Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Prey For Love
AUTHOR: Dirk Greyson
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2020
LENGTH: 195 Pages
BLURB:
The last three guys Phillip dated are dead. Is he next?
When successful businessman Phillip Barone attends a lover’s funeral and discovers he was just the latest of Phillip’s partners to die, Phillip knows he’s in trouble.
He also knows just the man he needs.
Former Marine Barry Malone would love a second chance with Phillip—he just wishes the romance could be rekindled under better circumstances. But Phillip’s stalker is escalating, and if Barry cannot solve the mystery of who wants Phillip dead and why, he might lose him for good. Barry’s determined, but the investigation struggles against the wit of a crafty killer—one who is closer to Phillip than they could have realized.
Luckily Barry is even closer, and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect the man he’s falling in love with all over again.
REVIEW:
Funerals, as well as being sad affairs, are among those occasions when people meet friends, gossip, and reconnect. It is at a funeral that Phillip discovers the man in the coffin is the latest of several lovers that ended up six-feet-under. Barry is at the same event and is pleased to see his long-lost friend and is eager to kindle some flames. Since leaving the Marines, he runs his own security business. Hearing the gossip, Barry is convinced that Phillip has picked up a stalker. Given that Phillip is the CEO of a successful gaming business, it could be anyone from an enthusiastic fan to something much more severe. Barry wants Phillip; he also goes into protective mode.
The story is told in the third person from Phillip and the Unsubs viewpoints and is technically sound. Early on, the author cleverly puts several people forward as possible stalkers. Cast members are introduced through much of the first half of the story and include friends of Phillips and former marines that Barry served with. It is through dialogue that the reader discovers backgrounds and how they came to specific points in their lives. So, the balance becomes stalker vs US Marines and a computer-savvy gaming geek.
The story is good and well-written, and it included everything I look for. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with it. I felt like an outsider looking in, akin to an unfamiliar TV show. Maybe it was because with everything happening in the world, I have subconsciously changed wavelengths – I don’t know.
Other than the unhinged unsub, the manuscript is filled with good souls. Barry is the tough marine, and there was an instant or two where I felt a person veered away from their character so that the author could prove Barry’s macho side. Stories of combat hinted at the life of a marine whose missions were classified and therefore left in the background. Phillip is intelligent and a slayer in the boardroom, yet insecure in relationships. The way Phillip feeds off the strength that Barry gives him was sweet. All the same, it did not emotionally engage me.
The introduction of a psychologist was a super move in the attempt at homing in on the unsub while opening the field of suspects. Nevertheless, as a fan of USA/UK crime shows since the 1970s; for me, the question was how the unsub would get caught, not the who.
At around the halfway point, the drama ramped up and drew me in more with idiot police, escalations, planning, etc. Then, for me, the standout character was Heston – he intrigued me. Other cast personalities I’d read similar in other books, but Heston – now him I wanted more of. Barry and Phillip remained at the forefront along with the Unsub, but Heston was in the background being mysterious, protective, and efficient.
Overall, Prey For Love is a story that I should have lapped up and not been able to put down. Like I said earlier, all the words were there, the plot was good, and the technicalities were spot on But, something was missing that stopped me from getting emotionally involved.
RATING: 
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