

At the start of the story, he can't even kiss Adrien because kissing a man feels too weird, despite having been a regular at S&M clubs for some time. But Jake's confliction is confusing in its expression, almost to the point of feeling inconsistent at times. Big old bundles of contradictions make for interesting stories.

Like, hates himself for being attracted to men, plans on marrying a woman and having kids, can hardly bring himself to to have dinner with Adrien conflicted.

In book two it turns out that Jake is not just closeted and conflicted, he's, like, suuuuuper conflicted. I had him pegged as closeted and probably conflicted from almost his first appearance in book one, and part of me was watching to see how Lanyon developed him as the story went along. I'm not sure what to do with Jake, though. The mystery in this one felt a little less meaty, but that's mostly made up for in that we get lots of relationship stuff between Adrien and Jake. Not quite as good as the first, but mostly in that way most second books aren't as good as the first-simply because they aren't the start of something. I don't reveal anything about the resolutions to either book's mystery.**The second in the Adrien English mystery series. **The following is spoilery for character reveals from book one and discusses character development stuff from book two. In 2019, Fatal Shadows became the first LGBTQ mobile game created by Moments: Choose Your Story.She is an EPIC Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist (twice for Gay Mystery), an Edgar nominee, and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads All-Time Favorite M/M Author award.Find other Josh Lanyon titles at Josh on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. The Adrien English series was awarded the All-Time Favorite Couple by the Goodreads M/M Romance Group. In 2016 Fatal Shadows placed #5 in Japan’s annual Boy Love novel list (the first and only title by a foreign author to place on the list). Stranger on the Shore (Harper Collins Italia) was the first M/M title to be published in print. Her FBI thriller Fair Game was the first Male/Male title to be published by Harlequin Mondadori, then the largest romance publisher in Italy. Author of nearly ninety titles of classic Male/Male fiction featuring twisty mystery, kickass adventure, and unapologetic man-on-man romance, JOSH LANYON’S work has been translated into eleven languages.
