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Library's review
My biggest issue is that I find Dan Stagg, our protagonist and narrator, a thoroughly
Yeah, our protagonist starts out this novel starts out by going on about how he wants to put an unnamed side character who's trying to fight him on his knees and shove his crotch in said unnamed character's face. Our protagonist then picks someone up at a bar and when his hook-up says "don't hurt me" Dan's thought is "Bit late for that, [...] you're the one who picked up the ex-marine in a bar." And then we progress later in the book to straight-up rape. "Maybe he'd been waiting for an opportunity like this, when it wouldn't be his choice, his fault. Maybe he'd been antagonizing queers in gas station restrooms for months, hoping to find someone who'd turn the tables," is not how a consensual sexual encounter goes--it's a justification for rape.
So yeah, there's a lot of sex in this book, but a lot of it I'd classify as rape. Which, okay, rape fantasies are a thing and that's fine but the back cover copy is not clear that the sexual encounters the book is filled with and the violence the book is filled with overlap a number of times over the course of the novel. I expected the sexual encounters to overlap with the romance and sweat I was promised and the violence to overlap with the conspiracy, not the other way around.
Oh, and one last point I want to make: the sex is some of the least sexy sex I have ever read. I was at no point even mildly titillated by what I was reading. Perhaps it's me being a heterosexual woman instead of a gay man, but "I felt like I had a vacuum cleaner inside me, and someone had just switched it to max" does not do anything for me even a little. And all of the sexual encounters were like that, a total turn off where I wondered who in the world could ever find what was happening sexy.
So to sum up: I found the protagonist to be repugnant, made worse by the fact that he was the narrator and I got to see far more of his thoughts than I wanted to. The sex is bad, to the point that I hesitate to call this erotica although I'm not sure what else I'd classify it as. And a lot of the sex is just plain rape, which I was not expecting and did not want.
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Killing is easy. Love is... The Hardest Thing Once a major in the U.S. Army, Dan Stagg fell afoul of Don't Ask Don't Tell. In his late 30s, tall, and muscular, Dan is prone to violence, always upholding what he views as justice. He's offered a great deal of money to protect the young male "secretary" of a powerful real estate broker. The vain, shallow; but most of all hot; young man's idea of protection includes sex. Dan quickly realizes something strange is going on: he's being used as a shield for a much more sinister operation and must chose between easy money and sex or the ideals that he embodied in the Army. Why should he do the right thing; particularly when the army betrayed him? The Hardest Thing is a sexy gay mystery as only James Lear can write it: filled with lots of gay sexual encounters, romance, sweat, violence, and conspiracy.… (more)
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That said, Hard Thing was toned down a bit, in my opinion and I could stomach
By the way, the model on the cover did not match the description of the male lead in the book. Gee.
Dan ends up becoming a bodyguard for some shady people...and then things fall apart a bit. There is no chemistry between the bodyguard and his charge, and their relationship feels forced. There are a few obligatory sex scenes as they drive around aimlessly trying to hide from the bad guys. I won't spoil latter part of the book, but for me the story just seemed to peter out at the end. Despite this, I think there is a lot of potential for the series.
Dan is an obvious tough guy -- and a top. He actually becomes a daddy figure for the boy toy during their escapade. There follows plenty of man on man sex between the two of them. Things go along fine until the bad guys they are running from catch up with them and the boy toy is kidnapped.
This is basically a chase and pursuit thriller, with lots of gay sex. Sometimes at the most inappropriate or dangerous times, Dan finds a willing sex partner or two. (This seems to be a characteristic of Lear's books, which makes them fun reading). A more serious dimension comes from the backstory: Dan's forced coming out and the loss through death of his first "true love", a fellow Marine. His grief plays a large role in Dan's persona and his developing relationship with the boy toy. Right up to the end you won't know whether Dan will stay with the boy toy, or whether their relationship was only a sexual one that has ended.
This is an entertaining well-plotted read, with some serious overtones about gay relationships. It's noir but not overly dark or gritty. I recommend it.
I received a free copy of the book as a Library Thing Early Reviewer.
The Hardest Thing is a fantastical, pornagraphical novel with
It's an erotic, lightweight mystery with a halting attempt at romance. If you are into this kind of thing it is good and fast and entertaining read.
If you are a fan of crime fiction and conspiracy mysteries,
If you are a fan of crime fiction and conspiracy mysteries, and you also like reading about gay characters, then this book might also be for you.
This book might not be for you if you enjoy books with intelligent dialogue, cogent plot structures, and fascinating characters.
Yes, The Hardest Thing is somewhat exciting, with the kind of conspiracy flip-flopping that keeps you guessing who's on whose side. And yes, there is a certain appeal to a gay ex-marine protagonist like Dan Stagg. And yes, there are sexual encounters aplenty, which can be kind of hot, if you're into that sort of thing.
But on the down side, those sexual encounters are not only ridiculous in their settings and frequency (which may be par for the course in erotic fiction - I can't say), but they are also plagued by frustrating 'type' clichés. It's possible that many gay men will appreciate fantasies involving domination and submission clichés, but it isn't flattering to the intelligent gay man of today to present them as a matter of course for homosexual relationships.
Much about this book is sloppy, vague, and tasteless, so I cannot recommend it except to those who are aware of its limitations and are reading it for the erotica alone.