Boystown, Season Two

Okay, when I bought Boystown, Season One, I never really thought I would enjoy this series as much as I am. Back in the 1980s, the nighttime soap operas were all the rage, and there were some truly over-the-top storylines that you couldn't help but watch (kind of like passing an accident on the road). Jake Biondi, with his Boystown series, the characters, and the stories has truly captured the essence of those nighttime soaps and brought them to live once again on the written page. It's an interesting method of storytelling - seasons, instead of books, and episodes, instead of chapters. But if you loved Dynasty or Dallas or Falcon Crest - then prepare yourself, because Boystown tops them all!

This second "season" picks up right where the first season ended. Three ambulances are on the way to the hospital, the emergency room is preparing for the gunshot victims, and everyone's lives are about to be changed. Now, before we talk about the story, I will admit, it took me a chapter or two for me to get caught back up on each of the characters, who they were, and their relationships to one another. Once I did, though, I went back and re-read the first couple of chapters, so I could get the full impact of the story.  (What might have been helpful is if Biondi had provided a brief, maybe one page, synopsis of "Previously, last season on Boystown"...)

That being said, the story opens with a bang, as readers discover who was shot at the end of the last book, whose injury was not so serious, whose injury was very serious, and who didn't survive the shoot-out. As with any good soap opera, your mainstay characters survive (although not necessarily unscathed), and the baddie from last season dies ... or does he? Biondi weaves some brand new storylines this time around, introducing some new characters - David, the physical therapist; Tyler, the nurse at the hospital; Gino and Marco, the Ciancio twins whose family is at odds with the Mancini family; and Rachel, seductive vixen who has her own agenda. Add these into the already dramatic stories involving Derek and Joyelle (her pregnancy and his secret affair with Cole); Ben and Jacqueline's budding relationship (with Jacqueline's son being Ben's former lover); Justin Mancini having arrived in town, much to the chagrin of his brothers Derek and Emmett; and Emmett dealing with the after affects of having been held captive and raped by Keith's former boyfriend. And that's all just for starters!

Like I said - it's got more drama than Dynasty, Dallas, and Falcon Crest rolled into one!

What I really love are some of the undercurrent of mysteries - such as, who is sending Keith the mysterious phone calls from Nick?  Is he really alive and back for revenge?  Or is something more sinister going on? And just what is Justin really doing in Chicago, and how will it affect his brothers' lives?  And why are Gino and Marco intent on stealing the Mancini business away from the family and destroying the Mancini brothers once and for all? Oh, and just wait until the big new year's party, where secrets will be revealed, lives will be changed, relationships will be torn apart, and the new year will come in with a bang - literally!

Because, let's not forget, since this is a soap opera, more or less, there's got to be a wild season cliffhanger. And just when I thought Biondi would not be able to top the first season's shoot-out, this time we've got a car explosion that leaves six lives up in the air as the rest of the world rings in the new year...

RATING: 9 very revealing copies of Mancini's patriarch's will out of 10 for pulling me into this insane drama and keeping me enthralled to the very last page (NOTE - it would have been a 10 out of 10, but the explicit sex scenes felt very unnecessary and took away from the story)