Review: My favorite Josh Lanyon book, and I've just read 25 of them in a row.  ;)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 27, 2013
This author has some kind of magic.  Once you start reading his books they are so good and so interesting it's impossible to stop!  I may need to join 'Josh Lanyon Readers Anonymous'.  But needing a reading break I thought I'd write a review of my all time favorite so far and although it was a tough question, this is the best, IMO.Mark Hardwicke, British MI6 spy comes out of a blown mission badly damaged both physically and emotionally. With no family, his only friend dead in the botched operation, the only place he has left to seek refuge is with his very angry lover.  The man he promised to return to after just one more mission, eleven missions and two years ago.  Dr. Stephen Thorpe has given up on waiting for Mark's return, but he can't refuse him a place to stay while he recovers recovers his health.  The rest of the book tells the story of how they slowly learn to trust each other.  Even healed physically Mark is living in a more violent and dangerous place in his mind and needs to adjust down although some of that violence has followed him home.  A common theme in Josh Lanyon's books is for a character to do foolish things in their past and become wiser in maturity, and it plays out again in this book. I didn't think about it until another reviewer pointed it out but Mark has been rather brain-washed by his organization.  That gave me a lot to consider in real life. ;)As usual the characters are brilliantly sketched, the dialogue is witty and the author's skill in keeping the reader interested is amazing.  The other two books in this series, three so far, are also excellent.  It's hard to say enough nice things here. ;P  My next favorite book by JL is probably "A Ghost Of A Chance", which was quite scary at points. Also "Lone Star", ballet dancer and Texas Ranger, that's just hot. "Come Unto These Yellow Sands" a poet and recovered addict falls in love with the local  police chief during a murder investigation was AMAZING. "Icecapade" a jewel thief retires to a horse farm but the police have, or at least one policeman still has an interest in him. "Cards On The Table" an epileptic writer decides to solve a fifty year old Hollywood starlet's murder. Also "Just Desserts" a short story about a man who turns from his plans of revenge and murder when he experiences love. Very gothic. Oh, and "Fair Game" about an FBI agent who becomes a college teacher after being badly injured in the line of duty.  The main character in that book totally had a Fox Mulder/X-Files feel to him, so maybe that should be my most favorite book by JL.  I can't decide!I wish that cookie-baking Bryce, who almost became Stephen's next boyfriend, could have his own story, by the way.  He was a nice guy.  Even the jealous Mark Hardwicke warms to him a bit, eventually.  ;)  You have to love a guy who serves a potentially deadly international operative homemade eggnog while wearing an X-mas reindeer apron.