Title: Blood and Tears (Flesh #3)
Author: Ethan Stone
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages: 310
Characters: Gabe Vargas, Drew Bradley
POV: 3rd person
Sub-Genre: Crime Drama/Suspense/Mystery
Kisses: 4
Blurb:
The last thing Gabe Vargas wants to do after losing his girlfriend and nearly dying is leave his young son. But that’s exactly what FBI Agent Drew Bradley is asking him to do. According to Drew, the only way to protect Gabe and find the killer is to fake Gabe’s death.
With an already established adversarial relationship, protecting a firebrand like Gabe isn’t exactly a picnic for Drew either. But when Drew lets his guard down, his feelings of desire for Gabe leave him confused. Before the crime can be solved, Drew will have to risk more than his job. He’ll have to risk his heart.
Review:
Romance, sex, murder, suspense, conflict, manipulation, betrayal—you’ll find all those things and more in Ethan Stone’s Blood and Tears, the third installment in the Flesh series, where we were first introduced to Gabe Vargas and FBI agent Drew Bradley, an association that began on less than good terms, when Drew’s poor decision on an assignment resulted in the unfortunate death of Gabe’s young lover, Casey.
Cristian Flesh and his partner, Colby Maddox, play supporting roles in this installment of the series, in favor of handing over the spotlight to Gabe and Drew. Gabe is recovering from the multiple stab wounds he suffered after a pick-up at a bar went horribly wrong. Agent Drew Bradley has been assigned to guard duty, an assignment he vehemently protested, knowing that Gabe still blames him for Casey’s death. Those protests fall on deaf ears, however, and the men find themselves hidden away in a safe-house, the rest of the world believing Gabe to be dead, in a ruse designed to protect him and his son while the FBI attempts to find his assailant. The murder/attempted murder that left Gabe’s wife dead, and Gabe very near death, seems to be related to a series of cross-country killings involving polyamorous couples, though there may be a significant difference between the Vargas’ case and the others that throws a kink in the investigation.
Gabe’s amnesia, a result of the trauma he experienced, has done quite a lot to hinder the case as well; the nightmares torment him, making him relive that night in near perfect detail, with one very important exception: that of being unable to see the killer’s face or remember his name.
As the two men spend their days and nights together, the shift in their relationship becomes more pronounced, drifting from antagonistic to something that begins to feel a lot like friendship. For the very straight Drew Bradley, the close proximity, the ease with which he falls into the patterns of the weeks spent together, and the building fondness he feels for Gabe each serve to confuse the man who has never, in his life, been even remotely attracted to another man. Those desires leave Drew feeling profoundly disconcerted, especially when he discovers that Gabe may very well return them.
Blood and Tears is a sharp and sexy gay-for-you romance, punctuated by steamy eroticism, danger, and dramatic tension. Ethan Stone does a marvelous job of portraying the very conflicted Drew, capturing the turbulence of his emotions when he discovers that he could very well be falling in love with Gabriel Vargas. A childhood spent within a firestorm of religious fervor and intolerance toward homosexuality has left its mark on Drew’s life. It’s something that initially darkens his impression of both himself and his attraction to Gabe. It’s something he must learn to overcome if he’s to find future happiness and a place with Gabe and his son, Victor. It’s something that causes Drew to make some very serious missteps along the way—mistakes that could prove fatal.
The dangerous machinations of a trusted associate put the two men directly in harm’s way, providing for plenty of suspense to the story. The past reaches out to haunt Gabe—and Cristian too—threatening to steal the future from both of them. It’s a race against time to find the killer before either or both men end up dead.
The developing relationship between Gabe and Drew allows for more than enough touching elements to call this story a romance. And if you’re feeling conflicted about picking up this particular chapter in the ongoing Flesh series, for the sole reason that it doesn’t feature Cristian himself as its focus, stop that thinking right here and right now. As heroic leads, Drew and Gabe do a great job, and then some, of carrying their own story, and I hope they continue to feature prominently in the upcoming books.
Reviewed By: Lisa
