Mark Julian is New York’s only private eye for the
supernatural. He has a job to do, one that includes not getting romantically
involved with humans. Until a feeding frenzy on gay men crosses his path with
irresistible Detective Vincent Pasquale of the NYPD. The paranormal world is
about to collide with the human world, in more ways than one…
My Review:
3.5 stars
This was an interesting introduction into a fascinating world
for me. I’m not normally a huge mystery fan, but something about this one just
grabbed my attention. I will definitely keep reading the series from here on
out, if only just to see how Mark and Vinnie’s relationship grows. I loved
seeing these two interact with each other; the tension building between them
was fun to see and left me feeling a sense of FINALLY! when they got together. Their
banter with each other was great, and I liked seeing how they solved the
mystery and got the job done.
As for background characters, this book has a wealth of
secondary, tertiary, and other characters. I love Jaime, he/she cracks me up
and is the perfect sidekick for both Mark and Vinnie. I can’t wait to see what
happens with Jaime in future books, because he/she is a character that deserves
to be explored. I also really liked Tortego, who seems like he could grow to
become a very interesting character.
The story telling was interesting to say the least and worth
talking about here since it could potentially turn some readers off of the
story. For one, there are a lot of narrative flashes to the future, reminiscent
of the description sometimes given at the end of a movie about what happened to
the characters after the movie’s end. And some of the flash forwards were on tangents
that are then never mentioned again For example, after the death of one of the
victims, we get a flash to his family placing missing person posters and ends
with “His mother would grow old and die waiting on that dream to come true.” I
didn’t really find these distracting, more an interesting story telling device
showing the author’s writing style.
Another interesting style choice was that there are also lots
of internal dialogues, which I didn’t mind since I like knowing what’s going on
in a character’s head. However, I did have an issue at times with how
needlessly violent the book could get. One of the flash forwards in particular
was just very odd in that it ended with a surviving victim murdering his
boyfriend because he did something that reminded him of the killer, and then just
jumps right back into the story like nothing happened. It was odd and jarring
how events like this happened, especially since they were not relevant to the
plot. So I’m not sure if the author included these to purposefully try and jar
the reader or develop a certain tone, but it didn’t always work for me.
I did enjoy the chapter titles though, as they provided hints
at what was to come and I thought they were a nice little touch that added to
the story. However, I was not a fan of how the victims were portrayed. Normally
in a mystery, I don’t mind following a victim’s final moments, especially when
they’re interacting with the killer because it can provide clues about the
killer and where the story is going. However, most of the victims followed here
were creepy and disturbing, so it was hard to feel any sympathy for them
(except for poor Jordy). For example, why was it important to know that several
of the victims were okay with hurting and even raping their partners in such
detail? I understand explaining how the victims and the murderer met, but
beyond that, I don’t know. Yes, it was a bit of poetic justice where you had
these total asses who had the tables turned on them, but I thought it was a bit
of an odd choice for the story, especially since Mark and Vinnie never learned about
what asses the victims were. I kept thinking this would somehow come into play,
maybe in the murderer’s justification behind why he killed them, but it never
did. It just seemed like superfluous information that wasn’t necessary and brought
the story down in my mind, mostly because at the end I was left thinking WTF?
All in all, I had a bit of a mixed reaction to some of the
story telling elements and plot twists, but overall, this was a very intriguing
series introduction. The author definitely has his own writing style, which I
admire, even if I’m not always such a fan of it. I will definitely continue reading
this series as I can’t wait to see how the characters grow over time.
*I received this book in exchange for an honest review.*
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