2,5/5!
The Boys in Blue is an erotic gay novel about Phil Andros, a prostitute, who ends up sharing a flat with two hot policemen. As Phil begins a new career and forms new relationships, he also gets into all kinds of shenanigans with his new flatmates. You know the drill.
I read The Greek Ways by Phil Andros earlier this year, and I did prefer that. The Boys in Blue lacked a lot of the humor I found so compelling about the other book. I cackled out loud multiple times reading The Greek Ways, but not so much during this one, which was a shame, cause I was really looking forward to that humorous voice of The Greek Ways. But don't get me wrong - there were some funny bits and it's not like this book is gloomy and serious, not at all. This is a ridiculous sex-filled book with characters who have superhuman stamina and absolutely no self-control.
I had a good time reading this story and following Phil Andros's strange life, and while I have never understood any kind of police-worship, I did like the police context, because I found the conversations surrounding being a gay cop in the 1980s – the secrecy, the dangers of being found out, all of this plays a rather big role in the book.
And before I go into one major critique of mine, I want to mention just how much better the title of this book is in Finnish. The Boys in Blue, sure, lets you know what you're gonna be getting - lots of boys in lots of blue uniforms - but the Finnish translation is absolutely hilarious. It's "Hands up, pants down!" and is that not the funniest name ever?
Now, on to my one big gripe. I want to preface that I am fully aware that this is a book about dom/sub-fantasies and dynamics, and that its goal is not to represent a healthy sexual relationship or anything like that - it's point is to be titillating to read and to let its reader explore riskier and even dangerous stuff safely through fiction. I know all that. But that doesn't take away from the fact that I had some issue with some of the more non-con stuff in the book, stuff that were sometimes straight-up sexual assault. I just don't like reading that kind of stuff, so those moments made me a bit uncomfortable.
I would definitely rather recommend The Greek Ways if you wanna try Phil Andros, but if you want some dom/sub smutty cop fiction, then I guess I would recommend you this one!