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Dan Stagg Mystery #1
The Hardest Thing
Killing is easy. Love is ... The Hardest Thing
Once a major in the US Marines, Dan Stagg fell foul of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and is now struggling to make sense of civilian life. In his late 30s, tall and muscular, Dan works as a bouncer at an East Village nightclub. When he's offered a fortune to protect the young male secretary of a powerful real estate developer, Dan takes off on a road trip with a hot blond companion who makes it clear that "protection" doesn't stop at the bedroom door. But Dan soon realizes that he's being used as a shield for a much more sinister operation and has to choose between easy money and the ideals that he once fought for.
Once a major in the US Marines, Dan Stagg fell foul of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and is now struggling to make sense of civilian life. In his late 30s, tall and muscular, Dan works as a bouncer at an East Village nightclub. When he's offered a fortune to protect the young male secretary of a powerful real estate developer, Dan takes off on a road trip with a hot blond companion who makes it clear that "protection" doesn't stop at the bedroom door. But Dan soon realizes that he's being used as a shield for a much more sinister operation and has to choose between easy money and the ideals that he once fought for.
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 2013
19 people are currently reading
964 people want to read
About the author
James Lear
13 books364 followersJames Lear is the nom de plume of prolific and acclaimed novelist, Rupert Smith. He lives in London and is the 2008 Winner of Erotic Awards "Best Writer".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews
January 13, 2020
3.75 Dan stars
I liked this one!! It was messy, entertaining and funny.
There are benefits to having a big dick sometimes. It’s a shortcut to getting guys like Kenny to fall in love with you. I’d prefer to be loved for my beautiful personality, but when you’ve only got ten minutes and the cops are at your back, a couple of extra inches does the job quicker.
Dan stagg our MC and main narrator is one hilarious guy. He is an Ex- Marine, club bouncer, transporter, and our hero. He is also a lonely guy. The story is mostly erotica with a dose of action/mystery, a little bit of romance, maybe it will develop more in the next book? and i huge dose of dark humor.
The writing is ok and the story very readable, it's like a trainwreck but i couldn't stop reading. Dan and his super dick got out of so many situation that left me shaking my head. The action parts were entertainingly bad. The mystery was far fetched but interesting. I feel like everything was a being exaggerated and surprisingly it worked for me.
The Sex scenes!! Omg, they were hilarious. Dan's inner monologues had me laughing so hard. The sex scenes are porny and very frequent. I enjoyed most of them especially the ones that made me laugh.
Though I’m usually the commanding officer in such scenes, I liked being Daddy’s boy for a change. The phone rang as I was enjoying the challenge of attempting to get both Martin’s balls in my mouth, and he was rubbing my bald head in encouragement.
“Martin…nnnnghff!…Kingston, hello? Hi, yes…”
And then he froze, one ball in my mouth.
I freaking love Dan Stagg.
The blurb says:
The Hardest Thing is a sexy gay mystery as only James Lear can write it: filled with lots of gay sexual encounters, romance, sweat, violence, and conspiracy.
See? Even the blurb is funny.
Thank you Moony and Teal for the buddy read. I had fun.
I liked this one!! It was messy, entertaining and funny.
There are benefits to having a big dick sometimes. It’s a shortcut to getting guys like Kenny to fall in love with you. I’d prefer to be loved for my beautiful personality, but when you’ve only got ten minutes and the cops are at your back, a couple of extra inches does the job quicker.
Dan stagg our MC and main narrator is one hilarious guy. He is an Ex- Marine, club bouncer, transporter, and our hero. He is also a lonely guy. The story is mostly erotica with a dose of action/mystery, a little bit of romance, maybe it will develop more in the next book? and i huge dose of dark humor.
The writing is ok and the story very readable, it's like a trainwreck but i couldn't stop reading. Dan and his super dick got out of so many situation that left me shaking my head. The action parts were entertainingly bad. The mystery was far fetched but interesting. I feel like everything was a being exaggerated and surprisingly it worked for me.
The Sex scenes!! Omg, they were hilarious. Dan's inner monologues had me laughing so hard. The sex scenes are porny and very frequent. I enjoyed most of them especially the ones that made me laugh.
Though I’m usually the commanding officer in such scenes, I liked being Daddy’s boy for a change. The phone rang as I was enjoying the challenge of attempting to get both Martin’s balls in my mouth, and he was rubbing my bald head in encouragement.
“Martin…nnnnghff!…Kingston, hello? Hi, yes…”
And then he froze, one ball in my mouth.
I freaking love Dan Stagg.
The blurb says:
The Hardest Thing is a sexy gay mystery as only James Lear can write it: filled with lots of gay sexual encounters, romance, sweat, violence, and conspiracy.
See? Even the blurb is funny.
Thank you Moony and Teal for the buddy read. I had fun.
February 18, 2022
Expectations matter.
So I recommend you try to approach this book without them. Particularly if they include these particular preconceptions:
1) This is a romance.
2) This is a serious thriller/crime/mystery/action story.
Is there a romance? Yes.
Is there a thriller/etc storyline? Yes.
But.
BUT.
Hey, where did that come from?!
Let's have some decorum around here, please. This is serious business. No, wait, it's not! Because — this is actually a comedy. Romance-ish, yes. Thriller-ish, yes. Porn-ish, yes. (Oops, did I forget to mention the porn? Heheh.) But above all else, it's a comedy.
A comedy starring larger-than-life, sadder-than-life — and most of all, hornier-than-life — action hero Dan Stagg, a down-on-his-luck former U.S. Marine, as our unreliable narrator. Not the kind of unreliable narrator who deliberately misleads the reader. No, the kind of unreliable narrator who misleads himself. Deliberately or otherwise.
Dan is confident in his own capabilities, honed during his 12 years of service in the Marine Corps. He certainly has the requisite tough-guy chops:
He's equally confident in his own judgement. And sure, he's not totally devoid of self-awareness...
...Including recognizing that sometimes he might be rationalizing just a little bit...
Uh huh. Whatever you say, Dan.
But his years of loneliness and social isolation after being booted out of the Marines (under Don't Ask Don't Tell — they asked, he told), and a lifetime of being closeted before that, have left him woefully unprepared to judge what's actually going on in a relationship. Love? He's hungry for it — and seeing it in the unlikeliest of places. So when he starts flinging that word about very early on, in the most dubious of circumstances, I did not interpret it as insta-love. I interpreted it as, "Dan is such a mess."
I think that's what enabled me to enjoy the hell out of this story, when it's been known to leave other readers wondering W.T.actual.F. Dan's version of what's going on was not necessarily my version of what's going on. Calling out his perceptions as faulty was key to my ability to buy into the story.
Also key: the ability to embrace the OTT-ness. I said Dan was an action hero, but he's borderline a superhero. And his superpower is his dick. The Hardest Thing. He wields it like a weapon — not of mass destruction, but of mass seduction. It saves the day multiple times. And did you know you might even be able to kill a man with your dick? "You" and "your" meant rhetorically in this case, of course. And I did say "might." But now I'll say no more, because some things are best left for the reader to discover.
Once I ditched my preconceptions — specifically, that I was reading a very serious story — things finally clicked for me. I was finally on the book's wavelength. After that I couldn't go more than a few pages at a time without bursting into laughter. And then came possibly the funniest sex scene I've ever read. You know how it is — usually when you're laughing at a sex scene, that was absolutely not the author's intention. But here the humor came organically, from riding along inside Dan's head:
Soooooo many more quotes I could share with you, but they're even better when read in context, and I wouldn't dream of spoiling your fun.
I'm emphasizing the book's humor, but there's certainly more to it than that. Dan isn't a comic character himself, not at all. He's a lonely, courageous, self-confident yet perpetually self-doubting man who has loved and lost. He struggles to do the right thing. He saw himself as one of the good guys when he was in the military, and he very much wants to be a good guy now, whatever that takes, despite life having shat upon him. He's seriously flawed, but decent. He longs to love and be loved, trust and be trusted, without having the faintest clue how. All of that while getting laid as often as humanly possible, sure, but still. I look forward to spending more time with him as the series continues.
So I recommend you try to approach this book without them. Particularly if they include these particular preconceptions:
1) This is a romance.
2) This is a serious thriller/crime/mystery/action story.
Is there a romance? Yes.
Is there a thriller/etc storyline? Yes.
But.
BUT.
Hey, where did that come from?!
Let's have some decorum around here, please. This is serious business. No, wait, it's not! Because — this is actually a comedy. Romance-ish, yes. Thriller-ish, yes. Porn-ish, yes. (Oops, did I forget to mention the porn? Heheh.) But above all else, it's a comedy.
A comedy starring larger-than-life, sadder-than-life — and most of all, hornier-than-life — action hero Dan Stagg, a down-on-his-luck former U.S. Marine, as our unreliable narrator. Not the kind of unreliable narrator who deliberately misleads the reader. No, the kind of unreliable narrator who misleads himself. Deliberately or otherwise.
Dan is confident in his own capabilities, honed during his 12 years of service in the Marine Corps. He certainly has the requisite tough-guy chops:
…unless I was very lucky no passing motorist was going to stop for a crazy bleeding naked guy. I needed pants. “Hey!” A guy with a gun was running toward me. Most people would see that as a threat. I just saw it as a suit of clothes with an inconvenient body inside.
He's equally confident in his own judgement. And sure, he's not totally devoid of self-awareness...
They knew enough about my involvement in the case to realize that, given opportunity and a door with a lock, I’ll fuck anything in pants.
...Including recognizing that sometimes he might be rationalizing just a little bit...
That blow job was operationally justified.
Uh huh. Whatever you say, Dan.
But his years of loneliness and social isolation after being booted out of the Marines (under Don't Ask Don't Tell — they asked, he told), and a lifetime of being closeted before that, have left him woefully unprepared to judge what's actually going on in a relationship. Love? He's hungry for it — and seeing it in the unlikeliest of places. So when he starts flinging that word about very early on, in the most dubious of circumstances, I did not interpret it as insta-love. I interpreted it as, "Dan is such a mess."
I think that's what enabled me to enjoy the hell out of this story, when it's been known to leave other readers wondering W.T.actual.F. Dan's version of what's going on was not necessarily my version of what's going on. Calling out his perceptions as faulty was key to my ability to buy into the story.
Also key: the ability to embrace the OTT-ness. I said Dan was an action hero, but he's borderline a superhero. And his superpower is his dick. The Hardest Thing. He wields it like a weapon — not of mass destruction, but of mass seduction. It saves the day multiple times. And did you know you might even be able to kill a man with your dick? "You" and "your" meant rhetorically in this case, of course. And I did say "might." But now I'll say no more, because some things are best left for the reader to discover.
Once I ditched my preconceptions — specifically, that I was reading a very serious story — things finally clicked for me. I was finally on the book's wavelength. After that I couldn't go more than a few pages at a time without bursting into laughter. And then came possibly the funniest sex scene I've ever read. You know how it is — usually when you're laughing at a sex scene, that was absolutely not the author's intention. But here the humor came organically, from riding along inside Dan's head:
He put one hand under my thigh and pulled my leg into a bent position, then scooped up my balls and lifted them. “Hold these,” he said, as if he was asking me to look after the luggage on a train journey. Well, the train was about to enter the tunnel, that’s for sure.
Soooooo many more quotes I could share with you, but they're even better when read in context, and I wouldn't dream of spoiling your fun.
I'm emphasizing the book's humor, but there's certainly more to it than that. Dan isn't a comic character himself, not at all. He's a lonely, courageous, self-confident yet perpetually self-doubting man who has loved and lost. He struggles to do the right thing. He saw himself as one of the good guys when he was in the military, and he very much wants to be a good guy now, whatever that takes, despite life having shat upon him. He's seriously flawed, but decent. He longs to love and be loved, trust and be trusted, without having the faintest clue how. All of that while getting laid as often as humanly possible, sure, but still. I look forward to spending more time with him as the series continues.
March 17, 2017
What a surprise!!!
OMG, I LOVED this! I think James Lear is gonna be my new favorite author!
I have a very clearly defined preference when it comes to m/m stories. I like dark, troubled characters, I like hot sweaty sex and I like romance that doesn't flow too smoothly.
Within these three parameters, a story is free to develop in any direction and still leave me with a smile on my face.
What 'The Hardest Thing' delivered, is the kind of awesomeness that I didn't even hope to expect from this book when I threw 9 f***ing Euros at Amazon to download it (but it was so worth it!!)
Yes, it's erotica that tries to be a mystery (and does a pretty decent job at it, actually) with a touch of romance. And it's sex with any character that the plot somehow allowed without turning this into a ridiculous porn fest. I need to thank Dan McFadyen for that special kink of mine. Before him, I used to think I didn't like my characters fucking around like this...
The plot (because, YES, there is one ;-)
Dan Stagg, 37 year old ex-marine turned night club bouncer, finds himself unemployed yet again when his combat skills are a bit too much for a hot-headed young macho dude's face, after the guy is trying to bully his way into the club Dan was working for.
Wallowing in self-pity in his small apartment, thinking of his miserable life and the one and only love he's lost, he's surprised to find a handsome Italian guy at his door, offering him a job - and a HUGE payment up front if he accepts it.
It turns out that Dan is supposed to bodyguard a.k.a. babysit a real estate tycoon's secretary and bring him to a secluded place in the countryside to take him away from immediate danger in New York.
Meeting the young man in question, Dan wonders who would be out to kill Stirling MacMahon? The 23 year old kid is a handsome blond douchebag who wears designer clothes and is more interested in keeping his hands moisturized and his elaborate hairstyle out of harsh winds than in any kind of secretarial work. What kind of knowledge could a guy like him have that might threaten his life?
And more importantly, who would be dumb enough to hire that pansy as his secretary?
Things get rougher when Dan and Stirling not only start 'sexual relations' (with each other and lots of other characters they meet during their road trip), but also realize that someone is after them and out to kill them!
Dan hates to admit that the younger man brings feelings to the surface of his cold macho facade that he hasn't had in years. Not since... Will.
But is Stirling worth it? Who is the kid anyway? And can Dan believe a single word that comes out of that pretty mouth of his?
What an epic adventure!
This was hot and insanely exciting. I loved the touch of a male author in this. I think I've hardly had better erotic fiction than this: A bald hairy MC who appreciates sweaty bodies, hairy asses and rough sex; Age gap relationships that go both ways (Dan as the older guy with Stirling and later on as the younger part in a coupling with a guy in his mid-50s).
Needless to say, this is not a romance where anyone would be faithful, but as this never claims to *be* a romance, I don't mind.
I especially bow to the author's courage to end this story on a very bitter note, jeopardizing the tiny bit of romance by not even giving the guys a HFN, but just a huge question mark (which needs to be said flat out right now, so romance readers don't get confused and eventually disappointed).
I will definitely read the second book as well. Dan Stagg is a very likable (albeit incredibly horny) multi-layered character. Guys like him are my main reason for reading this genre ;-)
For Christ's Sake, Dan almost killed one of the bad guys with his penis, how freaking awesome is that?!
I want to see him happy and settled down and I hope that book 2 will make that possible for him.
And if this review doesn't have you running in the opposite direction -> read this book!
It's definitely an experience.
5 stars and a Top 10 Read in 2017!
OMG, I LOVED this! I think James Lear is gonna be my new favorite author!
I have a very clearly defined preference when it comes to m/m stories. I like dark, troubled characters, I like hot sweaty sex and I like romance that doesn't flow too smoothly.
Within these three parameters, a story is free to develop in any direction and still leave me with a smile on my face.
What 'The Hardest Thing' delivered, is the kind of awesomeness that I didn't even hope to expect from this book when I threw 9 f***ing Euros at Amazon to download it (but it was so worth it!!)
Yes, it's erotica that tries to be a mystery (and does a pretty decent job at it, actually) with a touch of romance. And it's sex with any character that the plot somehow allowed without turning this into a ridiculous porn fest. I need to thank Dan McFadyen for that special kink of mine. Before him, I used to think I didn't like my characters fucking around like this...
The plot (because, YES, there is one ;-)
Dan Stagg, 37 year old ex-marine turned night club bouncer, finds himself unemployed yet again when his combat skills are a bit too much for a hot-headed young macho dude's face, after the guy is trying to bully his way into the club Dan was working for.
Wallowing in self-pity in his small apartment, thinking of his miserable life and the one and only love he's lost, he's surprised to find a handsome Italian guy at his door, offering him a job - and a HUGE payment up front if he accepts it.
It turns out that Dan is supposed to bodyguard a.k.a. babysit a real estate tycoon's secretary and bring him to a secluded place in the countryside to take him away from immediate danger in New York.
Meeting the young man in question, Dan wonders who would be out to kill Stirling MacMahon? The 23 year old kid is a handsome blond douchebag who wears designer clothes and is more interested in keeping his hands moisturized and his elaborate hairstyle out of harsh winds than in any kind of secretarial work. What kind of knowledge could a guy like him have that might threaten his life?
And more importantly, who would be dumb enough to hire that pansy as his secretary?
Things get rougher when Dan and Stirling not only start 'sexual relations' (with each other and lots of other characters they meet during their road trip), but also realize that someone is after them and out to kill them!
Dan hates to admit that the younger man brings feelings to the surface of his cold macho facade that he hasn't had in years. Not since... Will.
But is Stirling worth it? Who is the kid anyway? And can Dan believe a single word that comes out of that pretty mouth of his?
What an epic adventure!
This was hot and insanely exciting. I loved the touch of a male author in this. I think I've hardly had better erotic fiction than this: A bald hairy MC who appreciates sweaty bodies, hairy asses and rough sex; Age gap relationships that go both ways (Dan as the older guy with Stirling and later on as the younger part in a coupling with a guy in his mid-50s).
Needless to say, this is not a romance where anyone would be faithful, but as this never claims to *be* a romance, I don't mind.
I especially bow to the author's courage to end this story on a very bitter note, jeopardizing the tiny bit of romance by not even giving the guys a HFN, but just a huge question mark (which needs to be said flat out right now, so romance readers don't get confused and eventually disappointed).
I will definitely read the second book as well. Dan Stagg is a very likable (albeit incredibly horny) multi-layered character. Guys like him are my main reason for reading this genre ;-)
For Christ's Sake, Dan almost killed one of the bad guys with his penis, how freaking awesome is that?!
I want to see him happy and settled down and I hope that book 2 will make that possible for him.
And if this review doesn't have you running in the opposite direction -> read this book!
It's definitely an experience.
5 stars and a Top 10 Read in 2017!
January 12, 2020
It's a parody, right? It has to be.
February 24, 2017
Super corny, porny and fun… Dan Stagg is a Jack Reacher inspired character and storyline with the twist that pretty much everyone is gay or wants to have gay sex. Needless to say, there’s lots of sex, but also a plot. I almost want to give it 5 stars because it was just so refreshingly fun.
Thank you to Rosa, really for turning me on to James Lear.
BTW, I think I have seen this cover 100 times...
Thank you to Rosa, really for turning me on to James Lear.
BTW, I think I have seen this cover 100 times...
February 18, 2022
It is my first of James Lear and I think I have to try more of his work to decide if I like his writing or not. Probably I had just a bad timing for The Hardest Thing: A Dan Stagg Mystery.
There is a tiny disadvantage of reading really good books that wowed you - you suffer through a bad book hangover after and compare everything with these books, and the result is mostly not to beneficial to your current read.
I'm still finding myself in hangover state, and it is probably one of the reasons why I didn't enjoy this book as much as I originally hoped.
I have an impression that James Lear couldn't chose between the genres: Was it supposed to be a mystery or a porn or a satire or something else? I don't know.
You should't pick up James Lear's book if you want in the first place a thrilling MM-mystery. The mystery part here is very illogical and in some situations very unreal, often even very close to absurdity. The way Dan Stagg solves his problems is very...er..unconventional but it works always. You are though on the right place here if your primary goal is a prolific erotica...Because it is rather a sophisticated porn.
I liked the first half of the book much more than the second part. Actually it was pretty good. And there are some really nice made things in the book, But the second part and the ending ruined the story for me. I didn't feel a lot of chemistry between the MCs in the second part and I wasn't very impressed by the first person's POV - normally it is my favourite way of telling. The quantity and the quality of sex scenes in the book rather confused me than aroused. I don't mind if it helps to understand the story, but I don't like it if it brings you away from any sense of reality. It was why I got bored toward the end with the plot, with Dan Stagg and with his chaos of emotions.
Do I recommend it?
Of course! It is easy going, it is fun, and it is an entertaining read, in a lowbrow way.
Just be prepared!
P.S. Don't let irritate yourself by the cover! This model has nothing to do with Dan Stagg. My Dan Stagg looks like Jason Statham.
There is a tiny disadvantage of reading really good books that wowed you - you suffer through a bad book hangover after and compare everything with these books, and the result is mostly not to beneficial to your current read.
I'm still finding myself in hangover state, and it is probably one of the reasons why I didn't enjoy this book as much as I originally hoped.
I have an impression that James Lear couldn't chose between the genres: Was it supposed to be a mystery or a porn or a satire or something else? I don't know.
You should't pick up James Lear's book if you want in the first place a thrilling MM-mystery. The mystery part here is very illogical and in some situations very unreal, often even very close to absurdity. The way Dan Stagg solves his problems is very...er..unconventional but it works always. You are though on the right place here if your primary goal is a prolific erotica...Because it is rather a sophisticated porn.
I liked the first half of the book much more than the second part. Actually it was pretty good. And there are some really nice made things in the book, But the second part and the ending ruined the story for me. I didn't feel a lot of chemistry between the MCs in the second part and I wasn't very impressed by the first person's POV - normally it is my favourite way of telling. The quantity and the quality of sex scenes in the book rather confused me than aroused. I don't mind if it helps to understand the story, but I don't like it if it brings you away from any sense of reality. It was why I got bored toward the end with the plot, with Dan Stagg and with his chaos of emotions.
Do I recommend it?
Of course! It is easy going, it is fun, and it is an entertaining read, in a lowbrow way.
Just be prepared!
P.S. Don't let irritate yourself by the cover! This model has nothing to do with Dan Stagg. My Dan Stagg looks like Jason Statham.
March 25, 2017
***3.5 Stars***
April 2, 2015
There were things I liked here - particularly some of the inner monologue, emotional, and back-story stuff with Dan Stagg, the ex-Marine MC and narrator. There were also some I didn't, notably parts of the mystery plot - Dan made mistakes that seemed really unlikely for someone with 12 years of USMC background, and the bad guys are quick to kill one threat to their safety, but deliver warnings and half-hearted actions when it came to our MCs. The plot was convoluted in ways that seemed designed to get the MCs into the scenes the author wanted, not because they made logical sense. That gave it a bit of an erotica rather than mystery/romance feel. The very end of this book redeemed it into four-star territory for me, suddenly making the characters feel one layer deeper and more real.
This book will appeal to people who like a hard-boiled hero, a lot of non-monogamous sex, unpredictable action, and a very open but faintly hopeful ending. The writing style is a little noir crossed with erotica, and fairly well done. It was a smooth read. I might pick up the next one.
This book will appeal to people who like a hard-boiled hero, a lot of non-monogamous sex, unpredictable action, and a very open but faintly hopeful ending. The writing style is a little noir crossed with erotica, and fairly well done. It was a smooth read. I might pick up the next one.
March 17, 2015
3.5
I read this through in an afternoon and found it totally entertaining, especially as a road-trip/thriller. Like some other reviewers, I found the romance less satisfying.
Part of the problem for me is that in the midst of his high-octane cat and mouse with evil mafiosos, the hero, Dan Stagg, manages to have sex with just about every male he comes across, all of whom are available and eager to blow/help him, even if he roughs them up and/or takes off moments later--all while apparently falling in love with the guy he's been hired to protect. The whole fuck'n'run bit is just one of those fantasies that doesn't appeal to me. I mostly associate it with James Bond, who screws tons of willing women and then has to walk away leaving the poor girls satisfied but bereft because yah know, duty calls, queen and country, fate the free world, etc. etc. I wasn't annoyed with Dan Stagg's sexcapades like I am with those of everyone's favorite MI6 agent, but it was a little hard to take seriously and it left me feeling like I wasn't the right audience for the book. Even leaving aside the whole fidelity question, there just isn't much in the way of relationship development with Jody--like it's really hard to see what holds them together as a couple except a lot of sexual chemistry, which Dan has with all the many men he fucks.
Still, it's pretty obvious that Lear was not trying to write that type of romance, so I can't blame him, and he does a great job with the thriller plot line. Dan is a legitimately cool character, the total badass ex-marine who can take down three opponents with his bare hands and then spend all night fucking some hot guy into the mattress.
Bottom line; The book was a lot of fun, and I'll definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out.
I read this through in an afternoon and found it totally entertaining, especially as a road-trip/thriller. Like some other reviewers, I found the romance less satisfying.
Part of the problem for me is that in the midst of his high-octane cat and mouse with evil mafiosos, the hero, Dan Stagg, manages to have sex with just about every male he comes across, all of whom are available and eager to blow/help him, even if he roughs them up and/or takes off moments later--all while apparently falling in love with the guy he's been hired to protect. The whole fuck'n'run bit is just one of those fantasies that doesn't appeal to me. I mostly associate it with James Bond, who screws tons of willing women and then has to walk away leaving the poor girls satisfied but bereft because yah know, duty calls, queen and country, fate the free world, etc. etc. I wasn't annoyed with Dan Stagg's sexcapades like I am with those of everyone's favorite MI6 agent, but it was a little hard to take seriously and it left me feeling like I wasn't the right audience for the book. Even leaving aside the whole fidelity question, there just isn't much in the way of relationship development with Jody--like it's really hard to see what holds them together as a couple except a lot of sexual chemistry, which Dan has with all the many men he fucks.
Still, it's pretty obvious that Lear was not trying to write that type of romance, so I can't blame him, and he does a great job with the thriller plot line. Dan is a legitimately cool character, the total badass ex-marine who can take down three opponents with his bare hands and then spend all night fucking some hot guy into the mattress.
Bottom line; The book was a lot of fun, and I'll definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out.
March 19, 2017
I saw
Martin's Review
and immediately dropped everything else I'd planned on reading to read this one instead.
It is slightly dark, gritty, and even uncomfortable in places. It moves fast in an erotic rollercoaster of action plot.
In my opinion, it ends in a HFN.
I pictured Dan played by Jason. :-)
I don't have much to add to what Martin has already described. So, I refer you to his excellent Review.
It is slightly dark, gritty, and even uncomfortable in places. It moves fast in an erotic rollercoaster of action plot.
In my opinion, it ends in a HFN.
I pictured Dan played by Jason. :-)
I don't have much to add to what Martin has already described. So, I refer you to his excellent Review.
May 27, 2014
So, I really liked Dan. Dan the jaded Man. His character pulled me through some rough times I had with this book (when I was confused, bored, not turned on, and annoyed). I can’t put my finger on why I did not quite warm to this story, despite the many quotable „Danerisms“ I was surrounded by:-)
The road trip should have been a building of sexual tension between the two guys, but it just fell kind of flat for me.
Jody was so colorless, he could have been a ghost. Maybe I would have needed both Dan’s and Jody’s POV in order to get a better picture of who he was. From Dan’s POV, I sure as hell got nothing. However, maybe it was supposed to be like that, since I was kept as blind as Dan, as to who Jody really was inside and outside.
There are some erotic moments in the book, but there was plenty of sex that was just „told in passing“. I need details, lots and lots of details. I need sound, and taste and smell. However, even when it was descriptive, it still did not impress my libido (but this is of course relative-and this story should perhaps not be read as an erotica. But if there is a lot of sex, I want it to be good!).
I also did not know exactly how to think of this book. Mystery/romance, or erotica/mystery, or mystery/ thriller, or a cocktail of everything?
Sometimes it wanted to be romance, sometimes the focus seemed to be mystery and sometimes it wanted to be Film Noir , but unfortunately it did not manage to merge it all in a for me satisfying way.
Also, I don’t like it when a story told in flashback turns out to be (for me) the romantical and emotional main course. I want the present story to be exactly that, and not be served like some stupid side soup.
The whole mystery-plot was for me quite thin and trying to hard to twist it up. Despite not being very complicated, it still managed to squeeze in a Deus ex machina…
Well, despite my many complaints, I would definitely read another Dan Stagg-book, because he is one hard-boiled egg. But only ca 9 min, since he also has a soft, mushy inside. Just the way I like it!
The road trip should have been a building of sexual tension between the two guys, but it just fell kind of flat for me.
Jody was so colorless, he could have been a ghost. Maybe I would have needed both Dan’s and Jody’s POV in order to get a better picture of who he was. From Dan’s POV, I sure as hell got nothing. However, maybe it was supposed to be like that, since I was kept as blind as Dan, as to who Jody really was inside and outside.
There are some erotic moments in the book, but there was plenty of sex that was just „told in passing“. I need details, lots and lots of details. I need sound, and taste and smell. However, even when it was descriptive, it still did not impress my libido (but this is of course relative-and this story should perhaps not be read as an erotica. But if there is a lot of sex, I want it to be good!).
I also did not know exactly how to think of this book. Mystery/romance, or erotica/mystery, or mystery/ thriller, or a cocktail of everything?
Sometimes it wanted to be romance, sometimes the focus seemed to be mystery and sometimes it wanted to be Film Noir , but unfortunately it did not manage to merge it all in a for me satisfying way.
Also, I don’t like it when a story told in flashback turns out to be (for me) the romantical and emotional main course. I want the present story to be exactly that, and not be served like some stupid side soup.
The whole mystery-plot was for me quite thin and trying to hard to twist it up. Despite not being very complicated, it still managed to squeeze in a Deus ex machina…
Well, despite my many complaints, I would definitely read another Dan Stagg-book, because he is one hard-boiled egg. But only ca 9 min, since he also has a soft, mushy inside. Just the way I like it!
April 16, 2014
It's not wine and roses. Oh.Hell.No. It's 110% prime-angus-beef-testosterone with a lot of deceitful unapologetic fornication-lies-and-manipulation..and yet somewhere in between and at the end is the emotional human factor..of two men needing to be loved.
If you're like me and appreciate a more action-driven, think and talk later kind of story, you should enjoy this.
If you're like me and appreciate a more action-driven, think and talk later kind of story, you should enjoy this.
January 8, 2018
So good, so good, so good! I can't get enough of this author. Such creative plots and the most wonderful characters. This one was fantastic... and I loved the ending.
The audio version was extra great. Charles Carr was wonderful and I loved the variety in his voices. I'm disappointed that most of the other books he's narrated don't interest me because I'd love to listen to him again.
The audio version was extra great. Charles Carr was wonderful and I loved the variety in his voices. I'm disappointed that most of the other books he's narrated don't interest me because I'd love to listen to him again.
December 13, 2013
Review written for The Blog of Sid Love.
Ex-Marine Dan Stagg tells this story, and I was hooked very early on. He cannot seem to get a break after losing his lover, Will, being unfairly discharged from the military, and then again unfairly losing his current job as a bouncer, all of which end with him looking somewhat unemployable. That is, until he is offered a large amount of cash as a bodyguard protecting and transporting Stirling McMahon from NYC to New Hampshire.
What ensues is quite the adventure, as they learn more about each other, something Dan hasn’t done with anyone since the death of Will, while enjoying frequent sexcapades along the way. Dan learns quickly that Stirling isn’t what he seems. More and more, things aren’t adding up, and the plot thickens and twists. Dan struggles with his Marine beliefs and morals as he tries to decide what he should do with new knowledge concerning Stirling. He also still struggles with the loss of Will, who we learn about through some pretty touching flashbacks.
I really enjoyed the way this was written. It was often funny and heartwarming, yet sexy and even a bit smutty with mystery and danger popping up every other turn. There is not a whole lot in the way of romantic relationship here, aside from early on in their journey, as Dan (and Stirling) have sex with multiple people along the way. At one point, I even questioned if Stirling was the intended love interest. But eventually the entire story unfolds and things become clear. Dan is one bad-ass Major who gives as good as he gets. It was difficult not to feel for him throughout this story. Stirling had his own set of issues that pulled my heartstrings as well.
This was pretty much a HFN story that left me feeling happy with the decisions made, yet sad at the same time due to all of the circumstances. I would have really liked to have seen a little farther into the future on this to see how these guys were making out with their decisions and hope to maybe see them again in the future. This was my first book by Mr. Lear, and I’m definitely looking forward to checking out more of his work.
August 18, 2013
Lear is a good writer - tough and lean in a macho sort of way. I found myself grumbling about the book as I was reading - and enjoying - it, and then realized that my grumbling was my own damn fault.
Lear writes gay erotic fiction. Not romance. Dan Stagg, his ex-marine anti-hero, is sort of an ass. A horny, damaged, sort of butch-er, less-suave version of James Bond. He has sex with any guy he wants to at whatever moment seems convenient. He actually seems rather less competent at his paramilitary skills than at his casual sexual hookup skills - which is, I realized, sort of endearing.
And yet.
Stagg is a pretty complicated guy. Below the tough guy is a very broken guy. And it's that broken guy that kept my interest, as his own emotions grew more and more conflicted and he struggled to understand what was happening inside his own heart and head. His relationship with Jody (aka Stirling) is just as confusing for the reader as it is for the protagonist - and that is one of the chief pleasures of Lear's narrative. Stagg isn't a man unsure of his sexuality - he's pissed that his orientation screwed up his career and he's been cast aside by the country to whom he gave everything to serve. He believes that he has no right to happiness, and yet won't quite abandon his search for something beyond the sex he's so good at finding.
Having been annoyed on and off throughout the book, I ended up feeling both emotionally attached to Stagg, and really wanting to know what happens in the next book (this is #1 in the Dan Stagg series). This is not my usual fare, and yet it was, ultimately, a pleasure.
Lear writes gay erotic fiction. Not romance. Dan Stagg, his ex-marine anti-hero, is sort of an ass. A horny, damaged, sort of butch-er, less-suave version of James Bond. He has sex with any guy he wants to at whatever moment seems convenient. He actually seems rather less competent at his paramilitary skills than at his casual sexual hookup skills - which is, I realized, sort of endearing.
And yet.
Stagg is a pretty complicated guy. Below the tough guy is a very broken guy. And it's that broken guy that kept my interest, as his own emotions grew more and more conflicted and he struggled to understand what was happening inside his own heart and head. His relationship with Jody (aka Stirling) is just as confusing for the reader as it is for the protagonist - and that is one of the chief pleasures of Lear's narrative. Stagg isn't a man unsure of his sexuality - he's pissed that his orientation screwed up his career and he's been cast aside by the country to whom he gave everything to serve. He believes that he has no right to happiness, and yet won't quite abandon his search for something beyond the sex he's so good at finding.
Having been annoyed on and off throughout the book, I ended up feeling both emotionally attached to Stagg, and really wanting to know what happens in the next book (this is #1 in the Dan Stagg series). This is not my usual fare, and yet it was, ultimately, a pleasure.
September 11, 2014
Wavering between stars so I'll go 3.5. Dan certainly found himself in some strange situations. Luckily he was able to fuck himself in/out of them! I kinda felt like I was watching porn, but on the pages of a book (if that makes sense). I didn't think this was a bad read by any stretch, but just not really sure what happened to the ending?
October 3, 2013
REVIEW OF AUDIO & EBOOK; OCTOBER 2, 2013
Narrator: Charles Carr
The Story: 4 and half stars
Dan Stagg, ex-Marine, is one fuck away from ending up on the streets. When he gets what seems like an easy job - 10 big ones up front and 20 more when he delivers the package, he thinks his luck has changed. Well, it has, but at a price he's not quite ready to pay. Especially when he's still grieving and embittered over the loss of his career and the only man he'd ever loved.
Despite the bittersweet overtones to both Dan's and Jodi's characters, The Hardest Thing is easily the most enjoyable book I've read this year and its audio version the best I've heard since I started listening to them earlier this year.
While there is romance and Lear and his hero sorta know there is more to life than one easy fuck to another, both happily make use of every situation to get one more fuck in for the reader. And I happily went along for the voyeuristic ride because Dan is about one of the most likeable characters I've come across in a long, long time. Lear has given me an MC I can sympathize and laugh with, and at, from one chapter to the next. The title of the book does make it sound like the start of a series and if so, I wonder whether Dan and Jodi will be the main couple, both fucking their way through one adventure after another.
THT is a fun, bawdy contemporary tale that had me both laughing at, and assessing, the character at the same time. I was getting exasperated at Dan for being unable to pass up a fuck while Jodi was sleeping off his exhaustion after being on the run, when Jodi has been abducted and Dan is supposed to be trying to rescue him; but Lear so cleverly wraps me around Dan's finger (or another appendage, rather) that I, who am particularly critical about inappropriately-timed sexual trysts in my romantic fiction, am prepared to be magnanimous on this occasion.
...because this is that type of book - smutty and rough, bursting with graphic sex and a hero whose self-deprecating humor made me putty in his hands.
Now, if Jodi were some sweet, innocent romantic counterpart to Dan, I guess I would have balked at Dan's tom-cat ways but Jodi can handle himself and taken together, this couple of gay characters make THT a very different type of gay romance that I normally read - and so much better than most. It has action, sex, suspense, sex, romance, sex. While pure porn can be boring and too many or lengthy sex scenes in MM romance gets me impatient to be moving on with the story, I enjoyed every sexual encounter Dan grabbed (in case it's the last fuck he'll ever get). Why? Because Dan is able to preempt every one of my reactions when his insatiable cock, yet again, zeroes in on a new ass like a diving rod.
Despite his promiscuous nature, I can believe that Dan has come to love Jodi towards the end of the book and is ready to move on from his grief of losing Will. I was given a subtle HFN but in this instance, it was sufficient for me.
What wasn't, though, and caused me to deduct half a star, is that the story is told completely from Dan's POV and, as usually happens, I don't get to know the second MC as well as the first. What I felt was needed in this case was an epilogue to give me a more balanced feel to the book. Especially when Jodi is not the man he led us all to believe he was. The Jodi Dan and we are introduced to at the start of the book is nothing like the young man we are left with. His subterfuge and lies were too casually dealt with for someone like Jodi who's fallen in love with someone like Dan.
This book does beg for a sequel, IMO, as I would like to know how Dan copes with the new man in his life and heart, is he going to carve out a new career or will he continue to eke out a living taking one odd job to another (Jodi isn't exactly low-maintenance). I'd like to know the effect Jodi's brain hemorrhage and the recent events have on him and his future with Dan.
I'd like to see Dan and Jodi move out of Jodi's Dad's house and into their own home so that Dan won't have to share the couch with the other biting critters that have taken up residence there.
The Narrator: 5 stars!
Charles Carr did a fantastic job. His ability to give different voices to Dan and Jodi made it easy to distinguish between the two characters, or when it's Dan and the other secondary characters.
Carr's skill at communicating the relevant expression to his words is one other narrators ought to emulate. I've heard narrators who are so deadpan they have no business narrating anything and I've heard those with the sexiest voices ever (Boulton, LeFleur, Morey et al) but none of them do as great a job as getting the characters' personality or the author's intent across as well as Carr does.
More than 5 stars, for the narration and Audible is to be commended for this excellent production. If you're planning to listen to, or want to try, an audiobook, make it THIS one. It's at a special price of $3.99 right now if you're an Audible member. Otherwise, beg,steal, borrow or sell your body to get it.
Narrator: Charles Carr
The Story: 4 and half stars
Dan Stagg, ex-Marine, is one fuck away from ending up on the streets. When he gets what seems like an easy job - 10 big ones up front and 20 more when he delivers the package, he thinks his luck has changed. Well, it has, but at a price he's not quite ready to pay. Especially when he's still grieving and embittered over the loss of his career and the only man he'd ever loved.
Despite the bittersweet overtones to both Dan's and Jodi's characters, The Hardest Thing is easily the most enjoyable book I've read this year and its audio version the best I've heard since I started listening to them earlier this year.
While there is romance and Lear and his hero sorta know there is more to life than one easy fuck to another, both happily make use of every situation to get one more fuck in for the reader. And I happily went along for the voyeuristic ride because Dan is about one of the most likeable characters I've come across in a long, long time. Lear has given me an MC I can sympathize and laugh with, and at, from one chapter to the next. The title of the book does make it sound like the start of a series and if so, I wonder whether Dan and Jodi will be the main couple, both fucking their way through one adventure after another.
THT is a fun, bawdy contemporary tale that had me both laughing at, and assessing, the character at the same time. I was getting exasperated at Dan for being unable to pass up a fuck while Jodi was sleeping off his exhaustion after being on the run, when Jodi has been abducted and Dan is supposed to be trying to rescue him; but Lear so cleverly wraps me around Dan's finger (or another appendage, rather) that I, who am particularly critical about inappropriately-timed sexual trysts in my romantic fiction, am prepared to be magnanimous on this occasion.
...because this is that type of book - smutty and rough, bursting with graphic sex and a hero whose self-deprecating humor made me putty in his hands.
Now, if Jodi were some sweet, innocent romantic counterpart to Dan, I guess I would have balked at Dan's tom-cat ways but Jodi can handle himself and taken together, this couple of gay characters make THT a very different type of gay romance that I normally read - and so much better than most. It has action, sex, suspense, sex, romance, sex. While pure porn can be boring and too many or lengthy sex scenes in MM romance gets me impatient to be moving on with the story, I enjoyed every sexual encounter Dan grabbed (in case it's the last fuck he'll ever get). Why? Because Dan is able to preempt every one of my reactions when his insatiable cock, yet again, zeroes in on a new ass like a diving rod.
Despite his promiscuous nature, I can believe that Dan has come to love Jodi towards the end of the book and is ready to move on from his grief of losing Will. I was given a subtle HFN but in this instance, it was sufficient for me.
What wasn't, though, and caused me to deduct half a star, is that the story is told completely from Dan's POV and, as usually happens, I don't get to know the second MC as well as the first. What I felt was needed in this case was an epilogue to give me a more balanced feel to the book. Especially when Jodi is not the man he led us all to believe he was. The Jodi Dan and we are introduced to at the start of the book is nothing like the young man we are left with. His subterfuge and lies were too casually dealt with for someone like Jodi who's fallen in love with someone like Dan.
This book does beg for a sequel, IMO, as I would like to know how Dan copes with the new man in his life and heart, is he going to carve out a new career or will he continue to eke out a living taking one odd job to another (Jodi isn't exactly low-maintenance). I'd like to know the effect Jodi's brain hemorrhage and the recent events have on him and his future with Dan.
I'd like to see Dan and Jodi move out of Jodi's Dad's house and into their own home so that Dan won't have to share the couch with the other biting critters that have taken up residence there.
The Narrator: 5 stars!
Charles Carr did a fantastic job. His ability to give different voices to Dan and Jodi made it easy to distinguish between the two characters, or when it's Dan and the other secondary characters.
Carr's skill at communicating the relevant expression to his words is one other narrators ought to emulate. I've heard narrators who are so deadpan they have no business narrating anything and I've heard those with the sexiest voices ever (Boulton, LeFleur, Morey et al) but none of them do as great a job as getting the characters' personality or the author's intent across as well as Carr does.
More than 5 stars, for the narration and Audible is to be commended for this excellent production. If you're planning to listen to, or want to try, an audiobook, make it THIS one. It's at a special price of $3.99 right now if you're an Audible member. Otherwise, beg,
November 28, 2018
[Special thanks to Martin for recommending the book to me.]
The story revolves around Dan Stagg, an ex-marine who is unemployed. In an attempt to make some quick and easy cash, he got involved in some shady business and soon ends up running for his life.
In his adventure, Dan somehow always comes across guys who will end up having sex with him. Each of the scenes are almost always with a different guy. He's perpetually so horny, even when his life is in imminent danger, it's like he has an invisible Viagra IV hooked to him at all times. He supposedly has a love interest but there was hardly any relationship development shown between the two characters, hence it was hard to feel the 'romance element'.
The sex scenes were very well written erotica, and many of them were actually really hot, despite the ridiculous plot. The dialogues, thoughts and descriptive actions of the characters were really detailed and vivid. I thought that
It only felt like a proper story near the end of the book, where all the ludicrous sex had toned down/ended.
If you're looking for a proper M/M romance, this is one of the worst you can stumble onto.
If you're looking for some steaming hot erotica, this is the book to go to.
I'm giving the final rating with a heavy weightage towards erotica, as this is clearly not a plot-oriented book, but since it tries I have to give some weightage to the plot.
Plot - 2
Erotica - 5
Final rating - 4
The story revolves around Dan Stagg, an ex-marine who is unemployed. In an attempt to make some quick and easy cash, he got involved in some shady business and soon ends up running for his life.
In his adventure, Dan somehow always comes across guys who will end up having sex with him. Each of the scenes are almost always with a different guy. He's perpetually so horny, even when his life is in imminent danger, it's like he has an invisible Viagra IV hooked to him at all times. He supposedly has a love interest but there was hardly any relationship development shown between the two characters, hence it was hard to feel the 'romance element'.
The sex scenes were very well written erotica, and many of them were actually really hot, despite the ridiculous plot. The dialogues, thoughts and descriptive actions of the characters were really detailed and vivid. I thought that
It only felt like a proper story near the end of the book, where all the ludicrous sex had toned down/ended.
If you're looking for a proper M/M romance, this is one of the worst you can stumble onto.
If you're looking for some steaming hot erotica, this is the book to go to.
I'm giving the final rating with a heavy weightage towards erotica, as this is clearly not a plot-oriented book, but since it tries I have to give some weightage to the plot.
Plot - 2
Erotica - 5
Final rating - 4
June 10, 2016
4.5 stars rounded up
The author put me in Dan's head, hearing his voice telling me this story. The prose is raw, gritty, messy and lots of sex. Lots. And not just between the two MCs together. There are also plenty of twists and turns, humor and tears. And here's the thing...I toyed with giving this less stars because These are both broken guys hardened by the life they've led, what they've been taught, what they've had to do. At one point I thought I'd gotten a handle on them and on how the story had played out. I was wrong--twists right up to the end. And the end had me in tears.
The author put me in Dan's head, hearing his voice telling me this story. The prose is raw, gritty, messy and lots of sex. Lots. And not just between the two MCs together. There are also plenty of twists and turns, humor and tears. And here's the thing...I toyed with giving this less stars because These are both broken guys hardened by the life they've led, what they've been taught, what they've had to do. At one point I thought I'd gotten a handle on them and on how the story had played out. I was wrong--twists right up to the end. And the end had me in tears.
April 13, 2013
Like many victims of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, Dan Stagg is an ex-Marine having trouble fitting back into society. In his own words, he’s “a well-oiled machine with no ideas about right and wrong, good and evil.” He’s had his heart broken and he’s determined not to let that happen again. That is, until he meets a cute, spoiled client who needs to be protected, and then everything turns ugly once again. James Lear's The Hardest Thing is violent, fast-paced and very sexy, with a bad-boy hero you can't help but fall for. Dan Stagg is a gay action hero for the twenty-first century.
October 11, 2013
4.5 stars
I started this book shortly after receiving it, but somehow I got sidetracked. Now, finally yesterday I got back to it and couldn't stop reading! Yes, some situations were hard to believe, but overall it was a fun read, fast paced til the very fitting end. Any idea when the next book with Dan Stagg will be available?
I started this book shortly after receiving it, but somehow I got sidetracked. Now, finally yesterday I got back to it and couldn't stop reading! Yes, some situations were hard to believe, but overall it was a fun read, fast paced til the very fitting end. Any idea when the next book with Dan Stagg will be available?
September 6, 2013
Ex-Marine, ex bouncer (thanks to smashing the wrong guy’s face in), Dan Stagg doesn’t know how to pay for his next meal when a somewhat shady character approaches him with the proverbial offer he can’t deny. That’s how Dan ends up with Stirling McMahon (aka Jody), a rich man’s “secretary” (read: boy toy). It doesn’t take long and Dan and Stirling not only find themselves on the lam together but also in each other’s pants. Not surprisingly as for the latter, since Dan screws anything with a heartbeat (and a dick) and Sterling, once he stops being a princess, uses his assets in an almost aggressive sexually provocative way in order to get what he wants.
Dan Stagg is a very interesting hero, or rather anti-hero. First and foremost, he’s not actually likable–on the contrary, he is pretty much an asshole. Perpetually horny, abrasive, violent. He has sex with any guy he wants at any time that seems convenient for him (even if it actually isn’t, which leads to some scenes that may have been steaming hot but at the same time were so out of place they struck me as ridiculous). Actually, his skills at finding yet another sexual hookup were fabulous; at times, I was under the impression the former exceeded his fighting skills. However, if Dan can’t fuck himself out of one predicament or the other, he beats and shoots himself out.
But underneath that rough-and tumble exterior is a damaged, broken guy. The army cast him aside because of his sexuality, no matter his sacrifices and his professional achievements. The world, or so he thinks, denies him the right at happiness for the same reason. And his emotions grow increasingly conflicted over what his relationship with Sterling/Jody does to his mind and heart. Dan’s confusion and anger carried over in the narrative to a point where it almost grew frustrating for me as the reader–while at the same time, it made my heart go out to Dan. I can’t imagine Dan living a white picket fence sort of life, but I couldn’t help cheering for Jody–perhaps he’ll be able to domesticate wild Dan at least a little bit.
Compared to Dan, Stirling/ Jody remained somewhat paler, mostly because the story was told in Dan’s first person POV and so we only saw Jody through Dan’s eyes. However, Jody was fleshed-out enough that I could see him as Dan’s match. Not much less broken than Dan, he was still the more positive of the pair, and I liked him and his hand moisturizer, polished nails and bratty ass-shaking manner of walking from the start.
Don’t be fooled, this is not a romance. I’d rather peg it gay erotic fiction, if a peg is needed, perhaps with some mystery thrown in (because the actual mystery wasn’t much of one) and with lots of action and ka-pow. If this is your thing, go for this book, it might just hit the spot.
Dan Stagg is a very interesting hero, or rather anti-hero. First and foremost, he’s not actually likable–on the contrary, he is pretty much an asshole. Perpetually horny, abrasive, violent. He has sex with any guy he wants at any time that seems convenient for him (even if it actually isn’t, which leads to some scenes that may have been steaming hot but at the same time were so out of place they struck me as ridiculous). Actually, his skills at finding yet another sexual hookup were fabulous; at times, I was under the impression the former exceeded his fighting skills. However, if Dan can’t fuck himself out of one predicament or the other, he beats and shoots himself out.
But underneath that rough-and tumble exterior is a damaged, broken guy. The army cast him aside because of his sexuality, no matter his sacrifices and his professional achievements. The world, or so he thinks, denies him the right at happiness for the same reason. And his emotions grow increasingly conflicted over what his relationship with Sterling/Jody does to his mind and heart. Dan’s confusion and anger carried over in the narrative to a point where it almost grew frustrating for me as the reader–while at the same time, it made my heart go out to Dan. I can’t imagine Dan living a white picket fence sort of life, but I couldn’t help cheering for Jody–perhaps he’ll be able to domesticate wild Dan at least a little bit.
Compared to Dan, Stirling/ Jody remained somewhat paler, mostly because the story was told in Dan’s first person POV and so we only saw Jody through Dan’s eyes. However, Jody was fleshed-out enough that I could see him as Dan’s match. Not much less broken than Dan, he was still the more positive of the pair, and I liked him and his hand moisturizer, polished nails and bratty ass-shaking manner of walking from the start.
Don’t be fooled, this is not a romance. I’d rather peg it gay erotic fiction, if a peg is needed, perhaps with some mystery thrown in (because the actual mystery wasn’t much of one) and with lots of action and ka-pow. If this is your thing, go for this book, it might just hit the spot.
May 25, 2021
My first James Lear book and it was awesome!
A mix of mystery and erotica with an intriguing main character. 🤩
Dan Stager is a troubled raw and gritty Ex Marine with an dry sense of humor which made me laugh more than once. I really love him with all his flaws!
I'm definitely going to continue reading this series. :)
4.5 stars
A mix of mystery and erotica with an intriguing main character. 🤩
Dan Stager is a troubled raw and gritty Ex Marine with an dry sense of humor which made me laugh more than once. I really love him with all his flaws!
I'm definitely going to continue reading this series. :)
4.5 stars
January 11, 2023
Thanks, Uncle Sam. You took everything I had to give, you chewed me up and spat me out and now here I am with a man in my arms, and I am damn well going to protect him and serve him.
3.5 stars. This is not a typical romantic suspense in a lot of ways, but it didn't set out to be that. Once you go into it knowing that, you'll probably have a good time. We're following an ex-major Dan, dishonourably discharged in the days of don't ask, don't tell, as he is given a bodyguard assignment to protect and transport a bratty young secretary out of state. The more time he spends with Sterling, the more he starts falling for him, and the more he realises that things aren't what they seem. This is written with a lot of humour, very tongue in cheek, that kind of conversational style that a lot of authors try to pull off, but doesn't always work. It really worked for me here. Dan is not a particularly nice guy, but he makes for an interesting protagonist. There's a lot of sex in here, and our man Dan doesn't count monogamy as the highest virtue. It is kind of endearing that he trips dick-first into just about every willing orifice. But still, there is a lot of heart, and ultimately romance, behind this. At times, it gets downright ridiculous, but you just have to run with it. There isn't a mystery, per se, but there's a lot of action, and some twists that made it entertaining. Some of the language made me go yikes (a lot of random fatphobia), and as I said, Dan isn't trying to be likeable, so this won't go down as one of my favourites. But still, it was an entertaining way to pass some time.
Content warnings:
April 6, 2021
If you’re looking for a great mystery or a great romance, I would suggest you look somewhere else. However if you’re looking for a fun, often funny story that is very much erotica this may just be the book for you. Not my usual fare, but I was entertained enough that I will likely pick up the next book at some point.
June 23, 2022
It was….a choice 🤷🏽♂️
*Actual rating: 2.5/5 stars*
RTC
*Actual rating: 2.5/5 stars*
RTC
June 17, 2013
“James Lear” is the pen name of a prolific British writer who has created a kind of hybrid genre: the sexually-explicit m/m historical mystery, set in a time when sex between men was dangerous, illegal but tempting. His three “Mitch Mitchell” mysteries with witty titles (The Back Passage, The Secret Tunnel and A Sticky End) feature an American medical doctor who lives with a male lover in Scotland in the 1920s, and makes frequent trips to London to visit his (ahem) “friend” and investigate mysterious deaths. Lear’s latest novel, The Hardest Thing (heh), is a daring venture into current times, written in an American accent and a noir sensibility.
Dan Stagg, the anti-hero of this novel, resembles the hard-bitten, trench-coated detectives of mid-twentieth century American fiction. Dan is an understandably bitter war veteran, who lost the man he loved to a sniper's bullet and was then rejected by his government and forced to earn a living as a civilian with military training. In the opening scene, Dan thinks he has nowhere further to fall:
“A couple of years ago I had a career and a salary, status and respect, and a sense of purpose. Now I’m working nights at a shitty club in the East Village for minimum wage. I don’t even have a uniform; the security company is so damn cheap that I have to provide my own.”
Dan lives in a cheap apartment which is really no refuge from his dead-end job. He is alone, but he is still physically fit, so he makes do with anonymous hookups with men he meets in a certain bar.
He can’t imagine a future which would be better than his present.
And then Dan has an encounter on the job with the type of arrogant, overprivileged young man he classifies as one of the Assholes. As far as the management of the club is concerned, the customer is always right, so Dan is fired and described in a newspaper article as a “psychotic ex-marine” who attacked a “college football star.” The article points out that he was “discharged from the military in 2009,” implying that he was too out-of-control to be useful in a war. Explaining the real reason for his discharge would not mend his reputation. In a culture which is still largely homophobic, hypocritical and dominated by media sound-bites, Dan feels he has nowhere to turn.
When Dan seems to have no options other than suicide, there is a knock on his door. A suave, Mediterranean-looking man named Ferrari, a kind of human equivalent of a luxury car, makes Dan an offer he can hardly refuse. Dan will be paid a lot of money to drive an apparently arrogant, overprivileged boy-toy out of New York to get him away from the media, law enforcement and other enemies of his corporate sugar daddy. Dan is expected to be a protector, and is given a gun. Of course, Dan is expected to follow orders and not ask inconvenient questions.
Dan’s passenger, who behaves like a spoiled, petulant teenager, is introduced to him as Stirling McMahon: a junior Man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. This image turns out to be a mask, but the reality underneath is as hard to discover as the real reason why the tycoon who hired Dan wants Stirling out of the way.
The rest of the novel resembles a road-trip movie about two guys on the run. Dan and Stirling (who is later identified by several other names) act on their attraction to each other, but their developing relationship does not run smoothly. Needless to say, other men enter the picture, and self-interest makes most of them untrustworthy.
The danger and predictable treachery of war turn out to be good training for the danger and treachery of a world in which the rich eat the poor. Dan must find out fast who his real enemies and his real allies are, and he has to decide whether he can afford to take the chance of falling in love again.
James Lear has captured the style, pace and idiom of the detective novels of yesteryear while spinning a plausible-enough plot in the twenty-first century. The book is a thrill-ride with love and hope at its core, and it pulls the reader along until all the loose ends are tied up--and the kidnap victims have been untied. Dan must make a big decision, and he makes it on the very last page.
Dan Stagg, the anti-hero of this novel, resembles the hard-bitten, trench-coated detectives of mid-twentieth century American fiction. Dan is an understandably bitter war veteran, who lost the man he loved to a sniper's bullet and was then rejected by his government and forced to earn a living as a civilian with military training. In the opening scene, Dan thinks he has nowhere further to fall:
“A couple of years ago I had a career and a salary, status and respect, and a sense of purpose. Now I’m working nights at a shitty club in the East Village for minimum wage. I don’t even have a uniform; the security company is so damn cheap that I have to provide my own.”
Dan lives in a cheap apartment which is really no refuge from his dead-end job. He is alone, but he is still physically fit, so he makes do with anonymous hookups with men he meets in a certain bar.
He can’t imagine a future which would be better than his present.
And then Dan has an encounter on the job with the type of arrogant, overprivileged young man he classifies as one of the Assholes. As far as the management of the club is concerned, the customer is always right, so Dan is fired and described in a newspaper article as a “psychotic ex-marine” who attacked a “college football star.” The article points out that he was “discharged from the military in 2009,” implying that he was too out-of-control to be useful in a war. Explaining the real reason for his discharge would not mend his reputation. In a culture which is still largely homophobic, hypocritical and dominated by media sound-bites, Dan feels he has nowhere to turn.
When Dan seems to have no options other than suicide, there is a knock on his door. A suave, Mediterranean-looking man named Ferrari, a kind of human equivalent of a luxury car, makes Dan an offer he can hardly refuse. Dan will be paid a lot of money to drive an apparently arrogant, overprivileged boy-toy out of New York to get him away from the media, law enforcement and other enemies of his corporate sugar daddy. Dan is expected to be a protector, and is given a gun. Of course, Dan is expected to follow orders and not ask inconvenient questions.
Dan’s passenger, who behaves like a spoiled, petulant teenager, is introduced to him as Stirling McMahon: a junior Man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. This image turns out to be a mask, but the reality underneath is as hard to discover as the real reason why the tycoon who hired Dan wants Stirling out of the way.
The rest of the novel resembles a road-trip movie about two guys on the run. Dan and Stirling (who is later identified by several other names) act on their attraction to each other, but their developing relationship does not run smoothly. Needless to say, other men enter the picture, and self-interest makes most of them untrustworthy.
The danger and predictable treachery of war turn out to be good training for the danger and treachery of a world in which the rich eat the poor. Dan must find out fast who his real enemies and his real allies are, and he has to decide whether he can afford to take the chance of falling in love again.
James Lear has captured the style, pace and idiom of the detective novels of yesteryear while spinning a plausible-enough plot in the twenty-first century. The book is a thrill-ride with love and hope at its core, and it pulls the reader along until all the loose ends are tied up--and the kidnap victims have been untied. Dan must make a big decision, and he makes it on the very last page.
October 7, 2013
What a fantastic, fun, and sexy thriller! And hilarious. I mean I have sore abs and a smile permanently fixed to my face after finishing it. This is my first time reading a James Lear novel, but it will definitely not be my last; in my opinion the man has the rare gift of credible delivery. Candid, matter-of-fact prose, balanced with a sparkling wit and an almost earnest approach to the most ribald of sex scenes made for a delicious ride on this sex-studded adventure.
Ex-Marine Dan Stagg is barely holding his mishmash of a life together. Making chum change working security (read doorman/bouncer) for one of New York’s less seedy East Village nightspots is giving him way too much time to contemplate the rapid decline of his life. His bitter grief over the particulars of his current situation is made worse by the derision of the young hotshots who frequent the club. Eager to prove their machismo in the face of their peers, they repeatedly test him, eyeballing him in disdain and needling him with their showboat taunts. Despite his best effort to ignore them, one night an incident occurs, final outcome… Dan loses: his job, the possibility of paying rent on his hole-in-the-wall apartment, and perhaps the final piece of his rapidly declining respect. But when the incident makes the news, suddenly Dan is back in the game. A lucrative job offer to guard a hot, young male secretary, complete with road trip, beckons. Sure it’s a little too good to be true, but hell, he’s an ex-Marine, he can handle himself and the little blond Fauntleroy he’s hired to protect, right? He accepts the job and gains an adventure that has him utilizing every ounce of his survival skills to keep his charge and himself alive.
I loved Dan and his ultra-masculine, never-met-a-male-ass-not-worth-consideration, brutally honest ways. He’s one hundred percent, unforgivingly, male, and his every third thought involves sex in some manner, refreshingly so. He’s fit, hung, and fairly handsome. He’s an Army-trained killer who’s experiencing the vicious backlash of grief, so he might not be revealing his best side, but he’s got heart… It’s raw and he’s raw, but in the best possible way.
Jody the smooth operator male secretary is a snippy, trippy eye-candy of a character. But he definitely kept me guessing: Is he the simple shag-toy he appears or is there more to him than his buff ass and his voracious sexual appetite? Does he truly feel anything for Dan or is it simply convenient to have a sexy, hard-boiled ex-Marine at his beck and call?
This dazzling, fast-paced, roller coaster of an adventure story does not disappoint. With plenty of scintillating twists and turns, smoldering sexcapades, and the provocative, darkly-humorous narrative of Dan Stagg at its wheel, this is action/adventure that takes you places. Deep into the dark, seedy underbelly of the human mind and then deeper, into the vulnerable, soft places of the human heart. Top all this off with a visceral and tender ending and you’ve got what I would call a hole-in-one winner, one that I can’t wait to read again and again.
Thank you, James Lear, for this sexy, succulent and explosive action/adventure tale, which vividly illustrates the meaning of the word “male” in male/male gay fiction.
“Sizzle, Scorch, Burn…repeat”
NOTE: This book was provided by Cleis Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Ex-Marine Dan Stagg is barely holding his mishmash of a life together. Making chum change working security (read doorman/bouncer) for one of New York’s less seedy East Village nightspots is giving him way too much time to contemplate the rapid decline of his life. His bitter grief over the particulars of his current situation is made worse by the derision of the young hotshots who frequent the club. Eager to prove their machismo in the face of their peers, they repeatedly test him, eyeballing him in disdain and needling him with their showboat taunts. Despite his best effort to ignore them, one night an incident occurs, final outcome… Dan loses: his job, the possibility of paying rent on his hole-in-the-wall apartment, and perhaps the final piece of his rapidly declining respect. But when the incident makes the news, suddenly Dan is back in the game. A lucrative job offer to guard a hot, young male secretary, complete with road trip, beckons. Sure it’s a little too good to be true, but hell, he’s an ex-Marine, he can handle himself and the little blond Fauntleroy he’s hired to protect, right? He accepts the job and gains an adventure that has him utilizing every ounce of his survival skills to keep his charge and himself alive.
I loved Dan and his ultra-masculine, never-met-a-male-ass-not-worth-consideration, brutally honest ways. He’s one hundred percent, unforgivingly, male, and his every third thought involves sex in some manner, refreshingly so. He’s fit, hung, and fairly handsome. He’s an Army-trained killer who’s experiencing the vicious backlash of grief, so he might not be revealing his best side, but he’s got heart… It’s raw and he’s raw, but in the best possible way.
Jody the smooth operator male secretary is a snippy, trippy eye-candy of a character. But he definitely kept me guessing: Is he the simple shag-toy he appears or is there more to him than his buff ass and his voracious sexual appetite? Does he truly feel anything for Dan or is it simply convenient to have a sexy, hard-boiled ex-Marine at his beck and call?
This dazzling, fast-paced, roller coaster of an adventure story does not disappoint. With plenty of scintillating twists and turns, smoldering sexcapades, and the provocative, darkly-humorous narrative of Dan Stagg at its wheel, this is action/adventure that takes you places. Deep into the dark, seedy underbelly of the human mind and then deeper, into the vulnerable, soft places of the human heart. Top all this off with a visceral and tender ending and you’ve got what I would call a hole-in-one winner, one that I can’t wait to read again and again.
Thank you, James Lear, for this sexy, succulent and explosive action/adventure tale, which vividly illustrates the meaning of the word “male” in male/male gay fiction.
“Sizzle, Scorch, Burn…repeat”
NOTE: This book was provided by Cleis Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
April 15, 2013
Upon receiving an ARC of The Hardest Thing by James Lear and reading in the blurb a comparison to Lee Child, I was dubious, having read the Jack Reacher novels. I was wrong. There is much similarity between the two. Both authors are Brits writing about American military officers discharged from service who battle with issues of honor. Having served in the military myself, I understand the challenges of returning to civilian life. In the case of The Hardest Thing, I also have lived in several of the locations of the novel, including NYC, upstate New York, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Overall, I was very impressed with how well Lear wrote about things American, with one exception. Few Americans, and I venture to say none in the military, call footwear trainers (which is totally British). They are either sneakers or athletic shoes. Other than this quibble, which may be resolved before the final publication, I really enjoyed the book. Dan Stagg is an admirable MC in many ways, but very human in others. The mystery is engaging and not obvious. Several of the minor characters are memorable and hopefully will return in future books. The book comes to a fairly resolved conclusion, so future books are only hinted at by the subtitle A Dan Stagg Mystery, and this reviewer’s wishes for more. I can highly recommend this excellent addition to James Lear’s oeuvre.
November 10, 2015
Before DADT was repealed, Dan Stagg was forced out of the military after twelve years for his sexual orientation. He is a loner, and lonely, disgusted with the life he leads, losing jobs, and generally not giving a damn about the direction he is headed. Mindless sex and staying drunk seem to be his only options. A way out is offered, when Dan is approached about a job guarding a young secretary to a wealthy land developer. What follows is a road trip from hell, but an opening to a new life, just might be in the cards for Dan.
This is not your mama's romance. It is not filled with rainbows, unicorns and fluffy clouds. This is a gritty, hard boiled, mystery wrapped in the dregs of a down and out veteran. It is filled with sex for sex sake. No melting hearts or breathless sighs, it is in your face and some will find it uncomfortable at best. For me, I found it brilliantly written, aggressively brutal. It is closer to reality then most of the other books I read, but that just made it even better. I like that this story showcases the uncertainly and displacement a lot of veterans face when they comeback.
This is not your mama's romance. It is not filled with rainbows, unicorns and fluffy clouds. This is a gritty, hard boiled, mystery wrapped in the dregs of a down and out veteran. It is filled with sex for sex sake. No melting hearts or breathless sighs, it is in your face and some will find it uncomfortable at best. For me, I found it brilliantly written, aggressively brutal. It is closer to reality then most of the other books I read, but that just made it even better. I like that this story showcases the uncertainly and displacement a lot of veterans face when they comeback.
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