Caribbean Heat

Book Title: Caribbean Heat
Author: Remmy Duchene
Publisher: http://www.redrosepublishing.com
Genre: Contemporary, Interracial, GLBT (M/M)
Length: Short Story (52 pages)
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

THE BLURB

When a serial killer that Ontario Police Detective Tao Drakes is supposed to nab flees Canada, Tao is fresh on his tail. The last thing he wants is to fall in love. But when he sees his host, Detective Kenneth Davis, all logical thoughts leave Tao’s mind.

Homosexuality on the island is a major taboo that is not taken lightly. Now, Tao must protect Kenneth’s secret, catch a killer who is becoming more brazen by the minute and protect his own heart.

THE REVIEW

Tao Drakes is a gay cop with 2 ex wives. He spends all of his time in the office because he doesn’t really have much of a home life. To add to his misery Jonas, his partner of 5 years on the Force, and also his best friend, had turned on him when Tao told him that he was gay. To make matters worse, his current case is rapidly going into the toilet as yet another murder is committed by a serial killer calling himself The Joker, who is targeting gay men. When The Joker escapes to Jamaica Tao is assigned by the Police Chief to find and apprehend him.

On arrival in Jamaica Tao is met by Officer Kenneth Davis and right away he almost forgets that the reason he’s on the island paradise is to find a serial killer and return him to Canada. Kenneth is a gorgeous, hot, chocolate dream of a man and Tao can’t take his eyes off him and soon his hands and various body parts follow.

What I found interesting about this story is that the author didn’t minimize the local situation where being gay was not only frowned on but if you were discovered it could get you killed, even today. The characterizations were well done and I assume that Ken’s patois was the real deal – it certainly sounded authentic to me although there were a few occasions in the book when it disappeared altogether.

I had some difficulties with the plot and I thought that the end of the story was contrived and everything fell into place too easily. I understand that these short formats don’t leave a lot of room for plot development and execution but I was disappointed at how easy it was to apprehend this serial killer once he was located. I also thought that the HEA came at the expense of a credible conclusion to what had been until this point a competent mystery. The other problem I had was that in a couple of chapters the POV’s were mixed in the same scene and this was a bit confusing. However I did enjoy the story despite these flaws and if you’re looking for a murder mystery set in a tropical paradise you might want to try Caribbean Heat.