Under the Gun

Gun #2

by Lori L. Lake

Under The Gun is the long-awaited sequel to the bestselling novel, Gun Shy, continuing the story of St. Paul Police Officers Dez Reilly and Jaylynn Savage. Picking up just a couple weeks after Gun Shy ended, the sequel finds the two officers adjusting to their relationship, but things start to go downhill when they get dispatched to a double homicide–-Jaylynn's first murder scene. Dez is supportive and protective toward Jay, and things go all right until Dez’s nemesis reports their personal relationship, and their commanding officer restricts them from riding together on patrol. This sets off a chain of events that results in Jaylynn getting wounded, Dez being suspended, and both of them having to face the possibility of life without the other. They face struggles–-separately and together–-that they must work through while truly feeling "under the gun."

Genres: Lesbian, Lesbian Fiction, LGBT, Romance, Mystery, Lesbian Romance

508 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2002

About the author

Lori L. Lake is the author of ten novels, two books of short stories, and editor of two anthologies. She'll soon have four books available in The Gun Series as well as the next book in The Public Eye Mystery Series. Her crime fiction stories have been featured in "Silence of the Loons," "Once Upon a Crime," and "Women of the Mean Streets. She's had romance stories anthologized in "Best Lesbian Romance" and "Women in Uniform." Lori lived in Minnesota for 26 years, but re-located to Portland, Oregon, in 2009. She presents seminars and workshops on writing topics such as character building, plot, the writing process, the writing life, mystery structure, and form and structure in the modern novel. When she's not working at her computer, you can find her either at the local movie house or curled up in a chair reading. She is currently at work on her next novel. Lori very much likes to hear from her readers. (from the publisher's website)

Reviews

[Pippa D · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Gun series by Lake. It is by far the weakest of the series, and I found myself skipping through much of the tedious anxty stuff by one of the main characters in the second half of the book.

Dez Reilly is a uniformed policewoman with the Saint Paul Police, who is in love with a junior policewoman, Jaylynn Savage. The slow burn of the two of them getting together fills the first book, which has much better pacing and a lot more action than this one.

In this book, Dez has a lot of trouble admitting she has problems dealing with the stress of her work. Lake goes into a lot of detail with the conflict between Dez and her partner Jaylynn, as well as conflict with the rest of her colleagues on the force. Taking a long time to admit there are problems and then deal with them, it is fairly tedious by the time she realises that she has PTSD and start to work on it.

As the book is full of Dez and her problems, there is almost no action at all in the book. It is really a drama rather than crime or romance, and has a correspondingly slow pace.

If you want to read the whole series, then read this. However, you won't be missing much by leaping from book 1 to book 3, which is much better.

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Not quite as good as the first but still a good story. Love these two characters and reading about their ups and downs. This book was a little light in the love scene department. I seem to recall the first one being better in that regard. Of course, I will continue to follow these women in this series.

[Cloud · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another mess of a novel like the first instalment of the series. At least this one does have an over-arching sub-plot, but other than that it's a series of mini cases in the vein of the classical police procedural but without gripping investigations like *good* police procedurals.
The characters' relationship devolves into fanfiction Fluff, that was cute.

[Erika Crabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent a good part of this book really pissed off at Dez. She eventually sort of redeemed herself, but not realistically.

Maybe I'm being picky or selfish, but Jay just forgave her way too easily.

I'm sorry, but in real life, if the love of your life just winged out and disappeared with zero contact for a few weeks, you wouldn't just immediately forgive her and accept whatever happened. Yes, she has PTSD and she had to come to terms with that, but it doesn't change that it was still a fucked up, dickhead thing to do.

One of my chief complaints is still that the sex scenes are just boring and lackluster. These two are supposed to be each other's EVERYTHING, yet I had more passionate sex with my first girlfriend at 15.

Maybe by the third book they'll have figured their issues out, and maybe we'll get a legitimate proposal and maybe even a wedding?

[Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sequels are sometimes good and sometimes not. I believe this sequel is good. The relationship established in Gun Shy is articulated in more detail along with family and friends. I enjoy watching the couple handle day-to-day challenges and the attraction they have for each other. Dez and Jay each have much to bring to the relationship and they do a nice job complementing each other. Reading about day-to-day life can be boring but not the case with this sequel.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read. Not much depth to the story or the characters, but enough to keep me turning the pages. This book did not set itself apart from other female cop, lesbian stories I have read but it was entertaining. After reading two books in the series I had had enough.

[Margaret L. Hedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book.

I loved everything about this book. The struggles that Dez goes thru are painful. But she comes out in a better place. I can't wait to read the next book. Please ask Audible to put the whole series on audio.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent sequel and still interesting and believable.

[Susan Honthumb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong characters. Believable plot. can't wait to dig into the third book.

[Elizabeth Tanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sequel.