Pariah

First things first. This is not a romance, M/M or otherwise. It could be said to be romance adjacent, maybe? The lead is a gay man and here we get his return, after years of absence, to his hometown in California. If you've read (I haven't) the author's previous series/book you know a lot more about him & his backstory but you don't have to as this book does a good job of letting the reader know in broad strokes Vasily's backstory. I was fine with that, the story, and the writing in general.

My problem or “dislike” of the story stems from the following:

Despite being told over and over about Vasily's brilliantness he doesn't seem so smart. In his first five days back in he manages to sleep with with three (3) basic strangers and, at least on of them, highly inappropriate. I couldn't discern Vasily's attraction to any of them save base physicality of them being attractive gay men which I guess is a thing but ... maybe not when you are back home, fleeing some unfulfilled attraction, and establishing yourself as a competent professional.

Secondly I didn't buy the whole Vasily is a genius investigator. We, as readers, were told that but I'm not sure I believed it. He was competent.

Third the author/his character Vasily has/had a fixation on the post-work out smells of unwashed bodies and apparel. I'm sure that's a thing for certain gay men but I'm not a man, gay or otherwise, and stinkyness doesn't do it for me. It is in fact a turnoff.

Will I go on with this? Not sure. Probably not. We'll see. It's on KU.

As always YMMV and enjoy what you enjoy.