Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: The Truth As He Knows It
SERIES: Perspectives, Book 1
AUTHOR: A.M. Arthur
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
LENGTH: 289 Pages
BLURB:
Lies are the chains that keep you weighed down at rock bottom.
Officer Noel Carlson isn’t out to anyone in small-town Stratton, Pennsylvania, only to distant friends and family, so a relationship is out of the question. That doesn’t stop him from wanting one, though.
When a night-shift call brings him face to thonged butt with a hired stripper whose girl-party gig went terribly wrong, Noel takes pity on the guy and lets him go. But he can’t get the encounter out of his mind.
Shane has big-time debts to repay, especially to the brother who sacrificed nearly everything for him. His two jobs, in a deli and as a stripper, leave him no time for a social life. But a non-date of hot sex and takeout food with Noel? He can squeeze that in.
The bond they form is stronger than either expected or wanted. Especially since the step Shane’s about to take to put his brother—and his soul—back in the black isn’t quite legal. And he never calculated just how much his determination to make things right will cost him in the end.
Warning: Following on from the Cost of Repairs series, this book contains a closeted cop who’s looking for love, an indebted stripper who doesn’t believe he’s worthy, and a tasteful abundance of dirty guy sex. Also contains references to past physical abuse some readers may find disturbing.
REVIEW:
I wasn’t sure what “following on from the Cost of Repairs series” meant, but I’m happy to say it is a whole new series, still set in Stratton, PA, still referencing back to our friends from the Cost of Repairs series, but moving into a whole new cast of characters as well.
When Noel Carlson comes to Stratton to take a position as a police officer shortly after graduating college with his degree in Criminal Justice, he knows he will probably be stuck in the closet in such a small town. And that is indeed the case.
All that changes when he is called to a loud disturbing party in the middle of the night during one of his shifts. He finds an apartment full of women, all pretty heavily intoxicated. Then when he checks the bedroom, he finds a stripper in just a red thong! The guy is tied to the bed and gagged. As soon as he releases him, the kid spits out his name and address and runs out the door!
The stripper, Shane, is a local guy who has had a really hard life. He and his brother live in the local trailer park and owe a staggering amount of debt. As the story progresses, we find out that after Shane and his brother, Jason, lost their mom at age 32, their stepfather threw Jason out and started sexually molesting Shane. When Shane told Jason, the stepfather ended up dead and Jason ended up in jail for three years.
Several years later, Shane attempted suicide and the resulting hospital, legal, therapy, etc. bills were staggering and the brothers are still paying for them, thus the debt. Jason is working two full time jobs to pay the debt, and Shane is working both in a deli and also doing the stripping gigs to try to help out. Shane feels guilty because the debt is actually his fault.
Jason has inherited the genetic defect with his heart that his mother had, and has had heart issues already himself. Shane makes some very questionable decisions on how to pay the debt off so that Jason doesn’t have to work so hard. But then Shane meets Noel, a cop, the same cop who saved him from the women after they drugged him at that party! Holy crap, some of his decisions aren’t exactly legal in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and now he is falling for a cop? What will happen when Shane’s lies start to fall apart? Will Noel, a goody two shoes cop, be able to live with Shane’s past? What dark secrets exist in Noel’s past which led to the scarring on his chest? Did they have anything to do with the gay-bashing that left Noel’s friend Tristan with no short term memory, forcing him to live in an assisted care facility?
I really liked this book, and think it is a great kick-off to a new series. The book had it all. Angst, past sexual abuse, past murder, past attempted suicide, past gay-bashing, and all with a great cast. I have so many questions and guesses on who will be the subjects of the next book in the series. I can’t wait to read more!
RATING: 
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