The Lancer

Harris & Vega #1

by B.C. Johnson

Luke Harris and Mel Vega, professional detectives, high school students, and power-couple are hired by nervous beauty Vanessa Palmer.

Vanessa, sure of her boyfriend Jake's infidelity, just wants proof. Pictures, video, anything showing the Hinckley Prep star water-polo player breaking her heart. Luke and Mel's routine cheating investigation goes sideways as Vanessa's older sister appears, a world-wise girl with an
agenda and a penchant for dark secrets.

As they dig deeper, Luke and Mel begin to wonder if the truth is better than lie, and whether questions always deserve answers . . .

Genres: Young Adult, Short Stories

22 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

B.C. Johnson lives in Southern California with his beautiful wife Gina, his fluffy/angry Corgi-mix Luna, and his destructive Viking sons Dash and Wyatt. He writes about snarky characters being snarky while supernatural things try to eat them. When he’s not playing video games, watching Marvel movies, or just generally being a ninth-level dork, he’s thinking about doing all that stuff. All of his books, blogs, essays, and manifestos can be read at bc-johnson.com.

Reviews

[Roberta R. (Offbeat YA) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mini blurb: A couple of romantically involved high-school students who double as detective are hired by a schoolmate to investigate on the alleged infidelity of her boyfriend.

***

First off...DISCLAIMER: I received this short story from the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Lancer and The Locker Door are early stories from the author of my beloved Deadgirl series. Johnson mixes hardboiled thriller and teen fiction peppering them with sometimes over-the-top banter, and if the style and dialogue are somehow reminiscent of his above-mentioned series, the whole thing sounds like he's trying a bit too hard (plus I found the genre blend to be too ambitious). The two mysteries are fun though.

Note: definitive review (I don't have enough to say to justify writing a full-length one later; also, due to time commitments, I've decided not to write full-length reviews anymore for short stories, novellas and anthologies, except in special cases or unless they're part of a series).

[Chelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hardboiled detective fiction meets high school setting in this contemporary noir jaunt. The spot-on narrative voice and the Nick-and-Nora style relationship at the fore are worth the price of admission.

[skathic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate the differences in hardcopy and e-book publishing, but choppy sentences and typos make it very difficult for me to enjoy the content.