The Reading Room - "Never Let Me Down"

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

The story for this week is "Never Let Me Down" by Shoshanna (the_shoshanna on lj).

First published as a 'zine novel by Manacles Press (1992).
This story can be found:
At the Circuit Archive
At the author's website

Information - as some of it might be spoilery, I've hidden this - highlight the block text to reveal:

Pairing: Bodie/Doyle

Warnings: graphic Bodie/Other Male, implied Doyle/Other Male.

Author's summary: "I'm taking a ride with my best friend. I hope he never lets me down again."



A skilfully written, beautifully paced novel that draws the reader in early and keeps their attention until the last paragraph. The setting is pure CI5 - the characters feel real, the friendship finely detailed. When things become complicated, when Bodie finds out that Doyle is bi and can't deal with it, when the knowledge brings his "internalised homophobia" (author's description quoted on Pros Lib) to the surface, it's the thread of friendship that keeps them talking and prevents them breaking apart completely.

"Do you still want me?" Bodie caught his breath, waiting.

Slowly Doyle shifted, pulling his legs up and hugging one knee to his chest. He dropped his chin onto his kneecap, and closed his eyes.

"I was afraid you'd ask that." He breathed once, deeply, in and out.

He had already answered Bodie's question. "Doyle--"

"Bodie, I said I wouldn't lie to you. Not even to make it easier on you, or me. Yes." He raised his head and met his partner's eyes. "Yes, I still want you."

Bodie licked his lips. "Why?"

"Why?" Doyle laughed a little, and turned to stare out across the room, away from him. "Christ, I don't know. Because you're my best friend, and I like being with you? Because you've got a great body, and an arse that could drive me crazy?" Bodie flinched, but Doyle didn't pause. "Because you're the best partner I've ever had, and I lie awake at night thinking about you? Christ, Bodie. Why does anyone want anyone?"

Tension was shivering through Bodie's neck and arms. "Are you saying you're in love with me?"

"No. You don't want any part of it, I know that. I'm not in love with you. But I could be." He turned back to Bodie. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Not for feeling this way. For--" He hesitated, then shrugged resignedly, his mouth twisting. "For telling you, maybe."

Slowly, with several false starts and stops, their relationship becomes intimate. There's no magic sex, no zipless fucking, in the beginning - - it's awkward and tentative and at times not all that pleasurable. And Bodie is still struggling to work out what it means.

Bodie wasn't sure he understood how a man could be in love with another man. It didn't fit with anything he'd ever thought of. Doyle and he were fine together; they were friends, partners--lovers, too, he supposed. But what he felt for Doyle was completely different from what he'd felt for a few women here and there, the passion for Marikka and the aching tenderness he'd had for Azande. He'd thought, once, he'd like to marry her; she'd been pregnant when Krivas killed her, and he'd had crazy dreams of taking her and the kid away, finding somewhere safe.

Doyle didn't seem to fit in there at all. But he seemed to think that he could. Bodie remembered the two queers staring into each others' eyes, that afternoon in the pub. A few women had looked at him like that, though usually only very early on in the relationship. He couldn't imagine Doyle looking at him like that, and didn't want to try.

and

Not talking about it--that there didn't seem to be anything to talk about, despite what they'd done--made Bodie itchy. Restless and irritated, one night after a long and frustrating day, he tried again to ask Doyle about the men he'd been with before. But only Doyle brushed the question aside, and Bodie, nettled, repeated it.

"What's the big deal, Doyle? I know all about your girlfriends. All I'm asking is where you meet the boyfriends..." He knew as the word left his mouth that it was the wrong one.

Doyle scowled at him. "And I'm telling you it's none of your business," he snapped. "I don't feel like layin' my personal life out on a slab for you to pick over. Understand?"

They came close to an argument before Bodie backed off, angry and baffled. He wasn't even sure why he was asking, except that Doyle wouldn't tell him, and it left him with a nagging uncertainty. He tried again a few weeks later, picking his time better, and was met with weary brusqueness. How did Doyle meet them? Around. What kind of blokes? Just regular blokes, Bodie. Did you think I went for drag queens or something? Stung, Bodie withdrew, left again with his solitary uneasiness.

Then Doyle injures his ankle, just before he and Bodie were due to go north on a lengthy (and ultimately frustrating) job. Murph goes with Bodie instead, then comes down with a cold leaving Bodie at a loose end...

He took the scrap out of his pocket and flattened it on his leg, considering. He was curious, that was all. Wanted to know what these places were like, what Doyle saw in them. Who Doyle saw in them. Besides, what could it hurt? The worst that could happen would be some ponce making a pass at him, and Bodie was in no doubt of his ability to fend off any queer who might try it on.

What happens then sets the scene for the final crisis and resolution - and all I'm going to say about that is that it's immensely satisfying.

Comments

[jgraeme2007.livejournal.com]

I agree that this is very well-written. It's well done and she does, for me, capture the lads and CI5 beautifully. Good, realistic dialog, strong scene setting, pacing...plotting...I like it very much. In fact, I really can't think of a single thing technically wrong with it. I'll be curious to see what others make of it.

For myself, as much as I appreciate the writing, it doesn't move me -- my response is more about more my intellectual appreciation of her considerable skill and craft. There was no particular emotional connection for me in the story, and I'm not sure why when the writing is so well done? But my feeling for NLMD brings to mind one of our earlier reading room discussions...about the emotional core or emotional resonance of storytelling. Something that is obviously subjective.

Anyway, looking forward to reading the discussion.

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about 'emotional resonance', but I did care about and empathise with Bodie's emotional journey, for which I credit the excellent writing. His discomfort, embarrassment, curiosity, resentment, were all quite tangible to me.

I think the careful attention to POV helped. There's enough description to see something of Doyle's motivation, clearly he wants Bodie, but the writing is carefully focussed on Bodie's thought processes, where I am always happy to go exploring.

spoiler alert

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

There is a vivid, graphic realism about this writing that I admired. Lots of good plotty action, other agents, other agencies. And factual details, like Bodie’s precise military at-ease stance in Cowley’s office, and the gun conversation with Castleton. Cowley’s attitude to homosexual CI5 agents is good and clear, and plausible, no fudging there. Similarly, realistic touches like the lads’ concern that any homosexual activity must be strictly private, they can’t take the risk of even being seen, and some frank observations about anal sex that are usually glossed over in fic.

For my personal taste, Murphy was a bit wasted. When placed in the extremely tempting situation of sharing a hotel room with Bodie with nothing to do for a week, Murphy just being unattractive and miserable with a headcold was disappointing. Similarly I got all excited when Jax was paired with Doyle, and then Bodie started to look appreciatively at Jax… but again nothing came of it.

Which leads me to the mild criticism that there were a number of slightly pointless plot points, which could at best be considered red herrings (Jax, sending Bodie on an op with Murphy, the bike ride in the country). These made me think, or even hope, the plot was going a particular way, then it didn’t. Which was at least interesting.

Shoshanna did a good job on the OC, I thought. A single man who loves his cat can’t be all bad. And the little scene where the cat woke Bodie was lovely, there was just enough shock to make it appear as though he was under attack for real.

I liked the way the sex scenes increased in intensity from the beginning to the end. It was refreshing to read a fic where the first time (or even the second or third time) is not the most mindblowing sex either has ever had. The exploration of Bodie accepting the idea of loving Doyle, getting used to it, and finally embracing it, is so well done, through the succession of sexual encounters and through Bodie’s thought processes.

Re: spoiler alert

[jgraeme2007.livejournal.com]

Which leads me to the mild criticism that there were a number of slightly pointless plot points, which could at best be considered red herrings (Jax, sending Bodie on an op with Murphy, the bike ride in the country). These made me think, or even hope, the plot was going a particular way, then it didn’t. Which was at least interesting.

I wonder if it's that lack of drama that works both for and against it with a reader like me? I think I did keep expecting...more. And yet it was sort of a relief there wasn't more...

Hmmm. Interesting.

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

Interesting piece. Bodie's internalised homophobia was well depicted. He liked Doyle, but he had a general contempt and disgust for gays and he couldn't quite match his feelings for his partner Doyle and the Doyle who'd made a pass at him.

I can't say I very much liked this aspect of Bodie, but I guess my biggest difficulty was with wondering why on earth Doyle had made the pass in the first place. Homophobia back in the 1970s/80s was pretty prevalent and all the more so in predominantly male 'spaces' like the services and the police. We're not told but we can assume, both from Doyle's tentative pass and Bodie's subsequent reaction, that there had never been a suggestion of flirtation or sexual attraction between them, so Bodie's reaction is to be expected while Doyle's just seems so out of character and foolhardy.

What I did like was that ultimately Bodie wanted to hang onto the friendship and I fully understood his curiosity although it amazed me that Doyle permitted it after Bodie had hurt him so deeply (even if he had kind of bought it on himself).

I'd have liked more depiction of the friendship, we just got snatches of it, and in a way this could have been a very powerful piece about the importance of friendship and acceptance, but there again I guess we'll all here for the B/D in the end. ;-)

[jgraeme2007.livejournal.com]

I'd have liked more depiction of the friendship, we just got snatches of it, and in a way this could have been a very powerful piece about the importance of friendship and acceptance, but there again I guess we'll all here for the B/D in the end. ;-)

Well, once the sex begins, that does pretty much become the focus in a piece like this. I agree it would be interesting to see how one of the more skilled gen writers handled this theme -- assuming it could be accomplished without turning it into an excuse for another Mary Sue fantasy. I'm sure it's been done...I just don't recall any particular story.

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

"but I guess my biggest difficulty was with wondering why on earth Doyle had made the pass in the first place."
I had no problems with that. The story is told in Bodie's POV. We only get hints about Doyle. There a 'trembling', there a thought of Bodie that he recognized that he has never lost a thought about 'how Doyle was feeling'.
So I take it as a part of the story that we are not told how long Doyle had struggled to get to that point. So I don't think that we can say that Doyle's effort was foolhardy.
And if you tell me that there was no sexual attraction between them... welcome to the gen side! :-)

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

I have to say thanks for suggesting this one. I read it a couple of years ago I think, and it made no impact on me at all then - didn't dislike it, but it just didn't do anything for me one way or another.

So, left to my own devices, I'd probably never have read it again *g*. But reading this time - OMG I loved it! Maybe I just needed to read it twice - I think the first time through I was probably waiting for something plotty to happen. Not sure what it was, but I'm so glad I gave it another go.

I love the friendship that keeps them together, keeps them circling one another, trying to understand and forgiving one another. And I love the awkwardness, that they like different things in bed, that it doesn't all come together perfectly the first time... there's something charming and very in character about their fumbling efforts.

I really enjoyed reading it again, thanks.

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

Hehe! I agree!
"...fumbling efforts" is a good description!

And I too think that there are some stories I disliked first that I would see today with other eyes - probably the first AU's I've tried!

But this story caught me from the beginning!

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Maybe I just needed to read it twice

Me too - it took a second read to really get the friendship angle, but it's so very important to the story. Without it they would never reunite - Bodie would stay with Murphy, Doyle with Jax. Likely one or both of them would die.

you're my best friend, and I like being with you

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

It's not yet time to join here - for I'm only half through with the story - but I loved it from the third page and there are so many hints of their friendship and so many understanding between them, good CI5 parts but not too many, some action but the focus is on the two of them. And what I've heard here from the spoilers there are more good things to come! :-)
I'm really afraid about my sleep tonight...

Thanks for that rec!

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

It's not yet time to join here - for I'm only half through with the story

Me, too, only I'm just about a third way through and having to read online which I hate (and how *do* people read so quickly?) but...so far, so good and I'm enjoying the story, thank you very much....

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Just finished re-reading - phew! Much to think about... Two immediate reactions - gaaah for Americanisms, or perhaps gaaah for my apparent sensitivity to them these days!; and... hmmn. *g*

What do I mean by hmmn... I really like this fic, firstly, and I always have. There's a great connection with Bodie, and with how he's feeling about his new thoughts and how they connect with things from his past, and how he wants to know more, but... I also feel as if there's something missing, as if another couple of dozen pages could have made this so much more wonderful by filling in some gaps...

It might just be my mood now, mind - always bear that in mind, but... a few questions...

a) What exactly happened with Billy to put Bodie off gay sex? It seems as if it was the fact that he was abandoned by Billy very quickly - but we don't really get any explanation for this, so that to me it was a little bit here's-the-trauma-that-made-Bodie-deny-his-latent-homosexuality-now-let's-get-on-with-the-present... I really really really don't want heaps of melodrama about it, but I felt that it could have done with a wee bit more... connection between Bodie's past and present. We never actually find out why he's denying his feelings, and I felt a little dangling in mid air over that bridge, to be honest...

b) Doyle... I know this is tightly from Bodie's pov, but again we're not given a hint of Doyle's motivation for feeling safe enough to come on to Bodie in the first place, or - more importantly to me - why he keeps refusing to talk to Bodie about his past. Again it felt in the set up as though we were leading up to something (maybe Doyle actually hadn't much experience with blokes, maybe he'd had a past bad experience) - we're eventually (very near the end) given a vague hint that he'd rather not talk about it, just as Bodie'd rather not talk about his mercenary experiences, but... it's not quite enough for me. We could have been shown so much more despite the pov, enough for the reader to click oh, look... even if Bodie didn't...

c) There's a lovely discomfort in the idea that Doyle just really doesn't like fucking, but he likes his nipples being played with, and he likes sex with men/Bodie... but there's almost a bit too much discomfort for me (and I like uncomfortable fic!) because it's never quite resolved in any way... we're left thinking that Doyle will never like to be fucked (even though Bodie does, and Doyle likes fucking, so it should be a beautiful symmetry, but...)... oh, maybe it's that I find it difficult to believe that of Doyle! And not from fanon either, but from the way he moves in canon, from the way he reacts in thingie-ep to having his neck kissed, just... I can far more believe the stories that are convinced that he's almost eternally ready for sex... *g*

d) On the one hand I like Bodie's naivity over gay sex, and the way he wants to find out more because Doyle won't tell him anything... but I'm rather flummoxed over why Doyle won't tell him anything. There's very little hint in Doyle's behaviour that it's because Bodie means more to him than any of his exes, whether male or female, and is being coy because of that, so it read more as stubbornness to me...

e) Similarly, I couldn't quite see the motivation for Bodie attacking Doyle - alright, confusion and conflict etc etc, but... It wasn't quite built enough for me.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I mean, I really do like this fic - it's just that when you start me off analysing things more deeply, as when I was reading this, I come up with this stuff... Which weirdly enough didn't come up for me with Victorian Gardener at all - maybe because I wasn't lead to believe that the author was trying to be gritty and realistic... Lizzie's writing is good enough that when she tells me - here's the world, I believe it and settle in for the ride. Shoshanna's writing is good enough that when she tells me look, this is the real, gritty world I also expect to see that world - but therefore the shortcomings in the world she creates are also clearer to me... I'm-so-realistic-that-we're-going-to-acknowledge-that-not-all-gay-blokes-enjoy-being-fucked contasts too much with little things like Murphy grimacing at the idea of instant coffee. Everyone drank instant coffee back then - it was as obviously unstated as breathing... And in the same way, if you're telling me here-are-the-realities, I need to be able to see how and why those realities are existing in this world...

I suppose my next comparison is to the fab tight-pov queen, Kate MacLean, who is such a good writer that she can not only show us the world as seen by her charactor/narrator, but without fail gives us that amazing emotional tumble at the end - the same one experienced by her character/narrator, so that we're right there - when they realise that they've only been seeing the situation from their own point of view, whereas the other character has seen it differently, which is exactly what happens in the world (imnsho - and experience!). I feel set up for a similar sort of tumble, by NLMD, but we never quite get there... there's just the everyday trudge of life, which is of course realistic, but not really what I read my fic for... I want to know the whys and wherefores of the trudge, I want to know that somehow, even if it's within the trudge itself, the characters somehow... understand the world more clearly (and therefore the reader might as well...) Shoshanna gets there in some ways for me, but I'm sort of left looking back at the rocks falling down into the unknown abyss, thinking hmmmn...

(Darn - I rambled on for two comments - eep!)

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

"a) What exactly happened with Billy to put Bodie off gay sex?"
Strange question...!
I think that that fumbling was never indeed important for Bodie, he is just confused at the moment and looking for 'reasons', for 'hints' in his past.
And don't you think that there were enough possibilities in his life to live out that 'latent homosexuality' you are talking about - if it really ever WAS there?
The more thrilling question is maybe if every hetero man - given the circumstances - would do the same as Bodie...

Americanisms etc

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

gaaah for Americanisms, or perhaps gaaah for my apparent sensitivity to them these days!

Maybe this is worth a separate comment topic, because I didn't find anything alarming (speaking as a non-Brit, of course). I got a slight investigatory twinge around the Friday night game on TV - apparently these started being televised in 1983 & according to the author Bodie & Doyle have been partnered for 4 years. I can live with a little time slippage so that didn't bother me at all.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

What exactly happened with Billy to put Bodie off gay sex?
I don't think it was about Billy per se, I think it was socialisation and fear leading to avoidance.

we're not given a hint of Doyle's motivation for feeling safe enough to come on to Bodie in the first place
Agreed. I admit that I would have liked a little more foreshadowing, but I wonder if we'd experience the jolt that Bodie felt when Doyle kissed him in the same way if we'd had a better idea of what was coming.

why he keeps refusing to talk to Bodie about his past
There are thoughts at the back of my brain about this (around trust and the possibility of a threat to the others Doyle has been with if things turn nasty), but I'm not sure what I think about this really.

There's a lovely discomfort in the idea that Doyle just really doesn't like fucking, but he likes his nipples being played with, and he likes sex with men/Bodie... but there's almost a bit too much discomfort for me (and I like uncomfortable fic!) because it's never quite resolved in any way... we're left thinking that Doyle will never like to be fucked (even though Bodie does, and Doyle likes fucking, so it should be a beautiful symmetry, but...)... oh, maybe it's that I find it difficult to believe that of Doyle! And not from fanon either, but from the way he moves in canon, from the way he reacts in thingie-ep to having his neck kissed, just... I can far more believe the stories that are convinced that he's almost eternally ready for sex... *g*
*g* YMMV totally on this one!!!!

[krisserci5.livejournal.com]

What happens then sets the scene for the final crisis and resolution - and all I'm going to say about that is that it's immensely satisfying.

While I can agree that it's well written. . . it doesn't come close to satisfying. For all the anguish I go through I really wanted something to balance it and it's not there for me.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It does feel a bit as if something's missing, doesn't it - that's just what I thought! Not necessarily a happily-ever-after ending, but... more reason for it all, or something...

[jgraeme2007.livejournal.com]

While I can agree that it's well written. . . it doesn't come close to satisfying. For all the anguish I go through I really wanted something to balance it and it's not there for me.

I could have used a little more at the end -- partly because a major crisis is introduced with very little time to resolve. It certainly didn't give me a feeling of more than a HFN -- which I think was all the author was going for -- but I could see that it might grow into a HEA.

[blkandwhtcat.livejournal.com]

As I said earlier, for me, the sex between Doyle and Bodie never "feels" right. The best sex for Bodie is with the guy he picks up, and even in the last scene with Doyle, he doesn't feel that same physical high. To me, Doyle comes across as not really being that great at sex, enjoying the closeness more. That doesn't ring true to me, because I see Doyle as a very physical, very sexual person. But through the entire story, everything he says and does seems to emphasize that he's into the emotional intimacy far more than the physical intimacy. Thats just not my take on Doyle.

Also, once Bodie figures out he loves to get fucked, he's a total horn dog. I don't see him being satisfied with Doyle here. The story seems more to be about Bodie discovering his repressed sexual desires than about Bodie discovering that he loves Doyle, or about their relationship developing. For all that talk, talk, talking (WAY too much of it), they never really seem to feel like a couple in love to me.

So, for me, the story works as an examination of a repressed Bodie discovering his innate sexuality, but not as a story of Bodie and Doyle in a romantic relationship, either currently or in the future. I always have a vision of what the future will be for the guys in any story, and for this one, my vision of their future is Bodie dying of AIDS, and probably Doyle as well, if he sticks with Bodie. That's just what I see.

[ronitr.livejournal.com]

Hi There! Newbie here *waves*.
Hope I can join in the fun!
I was so excited to see this fic recommended , as it is one of my all times favorite, if not THE favorite. I keep re-reading over the years, and it never stops griping me.
(Also, I love Depeche Mode (title and author summery), so its' just a winning combination for me..).

I love "first time" fics, but, for me, this one is one of the best because of its' realistic feel. When I read it, I always feel like this is exactly how it would happen in real life, if Doyle made a pass at a seemingly-straight Bodie.
Bodie's initial reactions, transforming from shock, to anger , to not wanting to know, and finally, curiosity, just feels "right" to me. Can't imagine a man , especially one with a strong character like Bodie, who believes himself to be attracted to women only, just jump for joy and enthusiasm when his best mate makes a pass at him…

Also, Doyle's reaction to being hit by Bodie also feels just right to me. I can't bear fic's with an effeminate, damsel-in-distress Doyle. It's just SO not how I remember him from so long ago…

Anyways, off to re-read again, so maybe I'll have an intelligent comment later on…

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Welcome!

[ronitr.livejournal.com]

I agree about the "Billy" comment- what happened wasn't "dramatic" enough- IMHO to serve as a reason. When I first read the story, I kept expecting Bodie's dad to find them, severely beat Bodie up , and for it to be the reason he ran away to sea. Jus't not talking anymore didn't seem like a sufficient reason for it to be so important.

Funnily enough, the "unrealism" that annoyed me the most was the gay pub scene. I just couldn't buy the idea of two of Cowley's finest casually spending the afternoon at a gay pub. At that day and age, with homosexuality barely taken off the criminal offense list in the UK (if I have my info straight), and with the very high levels of intolerance and stigma that I seem to remember – combined with the knowledge that while not being a criminal offence, it was still considered a very serious security breach, which would get them both kicked of the squad in 10 seconds flat, if they were found out, well, I can't see any of them doing something that stupid..

However, with respect to Doyle' reluctance to share his past – I always though that Doyle was "protecting his investment" so to speak.
I only know two gay couples closely, but both of them, while long term relationships, are seriously non-monogamous. Both partners sleep around, out in the open, from day one it seems.
Given Bodie's already promiscuous behaviour with his women, plus his seriously good looks, I always assumed Doyle didn't want Bodie to go off tomcatting with every Tom Dick and Harry now he knows what a turn-on m/m sex can be, and that that's the reason for him wanting to keep Bodie in the dark regarding the options that exist for him outside their relationship….

[jgraeme2007.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, the "unrealism" that annoyed me the most was the gay pub scene. I just couldn't buy the idea of two of Cowley's finest casually spending the afternoon at a gay pub. At that day and age, with homosexuality barely taken off the criminal offense list in the UK (if I have my info straight), and with the very high levels of intolerance and stigma that I seem to remember – combined with the knowledge that while not being a criminal offence, it was still considered a very serious security breach, which would get them both kicked of the squad in 10 seconds flat, if they were found out, well, I can't see any of them doing something that stupid..

Good point. That did jar me the first time through. I thought they were going to get raided or something drastic would happen.

It's easy now with a modern sensibility to forget the paranoia of the day. And, come to think of it, it's not paranoia when they really ARE out to get you.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Just back from my latest trip abroad in time to read and join in... I’ve been busy following what everybody has been saying and trying to sort out my own reactions. I couldn’t put the story down (I love reading online and I hate zines with a deep and abiding loathing) but I don’t think I’d re-read it. I want to comment to a number of threads so I’ve made a new comment instead.

I think the fascination and ‘page turning’ stemmed from the study of the gradual turn-around of Bodie’s thoughts and feelings and the light that shed on some homophobic attitudes. I really wanted to know how he would resolve it all and from that point of view the story was compelling and satisfying. As a psychological study it worked.

I wasn’t too aware of the Americanisms until somebody pointed them out. What does sometimes irritate me (in a lot of stories) is the way life in the seventies and eighties is portrayed... Yes, I had ‘proper’ coffee but it was mostly kept for special occasions and dinner parties, and even the ‘upper classes’ would have been more likely to drink tea - I was considered rather odd because I preferred coffee. (I can be very positive on this - I went to a northern equivalent of Roedean and I was a ‘young married’ in London and then Manchester during the period covered by Pros.) And whilst takeaways weren’t unknown, in most areas they would have been restricted to fish and chips or possibly doner kebabs and hot dogs. I hadn’t, then, ever had a pizza. Indian and Chinese restaurants tended to expect you to eat on the premises. The gay pub doesn’t ring true for the time, either. However, I can ignore this whilst I’m reading if the writing is otherwise good - and it is.

Where dissatisfaction crept in, for me, was in characterisation. I’m very ‘multi-fandom’ in my reading and I trust authors to remember that not all their readers will be as familiar with canon as they are. In this case, I do know the canon quite well but if I hadn’t I’d have been truly confused. Yes, it’s from Bodie’s p.o.v. but we get no real view of Doyle - very little physical description, no clues as to his behaviour, tastes etc. And we get very little more about Bodie, outside the relationship. There is nothing in the story to tell me why these guys should even trust each other as partners, let alone fancy each other physically or regard each other as close friends. Although there’s a lot of CI5 detail none of it is followed through so we don’t get any sense of the kind of work they do overall. Their backgrounds/histories are alluded to but there is little or no clarification.

I notice other people wondered why Doyle wouldn’t tell Bodie anything and various reasons have been put forward - all the answers are pure speculation and based on Doyle as we know him from the series, not on anything the author tells us.

So the story was written purely for dyed-in-the-wool fans. I accept that - just saying that that kind of story isn’t for me. Whilst a shared canon can add to the enjoyment of a story I prefer a story that can stand alone. This doesn’t.

So, a fascinating rec - thanks! And fascinating discussion! I like being forced to think through my reactions instead of just wandering off to the next fic/fandom *bg*

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

The gay pub doesn’t ring true for the time, either.

It's so tempting (and often misleading) to generalise from personal experience but I remember that in certain parts of London (and Hampstead would have been one of them) gay pubs were around in the early 8os and it would have just been a matter of knowing where to find them (as Doyle did!).