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rainbow_reviewss's review
4.0
Beau’s Dilemma is the story of Samuel Beaulieu who receives a call from his scientist ex-boyfriend Max telling him that he is in grave danger after he advanced in his research. He asks his friend to travel to Australia and makes all the necessary arrangements for his safe arrival. When Sam arrives in Sydney he will be dragged into some very difficult situations and the first shocking news he has to face is about his friend Max. We follow his dilemma and the different characters he will meet, but whom can he trust in such a strange country where he does not know anybody there?
As the title states, Beau’s Dilemma is a gay tale of science, seduction, and murder. This is a mystery thriller and this genre is very tricky to review without revealing much and spoiling the story. So I will keep the review simple and will not say more than necessary. You need to get into this without knowing much. This is an MM story with lots of mystery elements and at the same time seduction and sexual situations to spice up the plot. The main character meets two stranger guys, Dominic and Trevor. He meets them separately. Despite being suspicious about them, Sam has his way with them sexually!
The nice thing about the story that it is fast-paced and the main character is quite interesting to follow in his journey. I have never been to Australia so it was really amusing that the author gave details about many different locations there throughout the story. I enjoyed Patrick Doyle’s writing style and the way he kept the mystery unfolding. It was an entertaining read for me.
Many thanks to the author Patrick Doyle for providing me a free copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily after being sent the book.
The Review
As the title states, Beau’s Dilemma is a gay tale of science, seduction, and murder. This is a mystery thriller and this genre is very tricky to review without revealing much and spoiling the story. So I will keep the review simple and will not say more than necessary. You need to get into this without knowing much. This is an MM story with lots of mystery elements and at the same time seduction and sexual situations to spice up the plot. The main character meets two stranger guys, Dominic and Trevor. He meets them separately. Despite being suspicious about them, Sam has his way with them sexually!
The nice thing about the story that it is fast-paced and the main character is quite interesting to follow in his journey. I have never been to Australia so it was really amusing that the author gave details about many different locations there throughout the story. I enjoyed Patrick Doyle’s writing style and the way he kept the mystery unfolding. It was an entertaining read for me.
Many thanks to the author Patrick Doyle for providing me a free copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily after being sent the book.
The Review
frothy's review
1.0
Australians: only read if you want to see how wrong he gets Australia and Australians....and Australian speech. Good lord. Unless you need a hate read. Then, this book is perfect.
Either his research was bad (ie didn't even use google maps) or he visited oz in ? the 70s? How could he miss the M4 motorway which goes from Sydney out to Penrith? It's a motorway with 8/6 lanes and almost dead straight, which then becomes the Great Western Highway (and gets slightly curvy & 4 lanes at that point) which takes you up to the Blue Mountains. And he seems to think Penrith is kind of small? It really isn't. Google maps is your friend, writers.
So much of the other Australian stuff is wildly wrong, from what a Ute is, (utes are different from trucks - an F150, for instance, is a truck in Australia, not a ute) to our intelligence services. He used the wrong one. It would be ASIO, not ASIS - and if it were ASIS, they would deal with this sort of thing in very very different way. Just. No. Then there is the thing about migration...I could go on. And on. At length. And I am happy to for money .
The story has a distinct narrative style which I found intrusive. Nor was the MC (or anyone else) particularly likeable or interesting. To be fair, I had already been ejected out of the story in the first few pages by him getting Port Douglas utterly wrong. There is, in fact, a suspense plot, but the setting, writing, characterisation and dialogue are so glaringly awful that you barely notice it, or care.
He does manage to get the bit of Katoomba in the story less awfully wrong. From standing at the top of Katoomba Street (NOT Katoomba road ) looking down from the top, it appears as he describes. I can forgive him not noticing that much of the shops/cafes etc down the street are vacant/shut, as the characters in the story do not walk down the street. It's the view you'd get if you walked out of the train station. However, the characters are in a vehicle. To get to a house near Katoomba street, they would not have driven down that street, but street parallel to it. This is because there are a billion zebra crossings, and tourists and people wondering all over the road itself (because that's what we do in Australia - I know Americans and Canadians have trouble with this). You basically only drive up or down k street if you (a) have never been there before and don't know better (b) it is late at night (c) to drop someone off or (d) for work, where you can park in a loading zone. What readers would know this? Any reader who has been to Katoomba ever, and spent time on that street.
If the reader knows anything about Australia/Australians/real Australian speech, the suspension of disbelief is impossible. Perhaps the book is also bearable if one is a devotee of poetic licence. Maybe?
This book would also be excellent fodder in a book writing course on how not to write colloquial speech. It's that extreme.
Oh yeah, and the "seduction"? it's just bonking. There is no seduction. Not as I'd define it, anyway.
Either his research was bad (ie didn't even use google maps) or he visited oz in ? the 70s? How could he miss the M4 motorway which goes from Sydney out to Penrith? It's a motorway with 8/6 lanes and almost dead straight, which then becomes the Great Western Highway (and gets slightly curvy & 4 lanes at that point) which takes you up to the Blue Mountains. And he seems to think Penrith is kind of small? It really isn't. Google maps is your friend, writers.
So much of the other Australian stuff is wildly wrong, from what a Ute is, (utes are different from trucks - an F150, for instance, is a truck in Australia, not a ute) to
The story has a distinct narrative style which I found intrusive. Nor was the MC (or anyone else) particularly likeable or interesting. To be fair, I had already been ejected out of the story in the first few pages by him getting Port Douglas utterly wrong. There is, in fact, a suspense plot, but the setting, writing, characterisation and dialogue are so glaringly awful that you barely notice it, or care.
He does manage to get the bit of Katoomba in the story less awfully wrong. From standing at the top of Katoomba Street (NOT Katoomba road ) looking down from the top, it appears as he describes. I can forgive him not noticing that much of the shops/cafes etc down the street are vacant/shut, as the characters in the story do not walk down the street. It's the view you'd get if you walked out of the train station. However, the characters are in a vehicle. To get to a house near Katoomba street, they would not have driven down that street, but street parallel to it. This is because there are a billion zebra crossings, and tourists and people wondering all over the road itself (because that's what we do in Australia - I know Americans and Canadians have trouble with this). You basically only drive up or down k street if you (a) have never been there before and don't know better (b) it is late at night (c) to drop someone off or (d) for work, where you can park in a loading zone. What readers would know this? Any reader who has been to Katoomba ever, and spent time on that street.
If the reader knows anything about Australia/Australians/real Australian speech, the suspension of disbelief is impossible. Perhaps the book is also bearable if one is a devotee of poetic licence. Maybe?
This book would also be excellent fodder in a book writing course on how not to write colloquial speech. It's that extreme.
Oh yeah, and the "seduction"?
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