Review: A decent intro to Mal and Cillian's 'romance', but the book assumes the reader is familiar with the H*H (Hell or Highwater) tale
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 13, 2014
This book doesn't continue Prophet and Tom's tale (though they make brief appearances via Skype and spycam), but is set in the same world, and takes up at the the end of book 2 of the H*H series. It is pretty much all IM'ing and anonymous, silent sex in clubs between the leads - and sometimes between substitutes - which is logical for them, I suppose, given that Mal has lost his ability to speak, following his throat being slashed, but I did find it all a bit like what young males would do on a dare, including IM-sex and sending pictures that you wouldn't want anyone else to see. I mean, I'm not complaining at the interactions between Mal and Cillian, but there wasn't really that much in between IM sex, text sex, email sex and Skype/iPad images. However, if you want a book that starts with a bang and lots of sex and sex talk, this is it. It is not a fluffy, sweet MM romance, but more an erotic, suspense-ish tale - with a lot of sex talk and sex.I got the gist of the tale - Cillian is deep undercover, trying to flush out Prophet's supposedly dead ex-best friend and ex-lover, but hasn't figured out who is killing all of his snitches/informants, and Mal is the operative from another organisation who's tasked with keeping an eye on him, with the latter knowing what Cillian looks like, but not vice versa. I did find it a bit funny that Cillian works for a British secret service organisation, and with Brit stiff upper lip and 'No sex, please, we're British' and all that, I'm sure minds would have been boggling over his antics, both private and in public. I appreciated the way in which the author managed conversations between Mal and Cillian, as their 'relationship' was pretty unique in that they couldn't have a verbal conversation, but if I'm honest, not a lot happened in it until the last two chapters.I mean the leads don't actually meet face-to-face and get it on - yep, in a club in public, again - til that point (Mal took on the more dominant role and instigated their first encounter - the opening bang that I mentioned - without Cillian seeing the face of the man he'd submitted to in the club), and even then, they can't have a proper conversation, but Cillian unwittingly reveals that there's more of an emotional connection on his part, that wasn't apparent with the non-spoken comms. At the same time, a casual phrase that he uses gives Mal a eureka moment, and that revelation is bound to have a massive, massive impact on what's gone on between them so far and what will happen between them in the next book. As the tale ends, Mal's realisation has got to be a huge obstacle that he'll have to deal with, as will the information that Cillian's superior makes him privy to, giving the latter his own eureka moment, complete with a belated attack of conscience. Kudos to the author (despite ending the book on this cliffhanger, which I'm not enthused about, LOL!), as I haven't a clue how she'll make things right between the guys in future tales, but boy will it be an interesting read.So, like I said, not that much going on in this tale other than all things sex, as it introduced the characters 'together' (though they've appeared without any connection between them in the H*H tales) and understandably a connection had to be created between them, but at the same time it did draw me in - Cillian's been such a shadowy, teasing, taunting figure in the 2 H*H tales, and a source of jealousy between Tom and Prophet, that I want his romance to give him a taste of his own medecine. The tale is a lot shorter than most of SE Jakes's tales, but there's at least one more in this series, as well as a few more H*H tales to come in 2014.Ebook courtesy of Riptide Publishing in return for an honest review.