Product Description

A serial killer is targeting gay men, preying on them in popular bars and parks. Assigned to the case, rookie cop Pat St. James feels all too close to the victims. He's gay and firmly in the closet at work. The fact that he's sent undercover as a gay man is a stroke of irony. Pat and his fellow cop, Hank, are hanging out in bars, trying to get a lead on the killer. At the same time, Pat's looking for Mr. Right - juggling three men, hoping he'll find the perfect match for himself. He picked up Bill at a bar, Dean's a longtime friend . and in yet another ironic twist, his partner, Hank, is also gay and on the list of possible beaus. As the killer continues to rampage, strangling and raping his victims, Pat has to focus on his work and hope that his personal life survives the stress. But when his hopes and dreams for happiness overlap with the investigation, Pat may be headed for big trouble.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #264979 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 220 pages

Customer Reviews

Explicit content doesn't detract from great story ... recommended!
Pat St. James is a 23 year old gay man, a police rookie fresh out of the academy, who lucks into a special assignment going undercover to catch a serial killer going after young gay men. Closeted at work, and under the supervision of a rather homophobic senior officer, Pat and another closeted gay cop, Hank, hit gay cruising spots and bars, wearing microphones through which they can alert their backups if needed. When it is revealed that this is much more than the work of one deranged sicko, but an organized attempt to kill as many gays as possible, Pat and Hank become the centerpiece of a joint police and FBI investigation that puts them in personal danger every night as they try to "bait" the killers, while at the same time trying to hide the fact that they are not exactly rookies at trying to pick up guys in a gay bar. At the same time, Pat is juggling the attentions of a long time but newly-single friend who is courting him, calls from a hot guy he met at a bar before all this went down, and obvious flirting from his patrol partner Hank, who is clearly attracted to him as well.

This is the first novel by author Simpson, whose bio reveals that his knowledge of police procedure and federal agents come from past experience. Would have liked to see the two main characters fleshed out a bit more, in terms of their past and families, which I think he could have done a good job with, based on how he developed the characters in this relatively short novel. There are sexually explicit passages, justifying the categorization as an "erotic novel," but those passages actually add to the development of the character and aren't the slightest excessive in context of the storyline. An impressive debut, and I am looking forward to the follow-up novel (which his website says is "Task Force," out next month). Four stars out of five.

Really wanted to like this
Serial killer, Maryland, gay cop... I wanted to like this. I wanted to, but I couldn't. Ignoring the fact that two completely green rookies would be put on a high profile case and allowed to make high-level decisions and requests (because like the CSI tv shows, the truth would make a boring story), the writing needed work.

The dialogue was stilted and unnatural sounding, the humour was forced, and the sex was so mechanical and overdescribed it was boring. There were also times when it felt like there were two authors at work and they were only barely communicating with each other because of inconsistencies in the characters. There were a ton of places where some nice plot twists could have happen, but they never did.

I think a good editor could have tightened things up quite a bit. There was potential, but no polish.

Murder Most Gay is a terrific read
I have always been fond of police procedural stories but I hadn't seen this genre. I wasn't sure how the two went together. It all fit together very well. The gay part of the story line was interesting and made me want to know more about the future exploits of the men involved. The police story by itself really held my interest. I didn't want to put it down. I was very impressed with this story and intend to get more of John Simpson's books.