Review: It's all about the birds.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 23, 2011
I've been waffling over the rating of this book for few days now and I still can't quite decide. It's somewhere between three and four stars, but my reasons for either rating are very different.There's the actual romance between Mark, a very much closeted gay cop, and Hunter, tired-to-hide out-and-proud falconer. There's the attraction, the yielding to it, and the battle for secrecy.Then there's the setting, year 1994, JFK airport, and the falconry field test to clear the runways of birds - all which are based in real events.Of these two, the picture and the frame, I found myself loving the frame more.We get to know the characters intimately, both of their personal histories and the choices that have carried them to this point in time. We found out how and why Hunter is so open and why Mark can't even considering coming out to his coworkers.Unfortunately, their mutual attraction is reduced to them considering each other the most beautiful man they've ever seen and the romance itself dissolves into gratuitous erotica. They're stronger characters apart than they're together.Although the author clearly put an effort into it, I was eleven years old in 1994 and I can't really comment on how accurate the backdrop is, but I do remember learning basic CPR in school few years later. I was taught to use one breath for five chest compressions. It's been only recently that they've started to recommend two breaths for every fifteen compressions (when at least two rescuers are present). Fifteen years after Mark was diligently reviving an elderly heart-attack victim with these new guidelines in mind.*I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.*