Expired Listings

by DM Barr

This was a story that straddled genres and appeared at times not to be entirely comfortable in any of them, it sort of danced around the peripheries but if I had to plant its feet anywhere, I would put it firmly in the mystery romance pot because although the BDSM element of the story was well played and for the most part it lay comfortably within the context of the storyline, for me it was the mystery of the murders and the eluded danger that dragged me from page to page.

I liked the fact that the author kicked things up a bit with the whole BDSM slant but there were times that I found some of the details gave me a mental image that I don’t know that I want swimming around in my head, there were some scenes that I hadn’t anticipated and preferences alluded too that I can only say weren’t  entirely to my taste but each to their own and that is the joy of being able to read cross genres, it challenges  you as a reader because while you can like a story, a character, a setting, you might not like every single element and that was the case for me with this book….some of the actions, described or implied caught me cold and that was a surprise.

So enough of what I didn’t like so to speak, and more of what I did like because there were definitely more positives.

This was a cleverly constructed thriller (in more ways than one), the mystery was carefully and astutely layered, it was complex in its simplicity almost and that is a talent that is not easy to master. The story was erotically aloof when necessary, saying more by implication and intimation than by gaudy description, but didn’t shy away from the BDSM elements, at times I got the feeling that the author was almost challenging me and again that isn’t always a bad thing.

I think you will find your fill with this book, it had characters that you could both love and hate, some of them were, like the story more devious than appearances would have you believe. Oh and to top it all, I didn’t even manage to suss out who the killer was.