Lisa Henry

G.A. Hauser is either hit or miss with me, and this one was definitely a hit.

Jesse James Wilde, aka JJ, has only got a few weeks to go on the prison sentence he got for dealing drugs, if he keeps his nose clean. Otherwise, he'll be serving the full term: twelve years instead of the six he's almost completed. JJ has so far managed to keep out of trouble and fly under the radar, but that's before new guard Mike McClintock's first shift.

These guys have chemistry from the first glance, but JJ's not going to risk another six years, is he? And Mike's not going to risk his job, is he?

The answer to both questions is, "Of course he is."

I really liked the tension here. I was desperately waiting for the guys to get it on, even though a part of me was telling them to play it safe and wait out JJ's sentence. But where would the story be in that?

In the claustrophobic environment of a prison, there are eyes and ears everywhere, the guards gossip as much as the inmates, and nobody can keep a secret. I kept waiting for things to go horribly wrong for JJ, and the tension kept creeping up nicely as JJ counted down until his release. And the few moments these two got in private were hot!

I think this is the best G.A Hauser book I've read, and it's all down to the detail of prison life, which reads very realistically. Obviously, I don't really know what prison life is like, and hope never to find out, thanks very much. But it felt very realistic, as did the resolution of the story.