Hidden Force by Shayla Kersten

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Usually I'm not fond of romantic suspence, but in this case I was confident that the author would not disappoint me, and so it's.

Tony Costa is a tough homicide detective. He is living in a nightmare cause his last case is about a serial killer who preys on young, blond and gay victims. And all the victims could be twins of Tony's lover, Ryan, a vice cop. The hidden Tony's lover.

To Tony, Ryan is his first male lover. He has never felt like this before, nor with women nor men. But he fears to coming out. And Ryan, who knows the man before the lover, knows that Tony is a good man, a tender lover and a brave cop. So he is willing to wait for his lover to be sure and if that time will never arrive, he is still into this affair.

But when Ryan is assigned to the case, to play as a pawn for the killer, Tony has to deal with his new found jealousy for Ryan: he has to step back and sees as his lover plays the role of the twinke to draw the killer. Cause he can't say nothing on the matter, he can't go to his captain and says he is sentimentally involved with the man.

The story is a good mix of romance and suspence: luckily for me, a bit unbalancing on the romance side (as I said before, I'm not fond of the suspence), but also the killer's matter is dealt with a fast paced rhytm and the real identity of the killer is not thrown away too soon.

Tony is a beautiful character, very hearthly and manly. He has doubts but that doesn't make him nasty. He deals with his problems without being a problem himself to Ryan. And also Ryan is a good character: patience and loving, he knows how to be "home" for Tony without make him feel sorry for not being all Ryan wants since the first moment. And this is maybe the strong side of the novel: in a story where one of the two characters is on his first male/male relationship, it's natural and right that he can have trouble to accept loving a man.

The story is not very long, 100 pages, but it's very well plotted: the sex is good but it's not free, it's masterly entertwined in the story, and so it doesn't make you tired to read it (and, well, you have plenty to read!!!)

http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419913358

Amazon Kindle: Hidden Force
Publisher: Ellora's Cave (November 1, 2009)

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