I read 77% until Chapter 12 and was just too frustrated to continue. I overlooked the opening scene of the detective gut punching his superior in the station (yeah, right) and awkward phrasing like "turning every screw I've got" or "what in a hell." But, hoi polloi (the masses) became "the hoypoloy (sic) that went with his title" and a pivotal early scene began with an American detective accompanying a British Inspector to a home with the statement, "Shoot first, ask questions later." (Are you kidding me?) When a family member of a missing boy recants his statement, the writer has one MC wait outside the home. I am not expecting authors to be law enforcement specialists, but no one would think that's proper procedure.The pretense for both detectives being summoned home by Jamie's mother helpfully allowed us to see Remy through Jamie's eyes, but the confrontation - both the underlying emotional intentions and its impact on Jamie and his attraction to Remy - failed to get full attention.Some efforts at figurative imagery were too imprecise to aid the scenes, such as the "sudden arctic wind that was now billowing through the gap between them," while others, like Remy "climbing Jamie like a howler monkey" to latch his lips to his throat, contradict the earlier descriptions of Remy taller, larger framed body.It seemed the over-employed triteness of "good chap" and "old boy" were attempts to develop a distinct voice for the British MC. The writing slowly fell apart once the MCs arrived in NYC. Characters were dismissively cliched. Gala planners were "typical bored diplomats' wives with their husbands' money burning a hole in their pockets and nothing to do with their time." The human trafficker provided "one of the Africans" at the UN an under-aged consort. A gay MC observed that another club goer was "some rainbow-colored poster child for the flamboyantly gay." When did he turn homophobic? Once the author had the British inspector conveniently find photos of all the kidnapped boys inside a locked desk of a suspect in UN offices, and has the other MC respond that "We didn't have a search warrant" - naive to a setting rife with issues of diplomatic immunity and security coverage - I just couldn't take it any more. Research, people. Do a little homework first. Not quite a crime procedural as much as a M-M romance. The MCs spent more time lusting after each other and tearing their clothes off than actually being on the case investigating who keeps kidnapping boys off the streets. I spotted the culprits early on and the solving of the crime happened too neatly and easily - a bit of an anticlimax actually. Not sure if I'm sufficiently interested to move onto the next book in the series. Two and three quarter stars from me.
What do You think about Continental Divide (2012)?
I'm finished with Continental Divide: The END?!??! Whaaaaat???
—Kailaohana
It would have earned a 5 star until the last chapter. Ugh!
—Robert
