Sicko

by Avril Grady

Jamie Katz is a certified Florida Man and swamp creature, even if he is living in California and begrudgingly working as a writer for his two-time ex-husband Paul’s porn outfit, Scorch Studios. It wouldn’t be a bad gig except for Paul’s new wife and second-in-command, an uptight Southern Belle named Tater.

When Paul is found shot to death in the alley behind Scorch, every clue points to Jamie. Which is insane because why would Jamie kill one of the only two men he ever loved? Okay, yes, the obscenely expensive wedding rings Paul desperately needed back were hiding among Jamie’s nipple ring collection. And, sure, he was still sleeping with Paul, and Paul had just fired him. And, you know what, yeah, Jamie had just blown up Paul’s life and possibly marriage after getting fired. Of course he had! What, being hot isn’t enough, now he has to be a saint too?

Well, Jamie hasn’t survived four decades of his own bad ideas to go down for something he didn’t do. Between a jealous Tater and Scorch’s sketchy crew and wild porn stars, there are still plenty of suspects. So, if the cops are hell-bent on proving his guilt, then he’s just gonna have to solve this case himself.

And if Jamie’s brand of investigation means jumping into bed with every guy in California, hey, that’s just a hard day’s work.

Genres: Mystery Thriller

276 pages, ebook

Expected publication June 23, 2026

Reviews

[✦ ̣̣ ۟ ︵ Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Jamie Katz is a gay, eccentric Florida man with an amorous reputation. He works at a porn studio co-owned by his ex(squared)-husband, Paul, and Paul’s current wife, Suzanna, or “Tater.” Oh, and Jamie might still be sleeping with Paul on a semi-regular basis. Minor details. Life – despite its complications – seems pretty simple to Jamie. That is, until Paul is murdered and, in the midst of his grief, all fingers seem pointed at him as the culprit. Thus, Jamie enters the arena as a wannabe detective determined to clear his name and reveal the identity of Paul's real killer.

The summary is full of character, and upon reading it, I knew I had to request this ARC. I was so excited when I got the email that my request had been accepted, because any author ingenious enough to combine eccentric gay men, Florida men, murder mysteries, and porn studios into one story had to be an excellent writer. And man, was this good.

I haven’t had the pleasure of reading Avril Grady’s other book, so this experience was a pleasant journey from cautious optimism to unbridled enjoyment. Jamie is everything that I hoped he would be: flawed, raw realness with a touch of quirky endearment. Frankly, Grady’s characterization of the main cast was the thing I enjoyed the most about the book. Everyone had a unique personality. Even a nurse with two lines felt like she had a real life outside of the one scene she’s contained in. The character dynamics made for some of the most ridiculous but hilarious scenes I think I have ever read. The handling of Jamie’s messy sex (and love) life was the cherry on top.

The writing style is very reminiscent of some of the better ao3 fanfics I’ve read. So if you love that sort of humor and style, you’ll probably get a kick out of this.

Another thing Grady does well is the handling of complex themes. Jamie’s eccentric personality and the quick-witted humor might sometimes distract the reader from the fact that, at its core, the plot is incited by a devastating loss. Jamie has lost his lover, with whom he was married (and divorced from) twice over. There are moments where Jamie is allowed to have his grief and be serious. These moments are what really sold the book to me. It can be easy to write a romcom with no real emotional stakes involved. It’s harder to write a murder mystery with comedy and still maintain the proper depth to make it believable to the reader. As I read this book, I believed that Jamie Katz could really exist somewhere out there, and that’s exactly what I want when I’m reading something character-driven like this.

As much as I enjoyed this, I couldn’t give it a full five stars, mainly because I felt the story was too short for the plot to have as much time as it needed to develop fully. The character arcs felt relatively conclusive, but the answer to the ‘whodunit’ falls into Jamie’s lap at some point. I wished the narrative allowed Jamie to dig deep into Paul’s past and figure out the who and the why. I also felt like the antagonists came across as cartoonish and incompetent, mainly due to one scene toward the end. If you read the book, you’ll know exactly which scene I mean. It felt like the seriousness of the moment was sacrificed slightly in favor of humor.

I’ll also admit that there were a few relationships Jamie developed throughout the course of the book that confused me. Are they meant to be potential love interests? Will they be relevant in later books in the series? Were they included with the sole purpose of further developing Jamie's flirtatious persona? I’m not completely sure.

Overall, this book was a wild ride. I loved it immensely, and I’m so glad that this is being turned into a series. I can’t wait to watch Jamie grow more as a person, and I’m so, so curious what other crazy scenarios he’s going to get himself wrapped up in. I also admit I’m very curious about the romantic aspect of the story.

I highly recommend this. It’s silly, fun, and emotionally intelligent in all the best ways.

[Demetri Papadimitropoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Birkenstocks, the Body, and the Bad Diamonds
Avril Grady’s “Sicko” proves that a novel can be filthy, funny, and unexpectedly piercing about the difference between wanting love and understanding it.
By Demetris Papadimitropoulos | March 30th, 2026


Under the tacky glow of Scorch, Jamie stands in the blue-hour pause where cheap desire, bad loyalty, and private ruin begin to look like fate.

Some novels announce seriousness by lowering their voices. “Sicko” arrives in Birkenstocks, trailing glitter, criminal evidence, and the smell of bad judgment. It gives us porn scripts, strip-mall murder, diamond rings too vulgar to count as taste, ex-husbands reused like bad habits, and a narrator who treats catastrophe less as interruption than as his native weather. Avril Grady’s trick is not that she eventually rises above that setup. It is that she never pretends tackiness is beneath her. The jokes stay dirty. The rooms stay cheap. The appetites stay unruly. Yet under all that sweat, glitter, and destructive ease, “Sicko” is carrying something nastier than its premise first lets on. The murder matters chiefly because it drags old emotional wreckage into public view.

Jamie Katz changes the air pressure of the page. Forty-two, vain, broke, oversexed, funny, and chronically unequipped for self-knowledge, he is a Florida catastrophe gone a little frayed in California, where he writes porn scripts for Scorch Studios, the San Fernando operation run by Paul, his twice ex-husband and current lover. Paul is now married to Suzanna “Tater” Clotwell, an Alabama beauty queen turned tiny office autocrat whom Jamie dislikes with near-religious consistency. Before the plot even starts, the whole arrangement is already sagging under its own rotten arrangements. Then Paul fires him. Jamie retaliates spectacularly. Soon after, Paul is found shot to death behind the studio. Jamie, with his motive, history, temper, semen, and generally arrestable aura, becomes the most convenient suspect on the board.


Suspended above indifferent water, Jamie’s solitary gondola turns shock into altitude and private panic into a public still life.

Grady drives the thriller machinery hard without letting the people vanish inside it. The book tears ahead with the bright recklessness of someone enjoying the skid. Co-workers glare. Detectives circle. Old entanglements reassert themselves. Stolen jewelry mutates from grotesque gift to criminal evidence. Men with guns drift in from Florida. Porn actresses become amateur sleuths. It is all exhilarating, right up to the point that exhilaration turns poisonous. The corpse, finally, is only the cheapest thing the plot can explain. The uglier problem is older, relational, and much less cinematic. It has to do with how Jamie detects devotion, enjoys devotion, lives off devotion, and still refuses to ask what it commits him to in return.

That is the sore place the novel keeps finding. Jamie does not merely make bad choices. Fiction is full of bad choices. His special talent is uglier. He can smell attachment, enjoy it, manipulate it, and still refuse to read it. He treats love as something atmospheric – something to breathe, joke through, and keep on hand – rather than something that makes a claim. That matters in his marriage to Paul, of course. It matters even more in his long, half-denied attachment to Joe Russo, the Miami mechanic whose care he experiences as endless availability instead of obligation. The plot tightens around murder, theft, pursuit, and blackmail, but the real pressure comes from something more humiliating: Jamie is forever discovering, much too late, that people meant more than he let them mean while they were still there to be read correctly.

The prose knows this before he does. It is filthy, quick, and sharply observant. Jamie does not merely notice rooms. He notices the wrong necklace, the stale upholstery, the class cosplay of office décor, the moral category of a snack table, the social embarrassment of a family crest nobody should own. Grady lets objects enter as jokes and turn into evidence that will not sit still. The rings do this. So do the nipple-ring box, the flowers, the flamingo shorts, the shattered office glass. Even the throwaway surfaces come back carrying blame. Jamie’s voice is crucial here. He is funny in the particular way some people are funny when they can feel recognition approaching and would prefer to trip it before it arrives. The joke gets there first. The feeling has to come through anyway.


On an unmade bed, sex clutter and stolen diamonds collapse marriage, evidence, and self-invention into the same incriminating little glitter.

That tonal control is the book’s first real triumph. “Sicko” can move from obscene banter to genuine grief without asking permission from the reader or apologizing for the stain it leaves on either mood. Grady understands that shame and wit often share a bloodstream. She also understands that comic velocity can be a form of denial without ceasing to be comic. The result is a novel that is often very funny and occasionally brutal in the same paragraph. Jamie can describe a sex act, a décor choice, and his own emotional cowardice in the same breath, and the sentence does not break. It merely changes temperature.

Very few books can keep this much grief and indecency in the same sentence without blinking. “Sicko” can. Grady never asks Jamie to become respectable in order to become serious. He does not emerge from violence newly solemn, newly acceptable, newly fit for approval. He keeps wanting the wrong people. He keeps performing. He keeps narrating around his own life as if fluency were a substitute for understanding. Grady is too smart to confuse growth with cleanup. He learns. He does not clean up. That distinction gives the novel both its bite and its decency.

The structure is more cunning than the book’s lewd exterior first suggests. “Sicko” can be described as a comic thriller with flashbacks, but on the page it keeps reclassifying what we thought we already understood. The rings start as obscene relics of Paul’s appetite and taste, then turn into evidence, then into burden, then into marriage itself reduced to contraband. Jamie’s porn-writing job, briefly made to look like a sham, turns out to be humiliatingly real. Joe stops reading as backstory and starts reading as the whole buried book. The murder plot earns its keep because it keeps forcing earlier scenes to declare what genre they were in all along. Scenes do not change. Their category does.

This matters because Grady is writing not just a mystery but a novel of belated interpretation. The plot keeps solving one kind of problem while exposing another. Who killed Paul is not, finally, the hardest question in the book. The harder question is how Jamie has managed to live inside other people’s love for so long without admitting that it exists as something other than atmosphere, flattery, habit, or erotic convenience. He is not stupid. He is interpretively lazy where love is concerned, and that laziness has a body count.

Grady is especially good at the ugly overlap where grief, vanity, resentment, and desire all keep talking at once. Paul is a thief, adulterer, liar, sentimentalist, object of lust, and genuine loss. The novel refuses to sort those facts into neat piles. At his funeral, California friends praise his integrity, his taste, his strength of character, and the scene lands because Grady understands that memorial language often lies badly, publicly, and with perfect sincerity. Here it lies about character. It does not lie about attachment. The public Paul is ridiculous. He is also plainly loved. The book does not flatten that contradiction into irony. It lets him remain morally vulgar and emotionally devastating.

That doubleness may be the book’s most underappreciated strength. Paul never becomes merely the dead man at the center of the case. He remains an active pressure inside the novel’s emotional life. Even after his death, he keeps rearranging the living. He links Jamie to Suzanna. He drags Florida into California. He leaves behind sex, money, resentment, logistics, and grief in one tangled heap. He is the mess that keeps generating fresh forms.

Suzanna is the novel’s sharpest surprise. She could easily have remained a foil – polished wife, rival claimant, decorative obstacle. Instead she becomes impossible to do without. Each chapter that gives her more room makes the book less glib and more true. By the end, she is not simply the woman Paul chose after Jamie. She is the other person left holding the same tainted inheritance: his criminal spillover, his sentimentality, his divided loyalties, his bad judgment, his absence. The lunches, the co-management of Scorch, the nights under the same roof, the gradual shift from mutual loathing to mutual recognition – this is some of the best material in the novel. Grady does not give them absolution. She gives them shared legibility. Each comes to see how much of the mess was structural, how much was chosen, and how much pain the other was already carrying.

Still, the deepest cut belongs to Joe. The sharpest revelation is not that he loved Jamie. That would flatter Jamie too much. It is that Jamie had no real interest in learning what Joe’s care might require of him in return. Joe’s protectiveness, practicality, jealousy, wounded patience, and half-articulated seriousness were all there in plain sight. Jamie preferred not to know what they added up to. “Sicko” is at its best when it lets this arrive sideways – through old dialogue, mistimed memory, embarrassment, and the awful comedy of realizing that the emotional center of your life was happening in a room you kept insisting was temporary. The murder is spectacular. The older damage is quieter, and worse.

If the novel has a major artistic risk, it lies there. Grady is asking readers to invest fully in a protagonist who is not simply messy or excessive but often evasive in ways that shade into cruelty. She trusts that voice, momentum, and belated emotional exposure will keep the reader with him. For me, that gamble mostly pays off. Jamie is exhausting, but exhaustingly alive. The book does not ask us to mistake charisma for innocence. It asks whether charisma can coexist with moral laziness, and whether someone can begin to change without becoming purified into a better genre.

At its busiest, though, the novel starts mistaking extra commotion for extra force. The Chatsworth climax is exciting, nasty, funny, and memorable, but it piles incident high enough that its shape briefly loosens: lamps, bullets, Tasers, schoolgirl uniforms, bad rescue timing, thrown objects, collapsing iron décor, improvised brawling. It holds because the emotional stakes are real, not because every beat is equally necessary. A few figures outside the Jamie-Paul-Suzanna-Joe axis also register more as vectors than as dense presences. Edgar is effective, funny, dangerous, and erotically charged, but he is more useful to the book than he is fully inhabited by it. Other supporting players succeed more as tonal instruments than as finished human complications. None of this sinks the novel. It does, however, keep it a little short of the complete formal command it sometimes flashes.


The blue-lit Chatsworth house holds grief, threat, and vulgar luxury in one cold arrangement, as though Paul’s afterlife had settled into the furniture.

The book feels of the moment chiefly because it never performs topicality. Its queer life is messy without apology. Its grief comes mixed with resentment, logistics, bodily inconvenience, stale desire, and bad jokes, which is to say it looks a lot like grief. More pointedly, the novel understands an adult habit of evasion: the ability to narrate around one’s own wreckage so fluently that narration starts to impersonate knowledge. Jamie is not cruel because he feels too little. He is cruel because he keeps feeling without asking what those feelings cost other people.

I land at 87/100 – 4 stars. The novel is too alive, too funny, and too psychologically exact in its best stretches to score lower, and just unruly enough to stop short of something higher. What it gives you instead of polish is charge.


Flowers, flamingo shorts, and a hidden note leave survival looking tender, ridiculous, and not remotely resolved.

What lingers after “Sicko” is not mainly the body count, the porn-world farce, or even the criminal jewelry, enjoyable as all that is. It is the slower humiliation underneath them: the realization that Jamie’s worst losses were never fully accidental and never fully understood while they were still in motion. By the time he turns back toward Miami, toward Joe, toward the place where he once mistook improvisation for freedom, the novel has already made its real trade. The glass at Scorch can be repaired. Paul can be reduced to ash and blown into the Pacific wind. The legal story can close. What remains unresolved is not the crime but the simpler, harder question the novel has been steering toward all along: whether Jamie can ever speak plainly to the people he has used, and whether plain speech, arriving this late, can still count as a form of love.


Early thumbnail studies test how much empty pavement, how little figure, and how much storefront glow the final loneliness could bear.


The graphite scaffold fixes the strip mall’s geometry before atmosphere, color, and emotional weather begin to gather.


Here the mood first blooms: twilight stains the paper, storefront light starts to flare, and the lonely architecture learns how to glow.


The palette study maps the review’s emotional weather – blue-violet dusk, asphalt gray, cheap gold light, and Jamie’s faded comic purple.

All watercolor illustrations by Demetris Papadimitropoulos.

[Rem · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 out of 5 stars

I've been sitting here wracking my brain over how to rate/review this one since I finished it. This was a book that I picked up because the cover looked wild, the description sounded unhinged, and the whole concept was so perplexingly intriguing I couldn't resist. I've settled on 4.5 stars (naturally rounded up to 5) out of a total of 5 stars.

Right off the bat, Sicko presents itself exactly as it means to go on. For me, I had a strong sense that this was going to be one hell of a ride after reading just the first page, and boy did it not disappoint. The early chapters have a tendency to lean into absurd comedy, with a penchant for catty quips and diversions into Jamie's storied history as an ex-Florida Man. So I was truly shocked that by the midway point, this story had hooked me and I found myself emotionally invested. The gradual development of our protagonist is so beautifully thoughtful and meticulous that by the time we get to the big moments of emotional catharsis in the second half, they feel spectacularly satisfying and well-earned. And it's all written with such a light touch that I didn't realize I had been so thoroughly hooked until I was getting teary over a man who's been arrested for wrestling alligators without a permit more than once.

Perhaps the biggest strength of this work is the interpersonal relationships. I never could have predicted how emotionally invested I would be in the growing solidarity and friendship between Jamie and Suzanna at the start of the novel. But there is something so powerful in the platonic bond they develop, in learning to trust someone you've always found yourself pitted against, and finding the person who understands your grief is the very person who stood between you and someone you loved. On top of that, Jamie's bonds with his friends and coworkers, his family back in Florida, and his string of ill-fated relationships make this such a rich tapestry of human connections that the world feels incredibly fleshed out and real.

Something else, and I almost can't believe I'm saying this about such a silly book, Sicko has a very cohesive story structure and pacing. On the surface, it feels like it would be incapable of taking itself seriously, but before you know it you've been swept up in this absurd adventure and the emotional gut punches sure hit hard. Beneath the veneer of (admittedly very funny) comedy, the novel itself is well plotted and every reveal about Jamie's past is a morsel you can't help but savor. Lately I have read many books that took themselves much more seriously than this but struggled with plot progression, so this was an unexpected but very welcome surprise.

To get a little bit more into some vague spoilers (I'll keep it to some vague plot notes and one quote without context, but skip this paragraph if you like) I was truly so taken with the ending of this novel. There is a flashback in one of the final chapters, at such a pivotal moment in the story, where we learn exactly what happened the last time Jamie saw Joe in Florida. Absolutely devastating moment for us to glean this information. Avril Grady does a brilliant job sign posting exactly what is going through the mind of the non-POV characters and Jamie has simply no clue. Gorgeous use of a flashback and limited omniscient POV, even if it has victimized me personally. I feel like a lot of authors think more is more and try to provide too much information to the reader, but it creates much more dramatic tension to withhold information and a clever writer knows how effective it is to just hint at their characters' state of mind. Sicko, of course, falls into the latter category. And I can't forget to mention this but the phrase, "Wouldn't it be so much easier to be a project instead of a person?" has been rattling around my head since I read it. Astounding bit of prose. Did I expect a sincere meditation on relationships and self worth in this crazy book? Certainly not, but it was so evocative and earned in that moment that it took my breath away.

In terms of things I disliked, there really is not a long list. (Disclaimer: these are all minor quibbles and did not seriously impede my enjoyment) I thought that the first few chapters skewed just a smidge too catty for me in a couple of specific moments. In the big climactic sequence near the end, I got the sense that Jamie was the only one doing anything and it felt like the other characters should have been doing something more to help. I also kind of disliked the ending tagline about the sequel, it felt a bit too Marvel Cinematic Universe, like "Captain America will return in Avengers: New Movie Spend More Money." It's entirely possible that the sequel tagline was intended to evoke this comparison, but I thought the ending was so strong and poignant that I would have liked to sit with it for longer, instead of the immediate sequel bait jump scare.

For one final random observation, I feel like this novel would make an absolutely hilarious film or tv adaptation. The dialogue is so snappy and the comedy is expertly executed, I can see how it would play out on screen and it would be amazing. Someone get on this, please!

I honestly really recommend this book, it's a wild, unhinged romp but surprisingly full of heart and sincerity at the core of it. An absolute blast to read, give it a shot and you will not regret it.

[holli chance · Rating 4 out of 5]

don't let the title deter you from picking up this book!

what a fantastically fun, entertaining romp this book was, and yet, in a very weird way, relatable. i mean most of us probably haven’t been arrested multiple times for alligator wrestling (without a permit? because apparently in florida it’s not illegal if you do have one?), but the part where the main character, jamie, experienced grief was very, very real. the blurb made it (likely intentionally) unclear as to whether jamie was happy, sad, relieved, or apathetic to his ex-ex-husband’s death, and honestly by the end i’m still not sure if even jamie himself knows, but when your life has been that intertwined with someone else’s for over twenty years, then yeah, there’re going to be feelings when that person’s suddenly gone. i don’t think i’ve read a book before where the main character’s ‘dark night of the soul’ happens so early and remains a theme for a long time throughout, and i have to say, i really, really liked the backwardness of it.

i expected jamie to be a jerk; he’s not. he’s just crazy, which he states with confidence and, possibly, pride. part of what makes this book so funny is the unexpected things that come out of jamie’s mouth—or, occasionally, that come out of the other characters’ mouths when they accuse jamie of things he definitely did do. his list of hr violations had me in tears from laughing so hard.

this gave very slight ‘big trouble’—by dave barry, also a movie now—vibes, though thankfully less convoluted but still with an eclectic cast of characters. it truly is a florida situation happening in california. i loved how jamie, while half-”investigating” his coworkers for potential involvement in paul’s murder, also sorta blindly trusted anyone and everyone at the same time. it makes the reader not have a clue about who we should or shouldn’t be trusting, and in my case in particular, be too caught up coming up with all sorts of theories that i completely missed when it was all but said.

the mystery aspect, of course, is the main part of this book, but there’s also a strong found family theme that does not fall by the wayside. jamie’s friends at the porn studio becoming enemies then back to friends without him so much as blinking, and his enemies becoming his friends, and the scenes where he talks to his actual family on the phone (which are hilarious in their own right), are what gave this book, and the mystery surrounding it, substance. the writing itself is the perfect balance of show vs. tell, of balance between dialogue and narrative, and humor interspersed in on nearly every page, especially when least expected.

it did confuse me when the “climax” seemed to happen too early, leaving a lot of room to tie up loose ends. which ended up being a lot of fun, seeing how things came together after. the main issue i had was it felt like there were things mentioned throughout the book enough times for me to think they were either a clue or would somehow tie-in with everything else, and then were just left either hanging, or with an explanation that confused me as to why it was mentioned so much only to be swept under the rug. that said, jamie is 100% naive, and there’s a decent chance some of those things will be explained in book 2, which was perfectly set up by the end of book 1. there are other people he still has to talk to, and i’m hoping they might provide some answers, depending on how much of book 2 ties in with book 1 or if it’ll be an entirely unrelated mystery.

overall, this was a sensational story from start to finish, i laughed so many times, and maybe even shed a few tears at other times. i will be checking the author’s social media/website regularly for the announcement of when book 2 will be it. i’m fully invested in these characters now, & can’t wait to see what they get up to next.

thank you to netgalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a voluntary review.

[isthisakink · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5. I don’t know, exactly, what it was that I was expecting—unserious, nonstop comedic ridiculousness, something so-bad-it’s-good-but-still-bad, maybe a horrific mess of some sort—but this was a fantastic surprise. I won’t lie and say I had some grand, illustrious intentions when I hit the request button on the ARC, because I didn’t. I saw that the new wife was named “Tater” and Florida and was like, yeah, that sounds like a fun time. And thankfully past me, in all my grief and no-fucks despondency, was doing current me a solid. This was alarmingly emotional. It was deep, introspective, silly, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, far out, and, yes, unserious and messy, too. There was so much dimension in the midst of the Real Florida Man narrative. It was a little unnerving how much I felt following the cast of misfit dolls around. Everyone had something going for them that kept it engaging and made it a one-afternoon read for me. I want the next installment immediately because I don’t want to wait to see how Jamie fares on his next adventures. There’s a growth to him throughout the story that, while leaving him the same Jamie on some level, changes how he handles and views life internally. Like, yeah, he’s probably still going to say and do incredibly dumb shit externally (for the plot, of course), and his reunions will probably be explosive and require stitches/an ice pack/mediation for multiple parties, but the flippancy he had at the beginning—okay, until the last few chapters—is gone. The dialogue, the inner thought processes, the interactions … everything was just fucking good. I know there will be tons of reviews that drag the things I loved the most about this book, but I just gotta throw my two cents in and say that I picked up what the author threw down, and I will be back for as many courses as they’ll continue to whip up. Oh, and I was devastated that her name wasn’t actually Tater, and I love her with my whole heart anyway. This will be on my annual best-of list come December.


—I received an ARC from Gay Romance Reviews (GRR). All ratings, reviews, and unwanted opinions are my own.—

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m still not quite sure what I just read, but it was definitely entertaining!

When I read the description, this book sounded so “out there” and unique that I was clicking “request” on NetGalley’s website almost immediately.
Then, as someone who grew up and went to college in Florida, my next thought was “why does every insane, far-fetched scenario always seem to involve someone from Florida?!”. SMH

Jaime, our MMC, is a 42-year-old gay man who is unhinged, impulsive, and has terrible decision-making skills.
But once you get into his head, you really can’t help but like him.
I’ve read a handful of books with an unhinged FMC, but the gay male version is definitely more manic!

This book is not going to be for everyone (you have to have a certain sense of humor), but I definitely enjoyed it!
There were several parts that made me laugh out loud.
It was perfect for a palate cleanser that I don’t take seriously and gives me a few chuckles.
I also enjoyed the fact that it took place in Los Angeles, but made several references to Miami (both cities that I’ve lived in).

This is the first book in a series and I’m already looking forward to the next one, which will be taking place in Miami.

Thanks to NetGalley, Small Alligator Books and Avril Grady for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Pub Date: June 23, 2026

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review of advanced copy received from Netgalley

Jamie has a voracious sexual appetite and a recklessness that borderlines on sociopathic. At the beginning of the story we find him working as a screenwriter for his ex-ex husband's porn company, sleeping with every inappropriate conquest he can, and causing drama and pain wherever he goes. Then one day his ex-ex is murdered, and he's the prime suspect...

Sicko is a whirlwind of Jamie's misadventures, leading you to wonder how Jamie has survived so long, is he going to find his ex-ex's real killer, and is he going to be propositioned yet again? It's a fast-paced book which overwhelms the senses, and I honestly still don't know how I feel about it. The characters are bold, brash and funny which keeps you entertained, but I found it hard to keep on track with the storyline as different strands are not resolved (presumably as this has been written to be part of a series.)

A recommended read for those who want to go on a fast-paced ride and finish shellshocked.

Thank you again to Netgalley and Victory for this advanced reader copy.

[Deb Kel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow absolutely blown away with this darkly funny, chaotic, and unexpectedly introspective, this murder mystery follows Jamie Katz, self-proclaimed hottie, certified disaster, and recent prime suspect in his ex-husband’s death.

When porn mogul Paul is found shot behind Scorch Studios, the evidence pointing to Jamie is… not great. Still sleeping with his ex? Yes. Recently fired? Also yes. Publicly blew up Paul’s life? Maybe. Murderer? Absolutely not — at least according to Jamie.

As he sets out to clear his name (with plenty of bed-hopping along the way), the story balances outrageous humour with a surprisingly bittersweet look at turning forty and facing the consequences of a lifetime of questionable choices. Jamie’s voice is sharp, self-aware, and often hilariously delusional yet there’s vulnerability underneath the bravado.

Not your typical whodunit, but a messy, entertaining ride that will definitely find its audience. What a pleasant surprise! I need more!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Akshit Suri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC !!


Some thrillers/mysteries survive entirely on momentum. Even when certain sections drag, the tension loop keeps you flipping pages because you need to know what’s going on next. SICKO sounds like it hit that “just one more chapter” rhythm (for me especially).


And honestly, LGBTQ+ mystery/thriller shelves can be such a strange mix in the best way. You’ll get deeply literary, emotionally devastating books beside chaotic psychological thrillers and campy mysteries. Sometimes the queer aspect is central, and other times it’s just woven naturally into the story without becoming the story.


The mystery itself is entertaining, but for me, the real strength of the novel lies in its characters. Everyone feels vivid, even the people who only appear briefly. Conversations are sharp, awkward, ridiculous, and strangely heartfelt all at once. The dynamic between Jamie and the people orbiting him creates some genuinely LOL moments, but the humor never completely erases the sadness lingering underneath the story.

I’m genuinely excited to see where the series takes him next.


3.75/5

[Suzanne Irving · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has an absolutely unhinged storyline that keeps getting better and better as you go along. This seems to be only the second book that Avril Grady has written and if it’s not an established author using a different name it is amazing writing. The characters are so well drawn that you feel like you know them and it’s not just the main characters that are written so well. The story is definitely worth the read as hapless Jamie Katz seems to wander through life only thinking as little about it as he possibly can. I especially enjoyed the evolution of the relationship between Jamie and Tater after Paul is found in the alley out back of the studio they all work at. There is a big mystery that is gradually exposed, lots of humor, confusion, some action, some acting and more. I adored the whole thing and I will be putting this book on my reread list. Marvelous read.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blown away by this brilliant piece of literature. Everything was so cleverly woven together as it was slowly unveiled. While a compelling murder mystery was investigated, the human condition was explored in all its gruesome glory. I adored the absolute trainwreck of an MC, one laugh piled on top of another over his shenanigans and neuroses. There were a couple romantic interests I was rooting for, but really it would spoil the fun if Jamie settled down right away, as proven by his magnificent final conquest. And there was so much love in his family and friendships that there was no lack of warm fuzzies. Nothing went where I thought it would and I was happier for it. It was one of those books where I went to bed halfway through it and found myself ruminating on it every time I woke up during the night. I can’t wait for Book 2.

I received a copy of this book from Gay Romance Reviews, and this is my honest review.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jamie is outrageous right from the start. He’s promiscuous (I’m being nice here), hilarious, misunderstood, and just a little bit sad too. Not in the sense that his lifestyle is sad, he owns who he is unapologetically, but the situation he has found himself in.

I did worry I wouldn’t click with him in the beginning, but the bonkers plot just got better and better, and it was impossible not to be a cheerleader for him.

It’s amazing writing. Witty, charming, funny, and emotional. I love the development of friendship between Jamie and Tater. The realism in Jamie’s lifestyle and the crime-solving aspect just made it all so entertaining.

Just so good, and I can’t wait for book two!
………………………………………………..

I got an ARC from GRR, and this is my honest review.

[rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Small Alligator Books for a copy of this e-ARC!

Sicko, at its core, is essentially a book about the dangers of fearing twink death. There is a lesson to be held here in Jamie Katz — a 42 year old twink supreme who just kind of fucks everybody and gets real Florida about it all.

And it was fun! Sicko is an extremely fun read, compulsively easy to get through, leaving you wondering what in the hell did I just finish? After completion, I don’t have much thoughts to share outside of: what was that, why are ovipositors mentioned so many times, and fucking SNIFFIES?

As a young gay person, this book has taught me to not fear twink death. Instead, I will embrace it when my time comes, and I will become the anti-Jamie Katz. Thank you.

[Bob Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having reached 40, Jamie, the self professed hottie, leads the reader on a bitter-sweet and often humourous introspective on his life and the consequences of the choices he has made. With scant regard for his responsibility in respect of the mess his life is in, simultaneously trying to discover who killed his ex husband, porn business owner Paul.
I've never read a book like this one before but it definitely has appeal. I'm certain there will be readers that identify with aspects of Jamie's outrageous life. Give it a go.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing. I selected to read this as it was in both the gay romance and the murder mystery categories. Both I enjoy.
I thought it would be just another mystery read with a gay main character. Whatever this book is I was not expecting it.
The writing is top quality. The words just flowed across the page. It was absolutely wild. It’s only from one point of view and the guy is an absolutely hoot.
It is rare to pick up a book that is unique these days. This does not come from a mould.
I am hoping this series goes on and on because I want to read more.
Can’t really describe it you’re just going to have to read it!

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun romp following a Florida man as he stumbles around a California city trying to figure out who murdered his twice-ex-husband behind the porno studio where they both work as a scriptwriter and an owner respectively. Is it his ex's southern belle current wife? One of the actors with a grudge? Is it related to something that happened across the continent in FL? We find out along with Jamie as he hops from bad decision to worse decision in his pursuit of the killer. This book does not take itself too seriously and is filled with a cast of fun and funny people.

NetGalley provided me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

#NetGalley for the ARC access! this book was a lot of fun. the main character wasnt a great person but also didnt pretend to be. he made many questionable choices repeatedly as he attempted to prove his innocence in a crime he was accused of. but it was funny the entire read. and the characters also had a lot of self awareness, they weren't pretending to be better or nicer than they were. the plot was fun and interesting and the character development was hard won and believable. the writing was engaging and the book flowed well. looking forward to reading more if this becomes a series!

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Avril Grady for an eARC of this book!

I have no idea what I just read, but I loved it!

Following the misadventures of Jamie, a once-Florida-stripper twink, now a Los Angeles has been, working for his (twice) ex-husband at his porn studio as a scriptwriter. This was an amazing amalgamation of noir, dark comedy, coming-of-age, and romper fiction. I’m so glad that Jamie will return in a sequel, and can’t wait for it to come out!
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[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolute GEM! I laughed, I cried, I fell totally in love with Jamie and I cannot WAITTTTTTT to read the next book. Omg. All my expectations were blown out of the water. Read this now! I’m running to the shelf to see what else this author has written because I am going to DEVOUR it like I did this book!

[Ladnamal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining story. Lighthearted, and a little bit campy at times, but also with a few poignant moments.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[JXR · Rating 5 out of 5]

wild, weird, and interesting book about a very fun protagonist with very little self-reflection, and about the murder of his two-times ex-husband, who he was working for and having an affair with. who really killed him? 5 stars. tysm for the arc.