Novel: Fair Game
Author: Josh Lanyon
Genres: Crime, Thriller, Romance
Released: 2010
Part of Book Series: All’s Fair #1
Summary: A crippling knee injury forced Elliot Mills to trade in his FBI badge for dusty chalkboards and bored college students. Now a history professor at Puget Sound university, the former agent has put his old life behind him—but it seems his old life isn’t finished with him.
A young man has gone missing from campus—and as a favor to a family friend, Elliot agrees to do a little sniffing around. His investigations bring him face-to-face with his former lover, Tucker Lance, the special agent handling the case.
Things ended badly with Tucker, and neither man is ready to back down on the fight that drove them apart. But they have to figure out a way to move beyond their past and work together as more men go missing and Elliot becomes the target in a killer’s obsessive game.
Post’s Author Opinion:
Note: This is a personal opinion, it does not reflect YaoiOtaku’s official position towards the novel.
While reading this I kept checking to see if I started with the right volume because there already is history for the two main characters (I tend to say only Elliot is a main character in this), and the book is written in such a way that made me think there is another book in the series. I definitely read books ‘out of turn’ before and it’s similar to that. However, I liked it a lot. Yes, there is history, but it’s also exciting to try and figure out both what on earth happened between Elliot and Tucker and what on earth was happening right now.
About what happened, no worries, you get all the relevant info and a little bit more. About what was happening right now, I was not expecting this level of mystery crime and it was great! I had a list of suspects almost right from the start as well as a list of reasons why someone would go around kidnapping people and I am delighted to say I didn’t even come close to it. This is my first Josh Lanyon book and if the next two are just as good, I see myself very close to expanding my favourite authors list and I love that for myself.
Elliot is great! He is an ex-FBI agent turned professor and he has all the qualities for both jobs. I bet he was an amazing agent, and now he’s turning into a great professor too. I liked how visible his job was, how we can see him trying to navigate his new life, how he tries to come to terms with him not being an agent anymore, that he is still dealing with an aching injury, a very throbbing proof of his past life.
And then there’s Tucker, his ex who creeps into his new life. Emotions run wild for Elliot and it’s a taxing time for him, all with the disappearances, his bitterness, and his feelings.
I am so excited to dive into the next book and see what else there is for Elliot. I am wondering what could ever happen next, and how his new new life is going. I really, really like Elliot, and while I am a bit sad that he’s not an FBI agent after being obvious he worked hard for it, he’s a great professor too. I love Josh Lanyon for not sparing any detail and showing every part of Elliot.
The novel focuses more on the mystery than on the romance, but there is plenty of that too. We get glimpses on Elliot and Tucker’s past relationship, during the FBI, and then when they are forced to work together. I liked their conversations, I liked that they are flawed and so different and I really hope to see more of them together.
This first book of the series was a success and I really, really hope the series as a whole is going to claim a spot in my favourites.
What’s your opinion on Fair Game novel? Please let us know in the comments below.