Title: Dirty Secret
Series: A Cole McGinnis Mystery, #2
Author: Rhys Ford
Narrator: Greg Tremblay
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Length: 8 hours and 4 minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (05-08-14)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
Reviewer: Tams
Blurb: Sequel to Dirty Kiss
Loving Kim Jae-Min isn’t always easy: Jae is gun-shy about being openly homosexual. Ex-cop turned private investigator Cole McGinnis doesn’t know any other way to be. Still, he understands where Jae is coming from. Traditional Korean men aren’t gay—at least not usually where people can see them.
But Cole can’t spend too much time unraveling his boyfriend’s issues. He has a job to do. When a singer named Scarlet asks him to help find Park Dae-Hoon, a gay Korean man who disappeared nearly two decades ago, Cole finds himself submerged in the tangled world of rich Korean families, where obligation and politics mean sacrificing happiness to preserve corporate empires. Soon the bodies start piling up without rhyme or reason. With every step Cole takes toward locating Park Dae-Hoon, another person meets their demise—and someone Cole loves could be next on the murderer’s list.
Purchase Link: http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Dirty-Secret-Audiobook/B00K6N4ZI4
Review: Private Detective Cole McGinnis and his lover, Kim Jae-Min, are trying to settle into as normal a relationship as their crazy lives will allow in the aftermath of Jae’s cousins death. While Cole is still haunted by the murder of his long time lover, Jae is at odds with himself. He is committed to Cole like he has never been to anyone else, but hides his sexuality for fear of being ostracized by his traditional Korean family.
When their mutual friend Scarlet asks for Cole’s PI skills in locating a friend that has been missing for close to twenty years, Cole accepts the job and soon comes to regret that decision. Wherever Cole and Jae go, madness and mayhem are sure to follow, and this time is no exception. As the bodies start to drop, Cole becomes more desperate to solve the mystery. Is Scarlet’s friend really missing, or is he dead? Worse, could he be the one doing all the killing?
What I thoroughly love about this series is the electric, scorching, white-hot fucking chemistry between Cole and Jae. I’m talking bed breaking, hip bruising, resorting to speaking another language because your brain is completely fried, mind numbing sex! It’s utterly fantastic, a thing of beauty, truly. I digress… there is more to their story. Cole is a trouble magnet. Wherever he goes, death and dismemberment are sure to follow. His body is riddled with scars from all the near misses in his life, including the shooting that took the life of his former lover. His guardian angel must be seriously exhausted. The man always manages to make it out of the most harrowing situations alive.
Then there is the vivid and wildly described Korean culture that is wrapped around Jae, his family and his friends. It is no secret how that part of the country views homosexuality and Ford pulls no punches in her scripts. Jae is so obviously and stubbornly in love with Cole, but he’d just as soon die as admit to it, he is so afraid of losing his family. It’s something that Cole couldn’t truly grasp until he is face to face with his own hateful and ignorant parents for the first time in ten years. After a blood boiling confrontation with is stepmother, Cole finally fully recognizes Jae’s fears. And I think their relationship grows stronger because of it.
Narrated by Greg Tremblay who is very monotone and matter of fact when he is portraying Cole, which is spot on with the way the character is written, but colorful and exasperating when reading Jae. Tremblay brings Cole’s dry and witty sense of humour to life while nailing all the various Asian characters with precision and finesse. Did I mention the hot, sweaty, passionate, toe curling sex? *fans self just thinking about it*
I think that Ford is such an accomplished writer that whether you chose to read or listen to this story or both, that you would have the same experience. I just always love it when a narrator can take the words and really bring them to life, which is what Tremblay has done with this series. I can’t wait to see what dangerous and deadly mystery Cole and Jae stumble into in the next book!
Note: this is the second book in a series that should be read in order.