October 2009

m/m romance

Novella length, e-book

Loose ID

I purchased the book

This is the sequel to I Spy Something Bloody, one of my favorite books by Josh Lanyon. They are both short stories – I read I Spy Something Wicked in under an hour, so I encourage you to start them in order. You will understand the dynamics of the relationship much better.

Mark has left his secret, dangerous Government job behind in I Spy Something Bloody, but it is short lived. His former employer is having a political crisis and sends an old colleague, Malik, to Mark to convince him to go on one last mission. This mission is a dangerous one though – it would involve Mark going to Afghanistan where there already is a price on his head. However, Mark feels as if he owes his employer something – he let him retire without much hassle and feels like he needs to give him something back this one last time.

Mark is given forty-eight hours to make a decision. Going home to his boyfriend Stephen, he can’t even bring up to him his meeting fearing Stephen will end the relationship. Mark has promised Stephen he would never go back to his old job, already losing him once to it. All Mark wants is his domesticated life now, he craves the simplicity of it. But he also fears that Stephen is just going through the motions, waiting for Mark to make a mistake giving him a reason to leave.

I Spy Something Wicked really dives into the complex feelings of this relationship told in the first person of Mark. He feels this intense conflict – his old job where he lies down his life for ten years for his employer is pulling at his conscience, while his love for Stephen and his promise to never go back is pulling at his heart. As the blurb says, Mark does not feel worthy of a happy ending. He is waiting for the bubble to burst, for Stephen to walk in and say you messed up and now it is over. Instead of relaying these fears to Stephen, he bottles them up, and when the call comes to make this life changing decision, his fear of losing Stephen goes into overdrive. You can feel this overwhelming burden on Mark, as he walks a fine line with keeping his emotions intact. It is not a question of whether the two of them love each other enough to keep the relationship going, but does Stephen truly trust Mark not to go back to his old life and is Mark truly content in his new quiet life. Yes they are happy with each other, but are they happy with everything else?

When the scene comes where the two of them must confront this decision, it is played out wonderfully – realistically and pulling on your heart. I actually felt – dare I say it – a tiny sniffle at one point.

The romance scenes were at a nice level in this book as well. Besides the smexy sex, which we get a nice dollop of, it was nice reading about Mark and Stephen romantically since they already have their relationship established.

“You don’t have to get me drunk,” I said. “You can have your wicked way with me anytime you like.”

He grinned, very beautiful in the candlelight. I thought again how lucky I was. Even if it was all ended, I had been lucky. Most people never got close to this.

I was a little surprised at the end – the first meeting with Malik had a scary edge to it – meeting in a dark house, Mark worried that Malik was there to kill him, that I was hoping to revisit another meeting where Mark would tell him his decision. A decision is made, but we don’t get to see Mark phone it in or meet with anyone. Maybe it is me just being greedy, but I am curious to see how his former employer reacts to his decision.

Although this is a quick read, it is packed with an emotional level you don’t get in many full-length novels and I highly recommend it.

Rating: Four Stars

Josh Lanyon’s website