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ariadna's review
3.0
Roger is a detective in the LAPD. Although he's out as a gay man, he's chosen to keep his involvement in the leather culture as quiet as he possibly can.
He gets home from work one night only to find a mummified corpse, holding BDSM toys, in his living room. More annoyed than frightened, Roger and Mary Anne, his partner, become part of the team investigating the gruesome discovery. Eventually, they end up delving into a string of crimes centered around gay men who are into BDSM. Just like Roger...
I'd bought this book when it was first published (2008) but didn't get around to reading it until just now. It falls heavily into an M/M mystery rather than a romance (even though Roger has a relationship with someone who is involved in the investigation).
What I liked
+ Roger is a v. fascinating character. He's meticulous and extremely particular about how he wants everything in his life to "be". This proclivity for control extends to all aspects of his life including the bedroom. Although he's not exactly why I'd call a people person, Roger is friendly in his own way.
I do wish we'd had known a little bit more about his background. It was also interesting that he never talks about his blood family. Perhaps the vagueness is meant to indicate that his coming out went rather poorly. Another interpretation is that he then created a family of choice made of his friends in the kink community.
+ Mary Anne was THE BEST! I was so happy to see a female character who was assertive yet funny. The author did a wonderful job of showing her partnership with Roger and why they worked so well together. I also liked that she wasn't pushed "off the page" when the suspense began to grow. She was a delight and my absolute favourite character in the whole book.
+ 80% or so of the mystery was good. I kept changing my guess as to the villain's identity because the crimes were intricate. It was great seeing Roger and Mary Anne focusing on trying to figure out patterns and establishing motives. We also got to see the unpredictability of working as a detective: Roger getting calls at all times in the day, staying up for 48 hours attempting to crack the case, doing logic leaps that actually made sense.
What I didn't like
- That said, the reveal as to the culprit was rather sudden. I did an actual!double-take when the villain stepped into the spotlight. That randomness plus a somewhat long scene where the villain tortures a victim weakened the mystery aspect.
I know I wasn't the only one who went "PETER?" when he got unmasked. Though, FTR, my suspicions lay rather strongly with Sean. *hands*
- I don't know what the protocol would be for an investigator becoming part of the team set to resolve the mystery. My instincts tell me that said person wouldn't be? So I had to handwave Roger looking into the crime perpetrated against him. I might be wrong, but still...
- Sean. Hmm...
The first thing that frustrated me was that he's 30 years old but totes behaved like someone who's 19-20. I'm thinking we're meant to assume that some of his immaturity was due tothe fact that he was a virgin? At least, that's how I understood the scene after he and Roger have penetrative sex for the first time. YMMV.
His actions (especially at the beginning of the book) were tremendously weird. Why would a person of interest go around shadowing detectives and interrogating suspects on their own? In real life, such a person would be immediately put on the list of suspects since that type of behaviour could be interpreted as shady by any policeman worth their salt.
- Sean and Roger's relationship.
Maybe as a result of Roger keeping the narrative at arms' length (seriously, the tone is a tad mater of fact), I had a really hard time buying their attraction. Sean's kind of brattiness was rooted in some deep insecurities. I failed to see why Roger found him so appealing. Aside from the fact that he would now be able to mold Sean's talent as a sub because Sean was a total noobie at BDSM.
The most unrealistic part was how fast their relationship moved.Putting aside that Sean's related to the corpse found in Roger's house AND that Roger's investigating that crime AND that Sean played "amateur detective hour", WHY WOULD ROGER BE OK WITH MOVING SEAN INTO MARY ANNE'S HOUSE FIRST AND THEN HIS OWN AFTER LESS THAN A MONTH OF KNOWING SEAN?
WHO DOES THAT?
And then, they end up saying "I Love You" shortly after. I mean, damn, guys, maybe you want to slow it down a little?
The sex scenes were pretty good in spite of all that.
- The book was published in 2008 and we know that Roger was born in 1965 (he tells us that he was 18 in 1983. Math). But, even after reading it, I'm not exactly sure WHEN the story took place.
Based on mentions of the internet, Blackberry phones, and (in one instance) Bluetooth, I'm guesstimating that this story happened between 2001 - 2008?
My confusion is due to the fact that the story reads as something that happened in the very early 1990s. Added to that is the overall theme of nostalgia that Roger carries within himself. There are several scenes in which he talks about the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and the consequences of those dark times, all the men in Jay's albums who are dead, Roger's former boyfriend (Patrick) who had died five years before the book began.
Front and center is Roger thinking about all of that in between searching for clues and teaching Sean the ABCs of D/s. So the book ends up with a strange old school vibe that tips your attention this way and that. It's not a terrible thing, but it does strikes me as odd that, even though I can't quite place this book, that vibe is strong enough to leave its mark.
TL;DR: M/M mystery with some BDSM elements. Although the mystery kinda felt apart at the last 15% or so of the novel, I actually liked it. Yes, there were some things that I squinted at (and I still feel that the romance was way rushed), but it wasn't a bad read.
He gets home from work one night only to find a mummified corpse, holding BDSM toys, in his living room. More annoyed than frightened, Roger and Mary Anne, his partner, become part of the team investigating the gruesome discovery. Eventually, they end up delving into a string of crimes centered around gay men who are into BDSM. Just like Roger...
I'd bought this book when it was first published (2008) but didn't get around to reading it until just now. It falls heavily into an M/M mystery rather than a romance (even though Roger has a relationship with someone who is involved in the investigation).
What I liked
+ Roger is a v. fascinating character. He's meticulous and extremely particular about how he wants everything in his life to "be". This proclivity for control extends to all aspects of his life including the bedroom. Although he's not exactly why I'd call a people person, Roger is friendly in his own way.
I do wish we'd had known a little bit more about his background. It was also interesting that he never talks about his blood family. Perhaps the vagueness is meant to indicate that his coming out went rather poorly. Another interpretation is that he then created a family of choice made of his friends in the kink community.
+ Mary Anne was THE BEST! I was so happy to see a female character who was assertive yet funny. The author did a wonderful job of showing her partnership with Roger and why they worked so well together. I also liked that she wasn't pushed "off the page" when the suspense began to grow. She was a delight and my absolute favourite character in the whole book.
+ 80% or so of the mystery was good. I kept changing my guess as to the villain's identity because the crimes were intricate. It was great seeing Roger and Mary Anne focusing on trying to figure out patterns and establishing motives. We also got to see the unpredictability of working as a detective: Roger getting calls at all times in the day, staying up for 48 hours attempting to crack the case, doing logic leaps that actually made sense.
What I didn't like
- That said, the reveal as to the culprit was rather sudden. I did an actual!double-take when the villain stepped into the spotlight. That randomness plus a somewhat long scene where the villain tortures a victim weakened the mystery aspect.
- I don't know what the protocol would be for an investigator becoming part of the team set to resolve the mystery. My instincts tell me that said person wouldn't be? So I had to handwave Roger looking into the crime perpetrated against him. I might be wrong, but still...
- Sean. Hmm...
The first thing that frustrated me was that he's 30 years old but totes behaved like someone who's 19-20. I'm thinking we're meant to assume that some of his immaturity was due to
His actions (especially at the beginning of the book) were tremendously weird. Why would a person of interest go around shadowing detectives and interrogating suspects on their own? In real life, such a person would be immediately put on the list of suspects since that type of behaviour could be interpreted as shady by any policeman worth their salt.
- Sean and Roger's relationship.
Maybe as a result of Roger keeping the narrative at arms' length (seriously, the tone is a tad mater of fact), I had a really hard time buying their attraction. Sean's kind of brattiness was rooted in some deep insecurities. I failed to see why Roger found him so appealing. Aside from the fact that he would now be able to mold Sean's talent as a sub because Sean was a total noobie at BDSM.
The most unrealistic part was how fast their relationship moved.
WHO DOES THAT?
And then, they end up saying "I Love You" shortly after. I mean, damn, guys, maybe you want to slow it down a little?
The sex scenes were pretty good in spite of all that.
- The book was published in 2008 and we know that Roger was born in 1965 (he tells us that he was 18 in 1983. Math). But, even after reading it, I'm not exactly sure WHEN the story took place.
Based on mentions of the internet, Blackberry phones, and (in one instance) Bluetooth, I'm guesstimating that this story happened between 2001 - 2008?
My confusion is due to the fact that the story reads as something that happened in the very early 1990s. Added to that is the overall theme of nostalgia that Roger carries within himself. There are several scenes in which he talks about the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and the consequences of those dark times, all the men in Jay's albums who are dead, Roger's former boyfriend (Patrick) who had died five years before the book began.
Front and center is Roger thinking about all of that in between searching for clues and teaching Sean the ABCs of D/s. So the book ends up with a strange old school vibe that tips your attention this way and that. It's not a terrible thing, but it does strikes me as odd that, even though I can't quite place this book, that vibe is strong enough to leave its mark.
TL;DR: M/M mystery with some BDSM elements. Although the mystery kinda felt apart at the last 15% or so of the novel, I actually liked it. Yes, there were some things that I squinted at (and I still feel that the romance was way rushed), but it wasn't a bad read.
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