This book was just ok. I enjoy a good mystery and the mystery here with the strangler could have been good. Pat staying in the closet was pretty much standard fare for a police story. What turned me off was that everything was so very one dimensional. The story read like a can of soda without the fizz. Mr. Simpson had most everything in place to make this a good read but the stilted writing style just bored me. I'm hoping that this is Mr. Simpson's first book and that he improves and loosens up some. ( )

The story speeds along at a brisk pace and fully engages the reader. Simpson fills this story with enough details of police work so that the story is engrossing and interesting, but not so many details that the pacing is bogged down. I like the characters and I'm happy to see that Dean is going to be a permanent part of the story. What is hard for me to believe is that a major metropolitan police department would trust the capture of a serial killer to two rookie cops. Oh well...it is just a story and we all the know the most important part and the real main story is Pat and Dean getting together. I've read other books by John Simpson and have enjoyed them so I'm looking forward to more of Pat and Dean. ( )

Being a new cop in the team is never easy but being the gay rookie in the force is even more difficult. That`s why Pat St. James is hiding his sexuality, especially in front of his partner, the sexist Fletcher. So his job is completely different from his private life where he can embrace the gay lifestyle in its fullest. But his two lifes start to mingle when murders on young gay men occurs, gruesome murders in the gay scene of town. That`s why Pat and his colleague Hank have to go undercover to try to track down the killer before the death toll gets even worse. Of course it`s rather strange that an undercover cop is still undercover after he has been all over the news. Well, who cares. But is`s till odd, because Simpson is very thorough in his description of police work, and it`s quite obvious that he knows what he is talking about.
During the detectiv work hunting down a shadow (always tedious as a serial killer remains a stranger to a story until his identity is uncovered), Pat has also several very intimate encounters with the men in his life, so there really must be at least one for a happy end. Wanna bet??!! ( )

Just plain Awful. Stilted dialogue. unrealistic plot. And not a very good mystery. Wow, I will not continue with this series. Very disappointed. ( )