Fair Game (All's Fair Book 1)

I am new to this "in your face" mystery paradigm. Starting with the first paragraph the reader is slammed into the story. You hold on for dear life, and the ride gets better with each page. Wow. 'Nuff said.

Fair Game is everything better than 'fair'. This was a most exciting book filled with interest, intrigue, and wonderful man hunt and passion. Tender and gentle moments are created from danger and mystery. I have already recommended this book to some of my friends and associates.

Great book all around! It was an entertaining and exciting read without relying on adult romance scenes like some gay fiction novels do. I highly recommend this and will be purchasing more from
Josh Lanyon!

I enjoy Josh Lanyon's style; it reads fluidly and engages one. His plotting is sufficiently obscure without being unbelievable or so convoluted that you need a character list to keep everyone in order. How the murderer is found out is rather novel - a good bit of wit.

With well paved plots and interesting leading characters, I've surprisingly enjoyed this mystery with the fight for the urge to stay up even after the supposed bed time. Full of movie-like setting and vivid action to tense up the nerve. A nice job to fulfill fans looking for a real modern mystery with additional flavor of romance to spice up the fun for reading.

Many times I thought I had figured things out... but every time I was wrong.

The romance in this story is very mild. I like more spice and emotions in the books I read. This book is great if you care more about the adventure of the story. Not so great if you like deep connections between characters.

3.5 stars

Wonderful!! Fun, tense, mental visuals are awesome. Great character and storylines. If you love mystery that's exciting and not easy to guess before the end then this is for you. Add the romance and you've got this winner. Can't wait for the sequel!!!!

The characters were likeable for the most part. The sex scenes were a little out of touch with reality and stereotypical. I didn't really feel the romance. I thought that it was an okay book. It was worth reading but somehow I think this book will become one of the many "ok" books that I read and have forgotten. Still it wasn't terrible. I do like these types of books for the most part but they usually end predictably the same way.

I liked this book. I liked the two main characters and the storyline of a former FBI agent adjusting to civilian life.

I could also tell that the author performed a lot of research to write this book and took care to get the details about law enforcement and serial killers right.

I would read more books by this author.

Enjoyable story. The author is talented. But I wish he'd edited this work to make it less of a chore to read. Too many cliches and clunky or incomplete sentences. I found myself rewriting (in my head) almost every other paragraph.

Chilly, judgmental hero. I cut him some slack for severe disruptions in his life, but ugh. Racial stereotypes. Hippy stereotypes. Academia stereotypes. Artist stereotypes. Repulsive neighbor--i cant believe the hero was so stupid about this sleazebag! Lack of contact between between MCs,

I am super into romance mysteries right now, so of course I had to start on another Josh Lanyon series after reading The Adrien English Mysteries. I feel like I enjoyed this book a lot, simply because the story was much more tighter from beginning-to-end. The main characters were introduced quite early on, and their characterizations were well-developed. The mystery aspect of this story had me on my toes and kept me guessing until the end.

This is the start of a trilogy starring an ex-FBI agent, Elliot Mills. He was injured on the job, and rather than take a desk job at the FBI, he is now a college professor where his father used to teach.This book is told just from Elliot's POV. He lives in a cabin out on a island he has to travel by ferry to each day to and from work. He still has aches and pains in his leg that'll never truly go away. When a student goes missing on campus, his father calls Elliot in to help a family friend find their son. The FBI is already on the case, but with Elliot's experience, his father thought Elliot can help keep them in the loop better than the FBI can. This is how Elliot then finds himself working alongside his former lover, Tucker Lance, as they hunt down suspects to the boy's disappearance.

Elliot and Tucker were lovers when Elliot was still in the FBI, but they were never really quite boyfriends. When Elliot left the FBI, that was the end of their relationship, and it becomes evident very quickly that they left things on a bitter note.

What I really love about Lanyon's mysteries is that there are so many secondary characters introduced into the story that it's difficult to tell who the killer is. Everyone starts looking like a suspect at one time or another. Then, there's the fact that there's two student disappearances, and when there's absolutely nothing to tie the two together, the case gets even more complex. The story is intricate, and there's even some harrowing moments for Elliot when his investigation into the missing students starts angering the wrong person.

I especially love that while there's a mystery going on, the reader is also left wondering about Elliot and Tucker's relationship. Their relationship feels natural, and while the two characters knew each other before this story began, I don't think we're really left out on any missing storylines between the two from before. Elliot and Tucker just never really had a close, emotional relationship before their separation and everything that builds up between them happens in this book. I really liked reading about Elliot and Tucker and their newfound growing attraction for each other.

Overall, I really liked this story and feels like it's a fantastic start to a series!

*Note: I purchased the Carina paperback version, which may differ from the ebook.*
Unlike some reviewers on here, I preferred the first half to the second (just shows everyone is looking for something different--can't please everyone). I also thought it was well written at the sentence level, unlike some others here. I saw only one or two copyediting errors--pretty much par for the course these days and not a big deal.
What prevented me from full-blown enjoyment boils down to two things - 1. the main character. He was too whiny and needy for my tastes. I didn't "get" the relationship with Tucker. It didn't seem realistic. However, this being romantic suspense, that is to be expected, I suppose. I think it would have been a better story without any romance and just have a professor solving a crime. And 2. The solution to the mystery. I figured out who it was very early on, but even so the motives and MO of the culprit just didn't ring true to me. It's too much of a "pop fiction" construct and that is all I was say to prevent a spoiler.
That being said, I found this to be an entertaining page-turner. Fun but not quite a keeper.
I am still a Lanyon fan!