Josh Lanyon ~ The Dark Tide (Adrien English Mysteries 5)
From: Loose Id
I’ll put my suitcase here for now
I’ll turn the TV to the bed
But if no one calls and I don’t speak all day
Do I disappear
Look at me without you
I’m quite proud of myself
I feel reckless clumsy
Like I’m making a mistake
A really big mistake
Do you like being single
Do you want me back
Do you want me back
Do I like being single
Am I coming back
Am I coming back
Do you want me back
Everything But The Girl ~ Single
I sat reading the final installment of the much discussed Adrien English Mysteries listening to the very apropos album of choice for such an endeavor Everything But The Girl ~ Walking Wounded from 1996. Believe me Adrien is very much walking and wounded these days. The music tumbles out at first as you hear only the sparse dancing electronics providing the perky beat and then the smokey vocals take over easing you into the song and then the lyrics come around to rip your heart out and leave you feeling like emotional hamburger. Something closely resembling the sum of Adrien’s romantic life in three parts.
For those of you who are not aware of my exact feelings about Adrien and Jake then make sure before diving into this review to go read up on my close to Power Point level presentation with numerous quotes and pages of information as to exactly why I think they are so very very wrong for each other in my review of their last installment Death Of A Pirate King.
In summary for those not wanting to be spoiled The Dark Tide is yet another Grade A so why are you reading this? Go buy it already you know you were going to anyway.
Adrien English wakes up a few weeks after open heart surgery to find a cat has taken up residence where his brain should be and a dead body has decided to move out of the third floor apartment next door and into the front pages of the LA newspapers. What will mother say? Will Jake come to save the day? Will his whole family continue to drive him to an early death by suicide? Will he ever get around to deciding what he really feels about any of his many Exs and finally will he get around to telling someone to fuck off and die for betraying him?
Now for the spoiler cut…
So as you can tell from my comments I do not have much sympathy for Adrien. I mean he sets himself up to be the ever so isolated mess other people make of his life. I want one of you dear readers out there to name ONE friend (Just one) we have met since Claude in these five books. Anyone? Just one name of some trusted gay friend he confides all his bullshit to, who he bounces things off of, who looks out for his best interests when it comes to strange men and stranger problems that Adrien finds himself involved with. Can you name one?
That my friends is the whole problem I have with Adrien. Adrien has no friends, no interest outside the bookstore, no life of his own. Nothing that makes him a real human being and nothing that protects him from falling for the next loser that comes through that bookstore door. So in this episode of “Wilting Flower, Fucking Liar” we find the cavalcade of Exs showing up out of no where. I myself was ready to start skipping pages I tell you. Oh Mel Davis, you left me suddenly after ten years to fuck one of your students but lets kiss and make up. Oh Guy Snowden, you left me to fuck one of your students too and not only that the asshole tried to KILL ME let’s do lunch. Oh Jake Riordan, you left me to fuck some strange woman you got pregnant and married her but I still want you baby. GAG!
So when I get to parts like this…
“I was happy enough with Guy, but I don’t want Guy. I don’t want…anyone. Right now.” pg 13
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! God, Adrien English You Fucking Dick Whipped Loser! Don’t play games of witty god damned banter! Take. A. Stand! Who the fuck cares how smart you are if what you say means nothing? Tell them what a bunch of low life scum they were to you. Lash out, because even they know they totally deserve it. Tell them to leave you the fuck alone! Make a decision emotionally and stick to it for once in your miserable fucking life.
What are you a living voodoo doll? How many more nails do you have to collect before you own your own god damned cross?
Oh yeah, that’s right “no friends” and only “family” around to take care of him and nothing “outside” to interest Adrien not even a neighborhood gay bar where he might go sob on some poor bartender’s shoulder. So without these losers he’s got nothing left, nothing to show any emotional investment on his part. Jake might have been in the closet but Adrien is in a prison. I must be losing patience in my old age. Anyway, so half the first part of this book was a wash for me. We got no further with Adrien and Jake, since this is their series and all, because Adrien showed some hurt at least in that area but then he went and made an ass of himself with all the other Exs in his life making me grit my teeth. I gave up on Adrien because all he seems to do is reopen even older wounds than Jake. What for? He seems more than capable of finding new losers to abuse him. It might have made things more interesting for those of us who have had to sit through numerous re-tellings of the damage these guys did the first time around.
So does Jake redeem himself at least? Jake I hate to admit has been the more “human” character this whole series despite the fact he treated Adrien like an emotional and literal punching bag. So does he redeem himself at the end?
Ten months. Not that long, really. Making it all the more difficult to explain why it sometimes seemed like one of the most important relationships of my life.
“Were you still seeing Kane all that time?”
Had he been expecting the question? Jake answered without hesitation. “At first, yes. I quit seeing him after we spent those days at the ranch.” His gaze met mine steadily, seriously. There seemed to be a message there. I wasn’t sure what it was.
I said, and I was astonished to hear the pain in my voice, “I’d thought—I don’t know why—that I was sort of your first.” I added quickly, “I mean, I know I wasn’t your first, because you said—”
He said, “You were the first in every way that counted. You were the first guy I ever kissed.” He smiled faintly, unreadably. “Come to think of it, you were the first guy I had sex with in a bed.”
I had no idea what to say to that. The images that it conjured were enough to shut anyone up, I guessed.
“You’re comparing apples and oranges. Paul and I didn’t date. We weren’t friends. We didn’t have a relationship outside of the club we both belonged to. He had a voracious appetite for pain, and I had a powerful desire to inflict it.”
I wished that I hadn’t asked. It was more than I wanted to know.
“However, when I went back to the club after my marriage, my relationship with Paul did change. We became friends. Or if not friends, at least I allowed the relationship to extend outside of the confines of the club. I was fond of him.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry you were hurt. I’m sorry Paul hurt you. I’m sorry I hurt you.” Straightforward, sincere, take it or leave it. Pg 45
Actually Jake does ok, especially by the end of the book when he is left with nothing, no home, no family, no job, and I felt sorry for him even though he deserved it all. That happens when you build a life of little lies till it evolves into something that can be knocked down like a stack of dominoes. I was fine with him, not so much because anything he said changed my mind about him or his actions but because Adrien did not leave me with many other choices. Now maybe if they get together Jake can see about getting Adrien a backbone transplant to go with the open heart surgery and they will both be better off in the end. Divorced most likely, but better off.
Still every book in this series has been well written and a must read and I obviously found it interesting enough to want to see the big Jake loving finish. I guess I expected Adrien to fill out as a more complete person with more resolve and more assuredness than when we first met him but Jake made up for some of that lack of growth with all his problems even if I still think they are both absolutely uncommunicative high maintenance messes but maybe in that fact alone they both do deserve each other. Grade A
Tags: Adrien English Mysteries, Gay Romance, Grade A, Josh Lanyon, Loose Id, Mystery
Mandi wrote,
It is true Adrien has no friends..he kind of has Natalie and Lauren, but they are more family, and I don’t see him confiding his deep secrets to either of them. I also didn’t love Mel showing up, but he played such a small part in the book it didn’t bother me too much. I agree that he needs some friends, but in my delusional world I am his BFF, so it makes up for it ;)
Adrien grew a little backbone after he finally told Jake not to move east. I don’t know if he would have fought for it if Jake had said screw it, I’m leaving. But at least Adrien came out and fought for him..just a little.
I loved Jake in this book…I thought Lanyon did a great job making you root for him. I really think it is a great book to wrap-up the series.
Link | December 24th, 2009 at 6:26 am
TeddyPig wrote,
Mandi,
I am obviously being a hard ass with Adrien. So feel free everyone to tell me what an asshole I am. I just have heard these sob stories before at the bar and wondered why the hell anyone goes back for more.
Adrien went back for more several times which I just cannot relate to. When I am done I push back my chair and leave the table not hang around waiting to see the mold grow on the plates.
Yes, I totally agree Jake came out the most interesting character that you loved to hate this entire series.
Josh does good work and will always be an auto buy in my list.
Link | December 24th, 2009 at 6:35 am
Mandi wrote,
But the mold brings out the green in Jake’s eyes…how could Adrien resist? ;)
Link | December 24th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Jenre wrote,
Adrien did have friends – Robert and Claude – and look what happened to them! Mel was also his friend as well as a lover for a long time.
I just think that poor old Adrien has the worst luck. Plus his sarcastic exterior puts people off – again something he admits himself in Fatal Shadows, so it’s no wonder he has few friends. You are right in saying that he does isolate himself – he rarely ventures out anywhere further than downstairs to his shop or to visit his family. He doesn’t go to clubs or bars any more – although he clearly did when he was younger as he seems to know quite a lot of bars. He likes his own company and doesn’t really seem interested in surrounding himself with people – some people are just like that and it’s not entirely unrealistic to base a character on that type of personality.
I am reminded of a scene from THYS when Adrien pays a visit to his hairdresser and confesses that Jake has just dumped him. The sympathy and fuss that he got at that point bemused him, but also made him feel better about himself. Perhaps things may have gone a lot better for Adrien if he’d had someone he could confide in. But he didn’t, so he had to muddle along by himself.
Link | December 24th, 2009 at 8:02 am
TeddyPig wrote,
Oh, I did not say it was totally unrealistic that people can act this way but it is not healthy for anyone in my opinion. And for those of you wondering did I like these books please observe I am trying to relate to the characters as people.
You cannot tell me becoming a shut-in does wonders for ones emotional stability.
I think Jenre I was rooting for Adrien to change and grow and become healthier. I felt shorted in that area because as you said I saw him becoming even more isolated and hurt with each new book. He loses any normal balances in that regards so it is hard for me to root for him being with Jake since I really have no outside view that lets me know Jake is all that great for him.
All you really have to do is see what happens with Adrien physically through the whole series. With just all that we do not even really have to go into the emotional roller coaster ride Jake took him on.
Link | December 24th, 2009 at 8:14 am
katiebabs wrote,
Very awesome review. I really, really have to read the series. Sitting in the monster TBR pile. Thanks TPig. You’re an awesome book pimp.
Link | December 24th, 2009 at 9:24 am
jmc wrote,
Great review. Like Katiebabs, I picked up the series after lurking here…except I’ve read them all now :)
I thought a lot about Adrien’s isolation in this book as I read, because it seemed more pronounced here than in earlier books, even as his relationship with his family took up more page space. Felt ambivalent about it because it wasn’t healthy, but since it is also a fairly standard romance trope, it wasn’t really alien or remarkable. In genre romance, the heroine is often abandoned or orphaned or isolated in some way, and part of the HEA, implicit or explicit, is the dissolution of that isolation by the bond created with the hero. Often readers don’t get to see the building of the new community or circle of friends/family, just a snippet of it via the obligatory epilogue. Although AEM isn’t genre romance, the comparison feels apt to me. Ultimately Adrien getting over himself and reaching out to Jake will (I hope, as a reader) further reduce his self-imposed isolation, even though we don’t get the romance-style epilogue with TDT.
Or not.
But the romance reader in me wants the HEA for them, even if Adrien was spineless and Jake a cipher for much of the series.
Link | December 24th, 2009 at 9:43 am
TeddyPig wrote,
One word JMC… codependency.
I get the trope but in this case even if it was a M/F after all the self sufficient kick ass and take names heroines I have read I would still be vaguely creeped out because of the lack of indication that this was a healthy choice for this particular type of person at this time.
But I agree, after all this reading I also wanted the HEA but felt I had to be honest.
Link | December 24th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Emilie wrote,
*some spoilers if you haven’t read the earlier books* As Jenre notes, Adrien had a little circle of friends in Fatal Shadows, but they were taken out of the picture. He only had so much energy, and he chose to put a lot of it into the bookstore. But he had Jake part of the time for some months, then he was with Guy for a couple of years. I don’t see it as him being terribly isolated if he was seeing a fair amount of people a day at the shop, had the writers’ group once a week, and had a significant other for much of that time. Sure, he could’ve used some friends just to talk to, but it didn’t seem like he’d have any trouble getting some if he’d really wanted to.
Link | December 24th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
TeddyPig wrote,
Emilie,
That’s just not how it goes for me or anyone I know even if you date someone else gay or straight you then meet all their friends and family and go hang out at their favorite places. So even if Adrien did not have friends or lost his or something traumatic like that he then would at least acquire some acquaintances outside his immediate circle from these huge loves of his life Guy or Mel or even Jake.
That is another thing that does not point to something I would expect to happen unless again he chose to isolate himself and only have these men as his social outlet as I said I did not say it was totally unrealistic that people can act this way but it is not healthy.
Link | December 24th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Mariana wrote,
For me, I think that Adrien’s nihilistic outlook of his life led to many of the decisions he made in his life. He was expecting to die young, so why do anything really worthwhile? He seemed to almost give up on everything; until he was faced with Jake leaving for good. I think they were both sort of not willing to put themselves out there… Jake letting Adrien dictate the terms of the relationship; Adrien not fully realizing that he wasn’t going to die young.
For all their flaws, Jake and Adrien are one of my top couples I’ve read.
Oh, and I hated Mel.
Link | December 25th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
J.R. Ward: Dark Lover | The Naughty Bits wrote,
[...] have so much respect for authors like Josh Lanyon who can whip out an interesting story while maintaining a single “point of view” of the [...]
Link | February 4th, 2010 at 12:44 pm