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tricia03053's review
5.0
I really don't enjoy most BDSM stories, but that element was embedded in a well-written murder mystery. BDSM is an integral, but doesn't swamp the story. The relationship between Sean and Roger was interesting, showing both flawed in their own way, and eventually both are stronger for it. Best of all, the murderer was a surprise.
roses_rose's review
4.0
I really didnt expect to like the book but i quite enjoyed it even if the whole dead body was freaky and loved Roger even though he seemed cold.
akjd77's review
2.0
This was an okay book. I wanted to like it more but the main characters were kind of annoying and not fleshed out enough for me to care about them. I was surprised at who the killer was and would have liked to have had more explanation as to why they did what they did.
suze_1624's review
4.0
An intriguing start to a story - a mummified body in the house of an LA detective.
Roger, the detective, is quite a gruff character and I didn't really warm to him much. The story telling at first seems quite choppy so I had to be on my toes. The murder mystery element was good, kept me guessing until quite near the end. The murders were gruesome and there were many links to Roger's past. I'd have liked more development of the working relationship between Roger and Mary Anne, seemed like a good duo to spark off each other.
Roger's almost OCD both at work and home allowed elements of humour to come through.
I felt that Roger and Sean's relationship seemed to spiral up very quickly, though Sean is a persisient visitor. also Roger was very abrupt with Sean considering his lack of experience of everything.
Overall though, enjoyed and it certainly kept me interested. 3.75*
29.3.21 reread - Whilst I did remember the murderer at about 50% it did not stop me enjoying this again. Roger is big and gruff and Sean will eventually break through but also keep him on his toes.
Roger, the detective, is quite a gruff character and I didn't really warm to him much. The story telling at first seems quite choppy so I had to be on my toes. The murder mystery element was good, kept me guessing until quite near the end. The murders were gruesome and there were many links to Roger's past. I'd have liked more development of the working relationship between Roger and Mary Anne, seemed like a good duo to spark off each other.
Roger's almost OCD both at work and home allowed elements of humour to come through.
I felt that Roger and Sean's relationship seemed to spiral up very quickly, though Sean is a persisient visitor. also Roger was very abrupt with Sean considering his lack of experience of everything.
Overall though, enjoyed and it certainly kept me interested. 3.75*
29.3.21 reread - Whilst I did remember the murderer at about 50% it did not stop me enjoying this again. Roger is big and gruff and Sean will eventually break through but also keep him on his toes.
scarlett_r_90's review
4.0
I liked it a lot. but I think it would have been better if it had been stretched out more into a longer book. The attachment between Roger and Sean seemed to progress in sudden jerks from point to point rather than seamlessly growing closer. Having said that, I liked the story a lot, especially the way there was a realistic look at BDSM and the leather world, and how it is often seen by others, especially the legality of it. I also liked how Sean didn't immediately get over what happened and it required time and someone to help; but again I would have liked to see it in more detail, rather than an unexpected jump forward in time.
kaje_harper's review
5.0
4.5 stars. This is written in very spare prose, with the emotion delivered between the lines. I think it will have a variable reception, based on whether you feel that connection being made, or not. The setting seems a bit ambiguous, but with the MC having been a very young Dom in 1983, it has the feel of very late 90's or early 2000's (one remark suggests 2008, but it seems a bit older than that). Because the mystery involves old, cold cases, there is a lot of backward-glancing in this, to the 80s and 90s. The reader is pulled back to Detective Roger Corso's memories, mingled nostalgia and pain, experiencing his first exposure to leather and BDSM clubs, and a sea-change in gay culture as AIDS ripped its way through the population, while the world at the same time became more open and accepting.
Roger Corso is an interesting MC, a police detective who is quietly out to his partner and department about being gay, but firmly closeted about his BDSM lifestyle, with its inevitable illegality. He's cool, controlled, a bit OCD and unemotional, although you get the feeling that there is emotion, just locked away since the slow death from liver failure of his partner, Patrick, four years earlier. He has an old friend who will sub for him when he wants a scene, and sometimes share his bed outside the scene. He's reasonably content, until a body in his own living room opens up cases of murdered, cross-dressing, young subs linked inexorably to his past and the men he once knew.
When the brother of the first victim arrives, Roger is primarily irritated by Sean's obtrusive presence. But fairly quickly, other feelings supplant his annoyance...
The mystery is a good one, although the "he's crazy" type of perpetrator is not my favorite. (Since the first body was mummified and embalmed, this was inherent from the start, not a surprise.) There were times when the plot seemed to be force-fit around the scenes the author wanted, rather than really holding a coherent shape. But I was pulled in enough not to care.
The relationship with Roger's partner Mary Anne was great, and I adored her as a character. The MCs' love was a bit fast and hot, and so was, IMO, Sean's progression but it was a compelling ride. Where the book lost points for me was at the end, in the denouement after the climax. There was a wonderful scene where Roger seeks advice for some of their lingering issues from an old friend. But still, the consequences for both Roger and Sean, and the complications of their relationship in the wake of the climactic action, got a bit of a short shrift. I wanted to see the immediate aftermath and some of the work to get them past it on the page. Still, well worth a read if you like mystery, BDSM, and the leather culture of the late twentieth century.
Roger Corso is an interesting MC, a police detective who is quietly out to his partner and department about being gay, but firmly closeted about his BDSM lifestyle, with its inevitable illegality. He's cool, controlled, a bit OCD and unemotional, although you get the feeling that there is emotion, just locked away since the slow death from liver failure of his partner, Patrick, four years earlier. He has an old friend who will sub for him when he wants a scene, and sometimes share his bed outside the scene. He's reasonably content, until a body in his own living room opens up cases of murdered, cross-dressing, young subs linked inexorably to his past and the men he once knew.
When the brother of the first victim arrives, Roger is primarily irritated by Sean's obtrusive presence. But fairly quickly, other feelings supplant his annoyance...
The mystery is a good one, although the "he's crazy" type of perpetrator is not my favorite. (Since the first body was mummified and embalmed, this was inherent from the start, not a surprise.) There were times when the plot seemed to be force-fit around the scenes the author wanted, rather than really holding a coherent shape. But I was pulled in enough not to care.
The relationship with Roger's partner Mary Anne was great, and I adored her as a character. The MCs' love was a bit fast and hot, and so was, IMO, Sean's progression
Spoiler
into becoming a sub and one who liked a fair bit of painscarlett__r90's review
4.0
I liked it a lot. but I think it would have been better if it had been stretched out more into a longer book. The attachment between Roger and Sean seemed to progress in sudden jerks from point to point rather than seamlessly growing closer. Having said that, I liked the story a lot, especially the way there was a realistic look at BDSM and the leather world, and how it is often seen by others, especially the legality of it. I also liked how Sean didn't immediately get over what happened and it required time and someone to help; but again I would have liked to see it in more detail, rather than an unexpected jump forward in time.