Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Dirty Kiss

SERIES: Cole McGinnis #1

AUTHOR: Rhys Ford

NARRATOR: Greg Tremblay

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2014

LENGTH: 8 hours, 21 minutes

BLURB:

Cole Kenjiro McGinnis, ex-cop and PI, is trying to get over the shooting death of his lover when a supposedly routine investigation lands in his lap. Investigating the apparent suicide of a prominent Korean businessman’s son proves to be anything but ordinary, especially when it introduces Cole to the dead man’s handsome cousin, Kim Jae-Min.

Jae-Min’s cousin had a dirty little secret, the kind that Cole has been familiar with all his life and that Jae-Min is still hiding from his family. The investigation leads Cole from tasteful mansions to seedy lover s trysts to Dirty Kiss, the place where the rich and discreet go to indulge in desires their traditional-minded families would rather know nothing about.

It also leads Cole McGinnis into Jae-Min’s arms, and that could be a problem. The death of Jae-Min’s cousin is looking less and less like a suicide, and Jae-Min is looking more and more like a target. Cole has already lost one lover to violence he’s not about to lose Jae-Min too.

REVIEW:

There’s something about this series that makes me want to come back for more, time and again. This time though, it was the audiobooks that called to me. I mean Rhys Ford and Greg Tremblay, that’s a winning combination if there ever was one.

Cole McGinnis is a former police detective with LAPD, but the death of his lover, and his own near death had him leaving the force and start over as a private investigator. His brother asks him to look into an apparent suicide, as a favour to him. As the case unravels it becomes apparent that there is nothing easy with the case. It’s full of intrigue, secret and secret lives. But nothing is more difficult than keeping away from the victim’s cousin, Jae-Min, the most beautiful man Cole’s ever laid his eyes on.

Each time I read this book (and series) I enjoy it more and more. There are so many nuances that you miss when reading the book for the first time. There are those I forgot about that moments, and even more swoon worthy moments. I love the relationships between all the characters; they all have a past and have their own struggles. They are genuine, complex and they all have a purpose to the story. And each and every one of these side characters is beyond awesome in their own way.

I’m a huge fan of Greg Tremblay. He performs the books he narrates to perfection and ticks every single box I have for how I want my audios; the different voices, the pacing but more importantly the emotion added to bring the listener into the story. To become a part of it. Tremblay does this. Every. Single. Time. I just also have to add that there are a lot of Korean names and phrases in this book, and while reading this book I couldn’t even begin to guess the pronunciation for a lot of them, but there was never any hesitation on Tremblay’s part. Listening to this book was pure pleasure.

It is obvious that Dirty Kiss is the start of a (great) series, because while the case has been closed, there’s still so much more left to explore. You are left with a lot of questions you want answers to (no cliff-hangers as such) but the overall story just feels unfinished – which is why I’m going straight for book two. Highly recommended if you for some reason still haven’t read this series yet.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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