Serial numbers filed off a great fan fiction novel. ( )

Jack Ballam is a secret agent for the Australian government. He has not a by the book past, he was a mercenary and lived on the edge for a lot of time, but then one man made him an offer he couldn't refuse: O'Brien had the mission to renovate the Australian Federal Intelligence Service and to do that he was recruiting the best men. Jack was one of them, and O'Brien was willing to go over a lot of things a normal Government structure would not allow, like the fact that Jack was gay. Not that O'Brien was thrilled by the idea, but now what was a problem could be an asset.

O'Brien asks Ballam to seduce Tane Canton. Tane is the former lover of a paid assassin the ASIF is trying to lure and Tane is the perfect bait; Hale is a psychopathic that can't suffer someone tries to poach in his territory, and even if Tane dumped him one years before, probably if he knows that someone else is interested in the man, he will return on the scene. Tane is a former model who is trying the actor career and his first main role is in an action movie. Ballam obtains the job of technical adviser on the set and so the chance to be near Tane.

When Ballam at first accepts the mission, he sees Tane only as a pretty face, someone who is very good in selling himself, and probably someone with a tough skin. It will be a pleasure for Ballam to seduce the man, and if pleasure and business coincide, even better. But when Ballam has the chance to know better Tane, he realizes that the man was used and mistreated by Hale, and he is still pretty fragile. Ballam realizes also that, when he will bring on his mission, he will destroy Tane, since the young man will be used another time.

Hale was not the first man to profit of Tane. A foster kid, he had very bad experiences in the past, and he needed to find someone to lean on for love and comfort; he relied his trust on Hale and was deeply wounded. He is now starting to trust again with Ballam, and he will be shattered when the true will come out, since not only he is in love with Ballam, but also since the man lied to him; at first Tane didn't trust Ballam, and Ballam was very good in manoeuvring the man till Tane believed to be in the wrong.

I like how the author develops the relationship between the two main characters, it's sexy but not too much sugary; there is sex, but it's not very detailed, but this doesn't mean that it's not romantic or enjoyable. Both Ballam than Tane had very bad experience in the past with sex, and so it's only natural that they behave like if they are walking in a mine field. I like also the fact that the main sex scene are not described in the moment, but relived in flashback by Ballam in the aftermath.

The book is a good thriller novel with a bit of romance, but the romance component is enough to satisfy the lovers of the genre. At the same time is not so heavy to avert who instead prefer their thriller novel with less mushy elements.

http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/430235.html