The Two Gentlemen of Altona – (Playing the Fool #1) by Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock
Thanks to Riptide and NetGalley for the review copy.
This will be the third Lisa Henry book I’ve reviewed, and I am on the record as being a huge fan of hers. I tend to be really bad with names, so I don’t usually recognize authors I’ve already read and liked unless they’re in my top 10, and she is working her way into those ranks. You always know with Lisa Henry that a book will have that little something else makes what could be a standard story into a unique and memorable narrative.
In Playing the Fool book one, Mac McGuinness and Henry Paige are on opposite sides of a lot of things. Mac is a cop; Henry’s a con man, Mac’s on a diet; Henry loves donuts. Henry is annoying and hot, and makes everyone love him. Mac is humble and hard working and pissed off that Henry seems to run circles around him in every available context.
If you ever found yourself watching White Collar and thinking that it would be a way better show if they were boyfriends and the FBI agent had more of a daddy-bear Bruce Willis thing going on, this is the book series for you. I can tell you right now that it’s the book series for me.
Book one is a little bit rusty. Their banter isn’t as on-point as it could be, and one does start to question the decisions of a supposedly seasoned professional when he does stupid shit like clearly letting the criminal get away with wacky escape plots, or going to the one place other than his house and his office that people would associate with him and him alone, but nothing’s perfect, and the writers get so much else right that I found myself not really caring about that.
For example, this book is fun. You’d think that would be easy to find in the erotica section. Not so much these days. I don’t know if it’s winter or what, but I have been needing a good mystery/romance that makes me smile and laugh, and fall in love with the characters as they fall in love with each other. Everybody’s so busy being tortured all the time. Not that Henry isn’t having his own little crisis, and not like nobody gets hurt of arrives hurt, but this is so much more adorable and vibrant than a lot of other stuff on the market right now.
Buy book one, at $5.99 it’s not a bad price, that way you’ll know the back story when you read 2 and 3, which are better books.
3.5 stars out of 5