Review: Excellent!!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 14, 2013
I don't know how to describe this book. If I had to call it anything, I'd label it a psychosexual-suspense thriller that is also part cop-buddy comedy. I know. Weird. But it works. Oh, does it work.Someone is stalking young prostitute Sean Andros and killing people, trying to frame him for the crimes, while at the same time hunting the hustler like a mad rabbit for reasons too twisted to imagine.Sean, after almost walking in on the vicious murder of his latest john,  flees the scene and runs into a bar and into the arms of Harry Conners. Conners, a hairdresser and ex-Marine, is also a former client of Sean's.Knowing that Sean will probably be a suspect, Harry vows to help and protect him until the real killer is brought to justice. Soon, he has Sean holed up in his San Diego home while he ditches Sean's old Yugo (wiping his prints clean!) and goes shopping for the boy. Harry's always had " a thing " for the vulnerable kid.Cue to the cops: Detectives Jefferson McCray and Jimmy Smith. These two have been on the force long enough to become cynical and to have seen and heard it all in the crime business. By the time six murders are committed, all seemingly connected to Sean, they are desperate to stop the mad man who is responsible before anyone else gets killed.This book was terrific. I had a difficult time putting it down to take care of real life (haha) because I wanted to see what kind of murder the crazy S.O.B. was going to commit next and on who.The book is told in alternative third person point of view, going from Harry's and Sean's perspective , to McCray's and Jimmy's. But it also goes into the minds and viewpoints of the killer and the victims, which I particularly liked. It made the perpetrator more chillingly heinious and the victims more sympathetic.I really liked Mr. Inman's use of dialogue, especially between the cops and deputies (the old lady is a hoot!).There is witty repartee and often hilarity, which is all part of the typical cop " callous humor " . Some sensitive readers might be put off by the jokes they crack, but it didn't bother me because it added much needed comedic catharsis in an otherwise dark, violent tale that is pretty disturbing when the motive is finally revealed .The relationship of Harry and Sean is sweet and believable. Sean is a scared 21 year old, not knowing who would hate him so much as to try and frame him for killings and then try to murder him. Harry, as the older, besotted ex-Marine, is tough and determined to keep Sean out of the killer's clutches. He is not a wispy stereotypical gay man. He packs weapons and shows Sean how to use one should the need arise.There isn't really a criticism I have for this book. It was very well written, especially dialogue and the building of suspense. The perpetrator was extremely twisted and disturbed. And even though I figured  out who it was fairly early (I think this was intentional by the author), it didn't matter. It is all about the journey to that climatic moment in the novel, in which the reader finds out if Sean and Harry survive, and if Smith and McCray take the bad guy down.