Reviewed by Elizabetta

TITLE: Fair Play

SERIES: All’s Fair, book 2

AUTHOR: Josh Lanyon

PUBLISHER: Carina Press

LENGTH: 250 pages

BLURB:  

Fifty years ago, Roland Mills belonged to a violent activist group. Now, someone is willing to kill to prevent him from publishing his memoirs.

When ex-FBI agent Elliot Mills is called out to examine the charred ruins of his childhood home, he quickly identifies the fire for what it is–arson. A knee injury may have forced Elliot out of the Bureau, but it’s not going to stop him from bringing the man who wants his father dead to justice.

Agent Tucker Lance is still working to find the serial killer who’s obsessed with Elliot and can’t bear the thought of his lover putting himself in additional danger. Straightlaced Tucker has never agreed with radical Roland on much–“opposing political viewpoints” is an understatement–but they’re united on this: Elliot needs to leave the case alone. Now.

Tucker would do nearly anything for the man he loves, but he won’t be used to gain Elliot access to the FBI’s resources. When the past comes back to play and everything both men had known to be true is questioned, their fragile relationship is left hanging in the balance.

REVIEW: 

Trouble just doesn’t leave Elliot Mills alone. He’s been living with boyfriend Tucker on his Goose Island home in Puget Sound for six months now when sudden violence and a mystery comes knocking on the door. But this time someone is after Elliot’s family.

The second book in a romance series is tricky. The initial giddy meet-up and the fresh lusting-after and falling into something important is old news– we’ve had our happily-ever-after ending. But, we know that isn’t really the end. What happens after the HEA and do the lovers have anything more to say to us?

I really like these two guys, Elliot and Tucker. I think it’s because they are difficult and stubborn and complicated. It was clear in book one that they don’t know much about relationships; they hadn’t been terribly successful at those. But they give each other something special, and love, even, plays into the equation. 

Fair Play involves a mystery about someone targeting Elliot’s father, Roland. Back in his youth, Roland was an anti-government activist involved with a cell of people bent on taking action, sometimes violent, towards ending the Vietnam war. Roland had a very colorful and checkered past full of liberal ideals, civil instigation, and free love. Now, years later, Roland is planning on publishing his memoirs. And it’s got someone worried. There are secrets, it seems, things from long ago that someone needs kept hidden.

While the mystery is interesting — we’re given an overview on the free speech and anti-war movement of the ’sixties — its main draw is how it mixes in family dynamics. Elliot learns a lot about his aging father’s past; some things are pretty painful for an ex-FBI agent to learn about a loved one who wasn’t always on the right side of the law. We see Elliot grow up, in a way, as he learns more about his father.

And the unfolding story tests Elliot’s relationship with Tucker. Elliot is fiercely independent, remember… alpha male, and he gets rubbed the wrong way when Tucker tries to protect him.

I think the mystery here is serviceable (though I was a little underwhelmed by the final denouement), but this second book in the series works more for that exploration after the HEA. What happens when the hard work must start in two people learning how to set the grooves into a partnership so they’ll both fit comfortably together. It’s tumultuous times for Elliot and Tucker who’ve admitted their past relationship phobia. 

The deliciousness is in seeing what makes them tick and how they work around all the rough edges. The sex– which becomes more complicated by what Elliot demands from Tucker in the bedroom not manifesting outside the bedroom– is fraught with lust and tenderness. It was a surprise to me to see a submissive side to Elliot, but it makes sense that a take-charge personality can seek release by submitting in some way to someone. Someone they trust, that is. And there’s the conundrum. It takes lots of time and discussion and opening up to get to trust, and Elliot shows his weak side here.

We’re lucky to have this author and this wonderful evocative voice– sketching out the lovely Puget Sound background as well as drawing us into these lives. This is a solid mystery and action story with some interesting historical background– and, as ever– an enduring romance to pepper it. Recommended.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Carina

Amazon

Amazon.uk

ARe