Title: The Pharaoh’s Concubine
Author: ZA Maxfield
Publisher: Samhain
Genre: Contemporary M/M
Length: Novel (214 PDF pages)
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Summary Review: A disappointment.
**this review contains what could be considered spoilers**
THE BLURB
Beauty is only skin deep…until love reveals what lies beneath.
As mob boss Yvgeny Mosko’s open secret, Dylan Anderson is happy enough with a passionate, if loveless, arrangement that affords him a life of luxury. But at thirty-six, he wonders how committed Mosko will be to an aging lover.He finds out when a rival gang kidnaps him in a turf war everyone’s sure to lose. Mosko unleashes deadly force, leaving no one alive except for a young man whose dark eyes tug at Dylan’s heart—and the conscience he thought he’d excised long ago.Though he tried to stop the kidnapping, William “Memo” Escobar knows Mosko will use what’s left of him to send a powerful message to his rivals.
When Mosko’s pampered pretty boy risks everything to help him escape, he can’t believe his luck. William figures he’s better suited to life off the grid, but as the days go by he begins to realize Dylan’s beauty is more than skin deep. And as Dylan coaxes more and more beguiling smiles from William, he yearns for things—like family ties—he’d thought were best forgotten.
Yet behind their newfound happiness lurks the certain knowledge that no matter how careful they are, Mosko will come for what’s his.
THE REVIEW
This is the first book by ZA Maxfield that didn’t get a passing grade from me. I was very disappointed with the story and I had a number of issues. I even re-read it to see if I could have been mistaken, but no such luck. Let me start at the beginning.
Dylan was the “boy” of Russian drug czar Yves Mosko. They had been together for over a decade and Yves was only the second man with whom Dylan had had sex. The first was a boyhood friend to whom he lost his virginity one night when they were on a mission for their church, but the next day it was all over because Peter rejected him and confessed what had happened to his parents who were members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. He submitted to a Christian conversion by his Bishop to “take the gay out of him” but Dylan refused to do so and his parents kicked him out. Dylan left Utah and ended up in LA where he worked at detailing cars, which is where Yves spotted him. Yves was so taken with Dylan’s beauty that despite the problems it would pose for him in terms of his status within the organization, to have an openly gay relationship, he had to have Dylan. Yves loved Dylan despite the fact that he was married and Dylan cared for him in return.
One day as Dylan was going home from the spa where he had his weekly treatments he was kidnapped by a rival gang who beat him up and threw him in the trunk of his Lexus, obviously intending to use him as a bargaining chip with Yves if he didn’t die first. Things didn’t work out quite the way they expected and the abductors were gunned down by Yves’s men, except for the youngest member of the gang, 20 year old William “Memo” Escobar who had tried to save Dylan from the most serious blows.
When Dylan and William were taken to Yves’s home Dylan’s severe injuries were treated but there was no sign of William. No one would give Dylan any information and he realized that they intended to kill William to send a message to Yves’s rivals. Dylan could not allow this to happen but had no idea what to do since he was himself seriously hurt. After demanding to see William the next evening, one of the guards let Dylan into the shed where he was kept and his condition was appalling. Dylan was determined to rescue him and he devised a plan but realized that if he left it would mean the end of his relationship with Yves, because it would be a severe breach of trust. The plan worked but I won’t give you the details because you should experience it for yourself.
After Dylan and William left Yves’s estate Dylan returned to Utah, where they stayed at a seedy motel for a couple of days. However William was very sick and Dylan knew that without medical assistance he would die, so he took him to the nearest clinic over his strenuous objections. To his surprise Peter, his old buddy, was a doctor at the clinic and it was obvious he was still mad at him for leaving all those years ago but also he still he wanted Dylan.
What didn’t work for me
Dylan’s decision to take off with William who he didn’t even know, and leave his luxurious, pampered lifestyle behind. Although it was a foregone conclusion that William would be killed if they didn’t escape, Dylan was almost as severely injured as William yet they managed to escape from a heavily guarded compound without alarming anyone. The escape caper had a lot of holes.
Dylan’s characterization: He kept himself aloof from the seamier side of Yves’s operations but he must have known how he made his money to be able to afford his lifestyle – he just refused to acknowledge anything that was unpleasant. It was William who filled him in on all the nasty stuff – prostitution, drugs etc.
The romance: Dylan was described as shades of gray inside his shades of gray. I guess that means that nothing touched him. William on the other hand was black and white and lived his life with his eyes wide open. These two protagonists seemed ill suited to be in a romantic situation and Dylan’s and William’s personalities just didn’t seem compatible, other than when having sex.
All of the references to the size of William’s penis which apparently was so big his brothers thought he could have a career in porn.
Dylan’s dream sequences.
Yves characterization was not credible. This man was a mob boss whose lieutenants were vicious killers and he had to be seen by them as well as rival gangs as the toughest hombre in town, to make up for being gay, a character trait that could get a man killed in his line of business. He was full of pride, reinforced his tough reputation at every turn, had his men kill at the drop of a hat, believed in saving face at all costs, yet in the end he turned out to be soft. I understood why the author made him do what he did but I couldn’t buy it, regardless how much he loved Dylan because self preservation was something Yves valued above all else.
What worked for me
Scott, the former Church of Latter Day Saints Bishop for whom Dylan worked when he returned to Utah. He was a good man and didn’t let his religion blind him to seeing the best in others.
Peter’s characterization: He was a jerk and a coward but at least he was consistent. He hated being gay but loved Dylan. In the end he almost got his family killed because he wanted to get rid of William so that he could have Dylan.
William at 20 seemed very mature and his character was well drawn. Even though Dylan was 37, at times William seemed to be the more mature of the pair while Dylan was still trying to figure out what to do with his life.
Ernesto and Esme, Scott’s helper and cook, were definitely three dimensional and a great couple.
Dylan’s twin Des who loved her brother and would do anything for him, including standing up to her husband.
The writing was vintage ZAM and at times it shone. The scenery in Utah and Wyoming was breathtaking and I could feel and taste why Dylan called Utah home – it was so beautiful.
The sex between Dylan and William was very hot.
Overall
I found the book to be confusing, I thought that a few of the characters were not well drawn, and the plot was not credible for me.
This review and rating will definitely be in the minority because I have seen a few 3’s but many 4s and 5s on Goodreads. I would suggest that you read the book as your experience may be quite different to mine. I’m a fan of this author since I reviewed her first book Crossing Borders and I love her characters but this book had too many inconsistencies IMO.
The Pharaoh’s Concubine would be of interest to fans of ZA Maxfield and readers looking for a different type of story.
I would probably read other ZAM books that I have in my pending list before this one.
Thank you for your review 🙂
Gail
It’s not a bad book it’s just I thought it was inconsistent and the plot didn’t work for me.
The plot of this one sounded unappealing to me, but I read it anyway because I usually like ZA Maxfield. In the end, I enjoyed it, but I agree with all of your complaints, except perhaps about Yves. It’s not top-notch work–she has written better stories than this one. And I wish it had been better, but honestly I’ll still take a so-so Maxfield over most other writers’ work.
Hi Gail
I liked Yves, I just didn’t think his characterization was consistent even though I understood why she wrote him the way she did, otherwise Dylan would be dead. The same way that I hated Peter but he was well drawn and totally consistent throughout, a bastard through and through.
You’re right, a so-so ZAM is better than most books.
As I said in the review I love ZAM’s writing and this is the first time I have ever rated one of her books below 4 stars.
I agree with your rating: Maxfield can be *so* good, but this isn’t quite it.
Hi GR
She is one of the best M/M authors, but like you I didn’t feel that this was her best stuff. However her fans may still enjoy this book.
The blurb for this one didn’t really grab me when I first saw it. After reading your review I’ll definitely pass on it. Great job showing what worked and didn’t work for you. Thanks!
Hi Lily
Thanks. This is not the kind of review I’m accustomed to doing for one of ZAM’s books. It’s too bad because it had a lot of promise.
Reading ZA Maxfield is like having sex: even when it’s bad, it’s good. Having said that, I would like to qualify I am not saying her latest is bad, since I haven’t read it, but it’s hard to go wrong with her (and believe me, I’ve tried, but that’s another story).
Hi Rick
I’m a huge fan of ZAM’s and this is a first for me to rate one of her books below 4 stars. Like you, even when I see a bad review of one of her books I still read it because a below par book by her is better than most.
If you do get this book I would really be interested in your reaction. I think I stated clearly why it didn’t work for me, but that’s just one person’s opinion and we know that opinions are like that orifice on our bodies – everyone has one. 🙂
I was a bit hesitant after reading the blurb for this story, expecting hard/cold realism but I was pleasantly suprised and absolutely loved this book. I agree that the storyline lacked realism but it had a very compelling “mood”, almost like a fairytale a la Lane, kind of hypnotising.
Hi Saga
I’m really happy you enjoyed this book. While I didn’t love all aspects of it there are many things to recommend it and I think I said so in the review. Probably if I had read it as a fairy tale I would have loved it more, but books like this I read with an eye to realism.
Yeah, I am actually more fond of ZAMs fantasy stories than her contemporary ones so it’s not strange that I loved this book (I know this is contemporary but the feel is very “fairytaley”). I really liked Vigil too and instead find some of her more “realistic” books a bit cluttered.
I like “mood” books because they can completety capture you and take you to a different place, even if that place dont always make logical sense.
I did like the dark theme in this book and I have Vigil on my review schedule in about a couple of weeks.
Because this book was about crime and criminals and everything that goes along with it I had to be more realistic in my review. I love murder mysteries so I use the same principles when I reviewed this book as I would have if it were a simple murder mystery. The most important points I have to address are – Does the story make sense? Are the characters sufficient realistic? Do the actions seem credible? and a few others. I’m afraid I couldn’t answer ‘yes’ to those questions but I can see why you enjoyed the book.
I more saw it as a roadmovie story than a mystery or a book about criminals. To me it was a story about a very special character, Dylan. Naive, charming, innocent and a bit of a sleaping beauty. Is he a realistic character? Probably not!
But strange things happen on his travels and with the people he meet. I was convinced of Dylan being a bit special so I guess the “not-making-sense” part made sense to me. I think all characters were 3 dimensional.
The only niggle I had was a bit on the development of William, who seems to change a bit during the story from innocent victim to smart street kid. I just dont think this story was ever intended to be a serious crime/thriller fiction.
I looked at the blurb and it was definitely focused on Yves’s activities as a mob boss and everything associated with that. So I reviewed it the same way I would review any other book of that genre. In addition, there was a lot of criminal activity in the book so it was pretty dark and not a warm and fuzzy book.
Re Dylan, I couldn’t get over the fact that he lived in a self imposed bubble where hardly anything touched him, which is why I didn’t see him as three dimensional. However that’s only my opinion and I know that many other readers saw this book completely different from me. C’est la vie. I have often been wrong and lived to eat my words. As I said before, this is the first book by ZAM that I couldn’t rate as at least 4 stars.
I’ve said ad nauseum, only the mediocre artist is always at his best. A good writer, and Zam certainly is, always strives not just for something different, but for something better. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. But an artist deserves to be judged by his best work.
Victor
I love ZAM’s work and I was really surprised to find that there so many holes (IMO)in this story. Because it wasn’t a fluff piece I had to use the same criteria as I would any other book like this. As you know, I read a lot of murder mysteries and as I was telling one commenter, some of the tough questions that I asked myself about this book didn’t come up with the right answers. Many parts of the story didn’t make sense (to me anyway) and I could only suspend disbelief so far.
The book was well written and I tried to highlight the areas that I really liked. Unfortunately there was more on the other side of the ledger and since this review is for the readers I had to give my honest opinion. Perhaps if someone else had reviewed it, he or she might have come to a different conclusion and rating.
Many other reviews of the book are quite positive, so mine is probably one of the few that took a much different and more critical look at the all the elements.
Thank you so much for commenting Victor – I really appreciate it.
Hi Wave, I enjoyed your review even if I didn’t agree with it all. I actually feel that ZAM’s work is probably suffering from an over expectation virus and that from anyone else the work would be regarded as good.
I did have similar problems with Dylan’s myopia in regard to Yves’ criminal activities, but decided that primarily Dylan was in a bad way having dramatically lost his lover, his parents , his twin , his church and his home, a strong reaction was inevitable, becoming ,”A boy whose new motto was might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.”Later he did simply love him, misplacing his integrity along the way.
I think the escape can be explained simply by acknowledging ,”Yves trusted him, held him from all the precautions he held in place for others…” The reason for the escape ,was the reemergence of Dylan’s conscience from his emotional shut down. Perhaps the violence was the catalyst for this.
I also think that I can understand Yves actions in the end.He already cared so much about Dylan that he’d gone against all the mores of his society to keep a gay lover.Consequently I can understand that he could not bring himself to kill him.I think Yves’ letter revealed him as a realist, ok a psychopathic killing romantic realist.
All in all the book is dominated by Dylan and if you don’t think Dylan is really special somehow, then other actions perhaps lose resonance.I loved Dylan and William together.
As you can see I have thought a lot about this book..God help you I could go on …..But I did also have to think hard about it because I felt ZAM did perhaps set up a difficult scenario and had to write her way out of it.Suspending my disbelief does come easy I confess.
As you can tell Z A Maxfield is still on my must buy list !
Hi Raine
I completely understand your approach to this book and if it had been a fluff piece I probably would have rated it higher. However, because it was the type of book that I read a lot (crime/criminals/murder) I used the same criteria in reviewing The Pharaoh’s Concubine as I would have used for any other book of the genre.
I understood Dylan’s detachment but he was almost 40 so I thought that living in a cocoon after all this time might be a bit extreme.
I did understand Yves actions – I think what I said was that it wasn’t consistent with the killer he was who regarded everyone as disposable. I realized why ZAM had to end the book the way she did otherwise Dyland would have had to die, but the plot didn’t work for me.
You’re probably 100% right that ZAM might have boxed hereself in and had to find a way out.
I couldn’t see William and Dylan as a couple and at times I wondered whether William’s equipment was part of the reason since so much was made of it in the book.
Re Yves
You’re killing me here with your rationalizations. I’m dying at the thought of Yves as a “psychopathic killing romantic realist”. lol However I couldn’t suspend disbelief in this type of book – a fairytale or a fluff piece okay, but not a killing machine like Yves and his henchmen and Dylan who was so completely detached from the real world.
I did enjoy your analysis of the book however and while it didn’t change my mind it brought a smile to my face. Maybe you should have done the review of this book. 🙂
Thanks for that review, Wave, you nailed just where I had problems myself. And though I might theoretically agree with Raine that Dylan’s “myopia” re. Yves can be explained/justified somehow by his bad (and it was really bad) experience in his “old life”, that isn’t enough for me if the resulting myopia lasts more than a decade. But still: I thought all the characters in Dylan’s old life worked exceptional well – the backstory was the strongest part IMO – and William was totally 3-dimensional as well. Whether or not the relationship might actually work is another story.
But it’s fascinating to see that a story rated as a disappointment may get 3.5 stars while 3.5 stars for The Shattered Gates by Ginn Hale is considered a good rating.
Hi Liade
Thanks for commenting.
I’m glad we agree on most of the elements in this story. I think I understood Dylan’s detachment from real life, although 10+ years of living in his own world because he was initially kicked out of his family and church for being gay seems a bit excessive. He was 37 years old, almost forty, so one would have thought he would have gotten over it by now.
I think ZAM did an exceptional job on the characters from Dylan’s previous life and I loved them and their interaction with him. On the other hand I felt so strongly about Peter I wanted to kick him you know where. 🙂
Re ratings: On this site the rating scale is 4 stars for a book if it’s recommended, but each reviewer can choose to use that scale or not. Kassa rates according to what she considers appropriate and I have no problem with that. She has been doing that consistently for almost two years since she has been a guest reviewer on the site. I have come to understand the different ratings of the guest reviewers so I just add or subtract as the case may be. 🙂
I did a post recently about the whole issue of ratings and I’m enclosing a link in case you’re interested
http://www.gayromance.org/?p=35343
As you know, there’s no consistency in ratings anywhere and most of the ‘regulars’ who access this site have a pretty good idea of each reviewer’s rating system, although I must admit that many of us stick to the system posted on the site. I probably rate on the higher end of the scale (I’m pretty sure I do lol) and I know who is usually at the other end. I read the reviews and give them more weight many times than the actual rating. I hope that helps, or maybe I’ve confused you even more.
Rating: I have been following this site and its reviews for quite a while and I don’t have a problem with fluctuations in rating depending on the reviewer – as I said I think it’s “fascinating”. So I am well aware of the differences in taste/rating of different reviewers but newcomers may think differently.
We’ll have to do a good job of educating the newcomers. lol.
I know it’s confusing and it’s one of those things where no one is right, because it’s a personal opinion, just as you would rate a bottle of wine, a meal, a movie, a hot guy. 🙂 We’re all different and we bring a lot of personal baggage to the table when we review books. I evden use different criteria depending on the type of book I’m reviewing, and it works for me.
You could always be a guest reviewer for the site Liade – I would love to have you. I know you’re much too busy right now setting up and developing websites, but whenever you feel the urge email me. 🙂
Thanks for the review. I bought this one on pre-order. I enjoyed it. Of course Im a sucker for ZAM.
Hi Hannah
I wish I could have enjoyed this book more. As I said in the review, this is the first book by this author that I could not rate as 4 stars but I’m happy that you enjoyed it. 🙂
oh. i love me some zam! this one resonated with me because i saw the isolation of dylan and realized that he needed some sort of catalyst to break from his stasis. he needed to be reinvigorated by this relationship. i just liked how dylan actually woke up into himself and was finally seen, and prioritized, by william. that to me is the essence of romance.
-kkm
KKM
I’m glad you enjoyed the book. We all respond differently to the books we read so it’s not surprising that you felt this way
Thanks for commenting.
@ wave – i love how you respond to review comments – i ‘preciate that! :0)
-kkm
Hi Wave – I certainly read your review with interest as I had mixed feelings about this book – and I generally love ZAM’s work. There was plenty of action, well drawn secondary characters and enough subplots going to keep my interest – but Dylan and William, as much as they were able to help one another find strength, never quite hit home to me as a couple. One of the issues I had was that Dylan was with Yves for 12 years and apparently nothing had happened before his kidnapping to make him seriously think about leaving? And what did he do for 12 years – sit around looking pretty until Yves came by? I kept wanting to go back in time and give him a vintage car restoration shop or something to occupy him 🙂 Also kept thinking that Yves would have immediately gone straight to Des looking for Dylan. I did like how William, Des, Scott and the others were so supportive of Dylan and helped him “find himself”.
You know Dianne, I had many other issues with the book but I didn’t want to dump on it because there was a lot that I liked. Dylan clearly did not have a job so he must have spent 12 years doing nothing but prepare himself for Yves’s visits. How could anyone stand to live like that? Wouldn’t Dylan have been bored out of his mind? I loved William’s character and he was at least real. Dylan I thought of as a doll siting on a cushion waiting for his master to return.
The supporting characters made this book, not Dylan. At 37 he spent half of his life doing absolutely nothing while life went on around him.