Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Killing is easy. Love is... The Hardest Thing

James Lear does Lee Child

Once a major in the U.S. Army, Dan Stagg fell afoul of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. In his late 30s, tall, and muscular, Dan is prone to violence, always upholding what he views as justice. He’s offered a great deal of money to protect the young male secretary of a powerful real estate broker. The vain, shallow—but most of all hot—young man’s idea of protection includes sex. Dan quickly realizes something strange is going on: he’s being used as a shield for a much more sinister operation and must chose between easy money and sex or the ideals that he embodied in the Army. Why should he do the right thing—particularly when the army betrayed him? The Hardest Thing is a sexy gay mystery as only James Lear can write it: filled with lots of gay sexual encounters, romance, sweat, violence, and conspiracy.

 

Book Review

What a fantastic, fun, and sexy thriller! And hilarious. I mean I have sore abs and a smile permanently fixed to my face after finishing it. This is my first time reading a James Lear novel, but it will definitely not be my last; in my opinion the man has the rare gift of credible delivery. Candid, matter-of-fact prose, balanced with a sparkling wit and an almost earnest approach to the most ribald of sex scenes made for a delicious ride on this sex-studded adventure.

Ex-Marine Dan Stagg is barely holding his mishmash of a life together. Making chum change working security (read doorman/bouncer) for one of New York’s less seedy East Village nightspots is giving him way too much time to contemplate the rapid decline of his life. His bitter grief over the particulars of his current situation is made worse by the derision of the young hotshots who frequent the club. Eager to prove their machismo in the face of their peers, they repeatedly test him, eyeballing him in disdain and needling him with their showboat taunts. Despite his best effort to ignore them, one night an incident occurs, final outcome… Dan loses: his job, the possibility of paying rent on his hole-in-the-wall apartment, and perhaps the final piece of his rapidly declining respect. But when the incident makes the news, suddenly Dan is back in the game. A lucrative job offer to guard a hot, young male secretary, complete with road trip, beckons. Sure it’s a little too good to be true, but hell, he’s an ex-Marine, he can handle himself and the little blond Fauntleroy he’s hired to protect, right? He accepts the job and gains an adventure that has him utilizing every ounce of his survival skills to keep his charge and himself alive.

I loved Dan and his ultra-masculine, never-met-a-male-ass-not-worth-consideration, brutally honest ways. He’s one hundred percent, unforgivingly, male, and his every third thought involves sex in some manner, refreshingly so. He’s fit, hung, and fairly handsome. He’s an Army-trained killer who’s experiencing the vicious backlash of grief, so he might not be revealing his best side, but he’s got heart… It’s raw and he’s raw, but in the best possible way.

Jody the smooth operator male secretary is a snippy, trippy eye-candy of a character. But he definitely kept me guessing: Is he the simple shag-toy he appears or is there more to him than his buff ass and his voracious sexual appetite? Does he truly feel anything for Dan or is it simply convenient to have a sexy, hard-boiled ex-Marine at his beck and call?

This dazzling, fast-paced, roller coaster of an adventure story does not disappoint. With plenty of scintillating twists and turns, smoldering sexcapades, and the provocative, darkly-humorous narrative of Dan Stagg at its wheel, this is action/adventure that takes you places. Deep into the dark, seedy underbelly of the human mind and then deeper, into the vulnerable, soft places of the human heart. Top all this off with a visceral and tender ending and you’ve got what I would call a hole-in-one winner, one that I can’t wait to read again and again.

Thank you, James Lear, for this sexy, succulent and explosive action/adventure tale, which vividly illustrates the meaning of the word “male” in male/male gay fiction.

“Sizzle, Scorch, Burn…repeat”

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Cleis Press for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 288 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	11-June-2013
Price
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