Review of False Start (Wilmington Breakers #2) by Sloan Johnson

by Sloan Johnson

3 Stars

Nixon Cross isn’t wired to share his life with anyone. He’d considered a relationship once, but after the one man patient enough to put up with all his quirks shut him down, he committed all of his energy to football and helping his players. Now, one of his players need more help than Nixon can provide and his former flame is the one man who will know what to do.

Retired NAFL player Lincoln Sims had no choice but to stay in the closet; he was a professional athlete at a time when it was impossible to be honest about his sexuality. After retiring, he confessed his secret to his wife and son because he was tired of living a lie. Now, he’s ready to live his life. Nixon Cross is the man he left behind but could never forget.

Can these men find a way to recover from their false start years earlier?

Finally, #2 of the Wilmington Breakers series, and Nixon’s story.  This is a complicated book, with serious themes.  We liked the book, but it wasn’t what we were expecting after meeting Nixon and Lincoln in the first book. 

Nixon Cross is a NFL Coach, known for being tough but fair.  He is deeply in the closet and has settled to living his life alone, and it honestly suits him.  But there has always been one man that has managed to itch him under the skin, Lincoln Sims.  Lincoln is a retired NFL player who lives his life in a loveless relationship, hiding his true self.  Noe that he is retired he is divorced and slowly coming out of the closet, and finally giving himself permission to go after what he wants, Nixon.

This is a complicated book, of two older men that are tired of hiding, and finally coming to see what they mean to each other.  But they both have lives, Lincoln has a son almost ready to be drafted to the NFL himself, and they live in different states.  Their lives make Nixon and Lincoln spend a lot of time away from each other, and although when they are together it is good, we missed the passion in this story.  

Honestly, the book surprised us with its intensity, and not in a romantic sense.  But rather the story of ex-players and the head injuries associated with the years of physical trauma their bodies endure.  Lincoln takes this up as his passion and the intensity of this storyline kept us riveted.  The book follows a man by the name of Patrick, a friend of Lincoln’s who is struggling with the ill effects of head trauma, and it is so heartbreaking to see his family. 

One of the great things about False Start is the lack of drama, well, relationship drama.  Nixon and Lincoln are men in their 40s, and settled.   They talk together, they support each other, they don’t hide behind drama, and maybe as they have been friends for years this really add s to the comfort of their relationship.  And their relationship is …comfortable.

False Start is a surprise of a book, so different form the first in the Wilmington Breakers series, and although we see some characters from Down by Contact, you can really read it a standalone.