Outlaws

Jon Marcus is, from an outside perspective, a fairly normal history professor at a small liberal arts college in Florida. He’s married, volunteers at a local animal shelter, and just started advising an upcoming production of Die Zauberflȍte or The Magic Flute. But scratch the surface of his life, and like a losing lottery ticket, one finds a pattern that doesn’t match. Jon is not only sleeping with one of his inlaws, but two – his wife’s sister and his brother-in-law’s wife. But his attraction to family members started at an early age, with a sexual relationship with a cousin. And like any story, all of those relationships begin to unravel at the same time. Oh, and the dog walking? He walks the dogs that will be euthanized just a couple of days later, taking them on their last walk.

It’s not as if Jon is a bad guy in all of this, he’s just compartmentalized much of his issues. And for him, they all work. But as things spiral out of control, Jon is forced to face much of his decisions, the current ones and the original that started him down this path of soft incest. And while Jon is the focus of the book, the supporting cast of family members brings a great deal of entertainment along the way.

Outlaws is a fun book, major subject matter aside. And even that is well handled—and not in a way that would turn the story into a version of 50 Shades of Grey. The dialog flows naturally; author Michaels created interesting characters, an intriguing story, and book that is a pleasure to read.