Review: Brass (The Covid Chronicles) by Peter Moore

Steeped in steamy scenes and dynamic relationships, Brass is a wildly original novel from Peter Moore, the second part of his standalone series, The Covid Chronicles.

Delphine is the captivating protagonist of this steamy read – a fearless femme of the nocturnal economy, raking in duffel bags of dosh for her high-end erotic services. She keeps her income steady and her heart safe by avoiding emotional connection with her clients, but that begins to change when an Adonis-like footballer buys his way into her bed. He invites her to spend a week in Portugal on a pleasure cruise, to pose as his girlfriend and entertain all of their dirtiest desires.

The financial and sexual freedom she has worked so hard for is scaled against the genuine passion she has begun to feel for this extraordinary john, calling all of her independence into question. However, when something is too good to be true, it usually is, as the picture-perfect romance soon spirals into violence, violation, betrayal, and a steely heart that is suddenly broken.

Mixed throughout this main pulse-pounding romp is a secondary story from the Covid era – a tale of Dee’s endless dedication to caring for others, and the complex lives behind the healthcare workers who quietly keep us safe. When the two storylines collide, readers are given the full picture of the enigmatic Delphine, her youthful hopes and dreams, and the backstory of how she first fell into life as an escort. In an unexpected turn late in the book, Delphine has her hope for real romance reborn, even though neither of them could possibly see it coming.

The trajectory of this novel is entirely unpredictable, balancing moments of both savage passion and emotional vulnerability, revealing Moore’s truly skillful pen. The themes of love, lust, greed, purpose, shame, and redemption are neatly woven together, and the character development is patient, but profound. Similar to the first installment of this series, the concept of progressivism is briefly made into the existential villain – this time in the form of woke clients and sex workers who buck traditional trends of the gender binary – but this is far more subtle than in Moore’s earlier installment. Still, it will be hard to ignore for readers with more left-leaning or politically correct sensibilities.

Regarding the execution of the writing, there are some small mistakes, including misplaced commas, missing punctuation, and inexplicable drops in colloquial speech that can pull a reader from the well-crafted illusion. However, the descriptions are unique and visceral from start to finish, and the erotic scenes are absolutely steaming, each one entirely unique, which is rare for the genre. As a complete piece, the arc of this novel is memorable, the twists are a delight, and while the connection to the earlier installment of the series is mostly cursory, this doesn’t matter given the book’s effectiveness as a standalone novel, for a surprisingly steamy and multi-layered work of romance.