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New Mexico #2
State of Denial
The body of a young gay man buried along the Rio Grande leads Albuquerque police detective Chris Gutiérrez down a path of dark secrets and old hatreds. Trying to deal with the other detective assigned to the case-the sexist and homophobic Dale Harper-Chris tracks the killer to an older unsolved case, and to the doors of a local megachurch and a popular minister with ties to ex-gay groups. Enlisting the research skills and networks of sociologist and best friend K.C. Fontero, Chris works to build the case and make an arrest before the killer strikes again, even as she must also face her growing feelings for attorney Dayna Carson. Struggling with her attraction to Dayna and the complexity of a difficult case, Chris is drawn into an ominous and potentially deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a man who might kill to protect his own secrets.
276 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 2008
2 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Andi Marquette
37 books164 followersAndi Marquette was born in New Mexico and grew up in Colorado. She completed a couple of academic degrees in anthropology and returned to New Mexico, where she decided a doctorate in history was somehow a good idea. She completed it before realizing that maybe she should have joined the circus, or at least a traveling Gypsy troupe. Oh, well. She fell into editing and publishing sometime around 1993 and has been obsessed with words ever since, which may or may not be a good thing. She is a co-owner and co-founder of LGBTQ publishing house Dirt Road Books.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 7, 2015
This is a sequel to Land of Entrapment, and features Chris as the main character with appearances from K.C. and Sage. Amazon don't allow half stars, I'd give it 3 1/2 for the story, but have given it three here because I paid almost $10 for this as a Kindle book and the formatting is ridiculous. There are entire passages where the perspective changes, but there's no spacing to indicate that. There are also multiple spacing issues. Why is it so hard to give Kindle books proper formatting? I shouldn't have to re-edit these to make them readable.
Ok, onto the story. Chris is an entertaining character, Dayna was nicely fleshed out, and their backstory added some weight to their interactions.
Once again the story focuses more on the character of Chris and is told in first person. The book also has a fair amount of lead separation, but feels a little more even in the pacing of the Chris and Dayna relationship than K.C. and Sage's felt in book one. The mystery here was more interesting than the previous novel, and the character interactions were better too.
I read Land of Entrapment and this back to back and I can see that the series is going to trade between the characters of K.C. and Chris, who spend a fair amount of time interacting in this novel as well. While I prefer Chris with Dayna I do wonder why the author didn't just pair K.C. and Chris up and just switch perspective for each novel.
Ok, onto the story. Chris is an entertaining character, Dayna was nicely fleshed out, and their backstory added some weight to their interactions.
Once again the story focuses more on the character of Chris and is told in first person. The book also has a fair amount of lead separation, but feels a little more even in the pacing of the Chris and Dayna relationship than K.C. and Sage's felt in book one. The mystery here was more interesting than the previous novel, and the character interactions were better too.
I read Land of Entrapment and this back to back and I can see that the series is going to trade between the characters of K.C. and Chris, who spend a fair amount of time interacting in this novel as well. While I prefer Chris with Dayna I do wonder why the author didn't just pair K.C. and Chris up and just switch perspective for each novel.
March 28, 2009
Second book in the Andi Marquette series around sociologist K.C. and cop Chris.
Plot-wise this centered on murders of young gay men that were connected to a church/ex-gay ministry. The plot is well told and well developed, lots of police work.
As opposed to the first novel, this one puts Chris in the center of attention with K.C. more on the sideline. This works well as far as series go, especially one that is in its heart rooted in the romance genre. Marquette manages to mix things up well, and Chris certainly is worthy of being lead character. The book balances the crime solving and Chris' personal life well. New characters are introduced and they are as fun and likeable as the ones in the first book.
One thing I especially like about this series is that the characters seem real, especially their dialog. It's taken from real life, not stilted and awkward as is sometimes the case in romance novels when writers try to be, well, romantic and I sit there wondering who on earth talks like that. None of that here. Just really good dialog, both when it's funny and when it's serious.
Looking forward to the third book in this series, out this summer if I'm not mistaken.
Plot-wise this centered on murders of young gay men that were connected to a church/ex-gay ministry. The plot is well told and well developed, lots of police work.
As opposed to the first novel, this one puts Chris in the center of attention with K.C. more on the sideline. This works well as far as series go, especially one that is in its heart rooted in the romance genre. Marquette manages to mix things up well, and Chris certainly is worthy of being lead character. The book balances the crime solving and Chris' personal life well. New characters are introduced and they are as fun and likeable as the ones in the first book.
One thing I especially like about this series is that the characters seem real, especially their dialog. It's taken from real life, not stilted and awkward as is sometimes the case in romance novels when writers try to be, well, romantic and I sit there wondering who on earth talks like that. None of that here. Just really good dialog, both when it's funny and when it's serious.
Looking forward to the third book in this series, out this summer if I'm not mistaken.
January 3, 2010
Detective Chris Gutierrez was an interesting character when introduced in Land of Entrapment and in State of Denial she takes centre stage.
It's not strictly a sequel but LoE is worth reading anyway so start there!
This is a decent police procedural with a side order of romance and character development. A pleasant change from the usual lesfic dross.
It's not strictly a sequel but LoE is worth reading anyway so start there!
This is a decent police procedural with a side order of romance and character development. A pleasant change from the usual lesfic dross.
May 20, 2014
Another great story set in New Mexico. Having read the first book in this series, I enjoyed having a more in depth look at Chris's life. As usual with Andi M, well rounded characters and settings and a challenging mystery as well.
July 27, 2011
I loved this book! It's well written, it's got everything!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews