Guest Review: Night Drop (A Pinx Video Mystery, #1) by Marshall Thornton

It’s 1992 and Los Angeles is burning. Noah Valentine, the owner of Pinx Video in Silver Lake, notices the fires have taken their toll on fellow shopkeeper Guy Peterson’s camera shop. After the riots end, he decides to stop by Guy’s to pick up his overdue videos, only to find Guy’s family dividing up his belongings. He died in the camera store fire—or did he? Noah and his charmingly meddlesome downstairs neighbors begin to suspect something else might have happened to Guy Peterson. Something truly sinister.

The first in a new series from Lambda Award-winner Marshall Thornton, Night Drop strikes a lighter tone than the Boystown Mysteries, while bringing Silver Lake of the early 1990s to life.

Guest Reviewer - Annika


Noah has been deeply hurt in the past and is now licking his wounds. Hiding away from everyone, including himself. Hiding in plain sight that is. He's not a loner, he has both friends and family, but he keeps his distance and never truly engages with anyone. There are a few sparks here and there where he tries to re-engage with the world, but it feels like he's forgotten how to. And he's not ready just yet. But there's possibility there, hope that someday he might move forward.

Night Drop was my first Thornton book. And in the beginning I didn't really like it. I couldn't put my finger as to why, but there were a few things that kept bugging me. The pacing of the book. The fact that Noah investigates Guy's murder, but having no clue what he's doing or why he is doing it. He really has no business investigating anything, let alone a murder. One that get's more and more dangerous the more he uncovers. This has never really bothered me before so I can't say why it did this time.

Then about halfway in, something changed. I really started to enjoy the book and was more invested in the characters and the outcome. This book was a bit raw and gritty, almost harsh in some ways, but at the same time it gave the illusion of being light. Never sweet mind you, but not a heavy read.

For me this book was a bit of a mindfuck at times. I don't often read books set in the early 90's, if I did I probably wouldn't question things that much. But now I was constantly finding myself thinking; where's the security? He shouldn't be able to just do that. And did we really have cordless phones then? So yeah, I'll admit to googling a few things here and there (don't tell anyone) ;)
And yes I did live through that time, but I can't say I was all that aware about the world around me - so be nice. ;)

Pretty early in this book I was thinking that this series might not be for me. That I'd read this book and then just leave it at that. Then the ending happened. And now I just want to find out more. And if you are thinking cliffhanger, then you are wrong. No cliffhanger in sight. Just life. And I want to know more about it. I hope the wait for the next installment isn't too long.

A free copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review