M/M Challenge Criss Cross (Psycop 2) - Jordan Castillo Price

Criss Cross is the second in the Psycop series by Jordan Castillo Price. And I must admit that I like this one even more than the first. The ghosts that surround Victor are getting pushier than usual and it seems that his medication is now causing more problems than it solves. He has a new partner and following the events of the first story, Jacob is now living with him. Things are getting a little out of control. Victor really needs to work out what is going on, before it's too late.

Because of the circumstances of the previous story, Jacob has now moved in with Victor. This has pushed them into a domestic arrangement sooner rather than later. I love how this keeps Victor off balance. He has this way of dealing with his life - everything a certain way - his white appartment, his drugs and Jacob pushes his way in there - not in an aggressive way, but he's just there.

"He (Jacob) had this way of lying diagonally on the bed so that when I got up and looked back at him, I wondered how the hell I'd even fit in there."

Sometimes it's like Victor doesn't quite know how to deal with him. It's this awkwardness that makes him endearing, that balances out the sarcasm.

I think my favourite thing is the contrasts between them. How Jacob likes to talk dirty during sex and is very vocal, whereas Victor is more cerebral and can never think of anything to say.

"Speaking of dirty: Jacob's a talker...Not that the words aren't sexy as hell - I just worry that I'll sound like an idiot if I'm the one saying them."

Jordan Castillo Price gets you straight into how their relationship works. Jacob is so sexual and overt and Victor is slightly more repressed.

"No wonder I worried about talking dirty; talking in general seemed to escape me."

I liked the mystery in this one as well. Especially the more paranoid aspects in the first half of the story. Even when Victor doesn't seem to be aware that something is wrong. I think that you as the reader are aware that there's something not quite right - a creeping suspicion that tickles the back of your head as you're reading.

This one gets another big recommendation from me. And I'm looking forward to reading the remaining books in the series.

What Turns You On in a Protagonist...

...this post is not going to be as provocative as the subject makes it sound. :)

After reading Psycop 1 last week I've been thinking about what really makes me like and root for a protagonist. Looking at my favourite heroes and heroines - Marcus Falco, Miles Vorkosigan, Kate Daniels, Elena Danvers, Nadia Stafford, Adrien English, Jaz Parks, Gen (from The Thief) - there is some common ground there.

So without further ado - my three favourite things to find in a hero/heroine.


Sarcasm, Painful Honesty, and not Shutting Up

Lol - I love me a sarcastic hero. Someone who has a withering put down always ready on the edge of their tongue. Someone who has a clever comment to deliver at a moment's notice.

...Jack said, "You saw my note, right? It said 'wait'."
"That was a note? I thought it was a haiku."(Made to be Broken - Kelley Armstrong)

Someone who doesn't always keep quiet when perhaps they should because they just have to push it that bit further.

"I pointed out that he'd been no help at the ford. He pointed out that I had climbed a tree. I pointed out that I had no sword. He offered to give me his, point first." (The Thief - Megan Whalen Turner)

Someone who doesn't always understand the meaning of too much information.

"...I can't think with my underwear stuck up my crack. I know it's a weakness, but it's just one of those things." (Bitten to Death - Jennifer Rardin)

And if in doubt you can always state the truth.

"...Now she believes I'm a liar. Probably because I lied to her." (A Hunger Like No Other - Kresley Cole)

Keeping the Brain Switched On

One of the other attributes that I rank highly in a protagonist is whether or not they think. I hate when I read a book and start wondering at what point the hero put their brain into neutral. (Usually this happens to serve a particularly unbelievable plot point.) Smart people are sexy. People who keep their brain ticking over no matter the situation are fun to read about.

"I could tie you to the bed, you know."
"No, you can't. It's round and you don't have any rope." (Twilight Fall by Lynn Viehl)

(Hmmm, perhaps this is a little linked to the previous point).

One of the things I most love about characters such as Miles Vorkosigan, Kate Daniels and Marcus Falco is that even when the situation is turning to complete shit all around them, their brains are still constantly churning over the possibilities.

"Hello, dove." He grinned at me. "Look at that: you don't have your pretty knife and I've got your hands. What are you gonna do now?"
I rammed my head into his nose.' (Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews)

They can be saying one thing, doing something else and thinking something else entirely. It makes for an exciting and thrilling read.


Consistency

Again this kind of links to the previous post in some ways - the character having their brain switched on- but it's also to do with the character behaving organically. I think it's important that if an author establishes a character will behave in a certain way that they are true to that. Put your character in the most awful situation imaginable but have them behave in a way that is true to them.

A brilliant example of this (and I'm going to write about it without spoilers because it just shouldn't be spoiled) is what happens to Miles Vorkosigan in Memory. Something awful happens. But it's been established since the beginning of the series that he follows this strategy of 'forward momentum' (keep going, just keep going). And up until this point it's worked pretty well for him. But in this case things just get worse and worse. He should stop...but he can't. As a reader you can see the inevitable disaster of the situation, but you also understand that Miles is behaving like Miles would.


So what are the attribues you most like your heroes/heroines to have? I have a copy of Phenomenal Girl 5 to give away to one poster to this thread. Winner to be chosen by random number at random.org on Saturday.

Winner of the...

...Stalling out on a series giveaway is :-

Donna

whose comment was the 6th on the thread by someone who wanted to take part in the draw. Number chosen at random.org was 6.

Donna - keep an eye out for my e-mail. :)

M/M Challenge, Among the Living by Jordan Castillo Price (Psycop 1)

As I'm intending to read Camp Hell (Psycop 5) for my August DIK book, I thought I better get my finger out and read the previous 4 books in the series. Also this will make a serious dent in my m/m challenge .

I'd heard only good things about the Psycop series so I was looking forward to reading it and wasn't disappointed.

Among the Living introduces us to Victor Bayne - the psychic half of a Psycop team. Victor's psychic talent is that of a medium - he can talk to the dead, specifically for his job victims of crime, murder victims. The book opens with him hooking up with Jacob Marks (a non-psychic(Stiff) from an adjacent precinct) at the retirement do for Victor's current partner. Victor (who's in the closet) has the idea that this will probably be a one time thing. Then a serial killer strikes and suddenly Victor finds himself working with Jacob. The only problem is this killer isn't leaving any ghosts behind, and any living witnesses can't seem to agree on what the suspect looks like.

I loved this story and highly recommend it to anyone who likes m/m who hasn't read it already.

Written in the first person this gets you straight into Victor's head; to my delight he has an incredibly sarcastic inner voice. I have a weakness for saracastic protagonists anyway, but his comments were especially entertaining.

I'd always thought that rules were just for people who tended to get caught.

Hmmm. Maybe right up until the moment you get caught.

There is a chemistry between Victor and Jacob from the start, which is slightly combative in a way.

"What's in your mouth?" he said, and his voice was a sexy, low purr.

Not physically as such but there is a friction between them. This is a good contrast, it kind of knocks Victor off stride.

One of the things I thought was very interesting was how Jacob and Victor see the suspect. (The suspect's appearance can vary.) Especially because it lets the story end on such a cracking last line (Jacob gets the last word) and you can almost imagine the non-plussed look on Victor's face.

We're also introduced to a couple of other psychics. Jacob's partner Carolyn who Victor refers to as 'the human polygraph'. And another who has the ability to give the correct answer to yes/no questions - which sounds a very simplistic talent in a way but for police work could be very useful.

In short, this is a brilliant introduction to the Psycop world and makes me very glad I have the next four stories ready to go.

Stalling out on a Series

I started reading Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh this week - for the second time. For some reason I never made it past the first 50 pages on my first attempt. I'm not sure why because I love Singh's writing. I kind of noticed that I'm falling behind on the Changeling/Psy series and decided it was time I caught up before I got so far behind that I couldn't catch up.

This got me to thinking about the other series I no longer read - why did I stop reading them? Okay, some of them it was because they changed radically from the original concept but for some of them it seems I just stalled and never started reading them again. Are there any similarities between the series I've abandoned or is it just that I spend a lot less time reading now that I have in previous years. (Two or three years ago I'd manage at least three books a week, now if I manage one I'm doing well.)

So anyway I thought I'd look at a few of the series I'd stopped reading.


Changeling/Psy series by Nalini Singh. I have to admit this one is a bit of a mystery. (Not a good start to the post - sorry about that). I have the next two books in the series following Hostage to Pleasure on my TBR pile. But for some reason after I gave up on HtP the first time I just never got round to it again.


The Stardoc series by S. L. Viehl. Another series I love and stopped reading at Rebel Ice. Now I think I know the reason for this one. I seriously overglommed - I went into Cherijo overload. I think I read from Stardoc to Eternity Row in the course of two weeks. I need to go back and read the series from the beginning taking everything in properly. The thing I like about this series is that it has an end point. The last book (I think) has just been released. So now would be a good time to get back to it.

Stephanie Plum series. I stopped reading at book 8, possible earlier. This is the first series mentioned that I don't really have any interest in getting back to. Even though I have books 9 and 10 on my TBR pile. I think I realized I was reading the same book over and over. I also don't think it helped that at the time I was reading some fantastic fanfiction that dealt with Stephanie and Ranger in a much more interesting way than the series. I have the idea that the book that put me off is the one where Ranger and Stephanie finally got together (half a page IIRC) and after several books building up to a firework display complete with shooting stars...it was more of a damp squib really.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R.Ward. Now I'm very naughty with this series and I admit it. The main character I'm interested in is John Matthew and because of the way the books are structured you can flick through and read one character's arc and find out what happened to them first. However in Lover Avenged he turned into a bit of a wanker which kind of put me off reading the rest of the book properly.

I never got past the first book in Meljean Brook's brilliant Guardian series I think because they're just so darn long and I feel the need to have a large chunk of time available to sit down and read them. I read the first book on an 8 hour train journey. And I just haven't have any long train journey's since then. This is definitely another series I want to get caught up on. Love her writing and The Iron Duke is possibly the book I have most looked forward to in the second half of this year.

:sigh:

If nothing else this has helped me decide that my reading challenge for next year will be to catch up on as many series as possible.

So do you have any series that you've abandoned that you want to get back into? Or once you've given up do you never go back? I have a copy of Sexiest Man Alive by Diana Holquist to give away to one poster to this post. Winner to be chosen by random number at random.org on Saturday.

Winner of the Book Prejudices Giveaway...

is

LSUReader

She posted the 4th comment from people who wanted to enter the giveaway and the number picked at random.org was 4.

I have a copy of The Vampire Shrink to send to you.

Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Before I start, something I don't have to say very often on the blog - but just to let you know I received this book to review.

Unholy Ghosts is the first in the Downside Ghosts series and introduces us to the world of Chess Putnam a ghost hunter in the employ of The Church of Real Truth. In a world where the dead have risen (as ghosts) and attack the living, it's Chess's job to expose people who fake hauntings for compensation and to banish the real ghosts. Chess has other problems, she's a drug addict and owes her dealer a lot of money. He's willing to forgo the debt if she clears some ghosts from an unused airport, but it's not as simple as it sounds.

Before I started reading this I had some misgivings. Stories about addicts have two possible endings - the addict either kicks the habit or dies. But there has to be some growth, some change, in real life things can go on indefinitely but in fiction readers get bored. To be honest I really don't want to invest the time in a series where the protagonist dies at the end.

But overall I'm glad I put my concerns to one side and read the story. I was interested to see if Stacia Kane could make Chess a sympathetic heroine - I think you need to be able to understand or piece together why characters are the way they are. If you can't have sympathy then there needs to be something - a dark edge of humor for example. Would the reader understand why she is the way she is or would you be left wanting to figuratively slap her and tell her to get herself together.

I did find it to be a story of two parts. For the first 150 pages I found it harder going. Addicts tend to be rather tunnel vision in their thinking - I've had a fix, I'm having a fix, I will be having a fix. She owes money to her dealer, she's having to hide her habit from her employer, we get the feeling that something terrible has happened to her but we don't what it is. There's a reason that she's an addict.

The language and names of some of the characters takes a little getting used to. Church employees talk in complete sentences, characters who live in the Downside have weird names - Terrible, Bump, Brain and don't like to use the words - and, are, have, can etc.

On page 153 for the first time I empathise a little with Chess. We learn very little about her from her own thoughts even though it's written in tight third person. It's Terrible's (her drug dealer's enforcer) observations of her that allow us to see her better than she lets us. It's also through him - I think - that she starts to see herself in a different way, the way that he sees her. Terrible thinks she's brave, Terrible knows she'll solve the problem. She also has incredible chemistry with him. When he says (paraphrasing) that he lets some women do whatever they want to him. You can almost feel the heat coming off the book. He was my favourite character. It was from this point that I really got into the book.

It's also from this point that there's an increasing sense of paranoia and claustrophobia that was incredibly well written. There's a scene where she's running away from the bad guys but you're not 100% certain whether they're there or not. Is it in her head? Is it a result of the drugs? And Chess doesn't seem completely sure either. The sense that she's losing it is palpable. At certain points it felt like we were brushing closer to the horror genre than urban fantasy.

One of the characters says - It's like a little hell, this world - and that really encapsulates it for me. There's a beautiful quote by Christopher Marlowe that could have been written for Chess, to describe this world.

Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self place, but where we are is Hell,
And where hell is there must we ever be.

One thing I must mention before I end the review which I didn't really appreciate until the end of the book is that I didn't have a perfectly clear picture of how the world worked. The city where Chess lives seems very isolated, like a little world of its own. When the people of this place die their ghosts get sent to the City of Dead which is underneath the church. But is there a City of the Dead for EACH city, or is this the only City of the Dead. What about if you're born in this city but move somewhere else, which City of the Dead do you end up in. Or after the apocalypse (when the ghosts roamed free on Earth for a week) is this all that remains of humanity?

I think if you like films like Dark City, Perfect Creature, Gabriel ((which I do :), also very insular, claustrophobic tales ), you know the ones - it's always night, it's always raining - then you will enjoy this book. If you like a darker, different tale this is one I'd recommend, just bear with the first 150 pages.