Death of a Pirate King (The Adrien English Mysteries, #4) in Q&A with Josh Lanyon

Sep 06, 2011 Leanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crime, mm, hero-i-adore, favorites, made-me-cry, mystery, nice-n-angsty, hurt-comfort, autobuy-author

I've been trying to eke these out.....slowly savouring every morsel. But I can't. One book ends and I just have to get the next to find out if Adrien and Jake will ever find some kind future together.
Urgh. You're breaking my heart, Mr. Lanyon.

Lord help me when I finish #5. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 28, 2010 Indie Reviews rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: rainbow-reviews, indie-reviews, lgbt, romance, fiction, mystery

The fourth installment in the Adrien English Mysteries Death of a Pirate King not only lives up to the promise of the previous books, in many respects it surpassed my expectations which were already quite high. It is readily apparent that author Josh Lanyon has hit his stride in this book on all fronts.

While it is virtually impossible to provide more detail on the mystery without completely giving away the plot, I will say that the author has written an outstanding mystery plot in particular in ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 27, 2011 Stephanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, josh-lanyon, finished-series, cops-private-eyes-bodyguards

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 3rd read: 10/15/02. I should have known better than to start reading this book 2 hours before bed time. I was up too late, frantically skimming so I could read Jake, Adrien, and Paul's parts and was a sobbing mess at the end. I freaking hate Paul. Hate him!!!

WARNING!! DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK.

(view spoiler) 3rd read: 10/15/02. I should have known better than to start reading this book 2 hours before bed time. I was up too late, frantically skimming so I could read Jake, Adrien, and Paul's parts and was a sobbing mess at the end. I freaking hate Paul. Hate him!!!

WARNING!! DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK.

(view spoiler)[This was another wonderful installment in this heartbreaking, roller coaster ride of a series. Adrien, with-an-e, just can't seem to get a break. If it's not his damaged heart making his life hell, It's the police trying AGAIN to implicate him for a murder. Then he finds out the man he's in love with-Jake-who broke things off so he could marry his girl friend (Kate) and make a true go at his marriage, has had (for the past 5 years) and HAS continued a BDSM-type relationship with Paul, the obvious murderer AND that Jake has feelings for him, but not the same type of feelings he has for Adrien (love.) Like that should make a fucking difference to Adrien? Granted, he and Adrien weren't in a committed relationship and he knew Jake wasn't till death do us part material, but it still further broke Adrien's heart to find out that the whole time Jake was seeing him he was fucking Paul too. He already knew about Kate and had accepted that. Adrien knew deep down that Kate wasn't any sort of competition for him. Kate was nothing more than a beard. But Paul certainly was competition and he did everything, including trying to get Jake at the end to kill Adrien, so they could live happily ever after. And that little plan that Paul dreamed up to off Adrien gave me insight to what their relationship truly was. One that I found to be sick and twisted. So my opinion of Jake (on a scale of 1-10 w/ 10 being the highest) has gone from a 5 to a 1 right now. Sigh.

I loved the ending. I felt is was absolutely perfectly done. But it didn't have the emotional affect on me that I thought it would have BECAUSE I don't feel Jake came out and quit the force because he was ready to look in the mirror and accept who he truly was. He did it because he was backed in a corner professionally AND he knew coming out was what it was going to take to have a chance with Adrien. So this leaves me feeling very uneasy and quite truthfully, NOT wanting Adrien to take him back. Jake's self-hatred and emotional issues relating to him being gay AND his need for his "Kink" are not going to go away simply because he confessed everything to Kate, came out to his family and quit the police force. He still sees himself as being "not normal", something to loathe, and something he should be ashamed of. Adrien needs a stable, loving, out and proud man in his life, not a pain-seeking/violent, self-loathing closet case for a boyfriend.

And quite frankly, I think the type of sex Jake was having (getting off on beating the shit out of other gay men) was him simply self-projecting his self-hatred onto others. He hated he was gay so he beat other gay men to make himself feel better. Jake is not the type of gay man that Adrien needs in his life. He's a liar, a cheater and an abusive manipulator.

So in conclusion, it's going to take a HUGE amount of self-reflection, acceptance of who he truly is to on Jake's part and a whole lot of penance to change my mind that he's worthy of Adrien's love, let alone that these two should get a HEA in the next book. (hide spoiler)] ...more

Like · see review

Aug 07, 2011 Jane rated it it was amazing

Since I am the 16th 5star review I'm sure it's all been said.
Josh Lanyon wrote a great murder mystery coupled with a great break up coupled with an exasperating mother, coupled with step sisters, and wonderful characters and sub plot.

But of course the main thing to talk about is that bastard, Jake Riordan. Lanyon makes their brief encounters, electric, with minimum dialogue- and erotic, with innuendo. It's a wonderful love/hate relationship that is always exacerbated with Adrien quit wit.

The ten ...more

Like · see review

Jan 08, 2011 J. Rosemary Moss rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, m-m-romance, romance, lgbt, fiction, kindle, adrien-english-series, five-stars, josh-lanyon, favorites

Adrien English finds himself smack in the middle of another murder mystery--only this time LAPD Lt. Jake Riordan is encouraging him to do some amateur sleuthing instead of threatening to throw his ass in jail for interfering. So Adrien has his hands full with his informal investigation, his new step sisters, his faltering relationship with Guy . . . and his lingering feelings for the still-closeted (and now married) Jake. Adrien and his sharp tongue are in top form here; don't plan on putting th ...more

Like · see review