Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Dirty

AUTHOR:  Rain Carrington

PUBLISHER:  self-published

LENGTH:  160 pages

RELEASE DATE:  August 24, 2021

BLURB:

Lines are always blurred in the streets, especially blue lines.

Cliff Stevenson crossed all the lines and blurred them until they were mere smudges. He was a dirty cop, taking what he could from crime scenes before those higher up the food chain could do the same. He and his partner had a good thing going, and his life was just as he wanted it, plenty of men and time to himself.

Then, at a bust where he found a nice stash of cash, he found something else as well. Someone else, to be exact. A homeless young man under a bed, with big, doe eyes that drove into the center of hard-edged Cliff, chipping away his defenses.

Unable to turn him away, especially because he witnessed him taking the stash, Cliff took him home to his apartment and started to see that his life wasn’t as cut and dry as he thought.

Jimmy chiseled away at his tough shell, but more than that, he began aiding him in his crimes. Jimmy knew where all the dealers and pimps held their cash, and he let Cliff know. Together with Cliff’s partner, they set out to make a mint, but what Cliff didn’t count on, was falling in love.

REVIEW:

Cliff is a gay Vice cop.  He’s dirty – has been since he joined Vice a decade ago.  He and his partner Glen are just trying to provide themselves with a comfortable retirement.  They have all the traditional rationalizations going:  the higher ups get the spoils, the rich never do the time, the powerful are never held to account, etc.  Not that they are wrong, but yeah, it’s definitely a rationalization du jour for them.  Glen’s got a wife that needs care and so he’s got an incentive to try to cash in as early has he can to help her.

Cliff is also a total cynic.  Being a gay cop, he’s decided he has no time for emotions or relationships.  His only real friend is his partner.  He’s got hookups and a bar he likes to frequent.  Maybe, just maybe, Kevin, the long time bartender and convenient hookup is a sort of friend.  But mostly he has guys he f*cks to blow off steam after work – not at his house. Then he goes home to his cheap apartment to sleep before he goes back to work.  He’s not looking for anything other than the release before he has to go back to the job.  Needless to say, working Vice, he’s seen a lot of bad stuff which has added to his cynicism and general poor outlook on humanity.  He wants to make his money and retire – and get away.

But while Glen is on vacation, he stumbles on a load of cash and a young guy who was overlooked by the uniforms busting up a prostitution ring.  The young 9as in underage) boys he gets to talk are taken away, but Cliff discovers someone they overlooked while he’s about to take out all the cash he’s discovered.  The kid, Jimmy, who isn’t actually kid, says he knows where he can get a lot more.  But when he disappears after an unusually passionate night between them, Cliff is angry.  He shakes down the pimp and chases down Jimmy.  He’s furious with him and himself for being taken in, so he takes Jimmy home with him and together, they plan to take on the bad guys that Jimmy is anxious to see get justice meanwhile lining their pockets so they can get away.

Things are going pretty well and they hit a couple of small timers.  But Jimmy has their sights set on a much bigger fish.  A fight club type promoter who killed a kid Jimmy was fond of.  While he was involved with this fight club, he discovered where the big money was kept and he has a plan to get it and make sure the guy goes down.  Between Cliff and Glen and Jimmy, they manage it, but not without complications and consequences.  But the biggest surprise to Cliff is how worried and protective he is of Jimmy.  He’s never ever had these kinds of feelings for anyone.  The only person he’s really trusted and cared about was Glen, and he did not expect this – nor does he know what to do about it.  It’s clear that his feelings for Jimmy go much deeper than he realized and he’s tied up in knots over it.  Glen of course realizes love when he sees it, but Cliff is fighting it every step of the way.

There is a climactic showdown with the largest of the fish that Jimmy wants to go after.  It’s obvious to Cliff that this is personal for Jimmy.  When he describes what he went through with this guy and his henchmen, Cliff certainly understands why he wants to take him down, although something does seem off.  When things go completely off the rails, Cliff and Glen have to scramble.  And when Cliff discovers the truth, he might never be the same again.

Well.  This is absolutely NOTHING like I expected.  I was kind of rolling along thinking, meh, this is not going to really do it for me.  And then things change.  A lot!  I was surprised and the author effectively took me some places I never expected to go.  I am not going to spoil this, but if you think you know what’s going to happen, I’m pretty sure you don’t.  I didn’t like Cliff at first and honestly, I didn’t like any of the characters for probably at least the first 40% of the book.  But then things changed – it was obvious there was more under the surface than I was being shown.  As Cliff begins to develop feelings for Jimmy and Jimmy obviously has feelings for Cliff, things become less clear.  The lines they cross become more blurred.  It’s clear there are some really bad guys at work here and that the motivations for a lot of the characters are part of a hidden agenda that is not revealed until the end.  I was taken totally by surprise by the twist that occurs and I was glad I hadn’t seen it coming.

This is my first book from this author, and honestly from the blurb I wouldn’t normally pick it up.  But it’s gritty and realistic and honestly while there is violence and reflects some of the more desperate parts of society, it was a well done slow burn between two very different characters who found in each other a really unlikely partner.  Some will probably find it a little bit too much in the gray area morally speaking, but honestly, so is a LOT of life.  I can recommend this for those who like a more gritty tale of a slow burn relationship that ends in some real surprises.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon