Not That Complicated by Isabel Murray

If this was your classic Cotswolds murder mystery (it’s not) and Ray was an amateur detective (he isn’t) then when he stumbles across something unexpected under his bedroom floor, he’d investigate the hell out of it.
 

Hard pass.
 

Ray’s just a thirtysomething graphic designer with a broken heart who doesn’t much like his life right now.
 

And he’s already having nightmares about the whole thing, come on. He’d rather not think about it. (Also, the police were kinda mean, and now everyone thinks he’s a serial killer.)
 

Luckily for Ray, the last man in the world he should be interested in has distraction on his mind, and it seems like all Ray can think about is Adam Blake. Adam is everywhere Ray turns. He is too young for Ray, too cool for him, too beautiful for him…and for some bewildering reason, Adam is always there for him when Ray needs him the most.
 

But Ray’s not falling for it. He’s not falling for Adam. Definitely not. Because Ray and Adam have a complicated history, and starting something would be a terrible idea.
 

Not That Complicated is a 74k-word romantic comedy that just so happens to also have some dead guys in it. There are very few details on the correct investigative procedure—not that Ray wants to know—and you can forget about any big reveal to wrap up the case. Ray is tangentially involved in the whole gross business at best, and that suits him fine. This is a romance. Which means there is flirting, awkwardness, some surprising discoveries in the bedroom, awkwardness, misunderstandings, more awkwardness, and the kind of love that changes your life forever.
 

Wait. No. Ray is not falling in love…
 

Right?

I picked this up off of another Amazon Kindle algorithm suggestion which was a surprisingly specific choice that had me amused. It managed to find a novel that combined my recent reads involving a silly romcom, mysterious dead bodies, British-set narratives, and an M/M LGBTQ+ focal couple. It’s honestly quite an impressive of feat (even though the dead bodies discoveries are more of a plot device to get Ray out of his house, this is decidedly not a murder mystery or investigative story).

Reviewing and critiquing Isabel Murray’s Not That Complicated is akin to reviewing and critiquing a risqué reality tv dating show. They’re meant to be simple entertaining affairs full of salacious situations and R-rated spice, not shooting to be the most ambitious or critical experiences. It knows exactly what the assignment was and delivers a flamboyantly over the top, outrageous romcom story managing to get Ray and his youthful love-interest Adam together in multiple steamy scenes. While there’s obviously a lot of bedroom action to be had (not my cup of tea but quite hot, I think?), I found Not That Complicated to consistently be funnier than it needed to be.

“You can’t buy me any more than you can blackmail me.” Not with apple crumble, anyway. It had fruit in it. It was practically healthy. -Ray

I’d like it (chocolate cake) served a la naked abs, preferably on a six-foot-three blond with a hint of ginger? It’s specific, I know. -Ray

Ray talking about Adam but everyone else thinking he’s talking about finding the dead body
For the record, though, he’s old enough. Some people might think it’s problematic. But we’re both adults. We shared a bed. That’s it. -Ray

The book revels in making Ray constantly babble in uncomfortable situations which was probably the highlight for me (along with the dark humor associated with finding long-dead mummified bodies below one’s bedroom floor). Ray and Adam are charming and Adam’s snark and sarcasm is great. Ray’s very extra high-strung tendencies and self-conscious spiraling (both a running joke highlighted by Adam repeatedly) weren’t quite to my taste, but I can see it being very relatable and entertaining to others (I must not be flamboyant enough to appreciate it). The dialogue is full of ridiculously cringey innuendos that are so bad, they’re good.

Beyond the comedy and spice, I don’t much else to say. The plot and narrative is quite contrived and outlandish in how it forces Ray to stay at the Premier Hotel which Adam works at repeatedly. There is the constant theme of miscommunication which is all to prevalent in romance novels where I would’ve instead preferred more time spent exploring Ray’s anxiety-riven tendencies that cause the disconnect. Adam’s interest in Ray isn’t explained until the last 30 pages of the book and is barely given 3 pages of actual content out of a 296 page novel. There’s also hints of Adam’s low self-esteem being seen a hot fling instead of a worthy partner that’s never explored. The police response and official on the job “work” by Liam is unintentionally silly compared to my typical murder mystery genre reads (though his dialogue is intentionally funny). But at the end of the day, do those shortcomings really matter to readers’ experiences it’s clearly targeted for? Absolutely not. For me this was close to a 4-star but rounded down due to the lackluster ending. I hoped that it would pull off something from Adam’s perspective that would surpass the low standards required for this type of story, but alas it did not. But I can’t really fault it because at the end of the day, I breezed through it in three days and it’s romcom narrative made me laugh. Mission accomplished.