REVIEW: Pretty Pretty Boys by Gregory Ashe
Trigger warnings:
Spoiler: Show
Dear Gregory Ashe,
I saw your Hazard and Somers series recommended and though I don’t read many mysteries or m/m novels, something made me want to pick it up. There’s a long free preview of this first book and by the time I reached the end of it, I wanted to buy the book.
Police detective Emery Hazard has returned to Wahredua, Missouri, fifteen years after his escape to St. Louis at age eighteen. Hazard is gay and was on the receiving end of some horrific bullying during high school. He left town immediately after graduation because of it. Recently he was drummed out of the St. Louis police department for reasons that don’t become clear until book three in the series. He chose to return to Wahredua partly because of that and partly to look into an old open-and-shut case, the apparent suicide of his high school boyfriend, Jeff Langham.
In the interim, Wahredua has grown into a more tolerant and cultured place. Hazard barely notices; he’s focused on his high school days and on Jeff’s suicide. Although he has since bulked up a lot and gained expertise in self-defense / martial arts, at first his return to his hometown puts him back in the headspace of a vulnerable, abused teenage boy.
Hazard believes a few of his tormentors played a role in Jeff’s death and he looks forward to dealing with them. But when he arrives at the police station for the first day of work, he is assigned John-Henry Somerset, one of those bullies, as his partner.
Hazard considers quitting on the spot but when Somerset tells him about a string of hate crimes against the Wahredua’s LGBT community, he decides to stick around long enough to solve the case and to investigate Jeff’s suicide in parallel. Once these things are successfully accomplished, he’ll leave Wahredua. In the meantime, he’ll try to put up with Somerset.
John-Henry, now known to most people as Somers, has developed into someone better than the teenage bully he once was. He knows that what he and his two ex-friends, Mikey Grames and Hugo Perry, did to Hazard went way, way beyond shitty and horrible. Somers is genuinely remorseful, and he wants to have a better relationship with Hazard now.
One of his reasons is that they’ll be working closely together, another is that Somers is the kind of person who makes friends everywhere and is not used to being disliked. Yet another reason is his guilt and his need to make amends. And then there’s his secret attraction to Hazard, buried deep inside Somers’s psyche.
Hazard makes it clear that on the job he’ll have his partner’s back because that’s what’s expected of a good cop, but that he is not interested in listening to Somers’s apologies. He remains unbending for most of the book. He begins to know the adult Somers better through their work, though, and the apparent change in John-Henry confuses him.
Meanwhile, an abandoned trailer home in a bad part of town catches fire. When the fire is put out, a dead body, burned beyond all recognition, is found in the trailer, and there’s clear evidence of arson. Hazard and Somerset are ordered to find out the identity of the dead man and discover who killed him.
The investigation will take them from the heart of a violent Neo-Nazi group, the Ozark Volunteers, to the campus of the Wahredua’s Wroxall College, to a gay bar called the Pretty Pretty, to the death of Jeff Langham fifteen years earlier, and to the dark, confusing, and messy truths of their shared past and their growing attraction.
This book. I have a list a mile long of things that didn’t work in it, but I loved some aspects of it, too. I’ll start with the book’s weaknesses.
There were massive holes in the mystery plot. In the course of their investigation, Somers and Hazard meet with Mimi, one of the Ozark Volunteers and a potential source of valuable information. Mimi lives in an area on the town’s outskirts where the Volunteers reside, but unlike the rest of the Neo-Nazis’ dwellings, prefabricated homes, Mimi’s house is a huge, expensive, beautifully designed mansion on a hill. Somerset, who has lived in Wahredua for most of his life and knows many people there, is as stunned to see it as Hazard. Wouldn’t there have been talk of the huge, gorgeous house near the town? Wouldn’t there have been construction workers passing through Wahredua when the mansion was being built?
Spoiler: Show
Smaller inconsistencies, too, abound. Nico, a younger man who flirts with Hazard, surrenders his phone as evidence but later produces it to share some relevant photos with Hazard, though it’s not mentioned that the police ever returned it to him. At one point it’s stated that a character can drive from Manhattan to Wahredua in four hours. Try sixteen. Another time, we learn that Wroxall College was a safe space for Hazard when he was a teen; later we’re told that it wasn’t. More importantly, I’m confused about the timeline of Hazard and Somerset’s formative high school experiences.
Some of the secondary characters are flat and therefore don’t feel real. A couple are unbelievable. Dr. Kamp, the medical examiner gets drunk, sleeps on the job and is naked under his lab coat. Lynn, aka “Lynk” Fukuma, a lesbian, Japanese-American anthropology professor at the local college, is a former eco-terrorist reputed to have founded a group that killed twelve people with a bus bomb. Not only did Lynk’s characterization make me uncomfortable with regard to representation, it’s also impossible to believe that a respectable college would ever employ someone like her as a professor.
The language had some weaknesses. The book needed more dialogue tags; I got confused about who was saying what more than once. And the POV shifts within scenes, sometimes more than once; that can be jarring. There were a lot of metaphors, too, so many upfront that the beginning felt overwrought and I thought about quitting. This smoothed out by the second chapter (or maybe I just acclimated to this style of writing) so I’m glad I kept reading.
The writing is also frequently good, and particularly so when it comes to description. Ashe awakens the sensory imagination and uses his scene setting to convey emotions, as in this example, which comes when Hazard sees Mikey Grames, his high school tormentor, working the register at a convenience store called Casey’s:
The Casey’s was too small. The smell of fresh plastic off the magazine rack, the pizza warmed under the heating lamps, the sugary-fruit scent of the frozen drinks whirling in their machine—it choked Hazard, and he couldn’t seem to clear his throat. He needed out of this place. He needed air.
The syntax is sometimes evocative too:
And that was the part that had shaken up Somers, shaken him up like a can of beer in a paint mixer, the simple fact that Hazard was hot.
The dialogue is effective in demonstrating just how much the heroes avoid certain topics.
Despite all my issues, I not only stuck with the book, but stayed up late and kept the pages turning. There is one reason why: the relationship.
I have an abiding love for redemption stories but I’m not usually so into the ex-bully trope; I was bullied as a child so it’s a hard sell for me. Nevertheless, the relationship between Hazard and Somers is beguiling.
Part of it is all the ways they are opposite. Hazard is shut down and Somers is open and gregarious. Hazard has brilliant (at least per the other characters; in this first book it’s not always evident from his actions) analytical and deductive skills. Somers is a people person; he shines in interviews with witnesses and suspects and is good at figuring out what they are feeling.
Coming from a wealthy, privileged background, John-Henry was held in high standing as a teen and is popular even in the novel’s present. Emery was the school pariah as a kid and has to field homophobic comments even in adulthood. Hazard accepts his sexuality; Somerset is so deeply closeted that he insists on viewing his college sexual experiences with guys as mere experimentation and (at least when he’s sober) considers himself straight.
Emery is well-dressed and immaculate, Somerset rumpled and frequently hung over. And while Hazard has transformed from a scrawny, vulnerable kid into a tough, built up, and intimidating man, Somers, despite his frat boy demeanor and childhood bullying, constantly attempts to make amends for the past and issues heartfelt apologies.
Which brings to my next point. Another thing that make their on-page chemistry so magical is that though Somers had the upper hand in high school and used that power against Hazard, Hazard is now the one in the driver’s seat. Somers wants very badly for Hazard to accept his apology and develop not just a good professional partnership (a hard row to hoe in itself) but also some friendliness. But Hazard doesn’t have to give any of that and indeed, withholds the latter for much of the book.
There’s at least one moment when Hazard knows he can hold something over John-Henry, sink him deeper into the undertow that his current life has become. Somers is broken up about his separation from his wife (largely his fault) and the fact that she won’t let him see their two-year-old daughter. He drinks himself under the table on an ongoing basis. Hazard knows he can hurt him, and when he chooses not to, it’s a heroic act.
And then there’s the fact that their past frequently pitted them on opposite sides, Somers a bully and a participant in cruel and extreme acts, and Hazard his encroached-upon victim, made to suffer them. Yet now they work well together. In terms of work, it doesn’t take them long to develop a successful, even terrific, partnership.
I loved Hazard, with his quiet, still-waters-run-deep persona and the way he’d dug himself out of a miserable childhood. He’s vulnerable, particularly to his cheating long-distance boyfriend, Billy, and to memories of the past, of the abuse he suffered and of Jeff and Jeff’s death. His disorientation at the way present-day Wahredua and present-day Somers are so different from his memories of them is beautifully captured. He’s a man in danger of falling and he grapples for every possible handhold.
Somers was less interesting, since he’s more of an open book and certainly less admirable (he becomes a lot more interesting in the later books, though). I liked that he’d grown to recognize how horrible he had been as a kid not through his relationship with and knowledge of the adult Hazard but all on his own. He recognizes how wrong he was and it gives him some maturity in the midst of immature actions such as dealing with his separation from his wife and child from the bottom of a bottle.
The two heroes’ chemistry is undeniable, and more than anything else about the book, kept me enthralled. As for their difficult past, it isn’t that the book convinced me entirely of all the dynamics of their teenage enmity or every aspect of their reunion. The portrayal was solid but not amazing. I bought it not entirely because of that but also because the book made me want to believe it with all my heart. I loved Emery Hazard, was less keen on Somers, but the chemistry between them, the sexual and romantic tension, are magical things.
I texted with a friend recently about the book and said this:
My head has a plethora of issues
But the heart wants what it wants
This is the kind of book that leaves me with a big, dopey grin on my face and it did just that. So… objectively it is not that good a book but when I finished it, I knew I would inhale the rest of the series. I was right. I’m now on book five. C+ / B-.
Sincerely,
Janine
PS While the books are romantic, they are not romances. Things are heading that way but at a measured pace and it will take a number of books to get there. So for now there is no HEA or HFN. Or sex. But the book is more romantic and sexy than many I’ve read.
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I think they were referring to Manhattan KS, not NY.
I would really like to know if anyone has read the more recent books in the series. Until book six, that is, which from out of left field had on-the-page torture of one of the characters. I noped out because I was super not OK with coming across that unexpectedly.
I was ok with the series until then, but have been terrified to read anything else by Ashe because of that.
@Karla: You’re right! I didn’t know there was a Manhattan in Kansas so when they had that exchange I thought Fukuma was correcting Somers that the convention wasn’t in KS but in NY. I assumed it was a copy error an the author meant to say that she could have flown, not driven, back in four hours. But you are right. Mea culpa.
Although I love some of the books in the series they do read like they were written fast. For example in this book Lynn Fukuma’s shady past is described this way: “ there was a bus bomb that killed twelve people, someone shot up this hotel, the Sunset Marquis, and killed a young mother,” But in book four, Guilt by Association, we get this: “ When you shot up that hotel and killed twelve people. When you killed a young mother.”
It’s possible what’s meant is that a bus bomb killed twelve in addition to a shooting at a hotel that also killed twelve, or that in the second quote Hazard is referencing three separate events—a hotel shootout, the killing of twelve (by bus bomb, though it’s not mentioned) and the killing of the young mother. But when I first read it, I thought the same twelve people who had been killed in a bus bombing in book one were said to have been killed in a shootout in book four.
I know it’s persnickety but this kind of thing disrupts the reading experience and could easily have been written in a clearer way. I wish the books had more editing because the romance is *so good* and I think the mysteries could be stronger. I wish an agent or publisher would sign this author! He’s skilled enough for it IMO and it would make the books more polished.
Have you read any of the books, Karla? What do you think of them?
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@Random Michelle: I haven’t gotten to book six yet but forewarned is forearmed so thank you so much for letting me know. I hate graphic torture on page but I’ll still read book six because I love the relationship so much. I’ll let our readers know about the later books if I get that far.
I just finished book five and it was different in tone from the earlier four. Much darker and grittier. It kind of threw me for a loop, A very good book, and when I step back and look at the whole arc, I feel that it was necessary for it to go that dark. But I still wasn’t expecting it and since I wasn’t prepared for that it almost killed me.
Also—don’t tell me who the tortured character is but let me just say this:
Buried Comment: Show
A can of beer shaken up in a paint mixer? Bart did that to Homer’s beer on an episode of The Simpsons years ago!
I just started Pretty Pretty boys and I totally agree with your review. The writing and mystery aspect is a little unpolished but I love the current day relationship with Emery and Hazard. One thing I am struggling with is that Somers’ behavior in HS went way beyond normal childhood/teenage bullying. I cannot really reconcile what he did in HS with his sudden change and his current personality. It’s not like he called Hazard some names. Are we ever given an explanation for how he could have done what he did?
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@Bookfan: I’m going to hide my answer because it’s a spoiler.
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With regard to the differences in adult vs. teen Somers (and in my case I felt that way to an extent about the adult vs. teen Hazard), as the series continues and more of the backstory is filled in, as far as I’ve read, at least, it becomes more convincing. BTW, too, for the first couple of books (book two more than book one) I didn’t like Somers nearly as much as I liked Hazard, but that gets balanced out in books 3-5. I encourage you to stick with the books at least as far as the end of book three. Book two is my least favorite but it gets better after that so don’t give up.
I’d love to hear what you think when you finish Pretty Pretty Boys and whether you agree with what I said above. If you want to post a spoiler use the tag “shush” as you would in an HTML command but substitute square brackets for the angle ones.
@DiscoDollyDeb: LOL!
@Janine: will report back! I already bought book 2 so am going to keep with the series. Some book reviewers who have similar taste to me (including you!) love this series so to me it’s worth the investment.
@ Bookfan: Yay! I look forward to your thoughts on them.
I’ve been purchasing them too—it’s worth the investment for me as well. I’m hoping to review all the novels and I just hope readers don’t get tired of reading reviews about the same series as I go along.
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@Janine:
I’ve been reading for escape for about, oh, four years now, so on the page torture freaked me out.
I also noted that there were a lot of typos and inconsistencies throughout the series, which got aggravating when I read the books one after the other (which I totally did). I wonder if some of those issues have been fixed in the two years since I read the books.
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@Random Michelle: I’ve noticed a few typos but not many. I wonder if that’s because the story engaged me so much.
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@Janine: Maybe things were cleaned up? Going back to re-read my thoughts, some of it was pretty egregious, like one character getting angry about a phone call that was made several chapters later, which totally threw me out of the story and may have made me notice typos and other editing issues more.
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I keep checking back to see if you read book six yet–and what you thought (and if you’d gone on and if it’s safe to go back to the series!)
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@Random Michelle: Which book was the phone call thing in? I don’t remember seeing that so maybe it was cleaned up.
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No, I haven’t gotten to book 6! I’m still dying to while feeling apprehensive at the same time. I have four books and a novella to finish for review commitments before I can get back to Hazard and Somerset. October is a ridiculously packed month for me with DA posts. I also have an author interview to upload, format and post.
I am kicking myself for signing up for so much because the H&S books are so addictive and it’s hard to postpone reading them.
After I read and review those other books, I have to review books 2-5 in the Hazard and Somerset before I can review book 6. So it will be a long time before I review #6, maybe not until December. I expect I will read it next month though so if you email me at that time I will gladly share my first impressions with you. My email is janineballard at gmail dot com.
The phone call was in Reasonable Doubt. (I just checked) Hopefully that was something that got fixed because it really threw me out of the story trying to figure out what on earth was happening!
Yeah, in book four he does get some of the headaches and medical issues associated with concussion, and I was glad to see that, but I was still really distressed by him going to sleep immediately following a concussion in an earlier book.
And it looks like book six (which I was already mad at anyway) had some “procedural shenanigans” including being sent immediately back out on duty after discharge of a firearm. But then I was already mad at the story, so you should keep that in mind. :D
And good luck with all your reviewing! I am totally unable to read under pressure like that–which is why I review books for myself and don’t ask for arcs. It doesn’t matter how much I am looking forward to a book, if I know I have to read it for a deadline, I keep putting it off!
Thanks for taking one (or five) for the team for that!
@Random Michelle: I don’t remember that phone call issue. Maybe I just missed it, though. Good point on the concussion and sleep. Honestly he gets injured so often that I don’t know if I’d prefer to see him suffer aftereffects for a long time or recover unrealistically fast. It’s like Ashe has a fetish for putting him in harm’s way.
I don’t usually request that many ARCs at a time for similar reasons. And in this case a couple of the review commitments don’t come from ARCs but from commitments to review jointly with other reviewers. I want to do those in a timely fashion.