Book Review: Killer Vibes by Jack Friday
Strong Stoner/ LGBT/ Almost Cozy Mystery (Yes, Including Both A Dog And A Cat). Straight up, this is an openly LGBT book from an openly LGBT author. Which will work for some and not for others. You do you, either way. No judgment here. Truly. Unless you read this book despite this warning and still rate it 1 or 2 stars because "it has gay people in it" or some similar bullshit. I already told you it did!
For those who don't mind/ actively want a book where there are at least as many gay (generally, not specifically just homosexual men) people as straight people and where both types are developed as fully fleshed out characters where neither is really judged for being who they are nor is there any real preachiness from any direction... this is that exact type of tale.
On the lighter side but with some serious shit happening, this is absolutely a "what the fuck" kind of stoner tale that openly embraces the proclaimed weirdness of Austin (though with a *lot* more gay people than my own - 20+ yr old - travels in Austin would suggest, but also not necessarily out of place given a) I wasn't looking for it, b) I was there within a month or so after the Lawrence decision that officially legalized sodomy and c) Austin even then had hundreds of thousands of people in the City Limits alone and I was in a very small section of town doing a very specific (college related) thing).
For those looking for this generally lighter-ish style mystery with a decent amount of action and a rather high body count for something so generally lighter in tone, this is absolutely going to be a book you'll want to check out - yet again, with the given caveat that if you're not cool with LGBT stories for whatever reason, you *really* need to skip this one, as this isn't "a solid mystery with LGBT elements or maybe a singular LGBT character". This is "the main character is an openly bi dude, and there are closed door sex scenes - nowhere near even jalapeno, but likely still more than some will want to see at all, even though it really is barely more than warm glass of milk level - featuring both mm and mf couplings" tale.
As a series opener, it does its job effectively of showing us our "hero" (such as he is here) and his origins in this particular adventure, and the closing words do in fact leave a sequel *right there* for the taking and do in fact set it up as an equally zany kind of tale, without really giving away really anything as to the ultimate direction it will take. There is enough within this world generally that readers will want the world to continue to see how other things play out, and there is enough "legs" with the general premise that this could in fact be a series of Reacher length or longer should "Friday" choose to take it that far.
Very much recommended.
This review of Killer Vibes by Jack Friday was originally written on July 20, 2026.
