Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Beneath the Stain Part 2
AUTHOR: Amy Lane
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
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Trav Ford doesn’t like strings and he doesn’t like messes. Coming off of a messy breakup, Trav is grimly determined to keep his life absolutely pristine. When Trav is asked to take over the management of Outbreak Monkey, his first order of business is to clean up their act—and that includes shipping the youngest, most troubled member off to detox and rehab before Mackey Sanders’s life choices kill him.
But Mackey didn’t become an addict overnight, and it’s going to take more than one trip to rehab to fix him up. When an act of violence destroys Mackey’s struggling equilibrium, Trav is going to find that messy isn’t so hard to escape—not when it’s wrapping its mess around Trav’s heart.
REVIEW:
THIS MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST PART! I’ll try to be careful but it’s hard to talk about what happened in part 2 without referring to what happened in part 1.
When we left off at the end of part 1, Outbreak Monkey had just signed a contract and were getting ready to head to LA (SPOILER!), without Grant, one of their bandmates. Grant had some issues to deal with, and didn’t go, breaking Mackey’s heart and setting him up for a bit of self-destruction. Part 2 is mostly from the perspective of Trav Ford, who has taken over as manager for the band in general, and Mackey in particular. Trav is former military, a Military Police officer specifically, and is a bit of a hard-ass. He’s had some education in business, and has taken on the job of managing Outbreak Monkey for his friend Heath, the owner of the company the band has signed with. Heath and Trav were in the military together, and Heath trusts him with the band after the mess their former manager caused. So in to the trenches Trav goes.
Mackey has had a rough time of it, he is a fantastic musician and writer, but dealing with the life they are now living is beyond him. The stress and anxiety get to him early, and Gerry their first manager is quick with the pills to help settle his nerves. That leads to coke to wake him up, and Mackey starts down a path of drug abuse that he can’t get himself off of. Trav is the man to deal with it, whether Mackey wants to or not.
Mackey we know well from the first part, he’s a fantastic character. Dark and talented, intense and scared. Trav is a good match for him, strong and stubborn, the counter to Mackey’s weaknesses. There is a bit of sexual tension starting between them, but Mackey is really a hot mess in this part and nothing comes of it. But the hint is there of things to come. Amy handles Mackey’s downward spiral perfectly, you can see why he starts with the drugs, it all makes sense in his mind and in this fucked up world. He is too young and too inexperienced to handle what he has, the talent, the life, the responsibility of this band. Trav witnesses a scene in the studio as they are beginning to record that shows just how masterful Mackey is. He writes the lyrics, but also gets these guys going with the music as well. This is all on Mackey, who is so young. Trav may be the man to deal with this.
Part of me is enjoying the slow release of this book, part of me hates it! I love Amy’s writing and books, I tend to gorge on them when they come out and read as FAST as I can to see what happens. This serial release is forcing me to slow down and enjoy the story. So does reviewing each part. I’m really focusing and concentrating on the short bits as they come. She’s also adding in her extras at the end of each part, this one was about an incident involving Trav and Heath in the military, that added a nice bit of background to his character. Heath as well.
As always, her writing is excellent, deep characters, a good understanding of the music business, a bit of song lyrics worked in, references to music and musicians I love, and she handles Mackey and his drug abuse in a realistic way. I see clearly why it started. She’s giving us a brilliant story about some fucked up characters, in a messed up world, in a perfect way.
Here’s my review of Part 1: https://lovebytesreviews.com/2014/09/01/recent-release-review-beneath-the-stain-part-1-by-amy-lane/
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