Pyromancer

Title: Pyromancer
Author: Amanda Young
Publisher: Lethe Press
Genre: Paranormal M/M
Length: Novel (164 print pages)
Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

Summary Review: A love affair where the heat level is off the scale, and not just because one of the protagonists is burning up and generating a different kind of heat.

THE BLURB

One desperate night, a rent boy hot enough to scorch the motel sheets, meets a man doomed to burn for love. Christian Ryder is a lonely man because of his strange abilities; pyromancy, a curse that causes the temperature to dangerously rise whenever Christian grows excited. He has accidentally hurt lovers in the past and has sworn off personal attachments.

Tanner O’Bannon is broke and desperate. The recent loss of his father has thrown Tanner into a tailspin of debt he can’t afford to pay. Working as a rent boy allows him to pay the mortgage and his college tuition, but it’s burning away his soul in the process.

Through the machinations of an escort agency these men are thrown together. Smoldering embers of desire fan the flames of love, but will it be enough to make Christian overcome his fear of love, or to save Tanner from the fire?

THE REVIEW

Do you remember the book Firestarter by Stephen King which was really scary? In Pyromancer Christian Ryder is a firestarter, someone who starts fires involuntarily. Christian is alone not because he wants to be, but  because his unique affliction had caused him to end relationships in the past where the danger was always present that he might occasionally physically hurt his lovers whenever he was excited and couldn’t control his impulses. He would have loved to have someone in his life, but he had not been with anyone for the past 6 months because the last time had been a disaster. One night, when the need for human companionship and sex became unbearable, he called an escort agency to hire a male hooker.

Tanner O’Bannon never expected to end up as a rent-boy, but when his father, a Firefighter, died recently he found out that he was a gambler who owed just about everyone money. With the bill collectors at the door breathing down his neck and threatening violence if he didn’t pay them immediately what they were owed, Tanner felt he had no option but to find a quick fix, and selling  his body to pay off his father’s creditors seemed to be his only option. When he showed up as Christian’s “date” he thought he had hit the jackpot since he was so gorgeous, and he found it unbelievable that such a great looking man would have to pay for sex. The temperature was off the scale when they met, and not because Christian’s body which was always a few degrees higher than normal was generating such heat. Before the night was over they both wanted something more but they had to keep in mind that this was strictly business.

Two weeks later Christian who was a volunteer firefighter, was at a bar with a couple of colleagues after helping to put out a fire earlier that night, when Tanner showed up at the bar and one of Christian’s companions mentioned his father. When he realized who Tanner was, Christian felt guilty because he had blamed himself for his father’s death. He had been beating himself up about the tragedy because he felt that if he had showed up for work that night the man wouldn’t have died in a fire. A couple of days later Christian went to Tanner’s house to make amends but Tanner thought he was another bill collector and told him to leave. However, before he did, he left his business card in case Tanner wanted to get in touch with him after he had calmed down.

After his latest “date” Tanner took a hard look at what his life was turning into and he decided to quit school and find a full time job, which would enable him to resign from Male Companions. When he called to quit the escort agency the owner asked him to take on one last assignment. Since he needed the money he accepted but it didn’t turn out to be the usual run of the mill job and instead he was lured to a remote location, badly beaten and left for dead. When he was found his wallet with his ID was missing, but Christian’s business card was still in his possession, so the hospital called him and Christian rushed there to find out his prognosis because he was so worried. Since Tanner had no one else Christian offered to take care of him until his injuries healed, and so they started slowly getting to know each other. Very soon they realized that the initial attraction they had felt was turning into something much more serious. But would Christian be able to control his desire to take care of Tanner financially so that he  no longer felt threatened by bill collectors? Other, more serious threats, were also just waiting for opportunities to present themselves and a murderer was planning to get even with Tanner and rid himself of Christian at the same time. They would have to use all of their skill, resources and power to survive.

These two characters were at the other end of the spectrum financially, but emotionally they were on par, needing to be loved and to care for someone else. At 32 Christian was wealthy but he  had basically been alone since his parents died – he felt ostracized because of his strange affliction, and had no friends or lovers that he could trust. At 20, Tanner was alone and felt that there was no one he could depend on emotionally since his father died. They seemed like a couple who were made for each other but the financial imbalance was a sore point for Tanner who did not want to accept charity. The protagonists were well developed and the author did a good job in making their relationship seem real, even though they had only been together for a short time and there was such a disparity in their financial circumstances and to some extent, their age.  However, I felt that the villain was not as fully developed as he might have been. At times I thought that there could have been a bit more finesse used in his characterization rather than being a stereotypical bad guy.

I was hoping for a bit more pyrotechnics throughout the book, although in the end I did get a little more than I was expecting. Be warned if you’re squeamish – there’s one scene that might be stomach turning!

I had a couple of niggles and one was, how did the potential murderer break into Christian’s home? The explanation given was that his security system was more bells and whistles than anything else, but since Christian was so rich I would have thought that he could have afforded to build himself a fortress that would have been impossible to breach. Also, Tanner mentioned Christian’s guilt over his parent’s death but I don’t recall Christian discussing this with him, even though the readers would have access to this information and would have been aware of Christian’s feelings. Of course it’s possible that I might have missed this discussion.

Despite these two small niggles I really loved this story which was engrossing, the protagonists were realistically drawn, and the heat generated between them was enough to burn the pages. I think you will like Pyromancer. I read this book when it was first released two and a half years ago by Loose Id and the new edition is just as enjoyable. Definitely Recommended!