A review by lezreadalot
Three More Nick Nowak Mysteries by Marshall Thornton

3.0

My heart thumped a little faster. I was either in love or about to tell a lie.

(Spoiler alert: he told a lie.)

I enjoyed revisiting Nick as he traipses around Chicago solving crimes and getting more ass than a toilet seat. I found the writing and mysteries in these short stories to be better than the first set; I had a lot of fun trying to figure out what was going to happen. Nick's personal story was engaging as well, though I'm pretty dissatisfied with the explanation (if that really was an explanation) for why he suddenly got so violent with civilians in "Little Boy Blond". And I have to say, the big twist in "Little Boy Silent" annoyed me intensely.

Spoiler

I get that Lydia was a lying asshole, but I hated that the big 'gotcha!' moment was the fact that Harlington's dick had been amputated. You don't need a penis to be a rapist or abuser, which that whole sequence seemed to imply. I wish Lydia's lie had been exposed in some other way.

I honestly didn't expect what happened int he last story, and I'm sure it won't turn out all peachy like Nick might expect. Looking forward (mostly) to coming back to this in the future.