Review: What?! A Gay Navy Seal?!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 4, 2012
"Latakia" by J. F. Smith is an excellent story, at times poignant, hilarious, adventuresome, and engrossing.  The book could have/should have begun with Matt's trek to Syria. Why? Because, during the pages prior to Matt's arrival in Latakia, Syria, I nearly deleted the book from my Kindle out of despair, thinking, "Oh, no! This is another story about self-absorbed gay teeny-boppers in weird relationships who talk in that ridiculous swishy way." It got better, though, lots better. Whew!In fact, the story was very good, especially during Matt's kidnapping by Islamic terrorists and his subsequent extraction from danger by Navy Seals, particularly the role of Travis (known then as "Mope). Thus, the entire first  of the book (sans the first bad pages) is very good. At about 60%, when the action part disappeared and life returned to somewhat normal, the story sags. We could have done without some of the early Virginia Beach scenes, where all the major characters (Navy Seals plus Matt) re-unite. Yes, of course, that part is a set up for the final section of the book (the pairing of Matt and Travis), but, nonetheless it could have been more strongly edited. As it was, the punch went out of the story and the reader struggles to find a purpose to continuing the tale for the next 20% of the book. At times during this middle, weaker part of the book, the story took an uncomfortable armchair-psychological-analysis turn, and was not helped by the introduction of a new, weak character (Wasp).The final 20% of the book becomes very good again, and the denouement is thrilling and touching. One of the secondary characters, Petey, who, while behaviorally over the top, provides a lot of laughs.In total, despite its strong and well done political/military scenes, it's more of a gay male love story than anything else, but a good one, without the pages and pages of M/M porn verbiage that some writers seem compelled to include and thankfully without their tendency to reduce gay relationships to sex, bickering, arguments and making up. (See "Private Eye (Liaisons)" by S. E. Culpepper; "Shattered Glass," by Dani Alexander; "A Midwinter Prince," by Harper fox; "Helpless" (and others) by M. J. Pearson; "Back Passage" by James Lear; "My Fair Captain" by J. L. Langley, and others for examples.) In contrast, this one, "Latakia," is much more realistic, and it seems to capture well some of the actual problems and true features (homophobia, fear, self-doubt, sheer joy of being in love) of men loving men. Here, thankfully, the two main guys do not fall in love in 30 seconds and leap into bed instantly. They actually "see" each other over time and learn as a couple how to overcome some of the normal problems people face when starting up a permanent relationship as well as some of the unique problems faced by gay men who live in the real world. As a reader, one roots for the 2 guys to do it all right and succeed.It's a good read, recommended to those with a wide enough vision to include normal gay male coupling.It's a solid 4, maybe a 4.49