Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Paolo Silva, with the Stanton PD, is assigned to help the State police with their investigation into the disappearance of six-year-old Matt Wilson and his dog Pixie. The search is being headed up by Paolo’s ex, Devin Morris. The Police Chief personally requests that pet psychic, Jaron Greenberg, be brought into the investigation in the hopes of locating Pixie and by extension, Matt. Paolo is charged with heading up that part of the investigation, without the press finding out about the addition of a psychic to the team.
Pulled in many directions by Devin, the Chief, his attraction to Jaron, and his desire to locate Matt, Paolo takes the investigation in a new direction thanks to information provided by Jaron. As a result, Paolo gets removed from the case. Refusing to give up, Paolo and Jaron continue looking for clues. Is Matt still alive? Are the pieces of the puzzle coming together fast enough to save the young boy and his dog? They sure hope so.
I felt like I was taking a chance when I selected Finding Matt, the subject matter being one that could easily polarize readers, but what I found was a book that balanced the various storylines quite well. The abduction is obviously important, but what Ruskin managed to do was to show that life continues moving forward and the abduction, although critical, does not consume the lives of everyone involved.
I honestly can’t recall having read a book that featured a psychic and quite liked the fact that Jaron was a pet psychic who could use the animal’s thoughts and memories to uncover the truth. I was satisfied with Paolo’s back story and why he left the State Police to take a position with the Stanton PD. Both of these guys had their good and bad points, and nothing about their relationship came easy.
This is first and foremost a mystery that just happens to have a M/M romance element to it and, as far as a mystery goes, I liked that we are privy to the identity of the antagonist and have to sit back and watch the characters struggle to solve the crime and bring Matt home. The one thing I did notice though is that the remaining characters were quite shallow and two-dimensional, even Jaron’s BFF Stephen, and Matt’s parents, who really would have benefited from a bit more depth.
The first chapter was a challenge, I won’t lie, simply because of the subject matter. Once I got past that, I was drawn into the story and did not put the book down often, or for very long, wanting to see what happened. If you are a fan of a mystery where the focus is on the plot and not on the sex, this would be a good choice and to others, don’t let the subject matter scare you off. Ruskin addressed the abduction respectfully.
A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.
