A Dangerous Thing

Rating:
Summary: Not a Dangerous Buy!
Review: What a great read! Light and entertaining, yet riveting and suspenseful, I read "A Dangerous Thing" in just two nights. The story starts with the main character, a bookseller from LA, traveling to his grandmother's old ranch in the Sierra Nevadas. He arrives to find a dead body in the middle of the driveway and no clue as to the cause. The story just takes off from there and never stops. Josh Lanyon has a superb grasp of language and plays subtle word games throughout this first-person narrative. Even at critical moments, the story remains witty and entertaining. I may have been at a slight disadvantage by starting with the second Adrien English book, rather than the first, but the characters still seemed well developed and understandable. My all-time barometer for a mystery is whether I can solve it, but not too quickly. A mystery solved too quickly means the author was sloppy with his clues, and a mystery with a surprise ending often means the author just tricked the reader. I found the pace of the "reveal" to be very well timed and thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you're looking for a good mystery where there are gay characters but their sexual orientation isn't the focus of the book, then this is the story for you. --Andrew Barriger, author of Finding Faith

Rating:
Summary: Not a Dangerous Buy!
Review: What a great read! Light and entertaining, yet riveting and suspenseful, I read "A Dangerous Thing" in just two nights. The story starts with the main character, a bookseller from LA, traveling to his grandmother's old ranch in the Sierra Nevadas. He arrives to find a dead body in the middle of the driveway and no clue as to the cause. The story just takes off from there and never stops. Josh Lanyon has a superb grasp of language and plays subtle word games throughout this first-person narrative. Even at critical moments, the story remains witty and entertaining. I may have been at a slight disadvantage by starting with the second Adrien English book, rather than the first, but the characters still seemed well developed and understandable. My all-time barometer for a mystery is whether I can solve it, but not too quickly. A mystery solved too quickly means the author was sloppy with his clues, and a mystery with a surprise ending often means the author just tricked the reader. I found the pace of the "reveal" to be very well timed and thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you're looking for a good mystery where there are gay characters but their sexual orientation isn't the focus of the book, then this is the story for you. --Andrew Barriger, author of Finding Faith