The Bond Gay Fiction, Gay Romance, LQBTQ Romance
JMS Books
Oct 1, 2022
Kindle
651
Amazon
Four men are about to discover things are definitely not what they seem ... including themselves.
Declan Makavoy, small town farmer and single father, finds out it isn’t just his thumb that’s green. Ivan Soresceau, a local reporter, who always plays with fire in life and love, is about to discover what it means to be burned. Chester Silberglocke, the ailing but sage chiropractor, finds his death is only the beginning of an atmospheric afterlife. And Vinny Pirelli, the local swimming champ, may make waves in the pool but has no idea he is the last piece in a dangerous and life-changing puzzle.
Seduction and unearthly occurrences are only the beginning in what proves to be a race against time as Declan, Ivan, Chester, and Vinny are pitted against a dark force and face unthinkable horrors as they rely on their friendship to destroy an evil beyond imagination.
Review by Ulysses Dietz
Member of The Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Xavier Axelson went down a risky path with this book—especially as the launch to a series. Because his writing is so strong, and his characters are so good and complex, the risk was worth it.
What starts out as a sort of odd elegiac love poem to the life of a family farm rather quickly turns into an intense, dark Stephen King novel. The early elements of love and loss should have tipped me off—but these things appear in classic m/m fiction, too. When things start to go off the rails in the life of Declan Mackavoy they go fast. What makes it all work is the author’s skill in handling the chaotic rollercoaster ride that makes up the final 75 percent of the story.
Let me say up front that Declan (Decco to his friends) is not an entirely likeable character for me. The author has to work hard to get us into Declan’s head and heart, to push past the frustration of a stubborn man refusing to accept what’s right in front of him. But nothing is really simple in this story. Declan’s lifelong friend Ivan, whose eccentric Romanian immigrant family becomes a significant factor in the book’s weirdness, is not entirely likeable either. But he is essential—even if we don’t really understand why some of the time.
The only fully benign characters are Declan’s mother Lila, his daughter Antonia, a wise nine-year-old who manages the difficulties thrust upon her (oh, my) with more grace than her father does; and Damien, the gentle, bearded suitor who never quite gets enough screen time in this book (but might in the next?). Lila and Damien are psychological anchors in the story, while Antonia is a catalyst—or a lightning rod.
Axelson is not a cinematic writer (i.e. he’s not writing for the movie he dreams of). He’s poetic, visual, and just as intense as the material demands. He creates the sense of chaos that reigns in several of the major scenes that is as much emotional as it is visual. A lot of what takes place happens in Declan’s head, and that’s done with great skill.
Now, back to my Stephen King reference. I gave up reading Stephen King because—to me—I never felt there was any sort of happy ending. Evil is never defeated, only pushed back. There is a good bit of this in the denouement of this book, but then again, we are being prepared for what will come in book 2. The fact that, in the end, I really wanted to read the next book, says a lot about how well Axelson has done his job.