This was a nice addition to the Petit Morts series, though I liked the first one a bit better. In this one, Carey, a cute member of the college swim team has a crush on Walter, a straight-laced, stone-faced TA. A campus mystery involving secret admirers and Valentine's Day surrounds their budding romance and stamps it as definitely Josh Lanyon's work. It's a very satisfying short story that packs a lot of punch. This story was unsettling and cute at the same time. I liked the college setting and the dark taste of the Valentine Day's killer and how it got weaved with Carey's secret admirer. I loved the main characters. Carey is a jock, but he's also an average young man, vanilla but not boring in his plain-ness. I think what makes him interesting is his being attracted to his professor's teaching assistant, Walter, a broody, not handsome man who Carey's friends call Skeletor. His going behind appearances to the heart of a proud but lonesome man is what makes him special. Even if the story is in Carey's point of view, the author is able to give us a round portrait of Walt, with his insecurities but also with his warm generosity. The candy shop scene with Chance deserves to be re-read after the end of the story.
What do You think about Slings And Arrows (2010)?
1st read 4/12/122nd read 4/4/143rd read 12/14/14 - reread due to Christmas coda
—mumiljen
Great mix of murder, mystery and a little romance!
—i_be_ballen
