Tin Man by Lisa Henry & Heidi Belleau

Tin Man by Lisa Henry & Heidi Belleau

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Bliss series scares the bejeezus out of me. Not because it’s horror or gruesome or gory or anything like that. No, this series scares me because I can easily see the world turning the way of Tophet and Beulah if the wrong people ever got into power and abused their authority. While Tin Man didn’t freak me out as badly as Bliss did, it still affected me because even in this day and age, members of the military are expected to follow orders without question and Tin Man shows just how dangerous that can be.

As we saw in Beulah, the powers that be in Tophet have skewed the laws in their favor and made it nearly impossible for those on the bottom to make a better life for themselves. Being unemployed is a crime. Being homeless is a crime. Publicly speaking out against the government is a crime. Being homosexual is a crime. As Ace meets three of those, he’s definitely considered a criminal by the Tophet government. So when he and his acquaintance, Chen, are asked for their papers to prove their employment and residency, Ace knows that his time is up and does what he can to secure Chen’s escape as the man has saved his life more than once and has children who depend on him. But being a criminal does not mean that Ace is the heartless, amoral animal that Soren has been taught crims are, which proves fortunate for Soren when he finds himself hanging on by the tips of his fingers – literally – trying not to plummet to his death. And yet just as Ace saves his life, Soren still attempts to follow orders and capture the crim. But Ace refuses to go down without a fight and in the midst of their struggle, he learns something very telling about the Anti-Terrorist Unit officer – he’s homosexual. What follows is a scene that is complicated emotionally, but hot as heck as Ace shows Soren the benefit of being a crim. As each man endures their own trials after the encounter, it isn’t until they come face-to-face again that they realize just how much that single encounter affected them.

Despite this being a novella, Henry and Belleau don’t skimp on the storytelling in Tin Man. Because this isn’t a romance per se, there isn’t a happy ending but rather the closing of one door and the opening of another. We don’t know what is to become of Ace or Soren because this is merely one chapter in their lives. The disparities between the classes is quite evident, especially towards the end of the book when we visit Soren’s apartment. That the laws are made arbitrarily and seem to be designed to keep people from bettering themselves, it’s disturbing just how much trust Soren has in his supervisors – at least until a condescending comment is made by a colleague. Yet it was this simple throw away comment that sent Soren’s world spinning off its axis as he began to wonder who it was that he’s really fighting. The chemistry between Ace and Soren is ridiculously hot and we get some seriously angry sex between the two, with the BDSM elements ramping up the heat. I thoroughly enjoyed Tin Man and am already looking forward to the next book in the Bliss series.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!

Check out the Tin Man (Bliss #1.5) by Lisa Henry & Heidi Belleau blog post on Crystal's Many Reviewers.


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