RELEASE DAY- Consumed The Bureau Book #11
Werewolf, Shifter, Gay Romance, LGBTQ Romance
Tin Box Press
June 5, 2023
Kindle
154
Amazon
Follow the rules.
That’s what Con Becker does, even when it means denying his own needs. Because one thing he’s learned is that breaking the rules gets you into trouble. It alienates you from your family. It brings you face-to-fangs with death.
So Con sticks to his lab in the basement of the Bureau, examining evidence, updating his spreadsheets, and enduring the pain of his damaged body. Until Chief Townsend sends Con on a field mission with Agent Isaac Molina.
The task seems simple—recruit allies from among the coyote shifter community—but nothing is easy when your alluring partner has no patience for protocols and regulations. And when monsters attack from the darkness.
When obligation collides with desire, Con must decide how to fulfill his mission, keep himself and Isaac alive… and cope with the demons that seek to consume him. And in order to succeed, he just might have to break some rules.
Review by Gordon Phillips
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Conrad Becker (“Con”) is a junior agent of The Bureau (The Bureau of Trans-species Affairs), and is in trouble. Bad trouble. He has been surprised and taken captive by a species about which little is known but which are nasty enough to have earned them the appellative “orcs” by those in the Bureau who have encountered them.
In this way, Consumed: A Bureau Story, begins with a—well, a shudder actually, and considerable dramatic tension. From there we learn that Con’s life has been greatly altered by this experience, and not in a good way—it seems. Then he is partnered with Isaac, an agent of the free-and-easy sort, more or less exactly the opposite of Con’s nature. The assignment they are given is benign enough: to head out to Arizona and establish contact with some coyote shifters, in order to set up friendly relations between them and the Bureau.
Why? Because the Bureau is seeking allies. And here is the deeper and broader story context, the larger arc of Fielding’s Bureau oeuvre. It is used quite effectively in the story, as is generally true of Fielding’s writing.
During the assignment there are four distinct but interrelated threads,the first being the business with the coyote shifters, and the second the arc of how two initially opposite characters interact, how they learn to work together, and more. The remaining two threads are—totally unexpected surprises, and hair-raising to boot.
This novella is an unalloyed delight to read. It begins with a nice characterization of Con (in his initial bad-trouble situation he worries as much about people finding his gay porn collection as he is about surviving), which doesn’t so much make him likeable as actually loveable.
The casual interactions between Con and Isaac during the mundane parts of the mission describe a really touching series of getting-to-know-each-other exchanges, as each discovers unexpected things about the other, and sometimes about themselves as well. One of the themes touched upon is the challenge of living life as you wish and not by other people’s standards.
There is a lot of adventure here—both in the sense of direct physical action, in the internal psychological challenges such as mastering fear through courage, and in the combination of the two, such as occurs in facing demands for resourcefulness in tight and other spots.
The bonding arc between the two agents is positively enchanting in its charm, its unexpected twists, and in its realism. Their connection comes through experience, their discoveries about each other, leading to appreciation and respect. It is commonly said that nothing can save a story if the writer gets the psychology of the characters wrong. Fielding manages to do everything impeccably right.
Finally, the story keeps yielding surprises and developments right to the very end. There is no lingering in denouement. In summary: flawless writing with two loveable characters, great action and emotional arc, a powerful storyline, and very satisfying end. Plus, just the suggestion of a “stay tuned” element that is guaranteed to make the reader hungry for Fielding’s next Bureau installment.