Review: Dirty Kiss

Title: Dirty Kiss
Author: Rhys Ford
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication Date: 1 July 2011
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 225 pages

Rating: 5 out of 5

Review: Cole is an ex-police officer, retiring into life as a private investigator after an injury resulting from his partner's betrayal. When he agrees to look into the suicide of Kim Hyun-Shik at his brother's request, he doesn't realize that he's taking not only his life into his hands, but also his heart when he meets Hyun-Shik's cousin, Jae-Min. The deeper Cole digs, the more the bodies start piling up, until it's a desperate race to save not only his own life, but also Jae-Min's.

Cole is an immediately engaging narrator, starting with the snappy tone right from the start as he flees from a shotgun-toting grandmotherly type. He's easy to like, a wise-ass without being too much so. He's a deeply-scarred man, on the inside as well as the outside, but, while he does feel those scars, he doesn't let them cripple him. He fights for what's important to him and doesn't compromise on what he believes is right. All together, he's surprisingly likable, someone I'd like to be able to hug at various points throughout the story.

Jae-Min is more of a mystery, which is natural given that the entire story is told from Cole's point-of-view. I like Cole's initial appraisal of him--feral. It's very apt to his behavior and past as they come out in dribs and drabs. Despite not having his own voice in the story, he too is very well-developed, and another man to whom I would love to give hugs.

The supporting cast has its strong points--Scarlet and Bobby being my favorites. I never really warmed to Mike (though to be honest I'm not certain I was supposed to), and I felt that the police officers were more caricatures than well-realized characters, but they suited their purposes. I would've liked to have gotten to know Claudia and her clan better as well, but I can understand how the pacing of the story precluded that.

The chemistry between Cole and Jae-Min was fascinating. Cole is ridiculously far out of Jae's realm of experience--feral, remember--while Jae returns the favor. Neither seems to know what to make of the other, but they can't deny the attraction, despite the cultural and experience differences. It takes them a while to act on it, but when they do... well, it's worth the wait.

The story itself was mostly strong, though the resolution of the mystery struck me as being a little bit out of left field. (Maybe I just suck at figuring out mysteries, I dunno, but it wasn't until there were no other options left that I figured out who the killer was--about three pages before they were actually revealed.) Despite what I felt to be a lack of foreshadowing, it was tightly-plotted, without being so tight that there was no room left to explore the characters. The setting was well-realized, the characters well-fleshed-out, and ultimately it was just a pleasure.

I do have to admit that the name of the club threw me. It was originally referred to in English as Dirty Kiss (hence the title), after which it was always referred to as Dorthi Ki Seu. It took me forever to figure that it was the same thing and not a translation. (I hesitate to use the term 'romaji' as it's Korean, not Japanese, but I can't seem to locate the correct terminology.)

The story itself is self-contained within the book, to the point that it could easily be a stand-alone volume. This isn't to say that I'm not delighted to hear of a sequel, of course! There is plenty to explore between Cole and Jae-Min, but it's quite easy to let the story end here and still be satisfied.

In the end, I can't really come up with anything I strongly disliked about the story. I wish that the mystery had been just a smidge more transparent (but, again, that may just be my sucking with mysteries), but, even so, I wholeheartedly recommend giving this book a read.