and wallowing in his misery, Gabriel becomes fascinated by the manuscript of a 14-year-old AIDS sufferer and abuse victim. When Pete, another teen relaying a similar story, contacts Gabriel, they begin a phone friendship that leads Gabriel`s frantic search for him. At a time when the publishing industry is reeling from recent scandals involving the veracity of bestsellers by James Frey and J. T. LeRoy, one of the film`s core themes is prescient and resonant.