Review: 3 1/2 Stars -- Good Read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 14, 2013
This is one of those books that really makes we wish Amazon allowed "half-stars" in their ratings.  Having read (and greatly enjoyed) Mr. Smith's other works I decided to select 4 stars instead of 3.The things I liked about this book:- The Plot...as with all of the author's books, the story stays with you long after you've finished it- Petey!!!...the most original character I've read in any gay-centric novel in a while- The Romance...there are plenty of down-and-dirty sex romps on Amazon, and I appreciate that Mr. Smith doesn't feel the need to "go there" in his books- The POV Switch...in retrospect it seemed very sudden and kind of clumsy, but I liked the switch to Travis' POV at the end of the book.  Maybe if it had been done throughout (read "Owning Corey" by Maris Black for an excellent example of this writing technique) it wouldn't have been such a shock.  As it is, the switch seemed a logical choice given the point in the story at which it occurs.What I didn't like about this book:- The Pacing...it seems the events in this first 2/3 of the book went by in a flash.  Latakia would have been a better read if the author slowed things down a bit (if I counted correctly the time between Matt's abduction and Al-Hashim's capture was maybe 6 days at the most)- The Character Development...Matt and some of the other secondary characters came off as really one-dimensional.  The thing I loved about the author's other works is the care and time he spent introducing these people to the reader...giving them extremely rich backstories in the process.- SOME of the Dialogue...emphasis on "SOME"!  I don't like when characters speak in long monologues as I find it unnatural and off-puting.  There isn't a lot of this in Latakia, but whenever it did happen it just irked me.- The Title & Cover Art...ugh!!!All in all this was a pretty good read and I would definitely recommend it.