Review: A bit of murder, a bit of mystery and a lot of policeman gets his man!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 7, 2014
At  first I was confused, it didn't start out as the book I thought I had bought.  The blurb lead me to think this was a simple story of two men who want to be together getting the chance at last. But when I began reading I was just thinking...huh?  So Tracy is the main person that the story revolves around.  He is the middle brother (his older brother is a DEA agent and his younger one a successful actor), he had broken up with his live in lover Breckin (a doctor) because he caught him in the act of cheating, he is business partners with Dimah Mashir who is instrumental in the Russian Mob (according to his brother Alex (DEA agent) and Cord (an Inspector with the Police)).  The story starts with someone trying to kill Tracy, but they miss.  Then someone else hoods him and beats him up in a bathroom - so he is having a really bad week.  Then it turns out his ex-lover cheated more than once, including with a woman who is now pregnant.  This comes to light from Cord who is investigating similar incidents of assault where a hood is used and the victim beaten.  One of the victims (who slept with Bracking also) subsequently dies in a house fire (murder), the second is targeted with a bomb (and she is the pregnant woman who Tracy's ex slept with) - so Tracy is in trouble.  Big trouble. We also meet the business partner and his Russian friends, and there are lots of names and behaviours to work through - it is really difficult to keep track of who is doing what and why. So to recap - Tracy and the pregnant home-wrecker are being targeted for murder and they have to be protected by Cord and half the police force wherever they go.  The Russian Mob doesn't really feature too much - and Tracy insists there is no Russian Mob involvement anyway because his business partner's brother is the Mob guy.  Confused? Yeah, so was I.The main focus of the story is Tracy and Cord, but you would not think so to begin with.  Cord is a cop and was a player, having any man that moved and then moving on.  Tracy needs there to be a connection, so when five years ago Cord asked him for a booty call in his car Tracy turned him down and, although he secretly wanted him, continued to discount him as a possible love interest.  Cord in the meantime has made progress in his maturity and wants just one man, Tracy.  But how can Cord get Tracy to see him, really see him and not the man he was.There are some red herrings in this book, who is the bad guy?  How many are there?  It is far-fetched but it is entertaining, especially when we get to follow a story-line without multiple people, relationships and motivations cutting across what we are trying to focus on.  There are some confusing twists in character - Breckin seems unstable in parts and where did that come from?Once the true love story comes through it is quite enchanting - but there is a lot of work to get there through the quagmire.  It kept me entertained and for that I am giving it four stars.  I do like Mary Calmes writing (Frog (my favourite), Again and the Change of Heart series).  This one doesn't quite get me hooked, but I am glad I bought it.