Author: A.J. Thomas
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages/Word Count: 204 Pages
At a Glance: I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I loved it.
Reviewed By: Janet
Blurb: Life in small-town Montana has become hell for former San Diego homicide detective Christopher Hayes. No one will hire him, he has made the seething racism his lover Doug Heavy Runner faces at work worse by adding homophobia to the mix, and his most recent jog through town ends when two gay-bashing teenagers hit him in the head with a rock. Deputy Sheriff Doug Heavy Runner has never overcome the abusive relationship that traumatized and shattered him as a young adult. The memories, the lingering shame, and the fear he has never acknowledged have left him resigned to endure the discrimination he faces in Elkin. But he can’t stand it when Christopher becomes a target for that same hatred.
When the mutilated body of one of the boys who assaulted Christopher is found in Doug’s garage, Christopher and Doug return from a vacation in San Diego and uncover a tangle of secrets, lies, and tragedy lurking beneath Elkin’s small-town façade. With their relationship at a crossroads, they’ll have to work together to catch the killer and maybe find a paradise of their own.
Review: My life is now complete. AJ Thomas has fulfilled the promise she created with A Casual Weekend Thing, the HFN, and that she alluded to in Holding Out For A Fairy Tale, and she has given us our HEA. But OMG! I loved the drama and the lengths she went to in order to prove to her characters they were it for each other. We knew this from the first book, but they needed to have it proven without a doubt, and Thomas dragged us right into the story again as witnesses to the tale unfolding. I think it is harder to pick up a couple and recreate the bonds we had felt before, to expose the weaknesses they have and yet have us fully invested in them all over again. Sincere kudos to the author for accomplishing this. Very well done.
As this book is the third now in the series, we are blessed with another visit with Ray and Elliot, and I won’t say more…but, wow. Constantly surprising us with details and ideas seems to work very well for this author; presentation is everything is true. The book is full of accurate details which simply resonate with us; they give us a surety of location and the policing aspects of the book. The plot is extremely well crafted and flows smoothly from one scene to another. There is so much going on in the book that the pages just fly by, but we are never left hanging. The MCs are developed to a higher degree as their relationship is dissected and patched up by each of them. What we get is a true and balanced appreciation of just how much they have grown up and also how well they have grown together. The HEA they get at the end of this story is so deserved. The sense of elation I felt for them is usually reserved for real life couples.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I loved it. Certainly read the first two books in the series if you haven’t already, but do read this book. If you enjoy a mystery; if you enjoy a sexy romance; if you like to see the best man win; then read this book and be prepared to be wowed by this author. She is one of my all-time favorite authors, and this book has only served to strengthen my belief in her work.
You can buy The Intersection of Purgatory and Paradise here:
