Book Review: After Vertigo by Amanda Meuwissen
Six months ago, the phenomenon the press has dubbed “Vertigo” swept Earth. Two-thirds of the human population were apparently unaffected, and have become the Powerless. The vast majority of the remainder became Enhanced, gifted with small abilities like being able to regulate their own body temperature. But a small percentage gained far greater abilities. They became Supers, which might have been okay, except that each and every known Super in Fairview City chose to use their powers for crime.
Dr. Benjamin Krane of Mohs Labs is at the forefront of Vertigo defense research. He’s developed ways to dampen the powers of those affected by Vertigo, including an improved version of a ray gun that temporarily deactivates Vertigo-affected DNA. Ben wants to test his new device before equipping the police with it, and he’s figured out the crime pattern of Streak, the one super-villain in town who doesn’t murder, only steals. So he goes out to try to capture Streak.
It doesn’t go as planned. But in the process, Ben learns that Streak is the very handsome Grey Miller and despite his better judgement is attracted to the man. Likewise, the flirtatious and roguish Streak finds himself attracted to Dr. Krane. He dubs the other man “Cold.” Streak isn’t exactly thrilled by all the death and destruction the other Supers are causing, and wants to get closer to Ben, so agrees to team up.
Now the pair must contend with skeptical law enforcement, power-mad supervillains, and some of Grey’s other secrets before they can save the city. And maybe also get it on?
This gay superhero romance novel is by a Minneapolis-area author, but Fairview City is firmly in the fictional setting category so that geography and politics can be made up as needed. It’s a plot point that the city has a higher percentage of Enhanced and Supers than anywhere else in the world, so there is plenty of room for sequels. (Plus a backstory villain is as far as anyone knows still on the loose.)
I like that Dr. Krane is in his forties. He has social anxiety, so even though he’s interested in men, he’s never really hit it off when anyone or taken the initiative. It’s also isolated him from his coworkers at the lab, and learning to open up to them as well is part of his character arc. He spends a lot of time with his cat and reading porny romance books.
Grey I find somewhat less tolerable, as he’s supposed to be a charming rogue type but it’s not happening for me. Possibly he’d work better in a visual medium.
The villains and supporting cast are so-so; they do their bit to move the plot along.
Content note: This is the kind of romance novel where there’s on-page sex scenes. As such, I’m going to say this is most suitable for adult readers. There’s also mention of abuse in the backstory.
If you like your gay romance novels with a heavy dose of fantastical action, or would like to have more books with openly gay superheroes as the focus, this is a decent addition to your reading list.
