Oh, Jan Irving has once again sucked me into the vortex of crazy that is her books. I pretty much read anything that Irving writes even though I know it is like writing a prescription for insanity. Irving hadn't come out with anything new in a while, so when I saw this book was out I could not hit the buy now button fast enough. 

Basically, Shade is a homicide detective who also does some contract killing on the side. He's some sort of clone or something. Well, one step ahead of a clones...maybe...I don't know. This confusion bled out into just about every part of the story. So, yeah, there's been a murder and Shade is called onto the scene where he meets legal rent boy, Nick. Nick is beautiful and delicate and Shade, much to his digest, wants the little blond prostitute. There are a few reasons why Nick is pissed off about this. 

1.) Nick is a suspect in the murder.

2.) Nick is in a relationship...though Shade kinda doesn't give a damn.

3.) Shade is all "I don't have FEELINGS" but Nick makes him feel all kinds of things.

Shade is all kinds of anti-hero. He's crazy mean and I'm not quite sure why he had a thing for a Nick. I mean, Nick is sweet and whatnot but there wasn't anything that made me think he'd transformed Shade with all his ummm...delicateness....and blondness...and velvety skin....and stuff. Plus, these two didn't have a moment or anything and if two people needed a moment to make me believe in their attraction it was Shade and Nick.

Shade seems like he hates Nick most of time except when he's doing creepy things like paying for sex with Nick and creating clones of Nick to fuck even though creating a clone is super illegal. Nick keeps protesting that he has a boyfriend but in the end that doesn't matter because Shade's super sex pheromones are all but suffocating and Nick's dick can't help but get hard every time Shade's all mean and, yanno, shady. Why do these two reach a happy ending? I have. No. Damn. Idea.

So, this story made pretty much no sense when a person really thinks about it BUT like with most Jan Irving books you just have to not think about it. At all. No, seriously, just don't pick it apart. That's only asking for problems.

As per usual, I'm not going to say I'll never read another Irving. It doesn't even matter what she writes at this point. I'm going to buy it, I'm going to read it, and I'm going to like it even if it's against my better judgment.

I saw this book and the sound of angels singing let me know that it was going to be GREAT. A cornucopia of orgasmatastic greatness that would be well worth everything I went through to find a copy. Amazon was temporarily out of stock and it took me days to find a copy in my price range but I did and I ordered it...and I waited...and I waited...and today it came and I devoured it.

In These Words is a manga about Asano, a psychiatrist who helped catch Shinohara, a serial killer. Now Shinohara has agreed to cooperate as long as Asano is the one who takes his confession. This sounds like the recipe for so much delicious craziness doesn't it? Like nothing good can come of giving in to a serial killer's demands, right? Right. Nothing good does come of it and it was divine candy for my mind and my eyes.

Here's the thing, since Asano started on Shinohara's case he's been having these absolutely psychotic nightmares. Nightmares about him being held captive, raped, and tortured repeatedly. What is it that makes this manga even more of a mindfuck than it would have been if that was the whole story? The way the novel begins. You first meet Asano when he's approached by a wealthy stranger who ends up drugging and kidnapping him. You're never told that the stranger is definitely Shinohara and I wondered for the whole novel if it was a nightmare or a memory. Then I began to wonder if the other nightmares are actually memories and then I got the feeling that Asano has his suspicions too. 

And then there's Shinohara. Holy freaking serial killing psycho. He's creepy, calm, and did I mention creepy. Also, I'm pretty sure Shinohara is the only one who knows what the hell is going on. The reader's lost, Asano's lost, and Shinohara is laughing at everyone and I got the feeling that he's only allowing himself to be held because it's part of his plan. What his plan is, I had no idea and I wasn't able to focus on trying to figure it out because I kept being startled on how absolutely messed up Shinohara is. 

No. Seriously. Bloody, covered in semen, violent, twisted, sexual, knife wielding bucket full of crazy.

Oh, and then there's the artwork. GGAAHHHHHHH! SOOOOO GORGEOUS! I'm hyperventilating just thinking about it.

I say all of this to say that if you love M/M and especially if you love the darker stuff, that you need this graphic novel in your life. Don't be put off by the fact that it's manga and you need to tread it a little differently. There are instructions inside on how to read manga. It takes a minute to get used to but then the story sucks in you and takes over your life while you're reading it and it is sooooooooo good.