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A review by the_novel_approach
Hard Line by Sidney Bell
5.0
~ 4.5 Stars ~
Tobias Benton is a former Woodbury boy, the facility where he met his two best friends, Church and Ghost. Tobias’ backstory is a huge part of this novel—how he came into the world, how he fits into his family, who he believes he’s expected to be, and how that all led to him being institutionalized at Woodbury after a nervous breakdown. It’s also why it’s imperative that Tobias be the one to find Ghost after his enigmatic friend disappears (not that Ghost doesn’t have a history of being in the wind, mind you. If ever there were a character whose name suits him, it’s Ghost). For Tobias, the search for Ghost is about self-respect, it’s about Tobias taking ownership and action over the situation, something that has been denied him in the past by people who have attributed a fragility to him that he’s determined to prove unwarranted, and all of this together serves to inform his relationship with private investigator Sullivan Tate.
Sullivan’s job as a process server for American Secure Investigations isn’t exactly fulfilling, but he’s absorbing everything he can as a stepping stone to owning his own agency someday. When the unsolved case of a child who disappeared from the scene of a murder in 1992 tweaks Sullivan’s natural curiosity, he begs for the chance to work the case and prove himself to his tough-as-nails boss. Little does he know the extent of the crime would be so far-reaching, nor could he have predicted the effect the investigation would have on him personally. While Sullivan’s backstory isn’t as deeply layered as Tobias’, it’s who he is now, at his core, that matters most when Tobias gives Sullivan an ultimatum to allow him to work the case as Sullivan’s partner.
Needless to say, their relationship doesn’t begin well, but this is what Bell does so capably. She begins her character relationships against what may seem impossible odds and then spends the rest of the story convincing readers that her protagonists fit together like lock and key. In this instance, it’s Tobias’ need to be dominated, to calm the noise inside himself that threatens to overwhelm him, which serves Sullivan’s desire to dominate. Bell then proceeds to dole out those scenes with a visceral intensity that made me wish there had been more of them to savor, even though more wouldn’t have added anything significant to the story.
The BDSM elements of this book aren’t meant as, or written as, a cure-all for Tobias’ depression and anxiety, which I appreciated for its realism. Sullivan’s dominance wasn’t based in his need to be the alpha male, he didn’t need to be Tobias’ Dom outside of the bedroom, nor did Tobias want or need a full-time Dom, but the sexual component of their complementary desires was perfection in its passion, and Bell wrote each of their scenes with an attention towards how they served Tobias more so than towards how much Sullivan loved to serve him. It also wasn’t written as a tidy answer to their relationship or the underlying problem of why Tobias has insinuated himself in Sullivan’s hip pocket on the quest to find Ghost.
As they get closer to the truth of Ghost’s disappearance and find answers to the original case Sullivan was investigating, and how it intersects with who Ghost is working for, Bell’s talent for plotting out a few great twists and an effective climax emerges in full display. Everything that happens leading to the crucial moment between Sullivan and Tobias shows how much Tobias has grown in the short time since he’d met, and subsequently blackmailed, Sullivan, giving Tobias the courage to express what he wants from Sullivan in a way he would never have had the strength or emotional wherewithal to do before.
Sidney Bell impressed me greatly with her debut novel, Bad Judgment. She then went on to awe me with her second novel, Loose Cannon, book one in this series. And now, she’s pulled a threepeat with Hard Line, not a direct sequel in the series but continuing a story arc that does makes it recommendable enough, in my opinion, to read book one first. Hard Line brings us one step closer to Ghost’s novel in the Woodbury Boys series, and Bell allowing her readers a glimpse of who this character is when he isn’t being the mercurial and enigmatic twenty-year-old who’s dangerous when provoked. And dangerous when he isn’t provoked, really, and it stands to reason there may be so many versions of Ghost that we will never know him fully.
One thing I do know is that Bell writes with such a fluid proficiency and with an attention to detailing multifaceted characters and layered storylines. Each of her books is its own experience, and it’s so great to chew through the scenery she creates to get to the heart of her characters and the mysteries they become involved in.
Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach
Tobias Benton is a former Woodbury boy, the facility where he met his two best friends, Church and Ghost. Tobias’ backstory is a huge part of this novel—how he came into the world, how he fits into his family, who he believes he’s expected to be, and how that all led to him being institutionalized at Woodbury after a nervous breakdown. It’s also why it’s imperative that Tobias be the one to find Ghost after his enigmatic friend disappears (not that Ghost doesn’t have a history of being in the wind, mind you. If ever there were a character whose name suits him, it’s Ghost). For Tobias, the search for Ghost is about self-respect, it’s about Tobias taking ownership and action over the situation, something that has been denied him in the past by people who have attributed a fragility to him that he’s determined to prove unwarranted, and all of this together serves to inform his relationship with private investigator Sullivan Tate.
Sullivan’s job as a process server for American Secure Investigations isn’t exactly fulfilling, but he’s absorbing everything he can as a stepping stone to owning his own agency someday. When the unsolved case of a child who disappeared from the scene of a murder in 1992 tweaks Sullivan’s natural curiosity, he begs for the chance to work the case and prove himself to his tough-as-nails boss. Little does he know the extent of the crime would be so far-reaching, nor could he have predicted the effect the investigation would have on him personally. While Sullivan’s backstory isn’t as deeply layered as Tobias’, it’s who he is now, at his core, that matters most when Tobias gives Sullivan an ultimatum to allow him to work the case as Sullivan’s partner.
Needless to say, their relationship doesn’t begin well, but this is what Bell does so capably. She begins her character relationships against what may seem impossible odds and then spends the rest of the story convincing readers that her protagonists fit together like lock and key. In this instance, it’s Tobias’ need to be dominated, to calm the noise inside himself that threatens to overwhelm him, which serves Sullivan’s desire to dominate. Bell then proceeds to dole out those scenes with a visceral intensity that made me wish there had been more of them to savor, even though more wouldn’t have added anything significant to the story.
The BDSM elements of this book aren’t meant as, or written as, a cure-all for Tobias’ depression and anxiety, which I appreciated for its realism. Sullivan’s dominance wasn’t based in his need to be the alpha male, he didn’t need to be Tobias’ Dom outside of the bedroom, nor did Tobias want or need a full-time Dom, but the sexual component of their complementary desires was perfection in its passion, and Bell wrote each of their scenes with an attention towards how they served Tobias more so than towards how much Sullivan loved to serve him. It also wasn’t written as a tidy answer to their relationship or the underlying problem of why Tobias has insinuated himself in Sullivan’s hip pocket on the quest to find Ghost.
As they get closer to the truth of Ghost’s disappearance and find answers to the original case Sullivan was investigating, and how it intersects with who Ghost is working for, Bell’s talent for plotting out a few great twists and an effective climax emerges in full display. Everything that happens leading to the crucial moment between Sullivan and Tobias shows how much Tobias has grown in the short time since he’d met, and subsequently blackmailed, Sullivan, giving Tobias the courage to express what he wants from Sullivan in a way he would never have had the strength or emotional wherewithal to do before.
Sidney Bell impressed me greatly with her debut novel, Bad Judgment. She then went on to awe me with her second novel, Loose Cannon, book one in this series. And now, she’s pulled a threepeat with Hard Line, not a direct sequel in the series but continuing a story arc that does makes it recommendable enough, in my opinion, to read book one first. Hard Line brings us one step closer to Ghost’s novel in the Woodbury Boys series, and Bell allowing her readers a glimpse of who this character is when he isn’t being the mercurial and enigmatic twenty-year-old who’s dangerous when provoked. And dangerous when he isn’t provoked, really, and it stands to reason there may be so many versions of Ghost that we will never know him fully.
One thing I do know is that Bell writes with such a fluid proficiency and with an attention to detailing multifaceted characters and layered storylines. Each of her books is its own experience, and it’s so great to chew through the scenery she creates to get to the heart of her characters and the mysteries they become involved in.
Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach