Evelyn Shepherd

In many ways, this was awful. I struggled between wanting to stop reading and not being able to put it down it was that inconsistent. I think the best part about it is the cover. I really love that cover. The book wasn't very well written, especially in the first half where much of the text was stiff and awkward. And then there would be times when Shepherd would come up with a line or three with beautiful imagery.

The plot was fine but the execution was terrible. It was like she watched a bunch of bad police procedurals on TV and took the most common elements and threw them together: the perpetually angry police boss, the uncooperative witnesses who fit every stereotype, the sweet cop and the surly one, but then didn't put in any intelligence on the part of detectives or standard police procedure.

For example, the detectives are in their late twenties at the most and have been so for awhile. Um, no. It takes longer than that to become a detective. The chief yells at them for not accomplishing anything even though they've had the case two days. They see a car is following them and they try to get away. These are police officers and it's broad daylight! After the third body and they aren't getting anywhere, they finally think that maybe these people had something in common, maybe they should look at that. Wouldn't that be the first thing they did? It's like triangulation, the more people you have to compare, the easier to narrow it down.

I was rolling my eyes at this, very frustrated. But then the thriller aspects would come into play: the chases, the attacks, the danger and injuries and near-death kind of stuff I just eat up, and I couldn't put the book down. The action scenes were well written and exciting.

There was LOTS of angst so if you don't like that stuff, stay away. If that's up your alley, like it is for me, it's deliciously well done with foreshadowing, mystery, variety and tantalizing bits as the story progresses. It goes on and on and you'll probably want to throw Theo across the room a few times.

Carlos is wonderful--eventually. But at first he's like a stalker and he exhibited serious sexual harassment. There was definitely some dubious consent stuff going on. If it wasn't a romance I would worry that he was a bad guy at first.

Some parts were quite funny. Theo's yelling when he was discomfited was pretty hilarious to me.

But then there was more bad stuff:
The people were all caricatures: the uncooperative black woman, the annoying reporter, the jealous ex who wouldn't let go, the kind welcoming huge Latino family of his partner... the list goes on.

They worked every single day, all day long, through the weekend, on a high profile case without any help at all and then they got yelled at for taking too long and for being in late to work the next morning after working most of the night.


And the women, sheesh. This was one of the most sexist books I've read in awhile and it was written by a woman. But I knew that from the writing even though I didn't know who the author was when I started reading. As it progressed I wondered about the gender of author but I just knew. The reason? The protagonist read like a woman. In fact, the book felt like it had originally been written about a heterosexual couple and then just pronouns and gender specifics changed. Theo is supposed to be really tall but then he keeps looking up at people. Oh, once a definitely macho officer wears his hair in a french braid. I kid you not.

Here's a sample sentence:
"I turned on my heels and walked away."
That just doesn't sound like something a man would say. Maybe you don't agree, but it stopped me short.

But it also felt like the author had preconceived notions about gay men. The protagonist called other men bitches even though he was supposedly fairly macho. He thought crappy and unnecessary things about women every once in awhile, like when he saw a "very obese woman" at a bus stop wearing a very short skirt and not keeping her legs together. He commented how gross it was. There was absolutely no reason for this to be in the story.

There were no women speaking characters who were good except periphery family or old friends that spoke for a couple sentences, and Theo's aunt who had powers but in a huge fight where everyone was dying, only handed a character a gun. She was completely useless and weak. In one scene, one officer was badly injured and of course it was a woman, and that was the only female law enforcement officer in the book. Seriously.

But then she was really good with multiculturalism. Characters were from all sorts of cultures and one of the two main characters was Latino, although all of the ethnic names were obvious and trite. (Yes, every Hispanic family has a "Carlos" of course.)

The sex scenes were fine if improbable and UNSAFE. That makes me VERY angry, especially since HIV/AIDS is mentioned once in the book! One time they have sex both of them achieve orgasm four times. These are men! One time after working all night they got home at 4 AM, so tired they could barely stand. Remember, they get yelled at if they're late and they never get enough sleep. They take a shower and end up have sex and coming three times each. Really? I find it hard to believe these men would have that much desire when they were that exhausted let alone enough stamina. It wasn't like it was the first time they had sex.

I should give the author some leeway because she's obviously really young. How do I know? Because an aunt who's 52 acts like a traditional grandmother; a man in his 30's has crows' feet. A man in his 40's has skin like old leather. I felt like I should be applying to nursing homes and I'm 45.

So you can see why I was continually rolling my eyes, wanting to stop reading, and rating this a 1.5. But then an action scene would happen and it would be a 4.5, or an angst scene at around a 3 or 3.5.

So I don't really know what to rate the book. I'm going to give it a 2.5 rounded down because of the sexism and unsafe sex. But I probably will read the sequel. Yes, I'm inconsistent, too.… (mere)

In many ways, this was awful. I struggled between wanting to stop reading and not being able to put it down it was that inconsistent. I think the best part about it is the cover. I really love that cover. The book wasn't very well written, especially in the first half where much of the text was stiff and awkward. And then there would be times when Shepherd would come up with a line or three with beautiful imagery.

The plot was fine but the execution was terrible. It was like she watched a bunch of bad police procedurals on TV and took the most common elements and threw them together: the perpetually angry police boss, the uncooperative witnesses who fit every stereotype, the sweet cop and the surly one, but then didn't put in any intelligence on the part of detectives or standard police procedure.

For example, the detectives are in their late twenties at the most and have been so for awhile. Um, no. It takes longer than that to become a detective. The chief yells at them for not accomplishing anything even though they've had the case two days. They see a car is following them and they try to get away. These are police officers and it's broad daylight! After the third body and they aren't getting anywhere, they finally think that maybe these people had something in common, maybe they should look at that. Wouldn't that be the first thing they did? It's like triangulation, the more people you have to compare, the easier to narrow it down.

I was rolling my eyes at this, very frustrated. But then the thriller aspects would come into play: the chases, the attacks, the danger and injuries and near-death kind of stuff I just eat up, and I couldn't put the book down. The action scenes were well written and exciting.

There was LOTS of angst so if you don't like that stuff, stay away. If that's up your alley, like it is for me, it's deliciously well done with foreshadowing, mystery, variety and tantalizing bits as the story progresses. It goes on and on and you'll probably want to throw Theo across the room a few times.

Carlos is wonderful--eventually. But at first he's like a stalker and he exhibited serious sexual harassment. There was definitely some dubious consent stuff going on. If it wasn't a romance I would worry that he was a bad guy at first.

Some parts were quite funny. Theo's yelling when he was discomfited was pretty hilarious to me.

But then there was more bad stuff:
The people were all caricatures: the uncooperative black woman, the annoying reporter, the jealous ex who wouldn't let go, the kind welcoming huge Latino family of his partner... the list goes on.

They worked every single day, all day long, through the weekend, on a high profile case without any help at all and then they got yelled at for taking too long and for being in late to work the next morning after working most of the night.


And the women, sheesh. This was one of the most sexist books I've read in awhile and it was written by a woman. But I knew that from the writing even though I didn't know who the author was when I started reading. As it progressed I wondered about the gender of author but I just knew. The reason? The protagonist read like a woman. In fact, the book felt like it had originally been written about a heterosexual couple and then just pronouns and gender specifics changed. Theo is supposed to be really tall but then he keeps looking up at people. Oh, once a definitely macho officer wears his hair in a french braid. I kid you not.

Here's a sample sentence:
"I turned on my heels and walked away."
That just doesn't sound like something a man would say. Maybe you don't agree, but it stopped me short.

But it also felt like the author had preconceived notions about gay men. The protagonist called other men bitches even though he was supposedly fairly macho. He thought crappy and unnecessary things about women every once in awhile, like when he saw a "very obese woman" at a bus stop wearing a very short skirt and not keeping her legs together. He commented how gross it was. There was absolutely no reason for this to be in the story.

There were no women speaking characters who were good except periphery family or old friends that spoke for a couple sentences, and Theo's aunt who had powers but in a huge fight where everyone was dying, only handed a character a gun. She was completely useless and weak. In one scene, one officer was badly injured and of course it was a woman, and that was the only female law enforcement officer in the book. Seriously.

But then she was really good with multiculturalism. Characters were from all sorts of cultures and one of the two main characters was Latino, although all of the ethnic names were obvious and trite. (Yes, every Hispanic family has a "Carlos" of course.)

The sex scenes were fine if improbable and UNSAFE. That makes me VERY angry, especially since HIV/AIDS is mentioned once in the book! One time they have sex both of them achieve orgasm four times. These are men! One time after working all night they got home at 4 AM, so tired they could barely stand. Remember, they get yelled at if they're late and they never get enough sleep. They take a shower and end up have sex and coming three times each. Really? I find it hard to believe these men would have that much desire when they were that exhausted let alone enough stamina. It wasn't like it was the first time they had sex.

I should give the author some leeway because she's obviously really young. How do I know? Because an aunt who's 52 acts like a traditional grandmother; a man in his 30's has crows' feet. A man in his 40's has skin like old leather. I felt like I should be applying to nursing homes and I'm 45.

So you can see why I was continually rolling my eyes, wanting to stop reading, and rating this a 1.5. But then an action scene would happen and it would be a 4.5, or an angst scene at around a 3 or 3.5.

So I don't really know what to rate the book. I'm going to give it a 2.5 rounded down because of the sexism and unsafe sex. But I probably will read the sequel. Yes, I'm inconsistent, too.… (mere)