This review first appeared on the website I write for, Boys Next Door.
Clare London's done it again. She's sucked me into a story. I should know by now that this happens every time I read something that she's done. She's got a knack for taking people on the fringe of society, coming from a place that may be completly alien to the reader, and turning it into something that's accessible. You feel with these characters and even when the motives behind their actions are obscured, you still understand them. It's a rare talent.
This release is a bit different from the other work that I know and love from London. The reader doesn't get to know exactly what the main character's motives are until the very last chapter in the book. While it's not my favorite plot device, she makes it work. Normally, I like to know everything about a character, so I can angst with them throughout the story.
There's our main character, Freeman, whose job is to find things. He runs into a nameless club-goer, who he dubs 'Kit.' Kit becomes a fixture in Freeman's life, even as Freeman starts to burrow into Kit's employer's not-so-legal dealings, and people from Freeman's past come in to make things very confusing for Kit and Freeman both.
At times, you're not even sure who the good guys are and that's kind of nice. I like characters to be a bit ambiguous. It makes them all that much more real to me.
I'm not sure if this is going to be everyone's cup of tea since it's not happy and fluffy like the majority of BL out there, but it is a fantastic read. If people are going to ignore a good book because it's not sticking to the conventions that we all got used to reading in BL manga and in fan-fiction, well, then they're missing out. London is still one of my favorite authors--someone who I can always turn to for an engrossing story--even when she's playing with new ideas and new ways of delivering gorgeously hot males screwing each other madly.
Clare London's done it again. She's sucked me into a story. I should know by now that this happens every time I read something that she's done. She's got a knack for taking people on the fringe of society, coming from a place that may be completly alien to the reader, and turning it into something that's accessible. You feel with these characters and even when the motives behind their actions are obscured, you still understand them. It's a rare talent.
This release is a bit different from the other work that I know and love from London. The reader doesn't get to know exactly what the main character's motives are until the very last chapter in the book. While it's not my favorite plot device, she makes it work. Normally, I like to know everything about a character, so I can angst with them throughout the story.
There's our main character, Freeman, whose job is to find things. He runs into a nameless club-goer, who he dubs 'Kit.' Kit becomes a fixture in Freeman's life, even as Freeman starts to burrow into Kit's employer's not-so-legal dealings, and people from Freeman's past come in to make things very confusing for Kit and Freeman both.
At times, you're not even sure who the good guys are and that's kind of nice. I like characters to be a bit ambiguous. It makes them all that much more real to me.
I'm not sure if this is going to be everyone's cup of tea since it's not happy and fluffy like the majority of BL out there, but it is a fantastic read. If people are going to ignore a good book because it's not sticking to the conventions that we all got used to reading in BL manga and in fan-fiction, well, then they're missing out. London is still one of my favorite authors--someone who I can always turn to for an engrossing story--even when she's playing with new ideas and new ways of delivering gorgeously hot males screwing each other madly.
