Just when we thought we had enough of Bob Paris, he makes a comeback. For years the openly gay bodybuilder submerged his own identity as one half of "Rod and Bob" Jackson-Paris, America's most overly-exposed (in every sense of the word) gay couple.

Bob and Rod declared their undying love for each other in a memoir (Straight for the Heart) and in two volumes of nude photography by Tom Bianchi and Herb Ritts, respectively. The Jackson-Paris even started the "Be True to Yourself Foundation" to help young gay people become more like, well, Rod and Bob.

As we all know, the "perfect couple" began to unravel even as their memoir and photo books climbed the best-selling lists. Poor Bob was written off as a has-been at best or a fraud at worst, and his real accomplishments as a professional bodybuilder were dismissed. So was his decision to be an openly gay bodybuilder, a courageous stand in a profession that seeks to maintain an aura of militant heterosexuality.

Bob Paris tried to overcome this handicap and set the record straight (so to speak) by (re)telling the story of his life. The result is Gorilla Suit: My Adventures in Bodybuilding, a surprisingly frank memoir that is head and shoulders above Straight from the Heart.

There are a lot of surprises in Gorilla Suit, not the least of which is the fact that Paris wrote the book himself, without a collaborator or a "ghost". An equally pleasant surprise is the discovery that the owner of such a magnificent body also possesses a mind and a heart. Not surprisingly (but regrettably), there is little in Gorilla Suit about the author's relationship with Rod Jackson. Either Paris figured that he already wrote about it in Straight from the Heart, or else he felt the whole affair was too painful to recall.

So Gorilla Suit deals with Bob Paris's life before and after Rod Jackson. The narrative goes back and forth between two phases in Paris's life, from the young struggling bodybuilder trying to climb the ladder of his profession to the former champ seeking to make a comeback.

Since a rising sun is always more interesting than a setting sun, the story of Paris's rise to the bodybuilding summit is the part of the book that the reader will enjoy the most. But the reader will sympathize with the older Paris who's trying to return to the world of professional bodybuilding at the ripe old age of thirty-five, only to realize that the cards are stacked against him.

Half the world is into bodybuilding these days, but when Paris (born 1959) was growing up in Indiana in the 60's, the sport was limited to a few eccentrics and the stars of gladiator movies. To Robert Clark Paris -- that's his real name, believe or not -- bodybuilding was a way for him to build his self-esteem and escape from his dysfunctional family.

By the time 19-year old Paris reached the bodybuilding Mecca of Southern California (1979), he was already seriously involved in a profession that was to make him, in steady succession, Mr. Los Angeles, Mr. Southern California, "Mr. America" (actually the National Physique Committee's National Championship) and, in 1983, Mr. Universe.

In Gorilla Suit Paris exposes the cutthroat world of professional bodybuilding. The sports's excessive use of steroids, which Paris admits he used in his aspiring youth, is now common knowledge.

Not so well-known is the power that muscle moguls Joe and Ben Weider hold over the entire bodybuilding profession. As publishers of muscle magazines, producers of vitamin supplements, training equipment and fitness clothing and, in the case of Ben, head of the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB), the Brothers Weider have a near-monopoly on the business of professional bodybuilding. The Weiders can turn an aspiring boy into a superstar, but only if he plays by the rules - their rules.

Bodybuilding has always had a tinge of lavender, a "stigma" that the Weiders have done their best to erase. Though the sport has had its share of gay title holders, they were expected to remain in the closet while posing with bathing beauties for Joe's muscle mags.

Paris's decision to come out of the closet, one of the positive results of his relationship with Rod Jackson, made him a traitor in the eyes of the vengeful Weiders. Even worse was Paris's call for random drug testing, which exposed to the world the profession's dirty little secret. Needless to say, Paris's bodybuilding career was soon a thing of the past.

It comes as no surprise that Paris's attempt to comeback as a bodybuilder is less than successful. Though Paris does his best to ingratiate himself with Joe Weider, the magnate naturally keeps him at arm's length. Perhaps it's just as well that Paris "retired" from bodybuilding when he did; his perfectly proportioned body would not fit well among the grotesqueries that currently dominate the sport. Paris has other fields that he can excel in, certainly as a gay role model and, after Gorilla Suit, as an author. We expect more and better things from this champion, having removed his "gorilla suit".