Gazes Into You

4.5 Happy DanceDetective stories, whether P.I.s or Police, are probably my favorite and I'm super happy to have found this one. In many aspects this a pretty standard “former cop becomes a P.I.” story, but with a nice twist. One person's perversions can be someone else's kink. John Right is a former NYPD who was forced to retire after being injured in the line of duty. To keep busy, and get out of his house & head he's been doing night time security at the offices of a pharmaceutical company, that it also affords him the opportunity to indulge his voyeur tendencies is a bonus. If he has more than watched (as in recorded & jacked off to the images of a young guy who chains his bicycle outside the office everyday) it's no one's business. Until the guy disappears, and John's perversion or obsession is the thing that will save him (Jesse/Jason/Jay)'s life. The way they get to know each other is slow, sweet, and believable. There's also a palpable, smoldering, attraction between the MC's and when they finally ‘get together' it's nice to see that some of the prescribed expectations are averted. I won't say much more, as the story is worth the ride. I was a happy camper. The story has many of my favorite elements, like age-gap, some size difference, forced proximity, and a far from perfect hero. The mystery is satisfying in its simplicity, and save for the final confrontation with the villain, I enjoyed this off-the-beaten-path origin story. I also liked that the other MC, Jason, despite being the one in peril, and in need of protection, was no wilting flower or hysteric. In fact I can see how his special skill set will come into play in future installments, when John & Jason become the Mr. & Mr. detectives of the title. As a plus the world [a:Alex Jane 14981369 Alex Jane https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1455534586p2/14981369.jpg] has created and the characters that populate the story are all interesting in their own right. The author has left room to explore different angles that can lead to satisfying new installments to the series. I'm looking forward to them. Negligible quibbles that can be ignoredThe writer clearly isn't American (which I confirmed after I finished) and it shows in certain phrase choices, like: “Jason was sat in bed”, which kind of pull you out of the story, as the characters are all meant to be American, the story takes place in New York, whereas that is a particularly British turn of phrase. A run through by an American reader would easily solve this and a couple of other slips.