Dirty Talk by Joey Jameson

Vegas is a hot phone sex operator who knows just how to make your deepest, darkest fantasies come true either with a gentle whisper in your ear or with a rough growling command. When he’s in control, you know you’re in good hands. Vegas can tickle or scratch whatever itch or fetish a caller can throw at him.

But his job at the exclusive ‘Black Vanilla’ has its dark side, which becomes all too clear when Vegas receives a call one night that hits a little too close to home.

Somewhere out there, someone’s watching him. Someone who’s taken their fantasy one step too far. It isn’t long before Vegas finds himself entangled in a web of dark and dangerous obsession. An obsession that can only end one way.

Dirty Talk will take you deep into the world of stimulating oral desire and blur the lines that exist between our ultimate fantasies and harsh reality.

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NineStar Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Angie – ☆☆☆
This book was super slow for me. I found myself skimming and the names just got on my nerves. Mind you, there was hot sex, which for me is always a good thing, but sometimes even that doesn’t help a book. Then don’t even get me started on the point of view changes, between that and the character names and the slowness of the book, I wasn’t into this at all.

Characters: Hated the names of the characters
Sex: Yes
Religious: No
Would I recommend to others: Yes
More than one book in the series: No
Genre: M/M
Would I read more by this author: Yes


Kris – ☆☆☆☆
Wow, twists and turns abound in this crazy m/m novel. Vegas is a phone sex operator, he got the job via his best friend and roomie, London. London also took him in when Vegas and his older, very alpha, very dominant boyfriend, Bronx, got a bit abusive. Are you seeing a name trend here? Bronx? London? Vegas? It gets worse. Yet, it also gets quite intriguing! Vegas starts getting creepy calls at his job at Black Vanilla. Someone is stalking him and the person calling him on his phone sex line KNOWS HIM. Personally! Giving personal details to Vegas's actions and whereabouts, this person is someone he knows! It gets down right creepy while Vegas continues to try to live his life. Dakota is a great distraction. Vegas meets sweet and kind Dakota at his vegan grocery store and the two hit it off, but the timing is very bad for the two with Vegas's stalker looming and getting more and more brazen. I found myself flying through the pages to find out who the stalker is, who is the caller, are they the same person? The anticipation was awesome, drawn out with enough twists to really keep me riveted along with a “WHAT? WOW! OMG!" moment at the end well worth the read.

On a down side, I did find the narration difficult at times. Are we in first person? Is the story being narrated? That got a little confusing at times. Vegas was written almost too needy and meek, falling for what I'd call "sugar daddies" and longing to be cared for more than I like in a character, but that's a personal opinion. Not sure if this is a series, but it was left with a huge cliffhanger so I'd really hope so!


Erica – ☆☆☆
Joey Jameson is a new-to-me author, and while I enjoyed the storytelling for the most part, the writing style was difficult for me to fully grasp.

I'm going to deviate from my usual reviewing style to list the cons first, then end with the pros of the story. Beneath the issues, I truly was riveted and intrigued.

Cons:

The third person narration wasn't without difficulty. 90% of the entirety of the novel was written in third person narration featuring Vegas, while 10% were random sentences via other character's points of view, spread throughout. This was extremely confusing, tearing me from the story. I would be reading along as the story was shown via Vegas's eyes, then in the middle of a paragraph, the pronoun and given name usage was wonky, and I'd realize the sentence belonged to another character.

Character names were all locations. At first I felt this was because of Black Vanilla, like stage names. So when Dakota showed up, I groaned with frustration, because why was his name also a location? Vegas. London. Bronx. Dakota. And at least 5+ more states and cities. The only person who didn't have a location name was the security guard and the boss. But the Boss's name was Driver, which is also bizarre. The non-names cheapened an otherwise suspenseful storyline.

Vegas, our narrator for the most part, was a Georgia transplant to NYC. As someone who straddles the border of New York and Pennsylvania, the slang wasn't authentic to the location. I ignored the British spellings of many words, because I believe the spelling belongs to the origin of the writer, such as Kerb and Colour. However, the narration belongs to the characters, and a southerner wouldn't use the word flat and other colloquialisms.

Plot holes: Without giving spoilers, characters were in plain sight, completely visible via the narrator when they were supposedly doing something else (the big reveal). A few times they were holding eye-contact or saying, "OMG, Vegas, are you okay?" within a heartbeat, so it was impossible for the culprit to be the culprit, which lead the reader down other avenues. Multiple characters were in the line of sight, so collaboration was out of the question. While wrapped up in the moment, it wasn't noticeable. But when I stopped to think, I clicked back to be sure, and it wasn't possible for either party to be responsible (possible for other things, though). I'll just leave it at that.

Flow of the story itself was off. There were moments in time, which didn't lend anything to the overall plot, that were told for more than two chapters (in the past, yet nothing denoting this such as italics or a date given). Later in the novel, moments from the past were italicized, while being thought in the present (so it wasn't a flashback as prior, but simply a couple chapters of memory mixed with conscious thought of the present). It was confusing to say the least, especially combined with the periodic head-hopping.

While important events were truncated, told instead of shown, other events were written out, but they were of importance and happening 'right now.' This led to a lot of info-dumping.

Character's reactions, particularly the police, were conflicting with their personalities, simply for the author to drive the story forward, even if it created a plot hole or conflicted with the characterization, law, or rationality.

"I'm worried about you, so I'm going to take you home," but peel out before Vegas gets two feet from the car door... where danger lies. "I'm worried about you," but no one actually stays with Vegas for his safety. NYPD: "We can't help you!" after being choked, isn't how the United States Justice System operates. "We can't connect the calls at your work, (which were recorded) to the stalking and choking outside of your apartment, so we have nothing to investigate..." even though your neck is sporting a necklace of fingertip bruises and it was attempted murder on a NYC sidewalk in an affluent part of the city.

A terroristic threat made of a specific person would have resulted in that person having a wellness check via the police, especially if he was a witness to the crime in question, and possibly a suspect, while also being mentioned in the recorded phone call with a threat to his person. NYC's finest are not bumbling idiots, and the villain of this tale felt like 'A' from Pretty Little Liars, with how things changed to suit the plot, even if they were above rationality.

If you liked a guy enough to make him dinner, and he was just choked nearly to death, you would have immediately called 911 while helping him, not get offended and run away... into danger. I'm mean, really? Wouldn't he have said, "OMG! Someone tried to kill you!" *dials 911, voice broken when speaking, hands shaking* "Are you okay? Let me help you!"

I'm spinning down the rabbit hole – I apologize.

Pros:

The plot itself was intriguing, unlike anything I'd read before, and I appreciate the effort the author put forth. Do I think it came together seamlessly? No, it didn't. As a writer and editor, it's my job to see those flaws. As a reader, who was caught up in the moment, I wouldn't have spotted them unless I truly worked it out in my head, but most likely after the fact. Once over the middle hump, the story took off and had me furiously clicking the pages to find out what happened next.

Whether it be a pro or a con, the fact that the dots didn't line up helped keep the reader from figuring out who was doing what (aside from the implausibility and the impossibility). So it's a pro as the suspense elements weren't obvious and predictable. The resolution and ending will no doubt leave readers speechless. When I finished the ending, I thought to myself, "My DARK reading buds would like this book."

The domestic violence was written about as accurately as humanly possible, and this is coming from a survivor. There were elements between Vegas and Bronx that mirrored my own life, and a few times I had to put the book down to get my bearings.

All-in-all, minus the hiccups along the way, I did enjoy Dirty Talk. The in-depth look into the phone sex operation in the beginning was highly entertaining. The suspense angle kept me turning the pages even during the lull. The positives and negatives are equal in my opinion. With a bit of work, this could have been one heck of a thriller.

Recommended to fans of MM, suspense/thriller, and darker reads. For those seeking a romantic book, or one filled with a plethora of between-the-sheets action, this is most definitely true to the suspense/thriller genre, leaving those attributes riding beneath the surface. Warning: NO HEA.

Joey Jameson lives in Brighton, UK; a world of decadence, glamour and intrigue. He believes life is better when drizzled with naughtiness and drenched in layer upon layer of sparkling glitter. His work is best appreciated with a hard drink and the lights down low and will leave you wondering just what goes on in that twisted little mind of his.

He is the author of Candy from Strangers, Blackout, Twisted and Interview with the Porn Star.

Stay tuned for more scintillating work to come your way soon…

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Dirty Talk by Joey Jameson to read and review.