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bitchie's review against another edition
4.0
Reread April 2014- still holds up, great start to the series. The mystery kept me guessing until the very end, even on the reread, because my memory is so shitty. Is it bad, that I read this two years ago, and this time I still didn't have a clue whodunnit til she walked into the room carrying the kid?
a_reader_obsessed's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars - Audio Edition
I have to give props to the narrator - he gave each character their own unique voice that was very distinguishable and not annoying. I was especially impressed with the Asian accents.
Private investigator Cole finds himself in what seems like a simple investigation confirming the suicide of a prominent Korean family's son. What he finds instead is a closeted gay man whose death becomes more and more suspicious as people associated with the deceased become hurt or dead themselves.
Cole is kinda a tragic hero, stuck between grief and guilt over the murder of his lover. Among the numerous attempts on his life, he falls for the deceased's cousin and a hot affair ensues.
Overall I like romantic suspense and this was a good example of that. It had a great supporting cast, excellent banter, and a good amount of heat. I will read the next installment!
I have to give props to the narrator - he gave each character their own unique voice that was very distinguishable and not annoying. I was especially impressed with the Asian accents.
Private investigator Cole finds himself in what seems like a simple investigation confirming the suicide of a prominent Korean family's son. What he finds instead is a closeted gay man whose death becomes more and more suspicious as people associated with the deceased become hurt or dead themselves.
Cole is kinda a tragic hero, stuck between grief and guilt over the murder of his lover
Spoiler
by his best friend (who subsequently killed himself). That mystery is something I hope will get solved later down the roadOverall I like romantic suspense and this was a good example of that. It had a great supporting cast, excellent banter, and a good amount of heat. I will read the next installment!
divapitbull's review against another edition
5.0
4 1/2 stars
I really enjoyed Dirty Kiss and have high hopes for the Cole McGinnis series. Cole is an ex. Vice cop turned private investigator after his best friend and work partner went batshit crazy and pumped him full of lead nearly killing him, shot and killed Cole’s boyfriend Rick and then nipped off to his squad car where he proceeded to blow his brains out. Needless to say, losing the two most important people in his life and never knowing the reason for his partner’s meltdown has left Cole with some issues. He’s struggled with his grief and avoided relationships in the years since Rick’s death.
Then his brother Mike asks him to take a case as a favor. Mike runs a security company and the son of one of his clients seems to have committed suicide. The very traditional Korean family swear that their son would never hurt his family in this way and have asked to have someone investigate. At first it seems pretty cut and dry and Cole is convinced he was just hired to “sniff around and then go away”; but once he starts sniffing he discovers that the very traditional, conservative Korean family have more skeletons in their closet than a cemetery.
One of the skeletons takes the form of Jae-Min; the hot younger cousin to Kim Hyun-Shik aka the dead guy. It also turns out that the married and father to a young son Shik died in Dirty Kiss or Dorthi Ki Seu– a gay sex club. Cole and Jae-Min have lust at first sight, which does turn into a pretty sweet relationship; amidst someone taking a very dim view to Cole’s investigation – in the form of attempts on both Cole and Jae’s lives and an ever expanding body count.
The mystery is decent; although it’s easy to figure out the motivation behind the murders as you follow Cole along collecting pieces of the puzzle. Cole and Jae have some pretty hot sex. Cole is sort of the “alpha male” but Jae isn’t really twinky, and their relationship isn’t easy. Cole has his grief and guilt issues, and Jae has his Korean family issues. Cole is out and doesn’t care who knows despite not having always gotten a positive reception; Jae is in the back of the closet and is prepared to do his familial duty which involves at some point sucking it up, getting married and having children. Jae struggles with both his issues and Cole’s:
“When I’m with you…being with you…pulls everything out from under me. I shouldn’t want you, but I do. There’s nothing right with your mind, and you go around wishing you were dead. I can’t do that. I have to take care of my family. I Can’t take care of you too”.
Jae has to send money to his mother and sisters; and if they find out he’s gay, he’ll shame the family and his mother will refuse his money. Apparently taking the attitude of “well; then starve bitch” is very ugly-American. Cole doesn’t get where Jae is coming from any more than I did and Cole is actually half Asian – although as Jae points out, Cole’s mother died in childbirth and he never knew any of his Japanese relatives – so culturally speaking, he’s as white as Sunbeam bread. But eventually Cole does come to understand Jae’s culture and what family means to him; and they both struggle to figure out what sort of relationship – if any – they can have on a longish term basis.
Both Cole and Jae were likable characters; and being as this is a series, it was populated with a lot of (mostly) endearing secondary characters that will likely be making future appearances. Cole’s one and only office assistant Claudia and her brood: “Our interview was short and sweet: I told her I was gay and had some issues, she told me she was black and had high blood pressure”. Cole’s moderately homophobic brother Mike, his recently out of the closet and retired cop friend Bobby and the Dirty Kiss female impersonator/mistress to a member of the Korean embassy – Scarlet.
I’m hooked; and I want to see Cole and Jae somehow get a HEA.
I really enjoyed Dirty Kiss and have high hopes for the Cole McGinnis series. Cole is an ex. Vice cop turned private investigator after his best friend and work partner went batshit crazy and pumped him full of lead nearly killing him, shot and killed Cole’s boyfriend Rick and then nipped off to his squad car where he proceeded to blow his brains out. Needless to say, losing the two most important people in his life and never knowing the reason for his partner’s meltdown has left Cole with some issues. He’s struggled with his grief and avoided relationships in the years since Rick’s death.
Then his brother Mike asks him to take a case as a favor. Mike runs a security company and the son of one of his clients seems to have committed suicide. The very traditional Korean family swear that their son would never hurt his family in this way and have asked to have someone investigate. At first it seems pretty cut and dry and Cole is convinced he was just hired to “sniff around and then go away”; but once he starts sniffing he discovers that the very traditional, conservative Korean family have more skeletons in their closet than a cemetery.
One of the skeletons takes the form of Jae-Min; the hot younger cousin to Kim Hyun-Shik aka the dead guy. It also turns out that the married and father to a young son Shik died in Dirty Kiss or Dorthi Ki Seu– a gay sex club. Cole and Jae-Min have lust at first sight, which does turn into a pretty sweet relationship; amidst someone taking a very dim view to Cole’s investigation – in the form of attempts on both Cole and Jae’s lives and an ever expanding body count.
The mystery is decent; although it’s easy to figure out the motivation behind the murders as you follow Cole along collecting pieces of the puzzle. Cole and Jae have some pretty hot sex. Cole is sort of the “alpha male” but Jae isn’t really twinky, and their relationship isn’t easy. Cole has his grief and guilt issues, and Jae has his Korean family issues. Cole is out and doesn’t care who knows despite not having always gotten a positive reception; Jae is in the back of the closet and is prepared to do his familial duty which involves at some point sucking it up, getting married and having children. Jae struggles with both his issues and Cole’s:
“When I’m with you…being with you…pulls everything out from under me. I shouldn’t want you, but I do. There’s nothing right with your mind, and you go around wishing you were dead. I can’t do that. I have to take care of my family. I Can’t take care of you too”.
Jae has to send money to his mother and sisters; and if they find out he’s gay, he’ll shame the family and his mother will refuse his money. Apparently taking the attitude of “well; then starve bitch” is very ugly-American. Cole doesn’t get where Jae is coming from any more than I did and Cole is actually half Asian – although as Jae points out, Cole’s mother died in childbirth and he never knew any of his Japanese relatives – so culturally speaking, he’s as white as Sunbeam bread. But eventually Cole does come to understand Jae’s culture and what family means to him; and they both struggle to figure out what sort of relationship – if any – they can have on a longish term basis.
Both Cole and Jae were likable characters; and being as this is a series, it was populated with a lot of (mostly) endearing secondary characters that will likely be making future appearances. Cole’s one and only office assistant Claudia and her brood: “Our interview was short and sweet: I told her I was gay and had some issues, she told me she was black and had high blood pressure”. Cole’s moderately homophobic brother Mike, his recently out of the closet and retired cop friend Bobby and the Dirty Kiss female impersonator/mistress to a member of the Korean embassy – Scarlet.
I’m hooked; and I want to see Cole and Jae somehow get a HEA.
msjessc's review against another edition
5.0
I love this book and I love this series! The ability the author has to shape a scene, an emotion, a character, a relationship is a constant thing of beauty and joy to me. With one sentence I'm laughing loud enough my husband checks in with me. With a paragraph my heart is overflowing with sweetness and love.
Cole- I just want to have his back at all times. His heart is so pure and so strong. Jae - hugs all the hugs that I'd never give because he'd hate it. These two have my heart.
I'm coming back to the first to give my review after reading through book five because I don't want to write a review for each when it would pretty much say the same thing. Watching their love grow together has become one of my new fav things. Add in the fact that each mystery is also well crafted and fast paced and this series forever has a home on my permanent shelf.
Cole- I just want to have his back at all times. His heart is so pure and so strong. Jae - hugs all the hugs that I'd never give because he'd hate it. These two have my heart.
I'm coming back to the first to give my review after reading through book five because I don't want to write a review for each when it would pretty much say the same thing. Watching their love grow together has become one of my new fav things. Add in the fact that each mystery is also well crafted and fast paced and this series forever has a home on my permanent shelf.
gloame's review against another edition
3.0
I think what did it for me with this book was the narrator, which is neat since I really thought I was going to hate him. He ended up working really well for the characters; just give him a few minutes to get into it if you choose to go with the audio version.
I liked the story okay, but I never really felt satisfied with the characters. I think, honestly, if I were to have read this book in Kindle format instead of listening to this guy narrate, I probably would've put it down and not picked it up again. :(
I liked the story okay, but I never really felt satisfied with the characters. I think, honestly, if I were to have read this book in Kindle format instead of listening to this guy narrate, I probably would've put it down and not picked it up again. :(
tashas_books's review against another edition
3.0
The mystery in this book was really good: believable and unpredictable. But the romance wasn't very good. Cole seemed to have fallen in love with Jae at first sight but then they never spent any time together (except for having sex). I didnt even think the sex scenes were all that good; they seemed too cool and detached for a 1st person POV story. In the end, I couldn't tell you much about Jae's personality. We got to know Cole's friend Bobby and some of the other side characters better than we did Jae. I might read the next book just to see if Jae gets more of a personality.
teresab78's review against another edition
4.0
Good start to the series. It didn't grab me as much as other novels from this author, and all though I had read it before I still couldn't figure out the culprit. I do want to read more of these two.
marlobo's review against another edition
5.0
I love this book for many reasons:
* A good suspense plot.
* A good dramatis personae, rich and credible.
* Brushstrokes of humor like the hilarious initial scene.
* A fabulous background drawing.
* A romance that in spite of his fast development and under pressing circumstances, doesn't anything prissy.
* The end, a bit open, it's quite adequate.
I want a sequel!
Please, make me known if my English is wrong
* A good suspense plot.
* A good dramatis personae, rich and credible.
* Brushstrokes of humor like the hilarious initial scene.
* A fabulous background drawing.
* A romance that in spite of his fast development and under pressing circumstances, doesn't anything prissy.
* The end, a bit open, it's quite adequate.
I want a sequel!
Please, make me known if my English is wrong
saraubs's review against another edition
2.0
I read this book to fulfill one of the requirements for my 2016 reading challenge, not fully realizing that it was the first in a series. If I had known, I may have given it a pass, because I have such a huge to-read pile that I don't have the time/inclination to commit to huge 4+ book series. That being said, if it had sucked me in, I'm sure I would have read the others happily. As it stands, that was not the case.
For the first few chapters, I was incredibly engaged. I thought that the characters were likeable and that the plot was intriguing. It was nice to see a main character who was a POC and it was an interesting angle for a M/M novel. But once the romantic leads came together, I was finished. I like a little more "getting to know you" in my romance, and when people just collide and have this "instant connection" stuff I'm not only skeptical, but bored.
The mystery could have stood to be more nuanced; there wasn't a single minute where I felt I was "solving" the mystery along with Cole rather than waiting for a surprise reveal. It just doesn't feel like a "mystery" if there are no clues for you to solve.
I know that this probably gets touched on in future books, but: Ben. BEn. BEN. I want to know. Unfortunately, it's the only thing I wasn't to know, and that's not enough to get me through three or four more of these.
For the first few chapters, I was incredibly engaged. I thought that the characters were likeable and that the plot was intriguing. It was nice to see a main character who was a POC and it was an interesting angle for a M/M novel. But once the romantic leads came together, I was finished. I like a little more "getting to know you" in my romance, and when people just collide and have this "instant connection" stuff I'm not only skeptical, but bored.
The mystery could have stood to be more nuanced; there wasn't a single minute where I felt I was "solving" the mystery along with Cole rather than waiting for a surprise reveal. It just doesn't feel like a "mystery" if there are no clues for you to solve.
I know that this probably gets touched on in future books, but: Ben. BEn. BEN. I want to know. Unfortunately, it's the only thing I wasn't to know, and that's not enough to get me through three or four more of these.