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Jas Anderson Thriller #1
Freeform
Book by Dickson, Jack
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 12, 2022
We could do with more gritty noir thrillers with gay protagonists. This is not for the faint-hearted. When I say gritty, I mean GRITTY. When you think of ’noir’, most people think of sun baked Californian streets lined with palm trees, and glamorous femmes fatale and butch, smartly detectives exchanging witty, innuendo-laced put-downs.
But this is not that book. This is Glasgow noir. The streets here are grim and derelict; the femme fatale is a heroin-addicted street hooker with a scar on her face; the detective is still butch, but not particularly well-dressed (in fact he spends most of the book not wearing much at all); and as for the way they speak... well, the phonetically written accent is a little hard going at the beginning, but by the end of the book you’ll be speaking fluent Glaswegian.
The author does an excellent job of portraying a gloomy and ominous atmosphere, with his terse and snappy prose. The protagonist is tough and brooding, but has a heart of gold and he had me rooting for him all the way. The book is excellently plotted, incorporating all the elements of noir, but without making it predictable. Indeed, I did not see that ending coming.
This is the first in a trilogy of Jas Anderson thrillers. A great read.
But this is not that book. This is Glasgow noir. The streets here are grim and derelict; the femme fatale is a heroin-addicted street hooker with a scar on her face; the detective is still butch, but not particularly well-dressed (in fact he spends most of the book not wearing much at all); and as for the way they speak... well, the phonetically written accent is a little hard going at the beginning, but by the end of the book you’ll be speaking fluent Glaswegian.
The author does an excellent job of portraying a gloomy and ominous atmosphere, with his terse and snappy prose. The protagonist is tough and brooding, but has a heart of gold and he had me rooting for him all the way. The book is excellently plotted, incorporating all the elements of noir, but without making it predictable. Indeed, I did not see that ending coming.
This is the first in a trilogy of Jas Anderson thrillers. A great read.
April 28, 2015
One of my favourite series ever. I'd forgotten about this one and found an old review I did on another site. This book is mainstream crime set in Glasgow where the protagonist Jas is a cop and happens to be gay. This is dark, disturbing, hot as all get go, and there are two more in the series: Banged Up; Some Kind of Love. The series is unfinished as far as I'm aware--please, anyone who knows different let me know in the comments!
If I could have written any series of books other than my own then this would have been it (well, other than Harry Potter, but that for very different reasons).
His standalone novel Oddfellows is very good too, as is Crossing Jordan.
Jack Dickson seems to have dropped off the radar.
It's a mystery. Solution anyone?
If I could have written any series of books other than my own then this would have been it (well, other than Harry Potter, but that for very different reasons).
His standalone novel Oddfellows is very good too, as is Crossing Jordan.
Jack Dickson seems to have dropped off the radar.
It's a mystery. Solution anyone?
Read
November 10, 2019I haven't yet finished this, so technically this is a DNF. But it isn't because I don't find the book compelling, it's just that FreeForm isn't or hasn't been the book for me at this point. From the first page the MC Jas Anderson, a Glaswegian detective, is set in a downward spiral, and it's quite clear that his whole world is going to be torn apart, and I'm not quite ready to follow his journey right now. But anyone who likes grittier crime fiction might find here something they like. Of course, also liking or at least tolerating of the local Glaswegian/Scottish dialect is needed; the characters often speak in their local dialect, so it can be that some of the dialogue might be a bit hard to decipher. There's "efter" for "after", "kews" for "knows", "widney" for "wouldn't", etc. For me it was just fun, but it's entirely possible that some might view that part of the dialogue as close to incomprehensible. But that's how they talk there!
I got this book from the publisher ReQueered Tales and promise them I will return to this book when the time is right.
September 1, 2020
This was not an enjoyable read, rather a riveting one where I trailed a closeted but tough policeman desperately trying to clear his name by hunting down the killer of his boyfriend Leigh. Jas Anderson gets no break from the author ... he has no close friends or family to call upon, his colleagues keep their distance just as he has little confidence in their loyalty should his sexual orientation be revealed. He's a hidden and 'hollowed out' guy; this stark existence / facade seemingly reflected by the intentional removal of the center, the 'ME' from his given name of James.
As Jas struggles with work-related traumas, past regrets and recent consequences for ill-advised professional misconduct, he gets limited assistance from unexpected corners with the location of suspects, witnesses and motives for Leigh's slaying. However, not every hand extended comes with kind motivation or good intent - and our poor MC discovers the bitter taste of disappointment does not lessen with each new betrayal. I was a little shell-shocked myself with the final revelations for Leigh's death.
Readers should be warned there is no HEA scenario even if our rugged anti-hero remains defiantly standing at the end . I would like to see where the author takes Jas in subsequent titles of this series but may take a breather to recover first. 4 stars.
As Jas struggles with work-related traumas, past regrets and recent consequences for ill-advised professional misconduct, he gets limited assistance from unexpected corners with the location of suspects, witnesses and motives for Leigh's slaying. However, not every hand extended comes with kind motivation or good intent - and our poor MC discovers the bitter taste of disappointment does not lessen with each new betrayal. I was a little shell-shocked myself with the final revelations for Leigh's death.
Readers should be warned there is no HEA scenario even if our rugged anti-hero remains defiantly standing at the end . I would like to see where the author takes Jas in subsequent titles of this series but may take a breather to recover first. 4 stars.
February 21, 2020
I'm at page 92 and have to say this book is a tough read. Not just how dialogue is written as pronounced by Glaswegians (I was able to get into that mode fairly quickly, having lived in England and having a Scots couple as neighbors) but the extreme detail and focus on grime and ugliness, overall. Jas starts out as an asshole cop, visiting his own brand of justice on a child rapist, and he stays in that mode consistently.
I'm also having trouble at the viciousness being spit at him by his fellow cops, once they realize Jas is gay. Granted they're angry, but it's also 1998, not 1958, and goes way over the top. I understand why, intellectually, but it has to be believable in the story and it just doesn't work, for me.
So far, a good editor could have taken this down by 25% and lost nothing. But...I haven't put it aside, yet, so...onward...
-----
Had a long plane trip so finished the book.
Jas Anderson is a tough cop in Glasgow's roughest neighborhoods who's in the closet but in love with Leigh and contemplating coming out. Then Leigh is murdered and Jas is blamed, and he has to go on the run to find out who the killer is.
It's a classic setup. What matters here is more how the story unfolds, and that was interesting, overall. Jas uses his police skills to not only hide but track down possible suspects, going overboard a couple of times in his interrogations. But as he gets closer and closer to the truth, he finds out he knew very little about the man he loved.
Now I can handle having sex and slaughter described in extreme detail, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination; I prefer to participate in a story instead of having everything laid out for me in faux grittiness, but it's not a deal breaker. What did piss me off was how, at a very crucial moment, Jas was made stupidly blind so the story could continue, and the ending is, in reality, a version of deus ex machina. If I hadn't been on a plane packed with people, I'd have thrown the book across the room.
For those who like the ugliness and dirt of life to be rubbed in their faces in extreme detail, leaving nothing to the imagination, this is the book for you. But I'm not gonna read any more of Jack Dickson's work. I hate lazy writing.
I'm also having trouble at the viciousness being spit at him by his fellow cops, once they realize Jas is gay. Granted they're angry, but it's also 1998, not 1958, and goes way over the top. I understand why, intellectually, but it has to be believable in the story and it just doesn't work, for me.
So far, a good editor could have taken this down by 25% and lost nothing. But...I haven't put it aside, yet, so...onward...
-----
Had a long plane trip so finished the book.
Jas Anderson is a tough cop in Glasgow's roughest neighborhoods who's in the closet but in love with Leigh and contemplating coming out. Then Leigh is murdered and Jas is blamed, and he has to go on the run to find out who the killer is.
It's a classic setup. What matters here is more how the story unfolds, and that was interesting, overall. Jas uses his police skills to not only hide but track down possible suspects, going overboard a couple of times in his interrogations. But as he gets closer and closer to the truth, he finds out he knew very little about the man he loved.
Now I can handle having sex and slaughter described in extreme detail, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination; I prefer to participate in a story instead of having everything laid out for me in faux grittiness, but it's not a deal breaker. What did piss me off was how, at a very crucial moment, Jas was made stupidly blind so the story could continue, and the ending is, in reality, a version of deus ex machina. If I hadn't been on a plane packed with people, I'd have thrown the book across the room.
For those who like the ugliness and dirt of life to be rubbed in their faces in extreme detail, leaving nothing to the imagination, this is the book for you. But I'm not gonna read any more of Jack Dickson's work. I hate lazy writing.
August 29, 2019
This book was a bit different from the gay detective stories I usually read – and it was a really pleasant surprise. It was more thriller-ish, more raw, and it wasn’t afraid to show the less nice sides of life and people – 4 stars from me and I certainly plan to read other 2 books from this series.
The pace of the book was little bit slow from the beginning, and it took me quite a long to get to the half of the book. But then came the second half, and I could not tear myself away from it. It was fast paced, full of interesting twists and kept my attention till the end.
The detective plot itself was solid – at the beginning I was little bit afraid that it will be more about catching the culprit than finding out who it was, but no worries, it gets more interesting than that. I haven’t expected the ending (even though I could, from some hints in the story), which is always a great plus for me.
The biggest treat though were the characters. It’s been a long time since I read such complex and believable characters, people with their mistakes, dark and ugly sides. The author did a great job here!
So, why 4 stars? The plot was solid, characters really great, sex scenes really good – on the other hand, I would prefer the book to catch my attention right from the beginning, and I wasn’t really happy about some things right at the end – they were logical, but they seemed for me like the author chose the easy way out of solving some parts of the plot.
Who would I recommend this book to? Anyone who likes good mystery/thriller, who isn’t really into fluffy happy stories about world with no violence and homophobia and prefers touch of reality.
And a side note: as a non-native speaker of English, it was challenging for me at the beginning to read characters with Scottish accent – but I got used to after few chapters and I appreciated it as a nice touch at the end.
The pace of the book was little bit slow from the beginning, and it took me quite a long to get to the half of the book. But then came the second half, and I could not tear myself away from it. It was fast paced, full of interesting twists and kept my attention till the end.
The detective plot itself was solid – at the beginning I was little bit afraid that it will be more about catching the culprit than finding out who it was, but no worries, it gets more interesting than that. I haven’t expected the ending (even though I could, from some hints in the story), which is always a great plus for me.
The biggest treat though were the characters. It’s been a long time since I read such complex and believable characters, people with their mistakes, dark and ugly sides. The author did a great job here!
So, why 4 stars? The plot was solid, characters really great, sex scenes really good – on the other hand, I would prefer the book to catch my attention right from the beginning, and I wasn’t really happy about some things right at the end – they were logical, but they seemed for me like the author chose the easy way out of solving some parts of the plot.
Who would I recommend this book to? Anyone who likes good mystery/thriller, who isn’t really into fluffy happy stories about world with no violence and homophobia and prefers touch of reality.
And a side note: as a non-native speaker of English, it was challenging for me at the beginning to read characters with Scottish accent – but I got used to after few chapters and I appreciated it as a nice touch at the end.
September 17, 2017
Freeform is a good read (despite its cheezy cover art). I hate that I read the Jas Anderson series of books out of order, but I am glad I was able to read all three titles. There's a lot going on in Freeform and Jas slowly gets to the truth about his relationship with Leigh, a man he thought he knew, but really didn't. The story got a little convoluted for me near the end, but Dickson tied things up neatly. As I said in my reviews of the other two books in the series, if you can handle he Scottish brogue (and it's not that bad in this book), there's an interesting story here with a lot of sleazy characters, sex, deception, and kink.
February 5, 2024
Gritty noir thriller +++, I would say. Originally written in the nineties, and recently republished in 2019 as part of the Requeered Tales series, it reflects the times with fear of aids and homophobia rife - particularly within the police force! It’s not an easy read but for gripping writing, a damaged ‘anti hero’ who still believes in right and wrong and an interesting plot, you can’t go wrong.
June 8, 2022
Skimmed 90% of this just out of curiosity. Hated the constant referral to one character's "handsome" face and blond ponytail. And the incomprehensible Scots dialogue was too much. Plus what's with the use of ... scattered all through the book? Like a reader was supposed to fill in the blanks? A hard pass.
August 27, 2020
I'm so glad Jack Dickson wrote this book because it led me on to the rest of the Jas Anderson trilogy. Jas is my kind of hero, or anti-hero if you like. I really like this kind of story - crime, mystery, M/M, inner city grittiness.
November 24, 2025
a little bit more gritty than I was in the mood for but I'm glad it exists.
June 22, 2015
Wow this is one helluva read, gritty, tough, realistic story, exceptionally well written, great plot, firmly lodged on my favourites shelf
November 7, 2015
Brilliant, gritty, sexy as all get go. Highly recommended.
March 10, 2015
First in the Jas Anderson Series
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews