Review: The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson

The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson

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Description: Detective Nicholas Valenti, tall, dark and stoic, has been best friends with his partner, Sean O’Brian for six years. The two men have seen each other through divorce, disaster, and danger, and saved each other’s asses more times than Valenti can count. Exactly when he started seeing his blond, intense partner in another light, Valenti isn’t really sure. He only knows that he wants O’Brian in a way that had nothing to do with friendship and everything to do with possession. It is a desire he will have to hide forever because O’Brian is undeniably straight.

Just as Valenti is coming to grips with his new, unacceptable feelings for his partner their police captain puts them on a new case that could blow Valenti’s cover once and for all. He and O’Brian are going undercover at the country’s largest and most infamous gay resort to bust a notorious drug lord and stop the shipments of poison cocaine that are flooding the gay bars all over the city.

Now Valenti will have to make a choice between friendship and desire. He and O’Brian will play the roles of gay men that will push the limits of their relationship to the breaking point. Will their time at the RamJack forge a new bond between them or destroy their partnership forever?

This review is based on a copy I bought myself.

Amanda’s Review:

“Gay For You” stories are a favorite of mine because of the idea that sexuality isn’t so cut and dry as society thinks it is. There can be that one exception to the rule. However, even these stories can suffer from lackluster plots and underdeveloped characters. It is apparent from the first chapter or so that this is fanfiction with the names changed. This isn’t a problem for me and there are many stories which were originally fanfic converted into original fic. The problem with The Assignment is that the author didn’t rework it enough to make it sound like an original piece of fiction. When I looked at reviews, someone pointed out that Anderson’s fandom is most likely Starsky and Hutch and how it was difficult to not picture those characters in the place of Valenti and O’Brian. I’m glad I didn’t read this review before I started the book, or else I would have probably pictured the modern movie remake with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson (and I really don’t want to think of those two knocking boots, thankyouverymuch). She could have also done with an editor, or if she had one, a better one because there are some pretty bad typos throughout the novel.

I had a problem with the O’Brian character and the contradictory that way he is described in the story. When we are introduced to him, he is described as the poster boy of Irish Catholic tough guys from Boston:

Growing up in one of the toughest blue-collar Irish-Catholic neighborhoods in Boston, and being short and blonde, with features that were so finely molded that they were almost pretty, had given O’Brian something to prove. Valenti was more easygoing — more willing to keep an open mind about things like this. But, then, he hadn’t had to fight every dumb jock in his neighborhood that called him a ‘fucking faggot’ growing up because he was small and cute, either… O’Brian had never been one of those cops that went in for gay bashing, but he had never been exactly gay-friendly, either. Valenti usually ended up dealing with their few homosexual informants.”

Yet, this scene begins with the two men in their boss’ office with O’Brian’s arm slung around Valenti’s shoulders… as most police officers tend to do with their partners. He is constantly referring to Valenti as “babe” and sinks so seamlessly into the gay role that it’s hard to believe that he even has a homophobic bone in his body. Perhaps I’m stereotyping all Irish Catholic, blue-collar, pretty-looking cops from Boston in assuming that he would have some problems acting like he’s been in a relationship with another man, but it does raise a red flag. Once they get into The RamJack (yeah, I was laughing at that classy name too), he doesn’t seem to have a problem with keeping up the act behind the scenes either and the two eventually end up going for a little tumble. I also would like to point out that Valenti, the narrator of the story, really is the opposite of easygoing about having to pretend to be gay with the guy he is actually gay for. Once it comes out that Valenti has really been in love with O’Brian this whole time, O’Brian seems almost annoyed that Valenti didn’t realize he had the same feelings. The whole “act” at the RamJack wasn’t one, it was O’Brian trying to get Valenti to take the next step. For two partners and friends who are so comfortable with each other and “in sync” as they claim and with O’Brian being so “touchy-feely”, he shouldn’t have had to try so hard.

The plot could have been used to improve the charge between the two guys. A little less of Valenti’s constant agonizing over being in love with his best friend and a little more action, please. For a pseudo-action novel, there really isn’t much in the action department except for a few scenes where they have a run in with a couple guys with a penchant for leather. Putting them in some physical danger would have upped the tension and made for a better pay off once they finally got into bed. In fact, the last dramatic scene inside of the resort, which should have had a good amount of fighting, was glazed over after Valenti passes out. He awakens to find that backup has magically appeared – despite the fact that we rarely see them reporting to their boss about the undercover assignment that they’re on – and has arrested Conrad and his men. Instead, the focus of that scene is on Valenti being forced by Conrad to have sex with O’Brian. So much for that first time being something special. On the whole, the plot was pretty much standard for any fanfic dealing with law enforcement – the two partners have to pose as a couple to gain access. Granted, it did have a few funny parts that were meant to be funny.

I do give the author credit for writing a couple good sex scenes in this otherwise disappointing book. My particular favorite is set during the “Wankathon” where Valenti has to jerk O’Brian off on stage with other couples. I couldn’t complain too much about their last scene together, either, though it was a little sappy. That being said, some of the descriptions suffer from repetition (Anderson is fond of the word “tender” during her love scenes) or caused me to raise an eyebrow. Referring to the tip of O’Brian’s sizable cock as a “tender nugget” had both eyebrows practically shooting off of my head. The part that I had the biggest problem with was their “fuck or die” scene, not even because of Valenti thinking he is a horrible person for doing what he considers rape (side note: O’Brian spends most of the time encouraging Valenti to do it and is oddly fine with the whole thing as it’s happening), but because he enters O’Brian for the first time without adequate prep or lube. O’Brian is never said to have had anal sex either alone or with a partner and yet he is enjoying being almost dry fucked by his partner. This a serious problem that I’m surprised wasn’t mentioned in any of the reviews that I read. Anal sex can be incredibly painful for those not accustomed to it or who aren’t properly prepared for it (see Babeland’s “Buttsex For Beginners” or “How to Bend Over Your Boyfriend” for more info) . There is no conceivable way that this straight guy without experience in that department wouldn’t have been in serious pain having first time anal sex with a “small amount” of lube.

The Assignment has a decent set up, a couple nice sex scenes and a pretty sexy cover, unfortunately there are too many negative aspects of the story to give anything higher than two stars.