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A review by ghosthermione
Hunter's Way by Gerri Hill
4.0
I have such conflicted feelings about this book! It drew me in really quickly, and I haven't read anything so quickly in such a long time - I just couldn't put it down. But the hints of transphobia made it lose quite a lot of points with me.
I want to give it the benefit of the doubt, because the misgendering happens before we know for sure the person in question is really a trans woman, and not just a cross-dressing gay man, and once she knows, the main character makes some efforts to gender her correctly and to stop deadnaming her, but I'm not sure it's quite enough, and some passages do reek of gender essentialism. I hesitated to give it much less but it still gets 4 stars, only because it's up to debate whether it really is transphobic or no, but that really bothers me, and for that reason I'm not sure I'll buy the next books in the series, despite my enjoyment of this one.
I was however really positively surprised that bisexuality was mentioned as a possibility even though the writer didn't seem to go there.
I also didn't find the rape scene that shocking, in my opinion it was respectfully written, and it and the aftermath were addressed properly. Though I had the advantage of having been warned since I'd had a look at the reviews just before I got to that passage.
As for the plot itself, I was really taken in, it's really easy to read, I could guess some things (which in my opinion is the best about crime novels/crime shows) but it wasn't too obvious so I didn't feel like it was handed to me. Also, it was really funny, the dynamics between the two main protagonists were really enjoyable, and especially Tori's character development (her apparent misogyny at the beginning made me fear I'd hate her). And the team dynamics do get really interesting.
I love that even though it gets really violent, it's not actually graphic(and the victims are targeted for being queer, but since the main characters are gay, it counterbalances that) . I also liked how the book addresses homophobia in the workplace (esp. in the South) without making it too dark, although the writer seems to think all homophobes have to turn out to be gay...
Oh, and a personal pet peeve: I wish the author would sometimes write "have sex", instead of "make love" every. single. time. It's just... so cheesy, and often doesn't fit the characters.
I want to give it the benefit of the doubt, because the misgendering happens before we know for sure the person in question is really a trans woman, and not just a cross-dressing gay man, and once she knows, the main character makes some efforts to gender her correctly and to stop deadnaming her, but I'm not sure it's quite enough, and some passages do reek of gender essentialism. I hesitated to give it much less but it still gets 4 stars, only because it's up to debate whether it really is transphobic or no, but that really bothers me, and for that reason I'm not sure I'll buy the next books in the series, despite my enjoyment of this one.
I was however really positively surprised that bisexuality was mentioned as a possibility even though the writer didn't seem to go there.
I also didn't find the rape scene that shocking, in my opinion it was respectfully written, and it and the aftermath were addressed properly. Though I had the advantage of having been warned since I'd had a look at the reviews just before I got to that passage.
As for the plot itself, I was really taken in, it's really easy to read, I could guess some things (which in my opinion is the best about crime novels/crime shows) but it wasn't too obvious so I didn't feel like it was handed to me. Also, it was really funny, the dynamics between the two main protagonists were really enjoyable, and especially Tori's character development (her apparent misogyny at the beginning made me fear I'd hate her). And the team dynamics do get really interesting.
I love that even though it gets really violent, it's not actually graphic
Oh, and a personal pet peeve: I wish the author would sometimes write "have sex", instead of "make love" every. single. time. It's just... so cheesy, and often doesn't fit the characters.