Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Penetration Test
SERIES: The Phisher King #3
AUTHOR: Clancy Nacht & Thursday Euclid
PUBLISHER: Eine Kleine Press
LENGTH: 278 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 13, 2019
BLURB:
Sequel to Rainbow Award-winning gay romantic thriller The Phisher King and its sequel False Flag.For years, brainy, charming FBI techie Sam Dupre has helped Hunter Walsh and Cal Riggs solve their cases. He’s also become one of Hunter’s closest friends, someone Hunter counts on when things get tough. After the events of False Flag, Riggs is no longer the agency’s golden boy, so when Hunter suspects a gay couple has been murdered in a hate crime in an exclusive gated community in Olympia, he takes the tip to Sam instead. While Riggs and Hunter contend with workplace politics and Riggs’s recovery, Sam Dupre drives the case forward, even securing a partner for his undercover field work: handsome, popular recent transfer Rob Crawford. Crawford’s a seasoned field agent who doesn’t bat an eye at posing as a gay married couple, but Sam can’t help feeling like Crawford’s mocking him. They rub each other in all the wrong ways in private even as they pretend to be a doting married couple in front of the neighbors…at least, until they start rubbing each other the right way. Sam’s dysphoria-and his HIV status-has held him back, but as he bonds with Crawford, he starts to feel seen for who he truly is. Surrounded by mystery and danger, now is not the time to blur professional lines, but how can Sam help himself?Featuring: An #ownvoices trans character feeling his oats, a dreamboat foreign terrorism agent trying his hand at a domestic (teehee) case, and a supercute adopted housecat. With a special appearance by Callum Riggs, excessive trolling by Hunter Walsh, and, of course, a happy ending!
REVIEW:
This book is really special and really good for a lot of different reasons. I loved it because it’s a murder mystery for one, but also because this was more Sam’s story than Hunter and Cal’s. Although, they had spots they came in. It’s also special because we really get to learn more about Sam. We were learning he is trans from the last book but not much more. And I love him so much more now.
Sam had gotten a tip from Hunter that something was going down in a gated community. People were missing and possibly murdered. So Sam threw it in to his bosses to see if something could come out of figuring it out. And it did. He was going undercover with a field agent named Rob, that he wanted to hate. He was that macho bro kinda dude that got on his nerves. But the thing was, once they started this op and got to know each other, things began to change. Especially when it was revealed about the HIV. It was like the flood gates had opened and both finally had someone they could talk to and be themselves with about everything. It took time. And a lot of patience. Both weren’t very trusting and needed time to really open up. Not to mention everything going on around them. The bigotry and hatred. The rules and it felt like Nazi Germany up in there. They were pretty sure the people they were looking for were dead, but they were determined to get to the bottom of it. They almost thought they had it from on particular person but it ended up being she was to scared to say too much. And rightly so. At their “open house” party, things came to a head. Sam had to go find some missing people and Rob was trying to stop a brawl in the backyard. But what ended up happening is Sam almost died and the Rob almost did. And it blew from there. And put everything in perspective. So now they had to decide after this was over officially, did they keep going or let it fizzle out? Could they even let it fizzle out? I mean, they did have shared custody of a cat after all.
I was happy to learn so much about Sam. Some of it made me sad, because being in his shoes was definitely not an easy thing. The life of being gay period is usually not an easy one, but being trans is doubly hard. Especially when it comes in smaller packages and you feel like a Viking. But what I loved about Sam is the more he was around Rob, the more he let his guard down and it became a beautiful thing. For both of them. Because Sam got to see how Rob didn’t care that Sam’s lower have was still “technically” female. To Rob, he was sexy Sam. The man he was falling in love with. He never saw anything other than the beautiful man that Sam was. And Sam got to see someone who cared about him for him. Not for sex, although that was amazing, but for who Sam really was. They may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but it ended in a sensual, beautiful thing.
I absolutely loved this story and this series. I’m hoping there will be more to come. I love these guys. And if you guys haven’t read this series, you are seriously missing out.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
[…] as they pretend to be a doting married couple in front of the neighbors…at least, until they start rubbing each other the right way. Sam’s dysphoria-and his HIV status-has held him back, but as […]