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Fair Play  By  cover art

Fair Play

By: Josh Lanyon
Narrated by: J. F. Harding
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Publisher's summary

Fifty years ago, Roland Mills belonged to a violent activist group. Now, someone is willing to kill to prevent him from publishing his memoirs. When ex-FBI agent Elliot Mills is called out to examine the charred ruins of his childhood home, he quickly identifies the fire for what it is - arson. A knee injury may have forced Elliot out of the Bureau, but it's not going to stop him from bringing the man who wants his father dead to justice. Agent Tucker Lance is still working to find the serial killer who's obsessed with Elliot and can't bear the thought of his lover putting himself in additional danger.

Straight-laced Tucker has never agreed with radical Roland on much - "opposing political viewpoints" is an understatement - but they're united on this: Elliot needs to leave the case alone. Now. Tucker would do nearly anything for the man he loves, but he won't be used to gain Elliot access to the FBI's resources. When the past comes back to play and everything both men had known to be true is questioned, their fragile relationship is left hanging in the balance. See how Tucker and Elliot's relationship began in Fair Game.

©2014 Josh Lanyon (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Fair Play

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great sequel

Fair Play is a great sequel and I like Elliot and Tucker even more this time around as they go through their relationship dynamic.

The mystery and the history behind Elliot's father is also very interesting, with many twists and turns.

And the narrator is pretty awesome as well :)

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6 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Conflicted, but mostly yuck.

There are three stories going on here. One is interesting in a conventional kind of way. The other two are dismal.

Up front, there is the "what happened and whodunit" mystery. For the most part, it's not a bad bit of storytelling. This is the best part of what's happening in this book.

Layered throughout the above is a story of a father and son trying to understand one another. This is frustrating because the father and son react in ways necessary for the narrative to continue, but they don't act in ways toward each other that rational human beings would consider.

Then there is the relationship between the two central characters of Elliot and Tucker. What a mess. This is just another horrible case of a writer creating characters in a story line compelling to female readers but not in any way bending toward the reality of how gay males exist in the real world.

I consider this a type of modern-day minstrelsy.

I am not really sure how female writers get away with this misrepresentation for titillation behavior. I just hope that someday there'll be an accounting.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another one that FINALLY sounds like Josh...

Good job Josh...and J.F., good job...I still have the urge to b*tch slap Elliot, but I love him. Bless Tucker's sweet heart...I love him more...Listener, you don't "have" to listen to the first book, but it will help to understand the second one a lot more. I kept it. I want another one in fact. This was pure Josh...thank God.

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3 people found this helpful

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Great book

In my opinion this one was better than the first book and I am so very happy this narrator was chosen rather than the previous one. The narration is very good and the story is much easier to follow so all in all a much better book.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Highly entertaining sequel + excellent narration

Overall, I found FAIR PLAY to be appreciably better than the first book, FAIR GAME.

Storyline-wise, the writing was tighter and there seemed to be less glossing over or 'gaps' in the flow, despite the single POV of Elliott. The mystery/suspense plot was just as good as in the first book, but the relationship/romance between Elliott and Tucker felt more tangible.

Narration-wise, major thumbs-up to have J.F. Harding narrate this second book (as well as the final one). One of my favorite narrators, his cadence & vocalising are both more natural and varied to my ear.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Even better!

We are back in Seattle some six months after we left the guys in Fair Game. This time around tragedy strikes a bit too close to comfort when Roland's house is burnt down to the ground. All evidence points to arson and his old activist group being the motive. Someone might just kill to keep some secrets left alone and past events left forgotten.

While this book too is heavily focused on the mystery it also deals a lot with family in all its forms. Roland's past has come back to make a visit and some secrets are bound to come out - did they really cover up a murder of an FBI agent from back then - and what really happened to the teenage girl that just vanished?

There is also much more focus on the new relationship between Elliot and Tucker. How they navigate their lives together as their relationship solidifies, and a deeper trust is formed. But investigating Roland's past does put a strain on their new relationship. Out of the blue they also get a surprise visit in the form of Tuckers long lost mother and her new husband, but will they be accepting of Tucker and his love for Elliot?

There has been a switch in narrators from book one. This book is narrated by the fabulous J.F. Harding, and I for one is very happy with that switch. Normally I want consistency in my narrations, the same voice throughout a series, keeping the same voices for each character, start to finish and so on. But this time around I am happy with the switch. Harding narrates with feeling, he brings you into the story in a way that Allerde didn't with the first book. So changing narrators isn't always a bad thing.

All in all I very much enjoyed this book, I love mysteries and family secrets, so this was right up my alley. These boys are definitely well worth spending time with, so I think I'll jump straight on to Fair Chance.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not as good as the first, but decent.

Honestly, 2 things nearly ruined this for me. 1st - the sex scenes (specifically the one in the sunroom) aren't realistic and were wierd... I am no stranger to kink and the conflict of needing the other person to be dominant in bed is fine, but that particular scene bordered too close to rape for my comfort. 2nd - there is some SERIOUS misogynist shit in this book. I like Roland, no matter that he's a slimeball egotist, but the casual mistreatment of the women around him - by EVERYONE, including self professed "feminist" characters - turned my stomach. It's probably realistic, but it goes completely unchallenged and made it impossible for me to sympathize with several characters that I was supposed to be empathetic towards... I no longer like Roland at all at the end of this book.

The writing was good, the mystery felt solid to me. The description doesn't match the content much at all, but that was fine. Tucker's real conflicts felt more compelling than what was described.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Poorly-conceived Lanyon mystery

I'm still not really sure what to think of this book. I enjoyed the first one in the series, but this one fell a bit flat to me. The exploration of the relationship between Elliot and his father left a sour taste for me simply because I didn't like the father as a character. He's absolutely vile, and I think Lanyon thought he was sympathetic somehow? He wasn't, and I wouldn't have been at all sad to read about him getting himself exploded. I also wasn't crazy about the central relationship between Elliot and Tucker; Tucker was fine but Elliot was insufferable through most of the novel.

I liked JF Harding's narration and the writing itself was fine, but to be completely honest I don't think I'll listen to the third book in the series. I'm just not at all invested in the characters. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I genuinely disliked this one, and I love Lanyon, typically.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Oh my gosh Josh

I love your books. More story than sex. The perfect blend of the two. So many "romance" titles are just excuses for porn, but you are one of my favorite writers!

#Audible20

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1 person found this helpful

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Complex and intriguing

Loved the narration! The story was compelling and well thought out; the mature approach to the inner workings of human relationships was a nice surprise and ever present. Highly recommend! Kind of sexy now and then which is an added bonus 

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