Reviewed by Sid
AUTHOR: Justin South
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 44,620 words
BLURB: Paul & Sam is a MM romance murder mystery. Their story is plot intensive, with a degree of psychic chemistry, as the following brief description indicates:
19yo Paul lives a lonely, tormented existence. One night he meets Sam in extraordinary circumstances. He discovers Sam hero-worships him for saving his cousin’s life after a cowardly beach incident two years earlier.
Blinded by infatuation for his hero and devastated by the recent death of Tim, his twin brother, Sam passionately pleads to Paul to become his partner. While deciding, Paul is drawn into Tim’s psychic maze of cryptic messages. What is Tim’s influence? Does Tim empower Paul to identify the culprit who caused his cousin’s near-death? Can Paul decipher Tim’s cryptograms to solve the mystery surrounding his passing?
Follow Paul’s journey to love and happiness. Share the passion as two young men overcome insecurities and develop their innate strengths. Admire the kindness and generosity of Sam’s family as it assists others less fortunate. Deliberate the madness of revenge leading to the exposure of evil judicial corruption and a suspenseful court case.
REVIEW:
A mystery plot gone haywire – that’s the best way I could describe this story.
If this could have been just a murder mystery, that would have been good but the author mixes it with some weird romance storyline that seems totally unrealistic. This is a make-believe story.
Let me divide this story into two parts based on the murder mystery and the “love” story of Sam and Paul. The first half of the book majorly focuses on getting the two characters together.
Paul has been living a hard life ever since his parents kicked him out (the reason one can guess) and his sexual encounter one night with two rich brats ends him up in a bigger mess. He is found by a kind, old man who helps him and takes him back to his home under his family’s care. And that is a turning point for Paul in his life. He finds family, friends and most of all, true love under one roof and that all in one day!
Why is it hard for me to believe this storyline you ask? I mean this could be the case of insta-love, right? Nope – it woulda been more believable if it was insta-love.
Sam hero-worships Paul because Paul had been the guy who had saved his cousin’s life in the past. But Paul has had a major crush on Sam’s twin-brother Tim (who is dead). When Sam practically begs Paul to consider being his partner for life, the latter agrees. Sam’s parents give their blessings to this couple and they even let them share a room. Who in their sensible mind does that? Letting a complete stranger into their son’s life like that? Not to mention – they are still teenagers, which means their hormones run high on sky! I know Paul has been a hero to the family but one would give their hero gifts, presents, even money – not their son for life. I actually thought Sam’s father literally pushed Paul into accepting Sam in his life.
And it all happens in a matter of days.
The second part – the murder mystery – was quite readable, though the outcome wasn’t very surprising. The identities of the murderers become quite clear even before they are revealed in the book. And I thought the end could have been more enlightening. The author uses summaries and not actual scenes to give us the whole picture of how the killers get caught which in turn drags us through the most interesting part of the book.
I have never read anything from Justin South before but I have to say this author has a flair with language. The tone of the story comes off very rich, but too rich to be a teenage boy’s narration. Not only Paul, but every other character – save for Sam’s uncle (whose tone of dialogue was surprisingly normal, for a change) – speaks like they come from an aristocratic family.
Like when Sam’s father says – “As we’ve explained, we view our pledges to you as the most meaningful we’ve had the privilege to commit to – an investment in your happiness and future as well as Sam’s.”
It is my belief that a good editor could have really given this a makeover and made the content readable and flawless. There were a few punctuations missing here and there in the reviewers’ copy I received but that one can ignore. The other issues – I couldn’t.
I wouldn’t say Paul & Sam’s story isn’t a good one overall. The sex scenes are quite well-written and steamy. But content-wise, this just didn’t go well with me.
Sid rates it – 
BUY LINKS: Smashwords
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Sid Love is the owner of The Blog of Sid Love.
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