Shaw and North are together. Finally. After eight years of knowing each other and loving each other and slipping past each other, they’ve finally told each other how they feel. Borealis Investigations is growing, and they have a major prospective client on the line. Everything is finally moving the way it should.Until the night Shaw receives a phone call telling him that Detective Jadon Reck, his … Jadon Reck, his former boyfriend, has been attacked.
In spite of a warning from Jadon’s partner, Shaw and North begin an investigation into the attack. But nothing is at it seems. City police are working to cover up evidence faster than Shaw and North can find it, and the motive for the attack seems impossible to unravel.
When a conspiracy of dirty cops takes action against Shaw and North, the two detectives realize they are running out of time. They have to get answers about the attack on Jadon before they lose their own lives. But Shaw knows there are things worse than death. And one of them has come back for him, to finish what he started seven years before.
The West End Slasher has returned.
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And so wraps this first arc of the Borealis Investigations. Declination was a hell of a mystery—each layer peeling away like an onion and revealing intensity, grittiness, danger, and masterfully done character development in our private investigator heroes, North and Shaw. It was a perfect conclusion from where these two men longed to be in Book 1, and where they finally ended up, coupled with the finale of the carefully constructed murderer haunting Shaw’s life—The West End Slasher.
The long-fought battle against their personal demons seems to be won. North has left Tucker, his abusive husband, and he and Shaw have finally, after eight years, come clean to one another about their emotions, and it has paid off. We begin this final mystery with North and Shaw as both partners in business and in life. But for all the heartache it took to reach this moment, Shaw is still deeply struggling with intimacy. His near fatal experience at the hands of the Slasher during college, followed by Matty from Orientation, has left him physically and emotionally scarred. Shaw has been unable to take control of the panic and anxiety that bubbles to the surface during sex, and he feels like it’s already putting a wedge between him and North.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Shaw’s ex-boyfriend, Detective Jadon Reck, ends up in the hospital, and our two P.I.s are going to investigate the threats and attack, no matter who tries to stop them. And boy, does the entirety of St. Louis seem to be against them. The cops can’t be trusted, the local government can’t be trusted, and those who can help are too afraid of the repercussions.
This conclusion was just so, so, so good. Epic in the way the danger and tension keeps mounting, fantastic red herrings, and a great cast of suspects. And all of this is so artfully balanced with the trademark humor, banter, and hilarity of the characters, North and Shaw. Their dialogue and interactions are something so rarely seen in the genre—Ashe is able to stress the years of life and love they’ve shared in the authenticity of their conversations. After all, we all reach a point in a relationship where our chitchat seems nonsensical to outside parties.
I wholly and absolutely recommend this series. You will be in for an incredible ride of storytelling from the first page to the last.
Writer Gregory Ashe completes the series arc for the Borealis Investigations trilogy in fine style, but fear not: The stories from North McKinney and Kingsley Shaw Wilder Aldrich continue with the books of the Borealis: Without a Compass series! Triangulation: Borealis Investigation Book 2 ends with a warning sent to Shaw in the form of a battered Jadon Reck of the St. Louis Police Department. He shows up at Shaw’s home with a photo of North pinned to his jacket and a warning knifed into the skin on his chest: “He’s next”! The threat is a clear indicator that the men have stumbled into something bigger and broader than the death of a wrongly convicted man.
In ‘Declination: Borealis Investigation Book 3’, Shaw receives a phone call telling him that Jadon Reck, his former boyfriend, has been attacked. Jadon’s partner contacts him accidentally thinking he had phoned the current boyfriend but Shaw and North are off and running, remember how Jadon had been assaulted early on. In addition to Shaw genuinely liking Jadon, there about the earlier attack as well as the knowledge that Jadon had been looking into probable corruption within the department. The men try to follow his leads with Shaw focusing on the video footage of the license plate attributed to the Slasher that was linked to a dead policeman’s wife. Also for Shaw is the memory of the attacker having a gold tooth, something no one they’ve looked at seems to have.
North is kind of going along for the ride as emotional support as well as physical backup for Shaw but he is concerned about the opportunity Borealis has of going national, in spite of Shaw’s preoccupation with the West End Slasher. He is understandably disturbed with sexual intimacies with Shaw as they seem to verge on sadism with a bondage element. In addition, his husband Tucker tries to get him to return home by continuing his verbal attack on Shaw. What is absolutely worse is the discovery that uncle Ronnie is responsible for witness tampering on North’s behalf as instigated by the father. Ronnie asks that the agency locate Truck, a soft-headed, soft-hearted indigent that has managed to steal all kinds of trinkets including a couple of police badges! North’s conversation with a newspaper reporter uncovers a rationale for the West End Slasher’s link with the police department–the murders distracted the citizens from an Internal Affairs investigation where much of over a hundred million dollars in both cash and drugs goes missing! This is what Jadon had unearthed resulting in him with a bed at Barnes-Jewish hospital beaten nearly to death!
Truck was given a task that resulted in him finding and absconding with almost two million dollars and running back to the men of Borealis Investigation with his haul. They were able to use this money to placate Uncle Ronnie–it in exchange for Truck’s safety and wellbeing. The opportunity to go national falls through when the part Borealis Investigations plays in exposing the real West End Slasher and the department-wide corruption within the St. Louis Police. However, Shaw’s father’s company (Aldrich Acquisitions) has plenty of work for them to do. This serves as a wonderful twenty-sixth birthday present for North and a beautiful ending to a simply incredible trilogy!
Well, that was spectacular. Everything I like about the mystery genre was in this book. Everything I like about books was in this one.
The arguments between Shaw and North are real. Real people have those types of seemingly irrational disagreements that they work through. Gregory Ashe has a gift for creating believable relationships that last beyond the ‘they got together’ moment.
The end was magnificent.
The narration was also spectacular. I can definitely feel the difference between Shaw and North’s characters.
I have been dying for this book and it was absolutely fantastic!! I adore Shaw. I love how North knows exactly what to do to calm Shaw down. North and Shaw make the best team. I like how you never really know where Gregory Ashe’s books are going to go. Finally learning who the big bad was a shock. I’m completely satisfied but always wanting more.
Gregory Ashe has thoroughly won me over with his intricate, clever, and very entertaining series Borealis Investigations. As a mystery/thriller, this ended up being one of the best stories I’ve read in ages, and the array of characters Mr. Ashe dreams up are spectacular. From start to finish, this has been one enjoyable ride!
I highly recommend doing this series in audio. Performed by Charlie David, the characters in Borealis Investigations fit beautifully with his narration style. His ability to portray North’s raw vulnerability, when it breaks through his usual smooth confidence, and Shaw’s pain as he relives the heartbreaking moments of his past, is impressive. Mr. David infuses so much raw emotion into his performance, it’s really something special. Plus he keeps the good times rolling along, and makes the most of the wit and humor in Shaw and North’s banter.
The overall story builds gradually, throughout the three books. This is an intricate plot which unfolds so seamlessly I didn’t even realize how brilliant it was till the ending. Kudos to Gregory Ashe for his ability to craft such an amazing mystery!
As for the romance between Shaw and North, it’s a true slow-burn, beautifully done, and so worth the wait! Gregory Ashe writes deliciously sensual sex scenes, and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen to this pair in Declination. After Shaw’s experiences with Matty and Jadon, to see the person he can be with North is incredibly moving.
North is a such an interesting character. Watching him deal with Tucker’s drama, navigate his relationship with his complicated father, and process everything that Shaw brings out in him, I loved seeing him grow and change throughout the series.
These two men have fantastic chemistry: as friends, as work partners, and most definitely as lovers. They just need each other so thoroughly, it’s a marvelous love story. An excellent friends-to-lovers romance and a first-rate mystery, I sincerely hope this is not the end of Borealis Investigations.