Customer Reviews

Closet

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Emmy-winning reporter Todd Mills has the best of all worlds. He's handsome, bright (enough), successful, and he's got a gay lover who understands why Todd's sexual orientation must be kept secret.

Alas, alack. Michael is murdered and Todd's closet comes crashing down on his handsome Polish head. Now Todd is the number one suspect and the police--especially hunky detective Steve Rawlins--seem content to look no further for Michael's killer.

This is a decent Who Dunnit but it could have been a lot better. Dead lovers make regular appearances in gay mystery series'. Few of them ever come alive (best exception to the rule: Joseph Hansen's Rod Fleming). Michael is a ghost before he's ever dead but even so Todd does seem to get over it rather swiftly. Furthermore, the relationship between traumatized Todd and Steve Rawlins (with his own secret agenda) seems highly unlikely. Attraction, sex, sure. Maybe. But genuine caring at this stage? I think not. Better to have tantalyzed the reader by driving home one of those many wedges littering the plot, and taken time to develop this relationship in the course of the series.

Final problems (big problems: too much talk, too much reflecting, too little action, too little amateur detecting. And only one possible villain. Other than these, this is an entertaining read for a dark and stormy night.

There is a good mystery story here, but isn't the middle age angst about coming out of the closet getting to be cliche? All this obsession with me, me, me and what will everyone think about me if they know I'm gay is better suited to a fifteen year old than a 30 something professional. It got in the way of a good story. And I don't know if it is just the kindle addition but someone has had a heavy finger on the hyphen key in this story. Who in their right mind hyphenates 'be-tween', 'go-ing', 'pud-dle', 'Chero-kee' or 'be-cause' for just a few examples? When the word occurs at the end of the line I can understand that a hyphenation may be necessary but these occurred in the middle of the line. Disconcerting to say the least.

What a page turner! Todd is in the closet and then finds he can't get back in; too late. To top it off, he is in no condition to want to. His lover is murdered, he's lonely and he's alone. Just when you think you have it figured out, you find that you don't. It is well written with very developed and interesting characters. Keeps you on the edge of your seat.