Well, that was spooky, but in a good way. As in lots of fall vibes (though as I read this in August, I’m not quite ready to be done clinging to summer). Haunted houses are always fun, and I love the methodical steps our characters took to figure out what to do about it. The addition of social commentary and a wrong to be righted brought everything together in a way that both felt satisfying and made me want to examine the world I live in. Books that entertain me and make me think are some of the best, and this did that.
The characters were well developed, and the tension kept me wanting to know what happened next. The religious aspects were a bit gross at times (that beginning—yikes), but they also felt just too real in some ways (maybe because they are/have been). This isn’t what I usually read, but I don’t regret reading it at all. Books like this are why I step out of my reading comfort zone—because there are so many stories to tell, and I want to try new ones.
All in all, enjoyed. Recommend to those wanting a spooky story with some deep messages and real characters.
Book - Servant
Author - Patrick R. Field
My Rating:- 5/5
Review - It's officially cozy season! What's better than curling up with a mystery book on a cold winter day? I really enjoyed the premise of this book and there were expected twists and turns and I honestly didn't know where it was going and what was actually happening until the very end. It effortlessly blends the allure of the supernatural and mystery. I was enthralled with the descriptive details of everything from the food, the home, the personal relationship and the paranormal phenomenon.
The story follows a couple, Mitch and Buck who have been together for years as they embark on a new chapter in their lives moving from NYC to Pennsylvania. Their dynamic relationship is realistic and fun and every scene comes alive with details, making it feel as if you are right there, witnessing the event unfold firsthand. If you love a good mystery and a killer twist, this is definitely worth picking up!
Welcome to Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas! I’m Adriana Kraft, and on the 15th of every month, I’m here to share LGBTQ+ stories with you—sometimes one of my own, and often, as today, stories from other authors. I always love meeting another academic who’s traded in lectures and course outlines for creative fiction. Today I’m thrilled to welcome author Patrick R. Field to these pages to tell us about his most recent release, Servant.
Servant is an adult fiction novel that combines the genres of dark supernatural mystery and LGBTQ+ storytelling. The inspiration for this novel was borne from the supernatural events that have happened in my own home in the Northern Poconos of Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA). A collection of sightings, strange noises and inexplicable events that have occurred to my husband, friends and myself during the day and night are the foundation for the haunting of Blackstone, the mansion in my novel.
Another source of inspiration is that our home is built on the banks of Westcolang Lake, land that belonged to the Lenape tribe (Westcolang is a Lenape term), the indigenous people of NEPA that were part of the Algonquin tribe of New England. I pay homage to this tribe in Servant, as Mesingw Medeu, a Lenape deity that aids my heroes, Mitch MacCleod and Buck Waltham, in their quest to release the spirit of Jedidiah Sheppard, a young man that was murdered in Blackstone.
When I wrote Servant, it was obvious to me the protagonists were a married gay cis male couple, as that is what my husband and I are and as stated the novel is largely built upon our experiences in our home. Mitch and Buck are amalgams of us and other fictional traits, but the fact that they are gay is just incidental to the story. As LGBTQ+ reviewers have stated:
“Finally, a story where a gay couple’s biggest issue ISN’T being gay.”
“It’s really gratifying to see a gay couple as the lead characters in a book who just ‘happen to be gay, and not a main plot point. Refreshing and a welcome addition to the gay fiction genre.”
It may be naïve of me, but I would like to think that as a society we have moved on from the old tropes of what gay fiction was when I was growing up during the turbulent AIDS-era decades of the 1980s/1990s along with other forms of creative expression. Servant does harken back to that time as Jedidiah Sheppard lived during the pre-Stonewall years in rural America, and that contrast is easily seen in the novel as the spirit learns of the legally married gay couple living in his previous home, a concept that he could never have imagined when he was alive.
It is my mission, if you will, to continue to write novels where the protagonists will always be gay (or at least questioning their binary nature) and that they experience the supernatural mystery set before them from the queer perspective, but their sexuality is not necessarily a main plot point, rather, simply a fact about the characters. This is the proposed niche for author Patrick R. Field.
