Padme's Library: In a Dark Wood & The Parting Glass by Josh Lanyon

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

In a Dark Wood & The Parting Glass by Josh Lanyon

In a Dark Wood
Summary:
In a dark, dark wood there was a dark, dark house...

Camping in the Jersey Pine Barrens may literally turn out to be a first date from hell for travel writer Tim and the cute cop who persuades him to revisit a past that Tim has done his best to forget.

The Parting Glass
Summary:
Two and a half years ago, travel writer Timothy O'Shay let NYPD Detective Luke O'Brien talk him into hiking into the New Jersey Pine Barrens to face down a monster.

Now Tim and Luke meet again under very different circumstances. The old attraction is still there -- but so are some of Tim's monsters. Is it too late to find their way back to each other?

Technically, I read In a Dark Wood as part of his short stories vol 1 collection In Sunshine and In Shadow but since I read The Parting Glass before finishing the collection, I thought it only fitting to post the reviews together. Once I finish the collection, I will do a review for that too.

Tim and Luke completely blew me away and In A Dark Wood is perfect for this time of year. The plot is straight out of a cheesy 1980s horror film but the writing is nothing short of 1940s Hollywood classic. The only complaint I would have is it's brevity. But then it was pointed out to me that The Parting Glass is a sequel with all the life and romantic drama that there wasn't time for in Dark Wood. Once again, we see Tim and Luke coming face to face about 2+ years following DW. Things didn't exactly go smoothly for the pair in the months after the Forester case and now when fate finds them standing in the same ticket line 2 years later, how will they react?

Only Josh Lanyon can pack so much emotion and "wow-ness" into roughly 110 pages combined.

Rating:

Author Bio:
A distinct voice in gay fiction, multi-award-winning author JOSH LANYON has been writing gay mystery, adventure and romance for over a decade. In addition to numerous short stories, novellas, and novels, Josh is the author of the critically acclaimed Adrien English series, including The Hell You Say, winner of the 2006 USABookNews awards for GLBT Fiction. Josh is an Eppie Award winner and a three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist.