Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: Bisexual Blues
AUTHOR: David O. Sullivan
PUBLISHER: JMS Books
LENGTH: 20,960 words
RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2018
BLURB:
Being a cop isn’t easy. Being a gay — or even bisexual — cop can sometimes add fuel to the fire.
For best friends Dino Parelli and Norris Bander, friendship quickly morphs into much more. But things are more complicated than either man wants to admit. Dino must contend with his bisexual desires while acknowledging he loves Norris. For Norris, coming out is something he eventually wants, though even he finds himself wondering if maybe he’s really bi, as well.
Both men soon discover they aren’t alone on the force. When they learn two female officers are just as sexually adventurous, Norris and Dino must learn to navigate the relationship waters … with the women as well as with each other.
REVIEW:
This is a short book that features a slew of smutty scenes interspersed with crude dialogue and confusing character dynamics. There are no character arcs, there’s no plot, and the relationships seem strained and fumbled. I finished this book knowing nothing about the characters, the kind of people they are, or what they really want out of life and out of each other.
First of all, this book takes place in the 1980’s, but if that wasn’t stated at the beginning of the book, we wouldn’t know. I think Sullivan set it in that time period solely for the tension surrounding the characters coming out while on the police force, which ended up being significantly downplayed during such a conservative time in American history. The scenes with Dino and Norris flirting openly with each other at work were incredibly anachronistic, and they pretty much make a mockery of the very real issues gay police officers faced years ago. And there aren’t even any pop culture markers (clothing, technology, music, movies, slang) that signify this took place in a certain time at all, nonetheless the 80’s.
Secondly, if you’re looking for a story with any sort of positive bisexual representation, this is not the book. The blurb makes it seem like a story about two bisexual couples who hook up with one another to dispel rumors around the precinct, but instead, it devolves into foursome scenes with by-the-book sexual mechanics (hand-jobs leading to blow-jobs leading to penetration, because these people can all orgasm sixteen times a night it seems). The author makes the mistake of confusing bisexuality with polyamory, furthering the myth that all bisexual people are promiscuous and cannot hold steady relationships, especially with one another. I would actually love to read about an interesting M/M/F/F relationship with well-written dynamics, but there is no communication among all four characters, and once we see one couple interested in one another and give us a glimpse of characterization, the story moves onto the next.
The female characters get treated the worst. Amelia and Kerri get a few cute scenes together, but mostly they’re shown as horny, orgy-mad bimbos who are overtly sexual in the workplace and only want to talk about their sexual fantasies. They’re practically cardboard-cutout porn caricatures, and they were not fun to read about. Professional women had it hard in the 80’s, and there was plenty of room to explore the issues queer women faced in the workplace, but instead, we got a couple of blow-up dolls.
This story is all sex, and unfortunately, it isn’t very good sex. It comes off as crude and childishly-written rather than erotic. This reads like the work of a very young author with a very tenuous grasp on sexual dynamics and sexual politics. Definitely a hard pass for me. There are plenty of books with much better amazing bisexual characters (as well as great works with polyamorous bisexual characters who are not reduced to stereotypes).
RATING: 
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