After almost twenty years, Emery Hazard finally has the man he loves. But things with his boyfriend and fellow detective, John-Henry Somerset, are never easy, and they’ve been more complicated lately for two reasons: Somers’s ex-wife and daughter. No matter what Hazard does, he can’t seem to get away from the most important women in his boyfriend’s life.While Hazard struggles with his new reality … new reality (changing dirty diapers, just to start), a bizarre murder offers a distraction. John Oscar Walden, the leader of a local cult, is found dead by the police, and the case falls to Hazard and Somers. The investigation takes the two detectives into the cult’s twisted relationships and the unswerving demands of power and faith.
But the deeper Hazard looks into the cult, the deeper he must look into his own past, where belief and reason have already clashed once. And as Hazard struggles to protect the most vulnerable of Walden’s victims, he uncovers a deeper, more vicious plot behind Walden’s murder, and Hazard finds himself doing what he never expected: racing to save the killer.
Only, that is, if Somers doesn’t need him to babysit.
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Hazard and Somers just keep getting better. Every book, somehow, tops the one before it. I don’t know what Gregory Ashe is sacrificing to the creative Gods, but man, don’t stop. Don’t ever stop. Because this writing is beautiful and profound and wicked and wild and it’s just about the craziest mystery series I’ve ever read.
Following the hard-won victory of Book 4, Hazard and Somers are dating in Reasonable Doubt. They’re head over heels in love and it’s so sweet and exciting and, of course, absolutely riddled with anxiety, doubt, and copious amounts of self-loathing. Because if any author can deliver the full gamut of the human condition, it’s Ashe. Hazard and Somers have a good relationship—not great—but good. One that promises they’re moving in the right direction. But that element of uncertainty is poked and prodded relentlessly. It’s like a bruise that just gets bigger, and it eventually encompasses their entire private existence to such a degree that as the reader, I felt all of it. The excitement, the rush, the desire, the heartbreak, the letdown, the doubt. Incredible writing. I cannot stress that enough. These books are the only ones I actually stop to highlight passages, because I just want to re-live Ashe’s poetry again and again.
This mystery is particularly rough. It once again handles some very heavy subject matter, this being religion, cults, conversion camps, and how that is experienced through Hazard and Somers, members of the LGBT community as well as officers of the law. A leader of a local group, who was believed to be Jesus Christ, has been viciously murdered and the case falls into the laps of our two favorite detectives. But nothing in Wahredua is easy. And the situation soon spirals out of control when a teenage boy, who has clearly been abused by the cult, is found in a compromising situation with the leader’s wife, a teenage girl is missing, on and on and on until the bodies start to pile up and the city streets are overrun with ‘believers.’
And without touching on the end, because no way would I spoil this whirlwind for anyone, there is a chapter where I literally gasped, cried, forgot to breathe, and definitely muttered, “No, no. Don’t like that at all.” What an awesome twist and epic conclusion!
Honestly, if you’ve read my reviews of this series so far and haven’t picked up Pretty Pretty Boys to give it a try, what are you waiting for?
Hazard and Somerset dating is no different than from previous books except there are moments when one can’t help but sigh… such love and devotion, so many insecurities and doubts between them… At one point I was ready to bash something but the author did a marvelous thing. He let Emery and John talk to each other. It was gut wrenching, heart-warming and so beautiful. I nearly cried. The boys touched my heart.
The case. Oh, the case! THE MF CASE!!! It was hard to stomach but brought so much clarity into Hazard’s past. I hurt for him, the poor man, what he went through. The author really went to town with the crazy this time. I loved the mystery, the twists that kept coming and how hard Hazard tried not to fall apart… and how much Somerset was there for him when it finally happened. I really felt a lot while reading this book. I liked my emotional response to it.
The twist in the end was just wild. I didn’t expect it and it blew my mind. Hazard was absolutely magnificent. I already respected him. He is one heck of a detective, but here I found myself admiring his resilience and the strength of his feelings. It was absolutely fantastic ending. The author put Emery through the wringer and helped him heal a little and maybe find himself again. I loved it.
This felt an awful like a hurt/comfort read. Poor Ree!!! We just get more more about how terrible his childhood was and I’m not here for it. I’m deeply saddened by everything he has went through and just want some good to start happening. And this was the worst he has been injured in the whole series IMO because of both the physical and mental. Somers is there for him though and that makes it better. We also get some seriously cute interactions with Evie and both Ree and Somers. I cannot get enough of these two!! Tristan James did wonderful on the audio.
I must say, this one vaulted to my 2nd favorite (the first being Pretty, Pretty Boys); twisty, addictive, and deceptively complex, not to mention the angst-driven romance between Hazard and Somers as this installment selves into yet another deeper level of their relationship that makes these guys so damned irresistible. I thought for sure I’d figured out the killer by about 75% of the book, but the twist at the end is as shocking as it is surprising!