"an immensely gritty, lustful and passionate story"
From the first scene that takes place in the late eighties
when NYPD police
officer Ray Watts is summoned to Chinatown to retrieve
juvenile delinquent,
Japanese-American Daisuke Matsui, who has gotten himself
into yet another
altercation, Dark Whispers establishes itself as an intense
and fast-paced story
promising just as intense and sensitive interpersonal
relationships that it
certainly delivers. Cut to present day and Dai has carved out a successful
career as an NYPD
Detective working in the gang unit, redeeming his painful
distant past when
poverty and domestic and street violence were the orders of
the day before Watts
rescued him and his abused mother and little brother Wei,
from a fate worse than
death or prison. Though Dai has come a long way from this hopeless time in
his life, he is still
hounded by guilt at the death of his first mentor and the
feeling that he has
failed his brother. Wei is entrenched in some dangerous and
illegal action in
Chinatown's underworld, despite all Dai's best efforts to
make sure his brother
doesn't follow the same path Dai was heading down a decade
previous. Enter the dark and mysterious Sakurai who finds Dai's
passions and attachments
strangely alluring and powerful despite Dai's being mortal.
You see, Sakurai is
a centuries-old chaing shih, a vampire, and he doesn't do
mortals, not for more
than the time it takes him to garner sustenance from their
blood and be done
with them. There is something, however, about Dai's fervor
for life, but
especially his fervor on the job, that keeps Sakurai coming
back for more,
slipping into Dai's dreams and bonding with the human
against all reason. There is a violent push-pull, pain-pleasure dynamic between
Dai and Sakurai from
their first meeting. Dai is in denial of the vampire's very
existence, but more
he fears the kinky desires that Sakurai elicits whenever he
is near and even
when he's not; fears the depths to which he will sink to
fulfill his dark
desires and needs. Dai's aversion to the ancient being is further exacerbated
when he discovers
that Sakurai's enemies are courting Wei. Soon both brothers
are caught up in a
treacherous sting operation that threatens not only Dai's
career when he is
faced with the evidence of his same-sex escapades on tape,
but one that
threatens the brothers' very lives when Dai learns of the
vampire gang's
mutinous and murderous activities. When tragedy strikes close to his home and heart, Sakurai
is forced to shed the
cold unfeeling world in which he has insulated himself for
the last four-hundred
years, despite his own personal code of not getting
involved with humans and
their affairs and against all of Dai's protests; his
emotions have been engaged
and nothing can prevent him from helping Dai with his grief
and quest for
revenge. But is Dai willing to make the ultimate sacrifice
to get retribution? Sheridan and Cain have penned an immensely gritty, lustful
and passionate story
of betrayal, loyalty and lost innocence that leaves nothing
to the imagination
where sex and violence are concerned and is definitely not
for the weak or
squeamish. The plot is full of unexpected twists and turns
and ripe with the
possibility of a continuing series or at least another book
(this reader can
only hope ). The narrative is tightly-woven and smooth
and the main and
secondary characters are engaging and well-drawn. Dai and
Sakurai especially are
colorful and have incendiary chemistry. Their encounters
are at once brutal and
erotically sensual; their repartee is fresh, sharp and
realistic. I look forward to reading more of this duo's work and
highly recommend Dark
Whispers, particularly for fans of man-love stories and
dark romance liberally
spiced with action and suspense, and driven by complex,
rich characters for
which the reader can boo, cheer or cry. Excellent reading!
Reviewed by Gracie McKeever
Posted April 19, 2008
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