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Secrets (Full Nelson, #1)
By Jeff Erno
Four stars

Detective Chris Nelson just wants to have a romantic weekend with his husband, Ethan. But his boss hands him a case that he knows he won’t be able to resist.

A high school senior at a military academy has confessed to killing his swim coach. The boy claims that the coach was his lover. Chris’s boss doesn’t believe the confession.

It’s a good thing Ethan is used to Chris’s obsessive work habits.

What a nice world in which an out gay cop can get the support he needs at his job and at home. What a sad world in which adolescent boys are abused by the very people who are supposed to mentor and protect them.

Jeff Erno’s “Secrets� is the first of what I hope will be a good long series of mysteries. The straightforward writing, compelling plot and likeable characters come together to make a quick, interesting read. The storyline is disturbing, particularly for a gay man with two kids (that would be me). But it is the counterpoint between Chris and Ethan’s life and the ugliness in which the students are caught up that gives the book its punch. This is a cop story for a changing world. It is not bleak; it is hopeful.

I wanted to get a better sense of Chris and Ethan, oddly enough. Their dynamic as a couple is very nicely portrayed, but I didn’t get a sense of what they look like or how they compare with each other. It’s odd, especially since the physical characteristics of the students is an important ongoing thread.

And, just to be annoying, I have to say that here is one of those contemporary m/m books in which the sex scenes are really not necessary. It’s not that I don’t want the characters to have a good sex life; it’s that I don’t need it described in detail (although Erno does a good job of it). Knowing that they are a successful couple and that they love each other is, really, enough for me. This is a book in which appropriate, loving gay sexual activity is contrasted to inappropriate, criminal sexual abuse. Erno gives us the emotions; we don’t need diagrams.

Can’t wait to see what Chris Nelson gets up to next.