Review: Caught by Surprise by L.D. Madison
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 28, 2011
First of all, I want to tell that I liked the novel, so that you don't take as I didn't due to what I'm saying now; the feeling I have is that I was "pushed" a little into the story, with only a little bit of preparation. First scene, the two main characters are in bed together, sleeping, and as soon as they awake they are having sex, and me, the reader, was thinking, "wow, slow down, WE barely know each other and you wanted to have sex with me? I'm not that type of girl!" ("we" meaning me and the two main characters). It's of course a joke, but yes, mainly that was the feeling, like I was not ready to that level of intimacy with Noah and Jason. And after that, everytime the author introduced a new supporting character (like Nick and Devlin), it was like she knew them but I didn't.Now yes, it seems I'm complaining, but in an afterthought, that is probably also the reason how the author managed to catch me; yes, Noah and Jason are colleagues, and yes, Noah is in the closet... was it really necessary to spend more or less 50 pages developing the setting, as usual, or wasn't instead more original, and captivating, to dump the reader into the story right in the most salient moment?This approach of going directly to the main point is something the author will use for all the rest of the novel; having sex together is not enough for Noah and Jason to solve all the issues related to their relationship, but nevertheless, nor Noah or Jason will hesitate when faced with decision regarding their future. And even if Noah is still wondering if he can reconcile his sexuality with his chosen career, and Jason is still a little bit skittish to having an open gay affair due to a bad past experience, all their worries disappear when they are together, there is no doubt they are made for each other.Despite the "special agents" setting, and the all men environment, the novel is more sweet romance than thriller; actually, aside for a bad confrontation with a colleague, due more to professional jealousy than real opposition to their gay affair, there is no really drama around their love story, and their work didn't really intrude so much. The story centers around Noah and Jason and their private world, who enters that world is friend and no enemy; while the author tells us that Noah and Jason are tough guys, what we really see are two men in love who are not scared to let the other know about that feeling.