Behind the Candelabra

In 1977, the 18-year-old Thorson became ``lover, friend and confidant'' of the 57-year-old Liberace, a relationship that would continue until 1982. Here, with Thorleifson (coauthor of John Wayne) he relates the sorry, seamy tale of his ``callous'' eviction from the performer's Las Vegas penthouse in favor of a teenager and the public brouhaha that followed when he filed a palimony suit. The book is uncomfortably candid with revelations about ``Lee''who was driven to experience sexual variety with younger males, even as he continued to publicly deny his homosexualityand Thorson's protestations that he was unfairly branded a street hustler by the tabloid press. Although the acrimonious suit was ultimately settled (the provisions were kept secret), Thorson notes that he has written this memoir because ``I need the money.'' His bitterness at Liberace, who died of AIDS in 1987, lessens at the end of the book, and with back-handed gratitude he concludes: ``Leaving Lee . . . may have saved my life.'' Photos. (June)