Night Shift by Red Haircrow

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Like the other novella I read by Red Haircrow, even if the setting is totally different, an historical the other a contemporary this one, there is a common undertone to both of them, a mix of sad and bitter that cannot make them ordinary romances, but in any case, the involved men will have an happily ever after of some sort, maybe only a little later than in an ordinary romance would happen.

Another similarity is the difference in age of the men, one is barely a boy, and the other is an adult man, well beyond his young age. Jamie is a 19 years old college student who dreams of Europe and the freedom of being gay he will have in those enlightened countries, and just for these thoughts you can understand he is really young. Since his parents don’t want to support his dreams, he is working the night shift in a warehouse so that he can attend some courses at the community college and save all his money to finance his future backpacking travel, a travel that, according to me, he will never take, outgrowing the dream while, and when, he will gain years and experience. Jamie’s past experience with friends and sex are not good, and I think he sees Europe like a lost paradise, a place where he can be who he wants to be without being laughed.

Derrick is the new night worker; he is older, more thirty than twenty, and “exotic”; he was born in Europe, and even if he doesn’t have any accent, or odd “custom”, just his appearance appeals Jamie: dark haired, green eyed and pale skin, he is at the opposite of the All-American boys whom Jamie sees as the source of all his trouble. Jamie clutches to Derrick like he clanged to his dreams of Europe, Derrick being the “thing” more near to it Jamie can now reach. And Derrick is bisexual, and the interest is mutual, so of course he becomes Jamie’s next best thing.

It’s strange, this is basically a romantic story, and also the ending is an happily for now one, so this should be a 100% romance, but there is something, maybe the setting, mostly by night, or the characters, Derrick is quite aloof, that gives to the story an almost imperceptible dark mood. The sex scene are good, both Jamie than Derrick are basically positive characters, true, with some issues, but nothing major; maybe it’s all in Derrick, a character that, more or less, remains “obscure”, detached, and even if in the end he will explain a little more his motivation, in any case he maintain an aura of mystery, the reason why I said this is an happily for now and not an happily ever after ending.

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Amazon Kindle: Night Shift
Publisher: JMS Books LLC (November 5, 2010)

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