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The Avondale Stories #3
Break and Enter
An Avondale Story George Martin and his partner Mike live a comfortable life in Jacksonville with their Irish Setter, but something's missing. Maybe George, a captain in the sheriff's office, has just been working too hard again. There's been a rash of break-ins in the area, and the homes targeted all seem to belong to older gay men. Then when the time finally comes for George and Mike to take their vacation, they pack up and head to their mountain cabin for two weeks-only to find a small boy living in their generator shed. Robbie, who bonds with George right away, had witnessed an unspeakable tragedy, but that is just the beginning of the trouble. Alone in the world apart from a very ill maternal grandmother, Robbie stands the very real risk of becoming a ward of the state if George and Mike can't convince a bigoted judge to change his mind. Meanwhile, George still has a job to do: solve the mystery of the break-ins-and a murder-and track down who's responsible.
230 pages, Paperback
Published May 27, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 13, 2020
Well the book was somewhat better then I thought. I still have a hate for George & Mike because they seem like such snobs. I guess we're suppose to give a hardy clap for the golden couple when they adopt little orphan Robbie, but I felt sorry for the kid being raised by these intolerant, elitist pricks. My dislike grew, when the golden couple met a gay couple who happen to have a young son in Robbie's class and George & Mike hoped that their son wouldn't continue to be friends with the boy because the boy's fathers are too gay. I mean the father's have the nerve to participate in the Gay Pride Parade and they're just not butch enough to hang with these two asses. The author needs to remember that gay people come in all shapes and sizes and we need to learn to accept each other if we want the straight world to learn tolerance for us. Also what was with the character Debbie (who I liked in the first book but disappeared)asking a minor character(who happens to be black) if he was someone's bitch because he had on low riding jeans, so preposterous, racist, and unrealistic, that I started to throw the book in the trash for that scene alone. This book was readable, but I doubt if I'll purchase more of the adventures of George & Mike because they're the most annoying characters that I've ever read in a book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 1, 2011
3.5 stars
I'm finding it difficult to rate this book.
On one hand I liked it. It was easy to read, I didn't have to be 100% concentrated on reading lest I miss something. Also while reading there are little or no "huh?" or "head desk" moments. Plus there really isn't much or even any angst present. To me those are all pluses since a lot of the time you just want to spend some time relaxing with a nice book instead of fretting over what happens next.
The plot itself was ok. There was nothing spectacular going on, we don't see much of the detective work since George's now a captain so the whole catch the burglar thing read more like a sideline plot. The book reads more like a diary of day to day life of George and Mike. But that's more or less expected and in line with the previous 2 books in the series. (Those would be Bodies of Work and Drag and Drop.) The other characters all get a mention as well (Carl and Jim, Zeb and Zeke, and so on) and we get a peek at what's going on with them. As far as Mike and George go, the biggest change in their lives is that they end up adopting a little boy early on in the book.
What I found strange was the somewhat distant and impersonal first person narrative which make the book read more like a report than a novel. This holds true for the previous two books as well. Even though the writing style in this case isn't a deal breaker for me it does get a bit dull reading in places, and I'm left with the impression that nothing exciting ever happens. But despite that you keep turning the page to see what happens next. Personally I'd have liked a few chapters to be in Mike's POV, just to brake the monotony a bit.
The thing that bothered me about the book, again same goes for the previous two books, is how prefect the MC's are. They are both good looking, fit and with a healthy bank account (even though one's a cop). George is the youngest and brightest and just a plain superlative police captain, and Mike's not half bad himself (even though we don't learn that much about him). I know that this is fiction, but come on who is that prefect and put together. The way their life reads is like they have absolutely no problems what so ever and are living a fairytale. It's like a charmed life of George and Mike, where everything always resolves perfectly in their favor, and they just go merrily through life.
For me the perfectness of the MC's and the writing style sum up to waiting for something exciting to happen but it never does. Maybe that the secret to why despite that I kept reading.
I'd recommend it as a relaxing read for when you don't need more drama in your life.
I'm finding it difficult to rate this book.
On one hand I liked it. It was easy to read, I didn't have to be 100% concentrated on reading lest I miss something. Also while reading there are little or no "huh?" or "head desk" moments. Plus there really isn't much or even any angst present. To me those are all pluses since a lot of the time you just want to spend some time relaxing with a nice book instead of fretting over what happens next.
The plot itself was ok. There was nothing spectacular going on, we don't see much of the detective work since George's now a captain so the whole catch the burglar thing read more like a sideline plot. The book reads more like a diary of day to day life of George and Mike. But that's more or less expected and in line with the previous 2 books in the series. (Those would be Bodies of Work and Drag and Drop.) The other characters all get a mention as well (Carl and Jim, Zeb and Zeke, and so on) and we get a peek at what's going on with them. As far as Mike and George go, the biggest change in their lives is that they end up adopting a little boy early on in the book.
What I found strange was the somewhat distant and impersonal first person narrative which make the book read more like a report than a novel. This holds true for the previous two books as well. Even though the writing style in this case isn't a deal breaker for me it does get a bit dull reading in places, and I'm left with the impression that nothing exciting ever happens. But despite that you keep turning the page to see what happens next. Personally I'd have liked a few chapters to be in Mike's POV, just to brake the monotony a bit.
The thing that bothered me about the book, again same goes for the previous two books, is how prefect the MC's are. They are both good looking, fit and with a healthy bank account (even though one's a cop). George is the youngest and brightest and just a plain superlative police captain, and Mike's not half bad himself (even though we don't learn that much about him). I know that this is fiction, but come on who is that prefect and put together. The way their life reads is like they have absolutely no problems what so ever and are living a fairytale. It's like a charmed life of George and Mike, where everything always resolves perfectly in their favor, and they just go merrily through life.
For me the perfectness of the MC's and the writing style sum up to waiting for something exciting to happen but it never does. Maybe that the secret to why despite that I kept reading.
I'd recommend it as a relaxing read for when you don't need more drama in your life.
July 23, 2011
Although I have never really rated the George & Michael novels by Etienne particularly highly, there is definitely something addictive about them. I'll try to explain.
Etienne's writing style is a descriptive style that, to me, prevents the reader to become deeply emotionally involved in his stories. That said, once I got used to being slightly removed from the characters, I've found myself very happy to keep following the events in George and Mike's lives. Etienne follows the details of their everyday lives, particularly their lives outside their work - but not the details you'd expect - their sex and emotional lives! Instead, these aspects are pretty much glossed over, and instead follows their interactions with their friends, those found in Jacksonville, those around their mountain cabin, and those in other states.
George, now a captain in the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department, continues to solve crimes, while being less actively involved in the actual cases as befits a detective moving up into the upper echelons of the department. He now supervises his teams, dealing mostly with paperwork and the occasional pushy relative of a victim. This is reflected directly into Etienne's story as less time was spent on the murder mystery and more time was spent on the home life of Mike and George. I guess the introduction of young Tommy (orphaned as result of a crime) also directed the focus of the story to their home lives. All of this (particularly from my lack of ability to clearly write what I mean) might sound incredibly boring, but it's not. I found it almost compelling to follow the lives of these two good men, who strive to live their lives to their best, lending a helping hand where they can, friends and strangers alilke.
Etienne's writing style is a descriptive style that, to me, prevents the reader to become deeply emotionally involved in his stories. That said, once I got used to being slightly removed from the characters, I've found myself very happy to keep following the events in George and Mike's lives. Etienne follows the details of their everyday lives, particularly their lives outside their work - but not the details you'd expect - their sex and emotional lives! Instead, these aspects are pretty much glossed over, and instead follows their interactions with their friends, those found in Jacksonville, those around their mountain cabin, and those in other states.
George, now a captain in the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department, continues to solve crimes, while being less actively involved in the actual cases as befits a detective moving up into the upper echelons of the department. He now supervises his teams, dealing mostly with paperwork and the occasional pushy relative of a victim. This is reflected directly into Etienne's story as less time was spent on the murder mystery and more time was spent on the home life of Mike and George. I guess the introduction of young Tommy (orphaned as result of a crime) also directed the focus of the story to their home lives. All of this (particularly from my lack of ability to clearly write what I mean) might sound incredibly boring, but it's not. I found it almost compelling to follow the lives of these two good men, who strive to live their lives to their best, lending a helping hand where they can, friends and strangers alilke.
May 29, 2011
I really enjoy Etienne writing, there is not alot of sex in his stories its more about his and his partners life. And of course the solving of the latest crime.
June 1, 2011
I did not get around to reviewing the previous two Mike and George books, so I thought I would sort of round them up here. Although each of these books has its own individualities, I enjoyed them all for the same reason. I'm just not entirely sure how to articulate the reason.
The setting of this series is obviously well-known and dear to the author's heart. I should say settings, plural, as the mountain cabin near Waynesville, NC--territory well known to me--is as important a setting as the couples primary residence in Florida. Both are depicted with the sort of easy familiarity that makes the settings almost a character in the story. It is always fun to get a tour of a character's home ground that makes you feel as though you've been there yourself.
The mystery element of these tales falls into the ranks of the police procedural and do the genre justice. The members of George's team are interesting characters in their own right, and you get to know them as people as well as cops in a way that reminds me of Lucas Davenport and his team in the Sandford Prey books.
But the mysteries are equally balanced with the day to day lives of George and Mike as a couple. We follow them as they work out, as they eat out, as they interact with friends, as they pursue jobs and hobbies, and also to the bedroom--or at least to the bedroom door. The books are not inclined to graphic depictions of sex, but more to the suggestion of a healthy and playful sex life of the sort any couple would aspire to.
Ultimately, it may be that last that makes these books so readable, even when George and Mike are doing nothing more than sipping wine with friends or inspecting rental property. That sense of a good life that is comfortable and warm and genuine between two men you would like to kick back and share a bottle of wine and a quiet evening in the mountains, or in a Florida restaurant, with.
The setting of this series is obviously well-known and dear to the author's heart. I should say settings, plural, as the mountain cabin near Waynesville, NC--territory well known to me--is as important a setting as the couples primary residence in Florida. Both are depicted with the sort of easy familiarity that makes the settings almost a character in the story. It is always fun to get a tour of a character's home ground that makes you feel as though you've been there yourself.
The mystery element of these tales falls into the ranks of the police procedural and do the genre justice. The members of George's team are interesting characters in their own right, and you get to know them as people as well as cops in a way that reminds me of Lucas Davenport and his team in the Sandford Prey books.
But the mysteries are equally balanced with the day to day lives of George and Mike as a couple. We follow them as they work out, as they eat out, as they interact with friends, as they pursue jobs and hobbies, and also to the bedroom--or at least to the bedroom door. The books are not inclined to graphic depictions of sex, but more to the suggestion of a healthy and playful sex life of the sort any couple would aspire to.
Ultimately, it may be that last that makes these books so readable, even when George and Mike are doing nothing more than sipping wine with friends or inspecting rental property. That sense of a good life that is comfortable and warm and genuine between two men you would like to kick back and share a bottle of wine and a quiet evening in the mountains, or in a Florida restaurant, with.
July 26, 2016
WOW yet another great story about George and Mike, I love these tales and I love how Etienne brings in characters from his other contemporary series into the mix. We get to here more about people we have grown to love and in this case has sent me running to buy the other books in a Trilogy about Charles and Philip. These stories are always so skilfully put together and intersect with other books in the series so well that you just want to keep reading them all so you get all the inside gossip on all of the people in the stories. So you know where my allowance is going for the next couple of weeks!!
June 22, 2012
I always like finding a well developed series that I can read through. The Avondale series is simply the best with men who are confident and living life to the full. I love George and Michael, not only are they Episcopalians like me, but they always get the bad guy too!!
July 1, 2011
Yet another page turner! Robbie is a great addition to Mike & George's family. Can't wait until the next book.
July 5, 2011
A clear winner in this series. George and Mike's family is growing, and their interaction with the orphan they've adopted is very believable.
Way to go, Etienne.
Way to go, Etienne.
January 24, 2013
I have found that I am not very fond of this writer. All their books read like a "how to" for upwardly mobile gay men.
May 22, 2016
Well written story. Would read again (and have).
One of the authors I keep an eye on due to writing interesting stories with fun characters.
One of the authors I keep an eye on due to writing interesting stories with fun characters.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews