Gil Lawless became a Holywell Street bookseller for his own reasons, and he’s damned if he’s going to apologise or listen to moralising from anyone. Not even Vikram; not even if the once-beloved boy has grown into a man who makes his mouth water.
Now the upright lawyer and the illicit bookseller need to work together to track down the missing youth. And on the way, they may even learn if there’s more than just memory and old affection binding them together...
Comment: I've liked all the books by this author I've read and some of them were almost perfect stories for me. I was, therefore, quite eager to read this one as well but despite the amazing writing as always, this one just didn't grab me as much.
In this book we have the story of Gil Lawless and Vikram Pandey, two men who have met while both were attending school until fate intervened and Gil had to leave. The problem is that he never talked to Vikram and he still wonders what could have happened to his friend.
Now, years later, they find each other again when Vikram visits Gil's shady business looking for clues regarding a boy from his community who has disappeared and all points out to a possible connection to pictures taken because of the boy's "profession".
As grown ups it seems there's anything in common between Gil and Vikram again, except the fact neither is a white privileged man. Will they be able to have a friendship again? Maybe more? Will they find the lost boy or is he gone because of his line of work?
Thinking only on the writing, this is another amazing work by the author. It does seem so easy how each word fits whatever information we are given perfectly and it's so very polished and pleasant, as it happened in all the previous work by the author I've read.
The theme is intriguing, one I have never thought about before, how pornography was seen in the 19th century, not juts because it was illegal but the way it reached people and how it was understood by people... how interesting it could be to see the evolution through time and based on cultural backgrounds. I bet that would be interesting to see the differences compared with today.
However, the "romance", which I consider to have been secondary element to this book, felt like too little for me. Gil and Vikram have a youth in common, have had some experience with being intimate by having touched each other, have confided thoughts and wishes to one another but now are men with goals that don't exactly match.
On one hand, it was good they weren't immediately "matchy matchy"so that the evolution of their relationship felt more important for each one individually, as if being together felt a stronger decision because of what wasn't easy. On the other hand, though... I don't think their personalities would suit that much, not long term.
In the end, one of them makes a decision opposed what he had defended in some sections of the story and even contemplating the idea that people are free to change their mind or that they only have some specific types of opinions when they let fear and resignation or even disillusionment speak, that can mean it's positive they might want different things at another time, but for me this didn't work as easily as I expected from the practically perfect fluidity of the story when it came to character's behavior.
The main character's personality was strong for both. Gil appears more laid back but his past isn't easy to accept although I think the author really stressed out how likely and realistic it was.
I actually liked Vikram better and did identify with him with the sense I'm a little like him when it comes to follow the rules. Many think he is too rigid, too set on his ways and doesn't accept grey areas like just accepting people might be fine liking pornography instead of judging them by that. This was a little exacerbated for plot purposes but although I couldn't care about those like porn, I too think it's not a substitute for love or other sometimes called "idealistic expectations" of relationships.
Vikram wasn't always right no and Gil provides interesting arguments for his opinion but I still would have liked more focus to have been on Vikram and Gil as a couple but this was a bit too secondary.
Things end relatively well for the couple and the HEA is more an indication than an obvious fact but I liked it enough. I just think that, thinking about the enjoyment reading plus the story line and the characters, this is probably the weakest book by this author for me.
Grade: 6/10
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