Review - The Love of Wicked Men by Brandon Shire

Note: This book is being published in serial form, with new ‘episodes’ coming out every two months or so. This review is of the first two episodes. I’ll probably review the series every two or three volumes.

Sid Rivers is a successful corporate lawyer in a mid-sized southern city. Sid’s forté seems to be using barely legal means to scare off plaintiffs before they even get to trial. He’s a true shark whose only real lusts are money and power. Even when it comes to sex, Sid is a real predator. He picks up rent boys or any young man that piques his interest, then tosses them aside once he has sated his lust. He doesn’t need a relationship. He doesn’t have time for one.

When we first meet Jack Brown, he appears to be on the other side of the law, a small time hood that Sid encounters while he’s holding up a convenience store. However, we soon learn Jack isn’t what he appears to be. He’s a man on a mission, and Sid — a man who represents everything Jack has come to despise — is the one he thinks will lead him to his goal.

It’s a bit tricky reviewing serial installments, which are the latest trend in ebooks (although it’s really a return to the way many books were published in the nineteenth century). With these first two episodes, things are really just beginning to come together as we get to know the main characters and the foundations of the plot are laid. Sid and Jack really are two sides of the same coin. Sid may be the more obviously morally bankrupt, but Jack is proving to be almost as ruthless in his own pursuit. Both men are trying to use each other to get what they want. That they’ll somehow end up together seems inevitable, but how that’s going to be pulled off is far from clear. Even the author claims he doesn’t know how this will end.

So, the bottom line at this point is, is this a series you might want to commit to? The first episode definitely has a good hook, giving us a hint of what the plot line is going to be, without tipping off too much of how it will play out, which is a good sign. The second installment filled out a lot of the secondary characters and leaves us with a good idea of what the main plot line is. You’ll most likely have enough at this point to be interested in knowing how it will end.

Start reading “The Love of Wicked Men” with Part One from Smashwords or Amazon.