Hunter
by J.V. Speyer
Publication date: November 20th 2018
Genres: Adult, LGBTQ+, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense
Description:
Luis has spent his career chasing the darker side of life. First a vice cop, then an FBI profiler, now he lands in the Boston field office, and not by choice. He expects his case load to have a much lighter tone than he’s used to.
He wasn’t counting on New England’s dark history, or their pride in it. He didn’t understand how close-knit the old towns could be, or how protective they were of their own. He soon finds he’s going to have to count on every skill he ever used in his time at headquarters, and a few skills he didn’t know he had, if he wants to keep body and soul together.
Complicating matters is a new case Luis has just been handed, working with the Mass. State Police. Luis has history there, and ugly history too. Detective Donovan Carey is the guy who broke Luis’ heart over a decade ago. He wasn’t willing to even peek his head outside the closet, certainly not for someone like Luis. Can they put their history aside to deal with a mystery centuries in the making?
Luis ~ 5 Stars
Procedural ~ 4.5 Stars
Donovan et al ~ 3 Stars
Overall ~ 4 Stars
Hunter is the first book in a series and as such it's a pretty solid start to it.
Re: Luis: He was pretty much the reason I devoured this book. He was such a fantastic character and I felt so much for him. Actually, I cried enough to go through 4 tissues and one napkin (and have the puffy eyes to prove it), because I was absolutely heartbroken with everything he was going through. He's not perfect, he has several trust and mental issues that make it almost dangerous (for him and others) to be working in cases, but considering his background, it was completely understandable. Yet, as other characters stated and was shown in the book, he was the first to offer his help when others needed him and he went above what should have been expected of him, of course, it was never enough because he was the one with an ego problem according to all of them. *sighs* He was just so relatable and his spiraling out of control just made me want to cuddle him and make it better.
Re: Procedural arc: I won't claim to be an expert, but the procedural portion of the story seemed well researched and plausible. I really enjoyed following the investigation, especially the parts when Luis profiled the serial killer they were pursuing. The killer himself was a tad blah, but the rest of it? Well done, Ms. Speyer.
Re: Donovan: Ugh, frankly it took me a long time to like him and by the end of the book, I still hadn't fully warmed up to him. He will need to do something huge for me to actually believe he deserves Luis, as it is now? Nope, no way, no how. He is just such an entitled, privileged white twat! Grrrr! From the start, when he wasn't sure why Luis could be angry with him if supposedly things had ended on a good note thirteen years ago and then he was a jealous jerk when Luis hooked up with/gave his attention to someone else, when even he realized he'd been the one to break things off between them so many years ago, to him actually leaving Luis then even if he was aware of all of Luis's trust and abandonment issues and refusing to leave his very comfortable closet and using his family as a convenient excuse for it. He didn't seem like a 34-year-old, especially when he kept running to his mommy to guide him. And even when he started standing up for Luis against his coworkers, he still couldn't fully get what Luis was going through or support him, the guy actually believed Luis about Lightfoot (the ghost) and not that profiling actually works for hell sakes! *sighs wearily* I could go on and on, but I think that's enough for now.
Re: Everyone else: Let's start with Kevin, since he is Luis's partner at the Boston FBI branch. At first, him and Luis seemed friendly enough, joking and helping each other and then suddenly, after Luis and Donovan get hurt and Luis neglects to tell him about his injury, preferring to take care of it himself, Kevin turns on Luis and acts like an ingrate fool, refusing to see reason until the very end. I just can't even, so yeah, I'll leave that there.
Then we have Donovan's mother, who is a police captain and a homophobic racist at first— actually, most of Donovan's family is that, so it kind of makes sense that he didn't want to come out until he needed to—and who should've known better that injuries happen in their line of work and that sometimes it's not anyone else's fault. When Donovan and Luis get stabbed, she went ballistic and slapped Luis for not taking better care of his partner, her baby *groans* and yet, Kevin was there, too, but of course, let's just blame the poor Brazilian gay guy. And afterward, when Donovan explains he's gay and in love with Luis and that he didn't treat Luis right, she has a change of heart and is all contrite to Donovan and even invites Luis to dinner, but did she truly apologize to Luis? Of course not. *rolls eyes*
And don't get me started on Luis's supervisor and his coworkers because I don't want to get more worked up than I am already. Let's just say they all grated on my nerves.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read, despite all my issues with Donovan and all of the secondary cast. I've always loved shows that deal with the profiling side of the FBI, it's really interesting to see how Luis managed to get in the right frame of mind to think as the killer would. I liked the paranormal bit, too, even if it wasn't as prevalent as I thought it would be. I hope that's not the last we've seen of Captain Lightfoot, though. I'll be looking forward to more books (and more of Luis, of course) in this series!
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
4 Stars
This was a really great book that was a mix of Criminal Minds and Ghost story. I loved it; it was exciting and so vivid and action-packed. The mystery was so well done that I never knew what was coming next. I needed to know what happened so I was up till 3am on the edge of my seat with anticipation.
Luis was a slight conundrum to me, I loved his humor but I hurt for him with the pain he had experienced throughout his life. His life was beyond normal and it just makes me wanna hide him away.
Donovan is not what expected when I began the book, I pictured someone more abrasive and standoffish but he felt nothing like that. I will admit I liked Luis a bit more than Donovan, though.
While there wasn’t a lot of romance I loved the interaction between Luis and Donovan. It was filled with anger and longing. The setting was creepy at times and I could feel the goosebumps as the information was given to us.
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
No comments:
Post a Comment