REVIEWED by Alexander

TITLE: The Only Easy Day

SERIES:  Sanctuary #2

AUTHOR:  RJ Scott

PUBLISHER:  Love Lane Books

LENGTH: 3 hours, 39 minutes

NARRATOR: Sean Crisden

BLURB:

One dead girl, one scared witness, and two men trained as Navy SEALs. Whether searching for justice or revenge, the final showdown between them is the same – explosive!

Dale MacIntyre, former Navy SEAL, works for Sanctuary. He’s the acting handler for a member of the Bullen family’s inner circle. He is close to obtaining the evidence he needs to prove Elisabeth Costains death was ordered by them – until someone gets in his way.

Joseph Kinnon, active Navy SEAL, is back on US soil for the first time in months, and he is told the tragic news that his stepsister is dead, gunned down in an alley by an unknown assailant. He is determined to find out who murdered her – until someone gets in his way. They both want the same thing but have different methods of accomplishing their goals.

They both want the Bullen family brought to account, but one wants justice and the other wants revenge. What happens between them, however, has nothing to do with either.

REVIEW:

The Only Easy Day is the second Sanctuary book, which shares the basic storyline arc from the first book, Guarding Morgan, but features different main characters.  As a result of the element of continuity, the stories must be read in order to ensure a full understanding of the events, as well as maximum enjoyment of the series.

Scott did a pretty good job of building a back story for both Dale and Joseph, and I could not help but like both characters from the get-go.  Dale shows himself to be level-headed, competent, and honorable when it comes to those in his care, so even though Robert Bullen isn’t technically in Dale’s “care”, it doesn’t stop him and Sanctuary from coming to the rescue.

I felt that Joseph’s emotional reaction to his sister’s death was believable, therefore his actions were as well, even if the navy would not approve of his plans to discover what happened to Elizabeth.  Joseph’s behavior and growth made sense and matched the man appropriately.

Since the base storyline arc is a continuation of Guarding Morgan, we are already familiar with elements such as the Bullen family, and now we get to see what the family is willing to do to protect their interests.  What I liked about this element of the story was that nothing was crazy absurd, it was ruthless, heartless, maddening, but totally reasonable, as far as I’m concerned.

I must confess that I jumped at the chance to review the Sanctuary audiobooks as a method of satisfying my need / want to re-read some old favorites.  I liked the books when I read them originally, and I found that the audio performance added to my enjoyment, yet again.  Crisden may not have a broad range of character voices, but what he does, he does well.  Crisp, clear diction, believable emotion, and flawless production value make listening to his narration of the story a genuine pleasure.

Next week my review of the third Sanctuary story, Face Value will be posted, which gives you time to grab and listen to the first two stories if you haven’t already done so.

Story Rating:

AUDIO RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Audible

Amazon