Deep Blues Goodbye (Altered States #1)LE Harner and TA Webb4 starsI have already bought book 2 in the series, “Deadly Shades of Gold,” because my reading friends know what I like. I am always grateful for recommendations. Having cut my teeth, so to speak, on gay vampire romance writing before it was an actual thing (late 1980s, in response to Anne Rice), I follow the various developments in gay vampire fiction with great interest. But I am not all that easy to please, because my definition of what a vampire should be is not exactly what everyone else’s is. And I insist on good writing. I don’t need Hemingway (feh, homophobic straight guy), but I won’t read crap just because it’s gay/vampire/romance. So Laura Harner and Tom Webb’s collaboration on “Deep Blues Goodbye” was very welcome. It sort of takes up the “True Blood” premise of supernormals becoming acknowledged, and thus creates a world that is like our own, but, you know, with vampires and werewolves. The core characters in this book: Sam Garrett, Danny Burkette, and Travis Boudreau, are very different from each other, although tied together in complicated ways. But they are all cops trying to deal with the new reality of vampires and werewolves in the world; and with a series of gruesome murders in New Orleans cemeteries that seem to be related. Oh, and Sam is trying to deal with Travis being turned into a vampire, which is how everything became public in the first place.Awkward, right? I love gay cop stories. I love gay vampire stories. Gay vampire cop stories…*swoon.” And Harner/Webb make a good team. In this novella-length launch to the series, they pack in plenty of action, set in a plausible and recognizable New Orleans (I have family in NOLA, and I love the city, not just the Quarter). The characters are not fully 3-D yet, but as we get to know them better, I’m sure they’ll get fleshed out more. And, I have to note, the book ends on a cliff-hanger. But, for once, it’s a perfect cliff-hanger. It leaves you with little doubt about what will happen next, or at least that something good will happen next. Something exciting. Can’t wait to turn the page. Before you read this you must get ' Altered States ' which is a freebie at the mo and the first in the series, short but a brilliant intro to everything and everybody involved . This is longer and more fleshed out with some new characters and a more established paranormal world. I was quickly drawn back into the story and finished it in one sitting. The first book finished on a great cliffhanger and this, an even more shocking one, so now I can't wait for the next installment.As a coauthored book it works really well and is a very smooth read. Loved the dynamics between all the guys, (who's going to end up with who?) - the sexual tension is pitched just right and helps towards making this a sexy, interesting paranormal series that I feel is just going to get better and better as it goes on! I've read and enjoyed L E Harners m/m books, and just finished T A Webb's new novel ' Second Chances ' that I absolutely loved and IMO shows just how brilliant a writer he really is, so it stands to reason that two great authors like these would be a good pairing. Keep 'em coming!
What do You think about Deep Blues Goodbye (2012)?
2nd read 10/21/2014Just as good as the first time. Warning: cliffhanger
—Galway
Yeah, I 'm hooked. When's the next due out because I can't wait.
—flowerpower
