Reviewed by Jess

 

TITLE: Sinner’s Gin

SERIES: Sinners #1

AUTHOR: Rhys Ford

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 260 pages

RELEASE DATE:  December 24, 2012

BLURB:

There’s a dead man in Miki St. John’s vintage Pontiac GTO, and he has no idea how it got there.

After Miki survives the tragic accident that killed his best friend and the other members of their band, Sinner’s Gin, all he wants is to hide from the world in the refurbished warehouse he bought before their last tour. But when the man who sexually abused him as a boy is killed and his remains are dumped in Miki’s car, Miki fears Death isn’t done with him yet.

Kane Morgan, the SFPD inspector renting space in the art co-op next door, initially suspects Miki had a hand in the man’s murder, but Kane soon realizes Miki is as much a victim as the man splattered inside the GTO. As the murderer’s body count rises, the attraction between Miki and Kane heats up. Neither man knows if they can make a relationship work, but despite Miki’s emotional damage, Kane is determined to teach him how to love and be loved — provided, of course, Kane can catch the killer before Miki becomes the murderer’s final victim.

REVIEW:

This is my first Retro Review here on Love Bytes, so I decided to go with a book that seems to be a classic in the M/M mystery genre. The “Sinners” series is well-liked and highly praised by readers, but in all honesty, Rhys Ford’s books have been very hit-or-miss for me. Settling into this steamy, violent mystery was surprisingly easy, but many of the issues I have with Ford’s character choices prevented me from really loving it.

From the first chapter, you can tell this is a gritty murder mystery that doesn’t hold back. Miki, a heartbroken rock star who is left without his band after a tragic accident, is now dealing with the sudden, grisly murder of a man he thought left buried in his past. When tough SFDP officer Kane Morgan is the first on the scene, the sparks instantly fly between the two men, despite the horrible crime—and the ones that will soon be uncovered.

Kane and Miki do suffer from insta-love a little bit, but in all fairness, I’m famously harsh on stories that have the main characters fall in love so quickly. I need a slow burn in my romance, and these two are endgame instantly, killing some of the edge involved in finding that one great love. However, they do bring the heat, and their first love scene is an excellent example of Ford’s romance-writing skills. Despite their meet-quick, you can’t say they don’t have chemistry.

(I could go without hearing the nickname “Miki love” ever again, though. Just saying).

Though he’s a fairly bland co-leading man, I do like Kane as a protagonist. He’s sharp and protective, wanting to keep his loved ones safe, and his attraction to wild-card Miki frustrates him to no end. He’s loyal and strong, hardworking and kind—all the hallmarks of a romance hunk. And he does it pretty well.

Miki, on the other hand, is a complex character who consistently leaves me frustrated. On one page he’s waifish and swooning, falling into Kane’s arms and bed, and on the next page, he’s a sharp-tongued little shit who always gets the last word. I love the smart-ass, but I loathe the waif. When he’s full of acid, he feels real, but he becomes an archetype when he whimpers and cries in Kane’s arms. His trauma, coping mechanisms, and very understandable chip on his shoulder make so much sense. But the soft, feminized version of him waters him down to a simpering caricature of a gay Asian character who exists as an exotified object or muse rather than a fully-fleshed protagonist. It’s a tough line to draw. I love complex male characters, especially characters of color in leading roles, and I love when they can let their guard down, but Miki often falls into stereotypical traps that point to well-meaning authorial laziness. I can tell Ford loves writing him, but her pen needs to be a little sharper, a little more aware.

Ford does a lot of things well in this story, though. I love what she does with Kane’s family. They’re a little cheesy at times, and some of the Irish stereotypes come on a little strong, but you can feel the love whenever they interact with each other and with Miki. I love when characters look at the underdog and immediately adopt him as their own, showing him love he’s never seen before. I especially enjoy the interactions between Miki and Kane’s soft-spoken father, Donal. And in terms of action, Miki’s big fight scene at the end had me on the edge the entire time. I like that he got his chance to scrap.

This book was first reviewed in 2013 by Heather C. and again last year in audiobook form by Annika. They both gave it glowing reviews and made a lot of good points, many of which I agreed with, but I decided to be just a little tougher on Ford since she is such a prolific M/M author. The mystery is here, the action is here, the steam is here—it just didn’t fully cohere for me.

That being said, the ending of this book blew my mind, so much so that I already have the next book, Whiskey and Wry, queued up on my Kindle. Ford’s skill as an action and mystery writer is indisputable and she knows how to create a cliffhanger, so now I’m definitely ready to give the rest of the series a chance.

 

RATING: 

 

ORIGINAL Review by Heather C.

 I actually read Sinner’s Gin several months ago and am just now getting around to writing a review for it. You know how sometimes you love a book so much, but just can’t figure out the right words to say? Well, this is one of those occasions, and I figured it was finally time for me to do my duty as a reader/reviewer and get off my butt to share with you why I loved it.

I fell in love with Rhys’s writing back when I read Dirty Kiss, the first book of the Cole McGinnis Series. So when I started Sinner’s, I was expecting something along the lines of a similar style: something with a twisted mystery and heavy Asian influences.  In my opinion, Sinner’s is totally different, more focused on the romance and not the mystery. Yes, the mystery is still there, but it takes more of a backseat role, and I wasn’t too worried about trying to figure it out.

This is about Miki and Kane. Miki St. John was the lead singer of the popular band Sinner’s Gin until the night he loses all of his band mates in a horrible accident. Now, Miki is alone in the world, living in a warehouse with a mutt he calls ‘Dude’. His seclusion is interrupted once Detective Kane Morgan discovers a dead body in a classic car stored in Miki’s warehouse.

There is an immediate attraction between them, even though Miki is still a suspect in the murder. But Kane doesn’t care; he feels a connection to Miki and makes it his duty to protect him. Let me just tell you that I loved these guys together! There was some good sexual tension and romance.  My only complaint is that it was a little too insta-love-ish for me, but I tried not to let it bother me too much because I really felt the connection between Miki and Kane.

“Oh, Miki love, I more than need you. You’re my temptation. My sin. I’ve got no intentions of being anywhere but next to you. We Irish? We like bathing in our sin.”

This story was pretty dark and gruesome as it tells the history of Miki’s abuse which was pretty graphic; my heart really broke for him. He really needed Kane at this point in his life to help pull him out off all that darkness.  Kane’s family of Morgans were just amazing!  Hope we get see more of them in the future.

Once you finally get to the ending, hold on to your pants, because its a shocker! But don’t worry too much because it’s not really a cliffhanger; just setting up the story arc for the next book.  Still, it’s a pretty big surprise and will have you begging for the next book!! The good news is that Whiskey & Wry will be released from Dreamspinner Press later this year.

 

Heather’s Rating:

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon