Reviewed by Dan

TITLE:    Fire and Water

AUTHOR:     Andrew Grey

PUBLISHER:   Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH:   195 Pages

BLURB:

Officer Red Markham knows about the ugly side of life after a car accident left him scarred and his parents dead. His job policing the streets of Carlisle, PA, only adds to the ugliness, and lately, drug overdoses have been on the rise. One afternoon, Red is dispatched to the local Y for a drowning accident involving a child. Arriving on site, he finds the boy rescued by lifeguard Terry Baumgartner. Of course, Red isn’t surprised when gorgeous Terry won’t give him and his ugly mug the time of day.

Overhearing one of the officer’s comment about him being shallow opens Terry’s eyes. Maybe he isn’t as kindhearted as he always thought. His friend Julie suggests he help those less fortunate by delivering food to the elderly. On his route he meets outspoken Margie, a woman who says what’s on her mind. Turns out, she’s Officer Red’s aunt.

Red and Terry’s worlds collide as Red tries to track the source of the drugs and protect Terry from an ex-boyfriend who won’t take no for an answer. Together they might discover a chance for more than they expected—if they can see beyond what’s on the surface.

REVIEW:

All of Andrew Grey’s books are good, but I think I just found a new favorite! I really enjoyed both the story and the characters in this one. Andrew has written an entertaining story with a very true to life central core. It involves a new type of heroin on the street, one that has been laced with something that is killing the addicts. This could very well be a headline from recent newspapers around the United States. A friend of my sister in law recently lost her 20 something year old son to the exact same thing. He was found in a parking lot with the needle still in his arm, never knowing what hit him. A lot of people look the other way and say things like, “oh they were an addict…they got what was coming to them.”

Red Markham is a police officer in Carlisle, PA and he doesn’t subscribe to that opinion. As the story begins Red responds to a call of a deranged man, who it turns out is high on this new heroin. The man dies right in front of Red.  Another first responder informs Red that there have been several deaths from the same thing in the area recently. At this point we start to get clues of there being something wrong with Red’s face because the addict is afraid of him, and the other first responders don’t make eye contact with him. It isn’t until later in the book that we learn that Red has major scarring from a car accident that killed both his parents when he was seventeen.

Red responds next to a call at the local Y. A young boy in a possible drowning has folks scrambling. The boy lives. But after interviewing everyone, Red overhears one of the lifeguards remarking to the other that he wouldn’t want to live like that while the man is looking at Red’s scars. The younger man, Terry, doesn’t realize he has been overheard until too late. Red is not surprised that the handsome young stranger finds him repulsive, most people do.

Terry Baumgartner is a swimmer, who had been shooting for the Olympics until he met his former boyfriend and everything unraveled with his plans. After another police officer makes a remark about his nasty comment about Red, he realizes that he has gotten really shallow and needs to work on his human interactions. His friend Julie recommends helping with the local Meals on Wheels type service where she volunteers and he agrees.

Imagine his surprise when Red opens the door at his last delivery of the day!  Turns out the final delivery is Red’s elderly aunt.  What begins as hostility just might be what both men need. Red is broken by his scarring, and Terry has just come out of a bad relationship. Over the course of the book we learn just how bad and dangerous it was, leading up to the big finish.  Big burly hairy bear of a cop and a little twink swimmer, what can they have in common? It turns out a lot.

I highly recommend this book. Pick it up today.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

Amazon UK

ARe