Reviewed by Taylor
TITLE: Dead End
SERIES: Duncan Andrews Thriller #4
AUTHOR: Stephen Osborne
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 200 pages
BLURB:
Duncan Andrews’s best friend Gina is a witch, his bulldog Daisy is a zombie, and his boyfriend Robbie is a ghost. Duncan himself is just your average private detective, who happens to specialize in paranormal cases.
Robbie’s cousin, Jason, has a problem. The house he’s living in is haunted by the ghost of serial killer Dr. Stanley Moore. Duncan thinks banishing the spirit will be an easy task, but when confronted, the ghost nearly kills Duncan.
If that’s not bad enough, a witch-hunting group called the Order of Cotton Mather have tracked Gina down and are bent on destroying her. And Robbie and Duncan’s relationship may be nearing an end, as Robbie feels he’s holding Duncan back from having a lover he can actually touch.
Duncan must rid Jason’s house of the evil Dr. Moore, save Gina, and somehow manage to hold onto Robbie in the process.
REVIEW:
Oh YAY!!! This book was so much fun to read. Duncan is back in this installment to investigate some ghost dealings in his dead lover’s cousin’s house. Meanwhile, a fanatical order against witches may be coming after his friend, Gina, and Robbie and Duncan try to figure out what the future holds for them. Dead End is my favorite in the series. It had everything I was looking for and then some.
First the plot points aside from the main relationship (even though both threads tied into Robbie and Duncan’s relationship): the haunted house and the fight to remove him. I don’t really ever get scared by paranormal elements, but I really thought the author set up an incredibly creepy environment in the haunted house, even more so because the reader doesn’t “meet” Duncan again right away. We meet the happy couple moving into their new home and it felt like I’d stepped in to the home with them. Every creepy moment, the chill up the arms, the feeling that something was happening to your partner in your own bed, all combined until I was actually fairly nervous about the outcome all before even getting reintroduced to Duncan & Crew. And then the ghost itself was the biggest badass, worse than any previous ghost any of them have had to deal with before. It was AWESOME. I loved every second of it.
Then we have Gina and her boyfriend plot line where Gina might be in danger, family members and friends bond together, promises are made, and tricks are performed. I LOVED this part of the plot, and I’m so thankful the author has given me Gina. I simply adore her — in fact, I’d love a spin off book for her, be it her time before she met Duncan or some other adventure in the present time period.
Duncan is a character that started off so zany and humorous, but over the course of the series, he’s developed into a character that I see beyond the humor and care for him and his friends deeply. The love between Robbie and Duncan is truly special, the kind of love I don’t ever really see in books, even with showier elements or more erotic scenes. In the previous book, Duncan seemed to waffle back and forth between new friend, Nick and his ghost boyfriend, Robbie. Truthfully, it upset me some, but I completely understood it from all sides and perspectives. The way that Duncan and Robbie’s relationship is handled throughout the series feels respectful, cherished even. There’s an ease there, but also intense and real emotions. Dead End had a lot going on with Duncan’s past, present and future and he made numerous decisions for the people he loved that made me proud of him.
And that ending? SO. MUCH. LOVE.
I love, love this series. Ghosts, witches, zombies and unconventional love. Can’t wait for more!
RATING: 
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