Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Gay-romance writer Trent Copeland finds his life in a rut while his boyfriend, Special Agent Reed Acton, is away on an undercover mission. After attending a special course at FBI headquarters in Quantico, Trent’s eager for another challenge. He jumps at the opportunity for a trip to Japan to oversee appraisals of two art collections to be sold at the gallery he co-owns. But the trip isn’t all cherry blossoms and Hello Kitty. When one of the collectors he meets—rumored to be the head of a Yakuza gang—turns up dead, Trent is accused of the murder and thrown in jail.

Reed drops everything to help find out who really committed the crime. He's in unknown territory in Japan, forced to navigate Tokyo’s sex underworld to unravel the truth and save Trent. He poses as a “host” at a seedy late-night club. When Reed’s undercover activities place him at a ruthless Yakuza leader’s sex party, he must be willing to go to any lengths to secure Trent’s safety and freedom. But trusting the wrong people brings both Reed and Trent to the Yakuza leader’s attention. If they’re ever to have a happy ever after, they’ll first have to call on every skill just to stay alive.

 

Book Review

I was looking for an adventure story with some action (nothing too gruesome for me, please) and a touch of romance, when I remembered I still had the newest ‘Precious Gems’ volume in my pile of books to read. I figured the next installment in Trent and Reed’s increasingly exciting life could be just the ticket. I am happy to report I was right. The things these two get up to, especially the corners Trent paints himself into now that he thinks he is pretty much a special agent like his lover Reed, are somewhere between entertaining (but only because I can watch from a safe distance!) and scary. Always out to solve the next mystery, these two need a movie or two – just saying!

Trent may have come far since he first encountered Reed, but he is still a writer of gay romances first, special agent second (and the latter only in his mind anyway). And his ability to attract trouble of the almost-deadly-kind is unmitigated since book one. If anything, it has gotten worse! And this time it all starts so innocently: while Reed is on one of his mysterious assignments, Trent is going to travel to Japan with his best friend Beth as interpreter to look at some valuations for the art gallery he is a silent partner of (having inherited his share from an ex-boyfriend). He is supposed to make contact with two collectors, and work with a local art appraiser to help determine which pieces should be bought by the gallery. Simple, right? Well, actually… Of course, I could see the whole disaster barreling his way when the local art appraiser mentions the word “Yakuza” in the Japanese half of their first conversation and Beth refuses to translate. Pretty soon Trent is accused of murdering the Yakuza with a jade dagger from the man’s collection, imprisoned, set free only to step right into the next trap, etc., etc., etc. in standard Trent fashion. But does he give up and stay safe? No way!

Reed can’t believe Trent is in prison in Japan, but since he’s seen it on CNN it must be true. He worries about Trent and what his lover can and can not take enough as it is without the man landing himself in his worst predicament yet. Of course, he races to Japan, with his boss’s okay and the FBI local agent ready to support him when he arrives in Tokyo, and figures out pretty quickly that Trent is being set up. But why? And who committed the crime? He will do anything to clear Trent’s name, even pose as a “host” at a night club to get close to the Yakuza suspected of somehow being involved. And guess what? That plan does not end well, and the battle for his and Trent’s lives is on.

If you like mysterious international criminal plots set in exotic places, writer-types who get in way over their heads—even though they should know better—and secret agents who try to keep them safe, and if you are up to following Trent and Reed into their next grand adventure, you will probably like this novel. It definitely kept me entertained, and, after a deceptively slow start to set the scene, might just manage to raise your blood pressure a notch or two.

 

 

 

 

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Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 250 pages/82681 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	22-November-2013
Price	$6.99 ebook, $16.99 paperback, $16.99 bundle
Buy Link	https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/jaded-by-em-lynley-1649-b