"Protection"

Review - "Protection" by S.A. Reid

A heartbreaking revelation 

Very Highly Recommended

Gabriel MacKenna is a hard man.  Sentenced to life in prison for a double murder, he is determined to be nobody's boy.  He will do whatever is necessary to protect himself; no man will force him into a homosexual act, and he will yield to no one.  In 1931 England, prison is a hard reality.  And Gabriel will be the hardest man there.

Dr. Joseph Cooper enters Wentworth Prison sentenced for a mistake.  A God awful mistake.  Killing a woman and her unborn baby.  He walks into prison with his head held high, innocent, not knowing the danger all around him.  Young, handsome, and very vulnerable.

When Gabriel sees Joey, he decides he needs punishing, and as head man at Wentworth, he is just the man to do it.  So when Joey enters the showers, Gabriel follows and takes what he wants, leaving Joey a broken, bloody, raped mess.  And then adds insult to injury and becomes his cellmate.

Joey would rather die than face rape again.  And tells Gabriel so.  And then tells him his story.  What got him in prison, what destroyed his life.  All  men in prison are innocent - it is the oldest story in the book.  But something...touches Gabriel and changes his mind.  He desires Joey, like he has never desired anything in his life.  But he will not take it.  He will protect him, but not force.  Not again.

As time passes, the two forge a truce of sorts.  But will Joey ever forgive Gabriel?  hat drove Gabriel to commit the murders that have him in prison?  And what kind of future is there for these two men in the life in which they are trapped? 

This book, this stunning, harsh, broken heart of a book, took me to places I did not want to go, showed me things I did not want to see, but then.  Then it taunted me with hope and love and redemption and pain and heartbreak.  And damn it, I wanted it.  I wanted these two men to have a future, against the odds and the circumstances and the realities.  I wanted like they wanted.

"But because in this place where he'd lost so much, when nearly every comfort had been taken away, he alone had the power to forgive Gabriel.  And with the realization of his power came the sweet temptation to use it."

Power where least expected.  Love and romance where most dangerous.  Where can it all lead?  Somewhere bittersweet, somewhere fine, somewhere terrible.

Read this with your heart.  S.A. Reid has made me open mine, grabbing me and never letting go.

Tom