From the Bookshelf of Q&A with Josh Lanyon…

Last Line (Last Line, #1)

Harper Fox

Start date: July 1, 2011

Finish date: July 31, 2011

Discussion: Book of the Month Club

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What Members Thought

Nov 06, 2013 Otila rated it liked it

This was a fast-paced, nail-biting thriller...or at least the second half was. I found the first part a little slow but once Anzhel came back that all changed. I also never really felt the chemistry between John and Michael. Their relationship developed before the book started and since Michael spent almost the whole book being controlled by someone else, I never got a sense of who he really was and why John was in love with him. If there's a sequel, then this is a really good start. If there's ...more

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Jul 10, 2015 Lila rated it it was ok

Shelves: sci-fi, mm

2,5 stars

Reread

Harper Fox is one of my favorite authors when it comes to mm genre, but it came to happen with other books of hers. Last Line remained my least favorite book she's written and I sort of always put it in the back of my mind when I think of her work. Anyway, when I read news about imminent release of book #2 I decided to give this another go, since huge chunk of things I didn't like was tied to the fact I had no idea what was going on...or to be more precise, why was it going on. So
2,5 stars

Reread

Harper Fox is one of my favorite authors when it comes to mm genre, but it came to happen with other books of hers. Last Line remained my least favorite book she's written and I sort of always put it in the back of my mind when I think of her work. Anyway, when I read news about imminent release of book #2 I decided to give this another go, since huge chunk of things I didn't like was tied to the fact I had no idea what was going on...or to be more precise, why was it going on. So, here is to hoping sequel will remedy that.
It's the same issue- this book had me up until a point it had thriller-ish, "Manchurian Candidate" premise: it opens with a scene of Michael being held as prisoner in hands of Zemelyan military leader and notorious scientist, Oriel. We are finding out he's MI5 agent whose mother is from Zemelya and he's on a mission to prevent nuclear assault. Oriel hands Michael down to his associate, Anzhel, who is apparently, particularly skilled in psychological torture and mind control.
Three years forward, Michael is now working for Last Line, UK secretive spec ops operations agency and his partner, John Griffyn, is his closest friend. They are called to handle an incident which triggers Mike's conditioning and he starts acting strangely and experiencing blackouts.
As I said, not particularly original premise, but one I always enjoy reading because it has high level of suspense and because main character is unreliable narrator. Throw some romantic feelings between two partners in , hot self-pleasuring scene by the river and I am all in.
This story lost me with introduction of supernatural elements. It's not that I mind it terribly because mind control and triggering conditioning itself asks for certain suspension of disbelief from reader- it's the rather sudden and unexplained way it was introduced into story. Even after second reading I am still baffled about some events and source of hero's powers. (view spoiler) We never find out.
I also couldn't shake the feeling that more I read, the messier the story became. Jumping from scene to scene, implausible dialog and general wtf?! with some things characters said or done. It simply lacks that superfluid style and masterful plot developing easy to find in her later novels.
Romance between Mike and John was a tricky thing to wrap my head around because, I enjoyed the darker, high-risk twist to it a lot. But on the other hand, certain things happen between them that are so fucking complicated and definitely in need of processing, assessing and eventual overcoming. I get that Fox justified John's easy getting over some fucked up stuff Mike did because of his screwed up mental condition, but he just kind of jumps from one frame of mind into completely different in matter of passage and I am supposed to believe it and roll with it...only I didn't. There is this sentence in final chapter where author wrote our heroes are taking one step at a time, taking it slowly which is what I needed to see, but not in that way- not by telling me, but rather showing me. (view spoiler)

There is a genuine potential and few interesting ideas in this book, but some elements, supernatural specifically, weren't explored nearly enough. Not the best from Fox, imho, but I am really curious how she handled book #2.

*Note of caution: romance plot is dark and angst-filled with a well-known deal-breaker for romance readers and several potential triggers like mind control and blood game.
...more

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