Last time I saw Russel Middlebrook he was at school, hanging out with his friends in the so-called Geography Club and meeting local freegans. Time moves on, and in this New Adult book he's now twenty-three, a young gay man in Seattle. THE THING I DIDN'T KNOW I DIDN'T KNOW is - wait, we'll get to that.

Gunnar the geek foreseeably made loadsadosh from some app he developed, so he gives Russel and Min, who is studying for her PhD, cheap rent on the houseboat he bought. Compared to these two powerhouses, Russel isn't doing much of anything. He got through college and found himself in a more gay-friendly world, but work is bland and he has occasional hookups he's embarrassed to mention to his friends. One of Russel's jobs is lifeguard on an urban lake, and another is serving in a small bakery. He's at the bakery one day when he spots Kevin, his first high-school love affair. They broke it off when Kevin went away to college. Should Russel try to meet him again, and if so, would Kevin even be interested in someone who is going nowhere?

There's strong language, adult activity and a discussion of anti-HIV drugs, which some gay men take to stop themselves contracting the virus. Balancing this we get an expedition to chase Gunnar's latest Bigfoot craze, with campfires in the wilderness. Seattle sounds like a great place to live, with a high-tech campus and houseboats on the lake, but unspoilt forest a few hours' drive away where Bigfoot might yet lurk. Russel does something awesome and surprisingly, he doesn't tell his parents until late in the tale. Our reluctant hero also spends just as much time analysing what he thinks, what other people think of him, and how it's different from what he used to think. So we can see that he hasn't matured beyond his self-absorption. Min has her own problems, showing that being bi isn't easy, while Gunnar the straight guy doesn't even look for relationships. The world of dating is changing fast.

Anyone who has been following Brent Hartinger's story of the Geography Club kids will want to know the latest, though I didn't find it as funny as the earlier part of the Russel Middlebrook series. Enjoy the Seattle setting of THE THING I DIDN'T KNOW I DIDN'T KNOW, because the next book in the adventure will be set further south.