It’s almost Christmas, and Emery Hazard finds himself face to face with his own personal nightmare: going on a double date with his partner—and boyhood crush—John-Henry Somerset. Hazard brings his boyfriend; Somers brings his estranged wife. Things aren’t going to end well.When a strange call interrupts dinner, however, Hazard and his partner become witnesses to a shooting. The victims: Somers’s … victims: Somers’s father, and the daughter of a high school friend. The crime is inexplicable. There is no apparent motive, no connection between the victims, and no explanation for how the shooter reached his targets.
Determined to get answers, Hazard and Somers move forward with their investigation in spite of mounting pressure to stop. Their search for the truth draws them into a dark web of conspiracy and into an even darker tangle of twisted love and illicit desire. And as the two men come face to face with the passions and madness behind the crime, they must confront their own feelings for each other—and the hard truths that neither man is ready to accept.
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I tend to think it’s pretty easy to judge the direction of a long, ongoing series by book three. Has the story surpassed each one before it? Is the author getting savvier, smarter, honing their craft down to the last, most minute detail? In the case of Hazard and Somerset’s third title, the answer is a resounding, yes! Ashe worked every angle of this mystery with intelligence and accuracy, threw enough curve balls my way that I doubted my gut and then doubted the doubt about my gut, and interwove the murder and mystery so thoroughly with the push-and-pull of our two main detectives that you don’t know where one moment of chaos begins and another ends.
In short, Paternity Case was absolutely excellent.
The story begins with a double date, Hazard and his boyfriend, Nico, out with Somers and his estranged wife, Cora. It’s about as cringe-worthy as you can imagine, cut short only by a call to duty that brings Hazard and Somers to Somers’ parents house where a naked, drugged-up Santa has crashed a Christmas party and is waving a gun around. It gets worse when Santa somehow escapes Somers’ cuffs and ends up shooting his father and the teenage daughter of Somers’ old high school football coach, Bing. It manages to get worse still, when Santa, the only real lead Hazard and Somers have as to what in the hell is going on, is shot and killed for resisting arrest. Or at least, that was the story.
The mystery of this book was complicated and abstract. Suspects dragged us deeper into Hazard’s heartbreaking past, as well as inflated previously established dangers and personalities from Book 2, boxing the reader in with a sense of impending doom, no matter which direction they fled. And the conclusion of Paternity Case was incredibly intense, as Ashe refuses to shy away from difficult subject matter in his stories, and very successfully paints villains as nothing but villains. The meat of the book focused on Hazard, but God, the way that Ashe concludes the stories with Somers making incredible sacrifices on behalf of his partner… it’s a great display of growth for the character in regards to self-esteem and bravery, and also a wonderful example of humans doing stupid and dangerous things for the people they love. And Somers loves Hazard. Without a shred of doubt. And the fact that he loves his partner, I can only imagine, will endanger them in the future.
The series is amazing. It deserves all the praise and attention its received. Ashe’s narrative is brutal and beautiful poetry. His characters are profoundly flawed and deeply relatable. The mysteries are intense and exciting. I’ve slowed down my reading, despite my anxiousness to get to the second season, because I have been absolutely relishing every word, every turn of phrase, every paragraph that tears me apart and stitches me together again like Frankenstein’s monster. Hazard and Somerset have carved a place into the history of gay mystery books.
I have come to appreciate the presence of Nico. Finally. Do you know why? Nico while being very good for Hazard also showcases all the ways he is wrong for him and all the ways Somerset would be much better. The emotions are so intense that I can feel them on the pages. I love when the author has this gift with words – when you hold your breath and the MC are struggling, hurting and are falling in love. And you read and feel it all happen.
The case/mystery is very absorbing and gripping. I enjoyed the investigation and the lengths both men went to find out the truth. The picture of Wahredua is starting to emerge – tight knit community that has way too many bad apples hiding in plain sight behind the facade of respectability and enormous amounts of money. And Hazard and Somerset are here to weed them all out. Some threats are out in the open and some are so subtle you doubt they are even there. I really like how all the characters make this story so immersive and hard to put down. All I can say is that I am enjoying myself immensely.
This was just as good as the previous two! You get to see more of what Hazard and Somers’ high school was light. You get to meet an old friend from high school then there is the mystery. And the reveal of all that was very hard and disturbing. But very good. Gregory’s writing is so good. I can’t wait to continue this. As far as the UST between Ree and Somers, well it is still unresolved. Maybe Somers is finally going to be a better partner and person though. Which would be nice. Tristan James did a great job on the narration.
I love this book. However, this is not a stand-alone book. You need to read the other two books in the series. This book happily solves the murder that occurs, but the overall arching plot that began in Book 1 will not be concluded in Book 3. Luckily, the series is complete, so there’s no real cliff hanger since you can move onto Book 4. Also, this is primarily a thriller/mystery book with a romantic subplot – the unresolved sexual tension between the two main characters will not be resolved in this book, so don’t read this if you are looking for a quick instant relationship. But don’t worry, there are still some hot sex scenes and wonderful delicious sexual tense moments.
The relationship between John-Henry Somerset and Emery Hazard makes me want to pull out my hair in frustration and squeal in delight all at the same time. Why do I love these two men together?? They are obviously not good for each other, yet, they are perfectly matched puzzle pieces. I never thought I would love a series-long slow burn, but I can’t get enough of these two. Poor Nico, he knows what’s going on, but he’s still sticking with Hazard. Everyone is making bad relationship choices, and I can’t wait to see how this all gets resolved.
The mystery was fantastic – a delve into the more disturbing side of familial relationships. It was cleverly paced and everyone was suspect. Throughout the case, we learn more about the secrets both Somerset and Hazard are hiding, and things begin to make more sense while also becoming way more complicated.
I loved this book, and I’m obsessed with this series now. I wished it came in a bundle because I’m annoyed I have to take the time to go and download book 4 onto my tablet. I highly recommend this book and this series.