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skbledsoe 's review for:
The Man In Black
by L.R. Liverpool
EDIT 8/22/23 - Finished the book again on 7/21/2023 and thought I should update this review.I got a free copy for reviewing back in last autumn and wrote my first review on Goodreads, but I have been wanting to reread it ever since. So now that I purchased the book officially and finished reading it for the second time I feel I have something to add.
I like how the book handles trauma. So the length of the book might scare people off, but it adds to the overall feel of the book, and that is Fenimore James, who becomes Simon Shaw, ends up going through so much in the course of a year. It’s one of the things I find strangely relatable, like living through a short moment of time with an encyclopedia's worth of story to tell. It feels more than just a coming of age story, it feels like a life changing event that we the reader are sharing with Simon, as he goes from a naive farm boy with romantic ideas on what the life of an outlaw is, to seeing the actual crimes committed by the gang and how Simon tries to process it all in the moment, the outcome of the crimes as the gang is targeted by a vicious killer that could possibly be one of the many people wronged by Red over his career, to the epilogue itself as Simon finally has a quiet moment to process, reflect, and work through the events in the novel.
The romance is great because it feels like a slowly burning romance that becomes really intimated, as both characters begin to really get to know each other and their past, and actually become a closer couple. And there’s also quite a few sex scenes that just build on each other and ends up making the payoff feel more satisfying. The romance exists beyond the sex scenes though, with all the time spent on the pillow talk between the two I do actually find myself rooting for the two of them to make it to the end after all the work they put into their relationship. And it plays really well into Simon’s self discovery. Overall, I love the characters and the time put into them. I saw a review mention “World Building”, which I think isn’t accurate. I can’t really tell you about the world that gang exists in besides the fact that it’s the Arizona Territory between 1880 and 1881, but when it comes to the gang I can tell you about most of the gang, like Red Evans. He’s mostly a mysterious figure who interacts with Simon when needed and keeps Simon guessing as to who he is, but his past becomes an important part of the story. There’s the character of Rico Desilva who has like 5 lines mostly in Spanish but we end up finding out little pieces of his past like his family that he still visits in Mexico. The character building is top notch here and it pays off because I find myself really worrying for these guys when danger happens and even after I’m done with the story I wonder what Simon’s life is like in a time period where the best way for him to learn about his sexuality was to join a gang outside of the law.
The mystery is tense as they try to find who is the one sending them mysterious letters and killing them. I like it better on the second read because like most of the stuff in this book, it’s not a traditional mystery story. It’s not a detective that is trying to find this stuff out, necessarily, but there is detective work in it. It’s a gang of outlaws that doesn’t like to pull it’s punches in it’s descriptions, so it’s them trying to find the killer and kill him before he kills them. And the writing makes the psychological feeling stand out and makes this feel even more tense. Simon starts having nightmares that just get progressively more intense by the end and the killer actually seems to go back and forth between the real world and his dreams in a sense. Going back to the trauma, the way Simon reacts to the events of the year seems very believable. And the events affect the whole gang and causes them react in the situation that just adds to the tension, and the trauma, and adds a sense of urgency and danger. This book is well paced, I think, because it puts all this action and events and character reactions into the story while having plenty of moments where the characters breathe, take a bath, and reflect on the situation happening around them, and then later these moments are invaded by random acts of chaos that adds to the overall tense atmosphere the author seems to be creating.
To anyone looking at the length and really wondering if they want to take a chance, try and make it through the first 80 pages. You’ll find a few reasons to stick with it before then, I think, and after that point you’ll begin to care enough about the characters as they go through some of their first high stakes moments. Overall, great first novel by a first time author and a fantastic book to read a second time. It actually has gotten me back into reading on a regular basis again
***Original Review*** I was able to receive a free copy from a friend who likes historical thrillers. While I don't I read many romances, I am also a fan of historical thrillers and liked the blurb that promised a thriller and a mystery and I like to keep an open mind and read new things. The almost 800 page book reads as a pseudo-autobiographic that takes place in 1 year. Despite it's length it was a rather quick read. It doesn't start as a thriller but it does grab the reader in with it's action. Slowly the tension builds and becomes increasingly dark, and the changing narration highlights that dark change. The first part is an exciting introduction to Simon and the rest of the characters. It contains short adventures like a daring train robbery and the first appearance of the Man In Black that comes to Simon in a dream and transitions from one action packed scene to the next. The ending to part one is one of my favorite sequences, where the gang is on the lamb in a small town to celebrate Christmas and then the night climaxes in two exciting scenes at once. In the second part, the thriller side of the story begins to pick up steam and the plot begins to focus on an unlikely romance between Simon and one of the other male members of the gang while the gang is killed off one by one. It's a really sweet romance that takes place in the midst of chaos. The bed scenes can be pretty explicit at times. I don't know how it compares to other stories of its type, but they're not really pornographic. The scenes build on each other and explores the trust built between the characters in their situation. The struggle the couple faces is not how will their love be seen by society, since they are already in a gang of outlaws, but instead the struggle is will their romance survive the unfolding events and the tension this romance starts to create in the gang. The story explores the tensions and dark secrets in the relationship, as well. It has it's own great twists, I think, I was not able to predict some of them. The third part is packed with action and mystery as well. By this point it's a rather dark thriller with a lot of violence and actions which concludes in an unpredictable thrilling finale. At least I didn't predict the outcomes. It was a page-turner that kept me engaged for the length of the story. It manages to touch on many topics rather deeply and is saturated with spooky atmosphere and mysterious vibes. I liked the characters too. They were 3D and human beings, no good and bad guys there, and all of them seemed to change, evolve and react in realistic ways to the situation around them. Overall, I really do want to read it again because I wonder what will stick out to me the second time through. I wonder what clues about the killer I will pick up on the second read through, knowing his identity.
I like how the book handles trauma. So the length of the book might scare people off, but it adds to the overall feel of the book, and that is Fenimore James, who becomes Simon Shaw, ends up going through so much in the course of a year. It’s one of the things I find strangely relatable, like living through a short moment of time with an encyclopedia's worth of story to tell. It feels more than just a coming of age story, it feels like a life changing event that we the reader are sharing with Simon, as he goes from a naive farm boy with romantic ideas on what the life of an outlaw is, to seeing the actual crimes committed by the gang and how Simon tries to process it all in the moment, the outcome of the crimes as the gang is targeted by a vicious killer that could possibly be one of the many people wronged by Red over his career, to the epilogue itself as Simon finally has a quiet moment to process, reflect, and work through the events in the novel.
The romance is great because it feels like a slowly burning romance that becomes really intimated, as both characters begin to really get to know each other and their past, and actually become a closer couple. And there’s also quite a few sex scenes that just build on each other and ends up making the payoff feel more satisfying. The romance exists beyond the sex scenes though, with all the time spent on the pillow talk between the two I do actually find myself rooting for the two of them to make it to the end after all the work they put into their relationship. And it plays really well into Simon’s self discovery. Overall, I love the characters and the time put into them. I saw a review mention “World Building”, which I think isn’t accurate. I can’t really tell you about the world that gang exists in besides the fact that it’s the Arizona Territory between 1880 and 1881, but when it comes to the gang I can tell you about most of the gang, like Red Evans. He’s mostly a mysterious figure who interacts with Simon when needed and keeps Simon guessing as to who he is, but his past becomes an important part of the story. There’s the character of Rico Desilva who has like 5 lines mostly in Spanish but we end up finding out little pieces of his past like his family that he still visits in Mexico. The character building is top notch here and it pays off because I find myself really worrying for these guys when danger happens and even after I’m done with the story I wonder what Simon’s life is like in a time period where the best way for him to learn about his sexuality was to join a gang outside of the law.
The mystery is tense as they try to find who is the one sending them mysterious letters and killing them. I like it better on the second read because like most of the stuff in this book, it’s not a traditional mystery story. It’s not a detective that is trying to find this stuff out, necessarily, but there is detective work in it. It’s a gang of outlaws that doesn’t like to pull it’s punches in it’s descriptions, so it’s them trying to find the killer and kill him before he kills them. And the writing makes the psychological feeling stand out and makes this feel even more tense. Simon starts having nightmares that just get progressively more intense by the end and the killer actually seems to go back and forth between the real world and his dreams in a sense. Going back to the trauma, the way Simon reacts to the events of the year seems very believable. And the events affect the whole gang and causes them react in the situation that just adds to the tension, and the trauma, and adds a sense of urgency and danger. This book is well paced, I think, because it puts all this action and events and character reactions into the story while having plenty of moments where the characters breathe, take a bath, and reflect on the situation happening around them, and then later these moments are invaded by random acts of chaos that adds to the overall tense atmosphere the author seems to be creating.
To anyone looking at the length and really wondering if they want to take a chance, try and make it through the first 80 pages. You’ll find a few reasons to stick with it before then, I think, and after that point you’ll begin to care enough about the characters as they go through some of their first high stakes moments. Overall, great first novel by a first time author and a fantastic book to read a second time. It actually has gotten me back into reading on a regular basis again
***Original Review*** I was able to receive a free copy from a friend who likes historical thrillers. While I don't I read many romances, I am also a fan of historical thrillers and liked the blurb that promised a thriller and a mystery and I like to keep an open mind and read new things. The almost 800 page book reads as a pseudo-autobiographic that takes place in 1 year. Despite it's length it was a rather quick read. It doesn't start as a thriller but it does grab the reader in with it's action. Slowly the tension builds and becomes increasingly dark, and the changing narration highlights that dark change. The first part is an exciting introduction to Simon and the rest of the characters. It contains short adventures like a daring train robbery and the first appearance of the Man In Black that comes to Simon in a dream and transitions from one action packed scene to the next. The ending to part one is one of my favorite sequences, where the gang is on the lamb in a small town to celebrate Christmas and then the night climaxes in two exciting scenes at once. In the second part, the thriller side of the story begins to pick up steam and the plot begins to focus on an unlikely romance between Simon and one of the other male members of the gang while the gang is killed off one by one. It's a really sweet romance that takes place in the midst of chaos. The bed scenes can be pretty explicit at times. I don't know how it compares to other stories of its type, but they're not really pornographic. The scenes build on each other and explores the trust built between the characters in their situation. The struggle the couple faces is not how will their love be seen by society, since they are already in a gang of outlaws, but instead the struggle is will their romance survive the unfolding events and the tension this romance starts to create in the gang. The story explores the tensions and dark secrets in the relationship, as well. It has it's own great twists, I think, I was not able to predict some of them. The third part is packed with action and mystery as well. By this point it's a rather dark thriller with a lot of violence and actions which concludes in an unpredictable thrilling finale. At least I didn't predict the outcomes. It was a page-turner that kept me engaged for the length of the story. It manages to touch on many topics rather deeply and is saturated with spooky atmosphere and mysterious vibes. I liked the characters too. They were 3D and human beings, no good and bad guys there, and all of them seemed to change, evolve and react in realistic ways to the situation around them. Overall, I really do want to read it again because I wonder what will stick out to me the second time through. I wonder what clues about the killer I will pick up on the second read through, knowing his identity.