Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: Hayden Thorne

Genre: Gay Fiction

Tags: Alternate Universe, Ghosts, Magic, Mystery, Paranormal, Romance, Victorian (mid-19th century)

Length: 199 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi 

Purchase At: Amazon.com

Synopsis –

Blessed with the unique talent of Inscriptive magic, twenty-year-old Mathieu Perrault leaves his old life in France and the orphanage that has been his home since his childhood for work as the new tutor to a five-year-old mute girl. His head filled with dreams and endless possibilities, Mathieu soon finds himself in a great house tucked away in the quiet wooded hills of the northern region of Luxembourg. 

A house occupied by an ailing Dutch artist, one burdened with a terrible secret, and his charming family. A house shadowed by the sudden death of a well-loved servant. A servant, in fact, whose ghost stirs from its dusky world and seeks out Mathieu in terror. Through echoes of past events in unlit hallways, incoherent messages carved into walls, and the eerie vigilance of crows guarding the family, the ghost does what it can to warn Mathieu of a coming danger. 

And in the midst of warmth, laughter, and family, of friendship and magic, of young love blooming against a backdrop of terrible heartache and tragedy, Mathieu searches for answers in a dreamer’s bid to give the ghost the peace long denied it. All the while, a twisted shadow from the past creeps forward, inching closer and closer to him, a vicious hunger that leaves ruin and death in its wake. 

In that isolated great house among the silent trees and the watchful crows, Mathieu will soon learn that the restoration of balance in a world gone awry doesn’t always lie in the sphere of ordinary, mortal men.

Review –

When Mathieu, 20, arrives at the house in the woods he’s eagerly looking forward to tutoring young Aletta. He’s hoping that his special form of magic will flow to his young charge. His first job away from the orphanage he grew up in, he’s desperate to prove himself. He’s not prepared for what he walks into. The journey is an interesting one as he’s surrounded by crows as he slowly makes his way to the large house the first time. The crows play a big part of the story later, but the reader doesn’t know if they’re warning of upcoming evil or are actually evil themselves.

The first person Mathieu meets is Aletta’s uncle, Josef. Josef, 25, is so handsome that Mathieu finds himself tongue-tied and blushing just by being in his presence. Then there’s Aletta’s mother, Saskia. Saskia and Josef are very close, both doting on five-year-old Aletta. There’s Saskia and Josef’s father, an aging artist who spends most of his days locked away in his studio. Then there’s Aletta herself. She was born unable to speak but she can hear fine and communicates very well via her ‘finger movements’ – re: sign language. She and Mathieu have an instant bond. I adored her right off. She’s very intelligent for her age.

Mathieu hasn’t even had time to get comfortable in his new position before strange things start happening. The crows have gotten loud and are hovering outside the window of the classroom where he teaches Aletta. They appear to be waiting for Mathieu to do something, but what? Then he starts seeing things written in places that would be hard for anyone to access. Cryptic messages that make little sense to him, with the exception of a name: Marjam. When he finally works up the courage to ask questions about Marjam, he’s told a story about a young servant who committed suicide in the lake on the property. The lake is dark and foreboding. Mathieu has been ordered to keep Aletta away from it at all costs.

Aletta speaks often about the sad fairy in the woods. At first it appears as if the little girl has an overactive imagination, but then Mathieu begins to question if maybe she really is seeing someone – or some thing.

Then there are the nightly visits…

Each night Mathieu is awakened by sounds outside his bedroom door. There’s shuffling right before somebody stops and attempts to turn the doorknob. To say he’s terrified is an understatement. Then he starts seeing what he believes is the ghost of young Marjam. Suddenly Aletta’s sad fairy talk doesn’t sound quite so far-fetched.

Throughout everything there’s a growing attraction between Mathieu and Josef. Only when Mathieu confides his fears about Marjam to Josef do things really start to come together. There’s still a mystery to be solved – Why did Marjam commit suicide? What or who is she trying to warn Mathieu away from? – but now there’s support from within the household and relief that Mathieu isn’t seeing or experiencing things that simply aren’t there.

A Murder of Crows has a little bit of everything. There’s the large house surrounded by woods and close to the creepy lake where a young woman went to her death. There’s the bad guy who may or may not have had something to do with what happened to the young woman. There are secrets being kept by the patriarch of the family. There are the cryptic messages, the nighttime visits, the ghost of the woman, and even a budding romance between the wealthy uncle and the orphaned tutor. Throw in a unique cast of secondary characters and the story is complete.

I’m not normally a big fan of books that aren’t contemporary. I don’t find myself enjoying stories where characters have to hide who they are and are looked down upon by society. In historical settings that’s almost always the case. Not in this book. This is set in an alternate universe (of sorts) but it’s still not in a contemporary setting. Thankfully Josef and Mathieu being gay isn’t an issue for the family or society. What I do love are books with ghosts, a good mystery, anything with children, and entertaining secondary characters. I’m a sucker for a good romance, so there’s that as well. A Murder of Crows had it all. The romance may not take center until much later – and it shouldn’t, really – but it does play a nice part in the story as a whole.

The mystery is written well and I was happy with the way that was resolved. It was actually the perfect resolution and something I didn’t see coming. The author also wrote an epilogue that I absolutely loved, giving the reader a glimpse into what’s happening a few years down the road.

Overall, a very entertaining read. I’m eager to read more by the author.

This book was provided by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher: Lethe Press

Genre:  Gay Fiction

Tags: Organised Crime, Gay MC, Arcane/Magic, Social Commentary, Action, Violence, Horror/Gore

Length: 178 Pages 

Reviewer: Karen 

Purchase At: amazon, Lethe Press 

Synopsis:

Denny “The Bull” Doyle steps out of prison only to find a low-level gangster is attempting to take over his organization. Brendan Newton is a newbie to the gang, who’s spent too much time in front of the television, building a grand fantasy about the machinations of the underworld. He’s naive and weak, but he may be the only chance Doyle has. The Bull’s associates are being murdered in violent and bizarre ways, and the next target is his beloved, though wholly sociopathic, brother, Jordie. Behind it all is Malcolm Lynch, a sadistic gangster who has more than guns and knives at his disposal. He’s a sorcerer intent on building an empire, and Doyle is the only thing standing in his way.

Review: 

Down on Your Knees starts with Denny Doyle being picked up getting out of Crainte after nearly two years of incarceration. Brendan Newton is his designated driver home to Doyle’s family and the family’s old-school crime operation. Brendan is seventeen, and picking up  Denny Doyle is a bigger deal than stealing a few cars with his friends. Doyle is a hero in his neighbourhood. Brendan’s father refers to him as ‘his queer angel’, the ‘saviour of Gray’s Channel’. Certainly not a hero who wears a cape, but he looks out for the locals in between doing what has to be done as an enforcer and earner for the family business.

The Doyle brothers protected Gray’s Channel. Some kid knocked down a granny to snag her purse, and Jordie grabbed his Glock. Some guy fiddled with a brat, and Denny used his Makita nail gun to pin the perv’s dick to his belly. One college student-douche refused to turn his stereo down after having been repeatedly asked by his old-man neighbor. The sleepless neighbor complained to Nathan Doyle. So Nathan got himself a machete and paid a midnight visit.

What starts out as some hero worship and an opportunity for his girlfriend to think more of him turns into so much more for young Brendan. Especially when Denny works out the welcome home party is nothing more than a trap by a rival who has moved in on his family’s territory. Denny’s friends are dropping like flies or refuse to acknowledge him out of fear of Malcolm Lynch. Even his crazed younger brother, Jordie, seems to be accepting Lynch more readily than he should be, so what’s going on? Is Brendan in on the deal to off Denny straight out of Crainte?

Never truer words were spoken. Brendan is about to have a very bad day. A very intense week. Welcome to hard-nose crime, pet.

When Denny ends up killing the son of Malcolm Lynch, part of the “welcoming party,” it’s game on. One violent ride ensues. Lynch can’t let that lie and Denny won’t let Lynch have his measure.

One of my favourite books is The Son by Jo Nesbo and what I love about that book is the way you feel sympathy for the anti-hero, Sonny Lofthus. Something Denny is in Down on Your Knees. He is far from a good man, but you can’t help support him because he’s made relatable. And just like in The Son, you get a feel for the MC through other’s eyes – like Brendan who is also a POV narrator of this book. Brendan thinks he’s a tough guy. He isn’t. He’s a kid with romantic ideas about crime. Still, when Denny needs something the kid is… accessible. Mostly, it’s good to see his thought processes in amongst Denny’s.

Brendan didn’t know how many men his passenger had killed. Some said it was well into the double digits. Others, those who took his interest in cock as a sign of weakness, figured he’d ordered a few hits, but didn’t have the balls to pull his own trigger; they said Nathan and Jordie had done the wet work for him, protecting their pansy brother. Sitting there, Brendan felt that those who underestimated Doyle were suicidally mistaken.

You know what else I loved about his book? That Brendan is not the sudden GFY partner. I swear I would have thrown the Kindle if that happened, but I’m so used to thinking that’s the way a book in any gay genre will go nowadays that I was waiting.

I also loved the real and genuine writing around the vocation of Denny and the one man he has feelings for, possibly loves, not meshing. The sad but unwavering reality of it. It’s seen through both Denny and Brendan’s eyes as well which adds immense depth, allows reader empathy to something that isn’t given a lot of page time.

There is organic social commentary written into this crime world that parallels reality for a lot of LGBTQ people – gay in this case. Maybe I looked too hard into the writing. But Denny has to be tougher, stronger, faster, brighter than the others in the world he lives and works in because he’s a ‘fag’ a ‘homo’, a ‘cocksucker.’ Homophobia is bluntly clear in the dialogue or thoughts of others. Crime or not, how much harder has it been to hold a partner’s hand in public, kiss the person you love because they’re the same-sex as you? Take them to work functions? Change or no in some parts of the world, it’s still a challenge, sometimes much worse.

The other men in the organization felt themselves magnanimous for tolerating his bedroom activities, and he knew they only did so because of the reputation he’d built for himself before word had gotten out. He earned. He enforced. And he was better at the life than almost anyone else living it. He had to be. Any weakness would be attributed to his sexuality, amplified by it. One too many failures and he’d go from boss to homo-corpse quicker than his brother Jordie could down a shot of tequila.

The magical elements of this book add an even darker layer to an already dark story. Lynch was brutal. This story is unapologetically tough. Necromancy is a freaky skill-set that Lynch uses in an emotionally disturbing way, along with flat-out violence. Denny can’t let either get in the way of what he has to do to stop this upstart arsehole who thinks he owns Doyle territory – whether Denny wants out or of the business or not, it’s the principal of the thing. And Denny is no slouch when it comes to violence of his own, and doing what has to be done. It’s not the rebar, it’s the way you wield it.

If you want something different in gay fiction. Something very well written, Noir. Fast-paced. A crime/UF/suspense story wrapped up in one, with no shying away from violence, then this is definitely your book. Highly recommended reading. 5 Stars!  

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: NineStar Press

Tags: Futuristic, Lesbian MC, Private Investigator, Tech Shifters, Background Romance, Series 

Length: 223 Pages

Reviewer: Karen

Purchase At: amazon, NineStar Press

Synopsis:

Review: 

The well named LV48 is another interesting story from the world of PI Cassie Tam. This time there’s a Tech Shifter “vampire” who has wreaked a bit of havoc on several people… so far. The police are calling the recent attacks muggings so as not to cause alarm. After Cassie is attacked one night on her way home from a night out with girlfriend Lori, things change. Cassie is strongly, uh, persuaded into being on the team of the New Hopeland Police Department to help crack this case.

My head drops, and I rub my eyes. “I can’t believe this.”
“Believe it, Caz. Right now, if we want to prevent more attacks, you’re the best shot we have.”

Cassie remembers more than some of the others who have been attacked before her. Being a PI means she’s used to focusing on all the details of an event, even one as difficult as this. So, Cassie joins Captain Hoover, Corporal Devereaux and Lt. Hanson, and, now, Donal O’Brien – the Marshal of the Tech Shifter Division – who happens to be a hybrid wolf. None of this is easy for Cassie because the TS Murders Files placed a strong fear of Tech Shifters into her psyche, and this vampire attack has ratcheted it up.

Cassie is going to be used as bait by the NHPD to see whether there is something more they need to know about why this is happening. A phial of blood was left at the scene where Cassie was attacked when the LV was interrupted. It also appears a tracker is left in the victims. The priority is obviously to stop this TS, and to do what they need to find out if the attacks are opportunistic or something more organised. Cassie doesn’t do a lot of the same things on any given day, but what about the other people who have been targeted by the LV? Is the type of work they do something they have in common? Is there a possible link to the underground and Fuerza? Which means there could be another link in there to the Kings of Utah. All roads in this series seem to lead to The Four Kings, but the Tech Shifter world is an integral part of New Hopeland as well. Much like the underground and synth drugs. It will be very interesting to see where this eventually ends up.

Bert also has some interesting personality traits developing that has Cassie going to Familiar Enterprises. She wants to work out why he’s behaved or is behaving the way he has been on a few recent cases. The story of how Cassie came to have such a rare, expensive, and protective familiar was also given some page time. I’m all for anything to do with Cassie’s AI gargoyle. From the first time Bert appeared on page in book #1, Addict, I loved him. Here, he is Bert the ever vigilant sentinel, looking out Cassie’s window on her behalf, or Burt taking on a vampire, biting off a chunk of an ear, even a bit of handy plumbing is nothing for her gargoyle. Caw, Bert. You continue to be awesome.

Lori wasn’t in this book much, but the connection between Cassie and her girlfriend is given some more depth, a bit more warmth.  Cassie made some major inroads in accepting Ink, Lori’s panther Tech Shifter persona. This case makes her think more intently about why she’s been so apprehensive to accept Ink previously rather than just rolling with it. It’s something that has been in the way of their growing relationship. I liked this aspect of Cassie –  her vulnerability, along with her feelings of affection toward Lori that she usually shuts down. But this is not a romance series, it’s very much in the background, it’s about the detective/PI work.

The Cassie Tam Files is a different series to a lot of others in queer fiction. This is a futuristic tech world with a strong, intelligent (lesbian) female lead, a working PI, who is never portrayed as anything more than capable and ethical in both her actions and words. She also doesn’t back down from trouble and she rolls her sleeves up in a fight. She is still developing further as a character, the most thus far is seen in LV48.

I find Charlie, Cassie’s ex-girlfriend, interesting. She’s an Elite, a synth dealer. It was nice to catch up with her and to see Cassie meet Jody, Charlie’s new girlfriend. In the beginning I felt Cassie had more feelings for Charlie than for Lori but that’s now put to bed in LV48. Charlie is helpful to Cassie, she understands her job because she’s very much a part of the New Hopeland underground herself, and Cassie deals with the underground regularly. I also really like how adult everyone is in this series. It’s nice to read.

In book #2,  The Fox, the Dog, and the King, there’s fantastically detailed information on Tech Shifters at the end, including diagrams. Likewise at the end of LV48, there’s the ‘initial report of the LV Tech’ by Lt. Devereaux’, a thorough look at this specific TS. Once again Matt Doyle writes afterword details that are comprehensive, vibrant, and show a love of this world – it’s awesome. The Cassie Tam Files is a different world and series, one where I’m feeling increasingly at home. 4.5 Stars.

Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher: Vintage Digital

Genre: Crime. Thriller.

Tags: Mystery/Thriller, Suspense, Revenge, Redemption, Contemporary Setting

Length: 658 Pages

Reviewer: Karen

Purchase At: amazon.com

Synopsis:

The author of the internationally best-selling Harry Hole series now gives us an electrifying stand-alone novel set amid Oslo’s hierarchy of corruption, from which one very unusual young man is about to propel himself into a mission of brutal revenge.

Sonny Lofthus, in his early thirties, has been in prison for the last dozen years: serving time for crimes he didn’t commit. In exchange, he gets an uninterrupted supply of heroin—and the unexpected stream of fellow prisoners seeking out his uncanny abilities to soothe and absolve. His addiction started when his father committed suicide rather than be exposed as a corrupt cop, and now Sonny is the center of a vortex of corruption: prison staff, police, lawyers, a desperate priest—all of them focused on keeping him stoned and jailed, and all of them under the thumb of Oslo’s crime overlord, the Twin. When Sonny learns some long-hidden truths about his father he makes a brilliant escape, and begins hunting down the people responsible for the hideous crimes he’s paid for. But he’s also being hunted, by the Twin, the cops, and the only person who knows the ultimate truth that Sonny is seeking. The question is, what will he do when they’ve cornered him?

Review:

Once upon a time I read a whole lot of crime/thriller fiction. I still enjoy a good revenge, retribution plot. Some of my favourite movies are centred around that very theme – The Long Kiss Goodnight, Kill Bill, Taken, Payback, The Road to Perdition, Mad Max, the list goes on. To be blunt, I enjoy seeing someone paying for being, well, an epic arsehole. The Son gave me a very satisfying payback read. I also come from Australia and we have a bit of hero worship of people who go rogue and stick it to the Man or fight back in some way – just think Ned Kelly. There are contemporary counterparts of a more… colourful nature, Chopper Read for one. We have a cultural fascination with people on the roguish side and Sonny Lofthus was the singularly most polite redemptive serial killer I’ve encountered. And just like the people who encounter him in this book, I plain like/love the guy. I was cheering for him but the deeper he got into the seedy underbelly, actually the upper class, of Oslo, the more the story unfolded. The more I had no clue as to how Sonny could come out alive which had me sitting on the veritable edge of my seat.

The official blurb tells us that Sonny Lofthus has been in jail for twelve years, since he was eighteen and he’s now thirty. The truth is from sixteen, when he was still a minor and in personal pain, Sonny became addicted to heroin and was incarcerated. He took on other people’s crimes in exchange for (better quality and abundant) heroin. That equated to over twelve years. More than half of Sonny’s entire life is spent institutionalised. While some found him to be teenage-like, I say he’s someone who has been jailed, sedated, and lost track of current behaviour and technology.

‘I have some contacts, but I don’t know where they live so I thought I would look them up in the phone book.’
‘The phone book?’ one of the girls snorted. ‘You can just look them up on the Net.’
‘I can do that?’ the young man said.
‘Are you for real?!’ she laughed.

His policeman father’s apparent suicide, his mother’s subsequent depressive spiral into alcohol, drugs and finally death, created an addict. The A grade student, the promising wrestler, the son who was part of a loving family was no more. Until another inmate, Johannes, confesses he was involved in Ab Lofthus’ death. After the confession the cancer-riddled Johannes is asked to help Sonny. Johannes, who trusted Sonny’s father and likes Sonny, agrees. He’s old, he’s been a long-term model prisoner, he cleans the entire prison. Johannes has keys, access, trust, and nothing to lose; he’s dying but the Son has absolved him so there aren’t any repercussions that can hurt now.

You know this book is about redemption and revenge. From the confession to the absolver – from Johannes to Sonny – things are not as they seem: About his father pulling the trigger, about being coerced into writing a suicide note. Perhaps Ab Lofthus wasn’t the mole and disgraced officer he was purported to be. It’s powerful enough to motivate a son to go cold turkey, gain some of his strength back, to seek revenge.

Once Sonny breaks out of the purpose-built, hi-tech Staten prison, he sets about taking out anyone who was involved with his father’s death, as well as murders pinned on him. You learn of more people who are involved in crimes that are linked to Ab’s death, and to Sonny, how endemic the corruption is, how high-reaching. The book keeps you wondering who can be trusted. The cast is varied, there are assistant prison governors, commissioners, police, an old-time detective not long from retiring, his new partner who wants to get into law, a lawyer, a prison chaplain, a taxi driver, people within a residential house for addicts – the Ila Centre – dog breeders, an idealistic boy, and so on, who fill up the pages of The Son. Large or small roles, they all matter. The way it’s delivered is what makes the story so very good. How everything and everyone is tied in together – and there is quite the intricate plotting. It takes a good writer to do what Jo Nesbo does in The Son. The book is given several perspectives throughout. Where Sonny is, interactions he has, being placed inside the mind of the person he has just shot, stabbed, or has left dying from each choice of revenge he exacts. Not to mention the other people he interacts with in an almost Robin Hood-esque manner. The book is dark and graphic and it has mystic and spiritual undertones, bear that in mind before reading.

Never the loquacious type, Sonny remains quite enigmatic throughout the book. You are fed just the right amount to charm and endear you so you support a vigilante killer. There’s just enough for you to sympathise with how he’s feeling, understand why he’s doing what he is. How he’s seen through other’s eyes and why they all like him so much. And they do, like him so much. Unless he wants them dead. It’s inspired writing that the (anti) hero’s POV is often via other’s eyes – like twelve year old Markus who lives across the road from Sonny’s childhood home. The home is still his and has had all utilities and bills paid for, yet Sonny has been jailed and near comatose for a long time. Markus is an interesting narrator and his romanticised views of Sonny are innocent but telling in a very dark book. There are many people who fill in the blanks about Sonny Lofthus – from the prison chaplain, Per Vollen, to Gilberg, a junkie who lives under a bridge because the Ila Centre has ghosts, to Martha, who heads the Ila Centre up, to Pelle, the taxi driver – a HUGE shout out to Pelle, one of the best secondary characters of any book.

While there are several viewpoints, the main narrative is that of Chief Inspector Simon Kefas. Kefas, who keeps being cast aside for Kripos (think FBI) to take over the lead of investigations of all the dead bodies mounting up in and around Oslo. Kefas is close to retirement and incredibly tough and methodical, but he’s no stranger to fractured people and relationships. He is far from black and white about human nature. He was once Ab Lofthus’ best friend and they were on the force together so he has an emotional investment in this case. Nevertheless, he is a good detective, if not flawed in his own right. Kefas injects light into dark when he thinks of his younger wife, Else, but, still, his viewpoint is often melancholy and resigned – after all, it is a noir read.

Although The Son is not a romance, interestingly, it is a kind of ode to a warts-and-all love. Sometimes people take vows seriously and stay through the bad as well as the good. Some people fall for/love the unlikeliest of partners. How easily that can happen and often does in real life is mirrored in the book. The love is varied – Kefas and his wife, Else, who is going blind. Posthumously, Ab and his wife Helene. Sonny and the person he falls for. The love of a son for his father, the father for his son, and I’m not just talking about Sonny and Ab Lofthus when I say that. Then there’s the bonds of some friendships that are powerful.

I’ve brushed over other threads and components – such as Norwegian social commentary and mystical/ preternatural /spiritual elements related to Sonny. I can’t cover everything and you really do have to read the book to take from it what you will. There’s also the hunt for the mysterious Twin, the head of crime in the region, and the mystery of the mole, a paid police rat. Then there are Sonny’s manners. How incredibly polite he is. Even when he’s about to kill you.

It had to be his crazy brain clinging to this last straw. Because there was nothing else, nothing but this foolish hope in a dog kennel in a forest at night: that the guy who had abducted him was telling the truth.
‘Enerhauggata 96.’
‘Thank you so much,’ the guy said and stuck the pistol into the waistband of his trousers.
Thank you so much?

Overview:

If I read a book, any book – romance, crime, horror – that ventures outside the construct and legalities of polite society, then I expect it to be done with passion and bravado. The Son fits that requirement. Sonny made me worry about him., care for him, and he is essentially a killer. Primarily it was his belief in his father, justice and payback that had me cheering for him. Simon Kefas also made me care. And people just don’t get shot and die in this book. Oh no, you live in their skin as they’re dying, and it’s gruesome. But this is a book about retribution and I’m not looking for apologist writing. I wanted to experience the payback and Jo Nesbo made sure I did.

I know this author has a huge following of his Harry Hole detective series but I’m not much of a series reader so I’m not sure if I’ll read them. However, this book was a standalone and I wanted something like the books I used to love before the romance bug bit. Crime. Thriller. Revenge tropes. The Son delivered what I desperately needed and I’ll be reading more standalone books by Jo Nesbo. If you like a graphic noir/ payback/ atonement book – is that even a genre? – then look no further than The Son. It’s gripping, it’s well written, it has flawed characters that I revelled in. It’s clever. The setting of Oslo is wonderful and adds another dimension. Crank up some Depeche Mode and Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne and dust off your Discman – cheers to you, Sonny – and tune into The Son. Stellar noir reading. 5 Stars.