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cadiva's review against another edition
5.0
Well Amy Lane you just broke me with this one.
John has been there in all the other stories, founder of Johnnies and last seen heading into rehab after making one of his most stupid decisions when he agreed to the demands of Dex's ex Scott to schedule a scene with the pair of them, knowing Dex was now in love with Kane and not doing porn any more, because he owed Scott a massive amount for supplying him with coke.
As a character there in the background, we've not really seen much of what happened to John before these books started, so he's always come across as a bit of an idiot and a slightly self-entitled arse.
Well here we find out why and oh my God does it go all the way into explaining why he set up Johnnies and why he'd tried to be a fair and good boss, letting the guys do what made them happy while never taking care of himself and ending up nearly losing it all through his cocaine addiction.
It's difficult to go into too much detail without spoiling it but this story takes place after the events of the previous three as John goes to deal with the fall out of the death of his first love Tory, the man who utterly broke him.
He meets Galen as he was Tory's neighbour and he's holding a box left for John by his ex lover. Galen used to be a corporate lawyer with a long term boyfriend and porn star looks until a motorbike accident lost him all three and left him addicted to pain meds.
Together these two addicted and damaged men start to find in the other the one constant they can rely on for support so they won't ever need to take the drugs again.
It's a hard fight though and Lane never shies away from the constant craving addicts face or the desire to give in to the temptation of addiction.
These are damaged and hurting men but the build up to them falling for each other is magnificently done even if it takes place over a short space of time.
Galen sees in John someone who looks past his scaring and sees the man beneath, the one who is struggling not to be an addict but who has nothing to keep him from the oxy bottle.
John doesn't want to fall for another addict but it's the first time a man has looked at him with the passion he sees and the desire to put him before anyone else. This is harsh, it's brutal but it's breathtakingly honest and when they do finally give in, it's spectacular.
There's also a free extra chapter which is a bit of an epilogue here: http://lovebytesreviews.com/2015/02/02/bonus-epilogue-for-black-john/
John has been there in all the other stories, founder of Johnnies and last seen heading into rehab after making one of his most stupid decisions when he agreed to the demands of Dex's ex Scott to schedule a scene with the pair of them, knowing Dex was now in love with Kane and not doing porn any more, because he owed Scott a massive amount for supplying him with coke.
As a character there in the background, we've not really seen much of what happened to John before these books started, so he's always come across as a bit of an idiot and a slightly self-entitled arse.
Well here we find out why and oh my God does it go all the way into explaining why he set up Johnnies and why he'd tried to be a fair and good boss, letting the guys do what made them happy while never taking care of himself and ending up nearly losing it all through his cocaine addiction.
It's difficult to go into too much detail without spoiling it but this story takes place after the events of the previous three as John goes to deal with the fall out of the death of his first love Tory, the man who utterly broke him.
He meets Galen as he was Tory's neighbour and he's holding a box left for John by his ex lover. Galen used to be a corporate lawyer with a long term boyfriend and porn star looks until a motorbike accident lost him all three and left him addicted to pain meds.
Together these two addicted and damaged men start to find in the other the one constant they can rely on for support so they won't ever need to take the drugs again.
It's a hard fight though and Lane never shies away from the constant craving addicts face or the desire to give in to the temptation of addiction.
These are damaged and hurting men but the build up to them falling for each other is magnificently done even if it takes place over a short space of time.
Galen sees in John someone who looks past his scaring and sees the man beneath, the one who is struggling not to be an addict but who has nothing to keep him from the oxy bottle.
John doesn't want to fall for another addict but it's the first time a man has looked at him with the passion he sees and the desire to put him before anyone else. This is harsh, it's brutal but it's breathtakingly honest and when they do finally give in, it's spectacular.
There's also a free extra chapter which is a bit of an epilogue here: http://lovebytesreviews.com/2015/02/02/bonus-epilogue-for-black-john/
relly's review
3.0
3.5 Stars
I've said on other series but it really frustrates me when the narrator is changed mid way through a series, especially when previous characters are still appearing. Sean Crisden had it down and it got to a point you could tell by the voice who was speaking and three books in we have a change of narrator for the 4 & 5th books. This is nothing against Gomez Pugh as I love his work, his narration of Psycop series is fabulous, but here we now have different voices for the characters and they don't work for me at all, as it pulls me out of the story when they speak.
The story itself is hard work and not for everyone. John is a character I find hard to feel sorry for but at the same time I like that he owns up to his mistakes and he seems like a good guy. I love Galen and enjoyed seeing him get himself together.
Not the best of the series
I really felt that this one was not as good as the rest of the series. I have a personal issue with reading about drug addicts and generally stay away from books with this subject matter, but as this was part of the Johnnies series I read it anyway.
John has never been a character I have felt any need to know more about, maybe because of the way he came across in the previous books. His back story while kind of sad , became an annoying crutch he used through out the book. Nobody loves me for me, I'm never good enough for anyone to love etc. there were times I wanted to slap him just to stop, the self pity. Also his constant harping on Dex and his relationship with Kane annoyed me.
I liked the fact that John worked hard to stay off the drugs even when put in situations that would test his resolve and I also liked that Galen wanted to be better for John and worked hard at rehab.
All In all it seemed like. It much happened over the course of the book, but at least it mainly dealt with the two MCs and not the whole bunch of previous characters, who only made a brief appearance at the end.
I've said on other series but it really frustrates me when the narrator is changed mid way through a series, especially when previous characters are still appearing. Sean Crisden had it down and it got to a point you could tell by the voice who was speaking and three books in we have a change of narrator for the 4 & 5th books. This is nothing against Gomez Pugh as I love his work, his narration of Psycop series is fabulous, but here we now have different voices for the characters and they don't work for me at all, as it pulls me out of the story when they speak.
The story itself is hard work and not for everyone. John is a character I find hard to feel sorry for but at the same time I like that he owns up to his mistakes and he seems like a good guy. I love Galen and enjoyed seeing him get himself together.
Not the best of the series
I really felt that this one was not as good as the rest of the series. I have a personal issue with reading about drug addicts and generally stay away from books with this subject matter, but as this was part of the Johnnies series I read it anyway.
John has never been a character I have felt any need to know more about, maybe because of the way he came across in the previous books. His back story while kind of sad , became an annoying crutch he used through out the book. Nobody loves me for me, I'm never good enough for anyone to love etc. there were times I wanted to slap him just to stop, the self pity. Also his constant harping on Dex and his relationship with Kane annoyed me.
I liked the fact that John worked hard to stay off the drugs even when put in situations that would test his resolve and I also liked that Galen wanted to be better for John and worked hard at rehab.
All In all it seemed like. It much happened over the course of the book, but at least it mainly dealt with the two MCs and not the whole bunch of previous characters, who only made a brief appearance at the end.
terriaminute's review
5.0
Unlike the first three of this series, each of which is more than it seems at first, I knew Black John would be tough. The author includes some warnings about subjects, or a note, really. She didn't mention serious self-loathing, perhaps because by this point the reader strongly suspects that already. But how John reached this point? Oh boy. And about that: I appreciated the way Lane constructed this story, with memories laced through current events rather than breaking action for a separate flashback. The way those memories and the current terror/interest are woven together works beautifully. And when John re-integrating with his friends back in Sacramento, Lane ties the four stories together and it is beautiful. And then, the end.
Sigh.
Chase, Dex, Ethan, and John. These are great stories, and now I have to wait for the next one, darn it.
Sigh.
Chase, Dex, Ethan, and John. These are great stories, and now I have to wait for the next one, darn it.
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