Review: A wonderfully written, emotionally powerful book.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 14, 2011
I just finished The Salisbury Key by Brit m/m romance author Harper Fox. I've already emailed her with embarassing OCD efficiency. I may have gushed a little.  But in a manly, intellectual way.Life After Joe, the other book of Fox's that I read and loved, is similar in that it's about a very intense relationship that develops between two men after one of them suffers a loss--gradually revealing that the other one has also suffered.  It's a fairly simple romantic structure, but The Salisbury Key adds onto that a compelling cloak-and-dagger plot that is only allowed to surface little at a time--creating a series of surprises toward the later part of the book that had my heart pounding.Fox is a really superb writer.  Elegant, classy, beautifully descriptive of the geographic region in the title--where Stonehenge sits shrouded in mystery on the Salisbury Plain. Her writing is also beautifully descriptive of the emotional journey of Daniel Logan and Lt. Rayne (I won't even give his first name--because that is one of the several delicious small surprises that pop out of the book, giving the reader added pleasure).I don't usually focus on the sex in talking about my beloved romances: but I have to point out that I've never read more beautifully written examples than in Fox's books.  They're explicit without, somehow, being graphic. What they manage to do is illuminate the passion behind the action. I can't quite describe it, but they are as integral to our understanding the story and the characters as any of the plot twists.As addicted as I am to m/m romance novels, I have a single regret:  that because of their very intentional and specific gay/erotic nature, they are automatically off limits for a great many people who would enjoy Fox's writing.  But I guess those people have straight romances to read.  Fine for them.