Author: ⟫ M. Kato
Rating: ⟫ 4/5
Blurb: ⟫ Chief Inspector Hayashi Teruo is short-tempered, impatient and a perfectionist. When another one of his partners resigns, Teruo is assigned a new one transferred from Hiroshima. But this comes with a condition: if his partner bails on Teruo before the end of the month, he risks demotion.
Miyazaki Shinji wants to forget the problems of his past, focus on his new position at Tōkyō MPD and work with the department’s best homicide detective. As a supernatural, Shinji speaks with ghosts of murder victims, gaining insight into the cases and solving them faster.
Before they get a chance to become acquainted, Teruo and Shinji are thrown into a new murder case. The body of a young man is found, killed with a weapon bearing a strange resemblance to a dog's collar. As more victims are discovered, they need to dig deeper and find the connection between them.
While working on the case, Teruo and Shinji are caught into an irresistible attraction. But being partners on duty and lovers in bed isn't easy. As Teruo slowly unravels Shinji’s secrets, he questions his partner's integrity, while Shinji is caught in endless lies threatening his relationship with Teruo as lovers and co-workers.
Review: ⟫ This book got more and more interesting the more I read, but I definitely had some issues with it. The main characters were not very defined in my opinion and their relationship got hot and heavy extremely fast with no real explanation as to why they were feeling such an intense attraction to each other.
The Supernatural aspects were really interesting, although I sometimes got confused with the terminology that was used. I was also fascinated by Teruo’s reactions – on the one hand, he was more than a little blasé, but on the other hand he was asking the questions I would want answers to.
The procedural aspects of things were good but a bit basic, but with all of the supernatural stuff to explain that is understandable. I will be looking for the second book in the series to read and would recommend this to people interested in a little supernatural touch to their police romance.
4/5 from me – I received an ARC from GRR.
