The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

Gabe: Partners in Grime (The Brother’s Grime, 3)
By Z.A. Maxfield
Published by the author, 2019
Four stars

It’s been a while since one of these “The Brothers Grime” books came down the pike. Here is the third book looking at the trio of childhood friends who found love while cleaning up the mess at the scene of other people’s disasters. I remember reading and enjoying the other two (Jack, and Eddie), but had really forgotten anything but the general idea. These books are linked only by the business and the men who run it – everything else can and is re-established by the author to solidify the story continuity.

This final (?) book in the series looks at Gabe, everyone’s best friend, who has harbored a deep crush on the fourth of their schooltime group – Dave Huntley. Dave has a history – and although he’s gay with his buddies, is deeply closeted as a Fullerton police detective who has never managed (or wanted) to create anything like a relationship with any man other than his three childhood besties.

The double whammy, classic m/m “damage” that Maxfield inflicts here is amnesia and paranoia – one triggered by violent trauma (Dave is involved in an off-duty shooting), while the other dates from high school, when Dave unwittingly caused one of his best friends to be nearly beaten to death by their classmates when they found out he was gay.

Meanwhile, Gabe has patiently worked on Dave, pushing their relationship from platonic to intimate, keeping Dave’s secret from everyone, only to have Dave’s amnesia ruin everything. So, being an emotional masochist in the best romantic tradition, Gabe steps up and does everything to help Dave recover. It sounds rather simplistic, but the way Maxfield builds the setting and the atmosphere is marvelous – until the characters and the reader alike are frothing at the mouth with all the love they feel for these two. Very well manipulated!

The big IF is whether or not Dave, recovering from his own physical and mental trauma, will be able to see past his paranoia and fear, and realize that there are more important things on this earth than maintaining some fraudulent macho self-image in front of co-workers.