Model Citizen

Model Citizen (2015) Lissa Kasey (Haven Investigations)

Oliver Petroskovic hoped that once he bought the house his life would start to be more settled. Sure, he’d do more modeling gigs, but with the house he was finally able to repay his brother for the years spent raising him.

He’d paid for private school and attended all of those early modeling sessions to protect me from predators.

But then Nathan is dead and Oliver’s life is completely shattered.

There is a LOT of dark in this story: suicide, mental health issues, PTSD, sex work, and some pretty gruesome murders.

But it was also compelling and I had a hard time stopping reading.

Ollie is gender-fluid, which made him an sought-after model, but has also made his life difficult, as people expect him to be one thing, and he is far more than his feminine looks.

Ollie is also (although not named in the text) demi-sexual.

I needed a deeper connection to let anyone that close. Trust of some kind had to be established before I got into bed with anyone.

One thing I particularly liked was that Ollie had every reason to fear that Kade wouldn’t stick around.

Just don’t push me away because you think I’m leaving. I want to at least be your friend. At best… Well, I’ll leave that up to you.”

“Words, Kade. Nothing but words.” He’d been around two days. What did he know?

But Kade actually recognizes how much the previous year damaged Ollie, and doesn’t allow himself to be pushed away by Oliver’s fears and snipping.

I also liked that although he was struggling, Ollie had friends who loved him and looked out for him as he struggled. He may have felt that someone in a romantic relationship might leave him, but he never had doubts about Will and Britney, and I very much appreciated that.

The murders were gruesome and in some cases Ollie sees them. He also accidentally sees some hardcore porn while trying to look into the goings-on at the reality “show” his friend from childhood is in.

So definitely not for everyone.

But I do want to read the next book–despite the ending of the book, not because of it.

Publisher: Layer Kake Publishing, LLC
Rating: 8/10

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