When I received the synopsis of Play Him Again and a request for a review I was intrigued. Jeffrey Stone's request was unusual enough in itself to tell me this could be good.
Stone's synopsis of the story made me curious to know more:
"It's the Roaring Twenties but silence remains golden for Hollywood. Sound is expensive. Only two studios have installed sound equipment. Matt Hudson, the preferred bootlegger of the film industry, wants to produce a talking picture but neither sound studio will lease him their facilities. After Hud's oldest friend, con man Danny Kincaid, dupes a gangster who controls a small movie studio into buying a bogus sound device, the gangster gets wise and Danny ends up dead. To settle the score, Hud runs another con to play the gangster again. A con that will either avenge Danny and land Hud a studio, or get him killed."
So I went and read the prologue and opening chapters. That was enough to send me off to Smashwords to download it.
Stone's characters are wonderfully complex. The plot of Play Him Again is believable and flows with a quick and smooth pace from one scene to the next. The author has constructed a great backdrop that makes it very easy to slip in to as you read.
I think I fell a little in love [lust] with Hud from the moment he slid in to bed with Sylvia. Many books fail miserably when it comes to love scenes. They are either too Mills and Boon--picture an orchestra playing while the heroine swoons in to the muscle-bound hero's bulging arms--or they jumps straight in to pornography. Play Him Again does neither. It balances perfectly on the highwire of not being cringe worthy but still being raunchy enough to feel real.
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