The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

Port in a Storm (Sinners 8)
By Rhys Ford
Published by Dreamspinner Press, 2024
Five stars

Feels like forever since I got to read a Rhys Ford book – and this being the 8th installment of the Sinner’s Gin series, which explores the intersection of a rock band with a messy history and a big family of Irish American policemen.

This story has a special emotional hit, focusing as it does on SWAT team member Connor Morgan rescuing a terrified eight-year-old from a drug bust gone sour. Connor is haunted by the memory of the little boy’s eyes, and he finally talks with his husband, Crossroad’s Gin drummer Forest Ackerman (whose own story was told in book 3 of this series). Together they chart the unlikely path of finding that lost boy in the Child Protective Services system and bringing him into their home.

As always with Rhys Ford, scenes of emotional tenderness are contrasted with violence and the failure of society to protect its most vulnerable. Ford’s gift with words, and her skill with characters, makes this a rich, heady ride that surely provoked tears in this reader more than once. The Morgan clan continues to be the impossible dream of families, benefitting all the lost souls who come within their gravitational pull.