Jigsaw Puzzle by HG (R)

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Fandom: PROS (THE PROFESSIONALS)
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle
Length: 900k
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: HG at The Hatstand and HG at The Circuit (there are slightly different story lists at each archive)
Why this must be read: Because the time has come to put meat on some classic Pros bones. One of the things I love about Pros is how many long stories there are out there, especially in zines. And a maestro of the form is HG. For years HG has been zine only (and you’re really not a Pros fan, btw, unless you’ve got some in your collection:)). However, over the last year some of her stories have finally started coming online, so I thought I’d rec this novel, one of my favourites of hers.

The idea is to strap yourself in with HG, because her thing is emotional rollercoasters. She’ll bring the lads together, then separate them spectacularly, then bring them back inch by painful emotionally satisfying inch, as she does here. In Jigsaw they spend more than a year apart and out of CI5, only brought back into the fold with screaming reluctance. She teases their reunion and its aftermath out perfectly - the buried pain and missteps of their past, the world of CI5 and its new agents, the case they’re assigned – all must be worked out if something new is to evolve between them. And it’s all wrapped round her familiar gift for angst, hurt/comfort, great dialogue, warm, spiky humour, and characters you’re right there with, willing to succeed.

******

But his mind was inexorably set on escape. He had to leave--and not just because of Doyle. The job had long since turned sour, his respect for Cowley tainted by each increasingly dirty job. The fault wasn't Cowley's for being who he was--or what the job made him--any more than Bodie thought it was his own. It was just that he'd had enough. He'd seen too many people die in his time, his pragmatism eroded with each death until there seemed no point or end to it. More than that, and the fact he didn't want to die because his mind was on other than his job, he was afraid--of how much Doyle meant to him, and of the violence of his own feelings, which had found expression in his possessive take-over just now. Doyle would carry bruises from tonight, some of them in painful places. Not what he had intended, but a final warning, had any been needed.

"Bodie?"

His back to his partner, Bodie remained on his side, feigning sleep. The second time he heard the soft query he closed his eyes, his facial muscles tense as he willed Doyle to give up.

When it was quiet, Doyle motionless beside him, Bodie lay staring out into the darkness, more unhappy than he could ever remember feeling in his life.

******

Jigsaw Puzzle, Part One ( links to 2-6)

Comments

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I love this story. One of those zines I pull out a couple of times a year to reread. I'm not a fan of long separations (it's hard for me to imagine a person staying in deep, soul-shattering love with someone they haven't seen in fifteen years,) but the one year separation in Jigsaw Puzzle works—a lot because it isn't that long, but also because HG does such a good job of making sure it works.

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of long separations Me neither, but HG makes this just long enough to keep it all credible. And then we get to wallow in the way they make it back to each other. I just love the way she does that in some of her longer stories.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I recommend every single HG story I've ever read! And that includes the ones with subjects I generally don't care for (hooker stories, rape stories). For some reason, HG drags me into her world and I want to stay forever. To me, she is the best Pros writer on the planet.

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

She's terrific, isn't she? You pick up one of her zines and emerge, all blinking and happy a day later. As a storyteller she can sell ice to Eskimos..*g*

[mistry89.livejournal.com]

I read this in that first greedy flush of discovering Pros - so thank you for the reminder to go back and re-read it "properly" (as I have today off work, this is a great opportunity).
Cheers!

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Glad the rec could inspire you!

[angel-ci5.livejournal.com]

This was the first HG fic I ever read, and what a fabulous introduction it was!
The Maestro indeed! *g*

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Quite the introduction then! I love this one, but my firm favourite is Strange Days Indeed. It's not online yet though, so I couldn't choose it for Crack Van.

[gwirith.livejournal.com]

I love this story with a deep and abiding love. When it first came out, I read it with a knot in my stomach (that early section with the *pain* was almost unbearable: Bodie's nervous breakdown--at least that's what I interpreted it to be; Doyle's deep, deep suffering; the misery when they first start to work together again). Thereafter, for the longest time, I would skip past the really wrenchy stuff (including the rape--no matter how Doyle might deny it, that's what it was). And then I learned to get over myself and *enjoy the story*. Awww. Lovely, lovely stuff. In fact, with a few days off coming up, this would be a great time to revisit. Thanks for the reminder!

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

I konw exactly what you mean; the early section requires something of a deep intake of breath to get through it at times. But the pay off with her is always so worth it. You *know* she is going to get them there in the end, so you simply have to have a little faith..

So glad I could remind you of this in time for some holiday reading!