Review: Dutch Treat

Title: Dutch Treat
Author: Andrew Grey
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication Date: 14 July 2011
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 200 pages

Rating: 2 out of 5

Blurb:
When Michael accepts a company assignment overseas, he doesn't count on being dumped by his boyfriend on the way to the airport. The breakup is a bad omen--Michael's time in Europe would be one long misery of loneliness and corporate backbiting if it weren’t for his friendship with his coworker, Stephan.

When he finds out Stephan wants more than friendship, Michael is torn. Even if he chooses to risk his one bright relationship in Europe for a chance at love, when this project is over, isn't his only choice to say goodbye?

Review:

Characters:
Michael is an information systems project manager for Shoe Box, an international athletic shoe retailer, with his life in line: he likes his job (if not his direct supervisor) and he's got a hot boyfriend who's been throwing around the L-word. Things begin to fall apart when he has a stint in the European office all but forced upon him... which is when his character starts to fall apart, too. He's supposedly (self-proclaimedly) strong and forceful, but I never really see it. He actually tends to be a bit of a pushover, mostly just going with whatever anyone else decides, whether it's his professional or personal life.

Stephan works in the marketing department of the Shoe Box European office. I had a hard time getting a handle on him, honestly. Part of it is that the entire story is told from Michael's point of view (which is not a complaint), but part of it I think is that he really didn't have much of a personality. He tends to come off sometimes as almost naive and childish, and runs hot and cold in an unappealing manner; the contradictions within the same conversation make no sense to me. (For example, there's a scene in which Michael rescues a child from drowning (more on this later). Stephan is all over him, claiming he's a hero. As the conversation progresses, it comes out that Stephan wants an intimate relationship with Michael and, when Michael refuses, Stephan calls him a coward and fumes. When Michael capitulates with an offer to date, Stephan is all sunshine and roses again.)

Try though I might, I cannot find Michael and Stephan appealing as a couple. Their chemistry is just zero; I zoned through their first kiss and ended up skimming most of the sex scenes. Even the declarations of love struck me as rote, something to be said because it was expected, not actually felt. It didn't help that I didn't buy into their first meeting: newly-arrived Michael is eating in his hotel's restaurant when he just so happens to be approached by Stephan, who'd heard someone new was arriving and thought it must be Michael when he saw him at the restaurant. I just don't buy it--it's too much of a contrivance.

The supporting cast was mostly conveniences. They popped up in sometimes non-sensical ways in time to give Michael an epiphany, then disappeared. Jake and Roger spring immediately to mind. Although they'd been Michael's friends for years, there's not so much as a mention of them until half-way through the book--how hard would it have been to insert a short scene with them prior to Michael's departure for Europe?--when they invite Michael to a dinner at which they make Michael think about how he regards Stephan. There's a brief conversation much later in which they give Michael more to think about when it comes to a pivotal decision, but nothing between the two, and nothing after. I realize that the focus is (and should be) on Michael and Stephan, but the sudden appearances and disappearances were jarring.

Story:
This is a decidedly character-driven story, so, while things happen, the story exists primarily to bring the characters together. Some of the events that work to do so, however, struck me as a little ridiculous. As an example: the aforementioned drowning child.

As they reached the spot where the walkway split to head out to the pavilion, Michael watched the waves break against the shore. A small round object bobbed between two waves near shore, and Michael stopped, watching. The object appeared again, and Michael took off running, tearing off his jacket and pulling off his sweatshirt, shoes left in the sand behind him. Hitting the water, he raced toward what was now plainly a small head of dark hair.

Aside from the introduction being clumsy (if it wasn't clear that it was, in fact, a child, why was Michael in such a hurry to get into the water?), the transparency of the vehicle was a bit off-putting. It seemed shoehorned in to facilitate the transition from Michael resisting Stephan's advances to giving in and agreeing to date. Other events (such as the final determinant of whether Michael stayed or returned to the States) struck me as equally forced.

Crises also resolve themselves a little too quickly. For example, there's a kerfuffle which first crops up on page 109 and which could have easily affected the rest of the story, but it was completely resolved 12 pages later--and it would have been sooner, had those 12 pages not included some sex. A little more in the way of lasting repercussions wouldn't have been a bad thing.

Writing:
It seems as though the author lost track of some of the details here and there. Michael returns from his first trip back to the States the day before Independence Day, but the Fourth of July comes around 31 pages later. Michael claims he doesn't date friends, but repeatedly asserts that he and Devon were friends first. Michael also claims he was never in love, but later shares the tragic story of his first love (which was almost embarrassingly melodramatic).

Although I can see how others appreciate the author's writing, it's really not to my taste.

"I wish I could talk more, but I have an appointment. Let me know what you decide." Dennis hung up, and Michael stood, walking over and opening his door before going back to work. At lunchtime, he ate alone. Usually Michael ate with some of the guys or other managers, but today he wasn't up for it. He had too much to think about. What bothered him most was that he knew he was going to do it. He knew he‟d put his life on hold and do this project because they'd asked, but he absolutely didn't want to go. It wasn't in his psyche to turn them down. Michael had always done what the company needed and asked of him, and it really wasn't in him to say no. He knew it, and he thought Curtis and Mark knew it too.

Though there's nothing technically wrong with the above, for me it's too much telling, too much information dumping. The reader is told more than s/he is shown, which makes it difficult to invest in the characters or the story.

I also found some of the dialogue to be rather unrealistic. Does anyone actually talk like this?

[...] "You must talk, Stephan. I don't know what Heinrich told you, but you have to talk to me. I want to hear your voice, your sounds, I want you to tell me what you like and what you don't. I want to hear you as well as see, taste, and feel you."

"But...," Stephan stuttered.

"You must always ask for what you want. I'll decide when and if you get it, but you must never be afraid to ask, and you must always say if you do not like anything." Michael touched Stephan‟s chin. "Always. I don't play games and I don't fool around. If we do this, it's an expression of our feelings for one another."

Other Thoughts:
There's a lot of mind reading in this book. The first time it struck me was when Michael had a conversation with his seatmate during his flight to Europe. Though he made no prior comment about being gay and the single word he said was Devon, Ruthie (the seatmate) instantly knows that Devon (a unisex name, last I'd checked) is a man and that he and Michael used to be involved. Later, Michael has a conversation with Devon in which Devon states that he was wrong to end things the way he did, which Michael immediately assumes means that Devon wants to get back together. There are other directions comments could have led, but the respondents always automatically know exactly what the speaker means. It's just a little unbelievable.

Overall:
It's not a bad story, but it's so out of line with my tastes that I just can't come to like it. Fans of the author will find a lot here, I'm sure, but this story has demonstrated that I am unfortunately not one of them.