Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Model Investigator 
SERIES: Haven Investigations #3
AUTHOR: Lissa Kasey
NARRATOR: Brian Hutchison
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: January 14, 2019
LENGTH: 9 hours, 7 minutes
BLURB:
With his lover, Kade, missing, androgynous former model turned private investigator Ollie Petroskovic is ready to kick some ass to bring him home.
Ollie and his ex, rock star Jacob Elias, need to find Kade and free him from the clutches of his manipulative family. But with Ollie suffering from chronic migraines and Jacob unable to bear loud noises, they are hardly the dynamic duo. It takes a lot of sweet talking on the part of Jacob, and patience Ollie doesn’t have, to find Kade. Only Kade’s not whole anymore. The fight for Kade’s heart and mind is far from over.
It’s Ollie’s turn to guide Kade through nightmares, self-doubt, and PTSD. Kade’s memories are scattered, fragmented with possible horrors, and he’s not quite sure what is real. Ollie will have to draw on his investigative skills to clear Kade of the terrible accusations his family has made and help Kade unlock the truth. But in doing so, he ignores his own health, which could have catastrophic consequences for everyone, especially when digging up the past could be lethal for them all.
REVIEW:
Model Investigator is not a standalone in any way. It’s a continuation of the previous books – especially the last one, which ended with a dozy of a cliffhanger! I think I might have said something about having this book ready to go after finishing the previous one or you might go just a little bit nuts waiting to know what happened. So if you haven’t read the first two books, you need to go back and start there before reading this review as it contains some spoilers from them.
Anyway, Model Bodyguard ended with Kade being kidnapped during an attack that left Ollie badly. This book picks up shortly after that with Kade still missing and Ollie is dealing with debilitating migraines and other forms of headaches. That doesn’t stop him from searching for Kade and in the pit of his stomach he just knows that his homophobic family are the ones responsible for keeping Kade from him. And knowing that Kade was badly hurt when he was taken makes the search that much more intense.
Some time later, Kade resurfaces at a hospital. Physically in decent shape – at least considering the circumstances, but mentally he’s a mess. Not knowing what was real or not, gaps in his memory. Added to that is the accusations his family is throwing around and in general just creating a big mess of everything. Ollie, wanting to help Kade, but also wanting answers for himself and for Kade starts investigating, but the answers he finds are horrifying – and potentially deadly.
A lot of this book is focused on Kade’s past. Past secrets. His childhood, his family. We learn he was sent to conversion therapy several times during his teen years. That his siblings believe him to be mentally ill, capable of gruesome deeds. Everything is told from Ollies POV, we are there when he finds these “truths” and his reactions to them. I liked that he didn’t take it all at face value, but tried to make up his own mind, do his own investigation – but more importantly talk with the man he loved.
As far as the plot goes… well I’m not going into specifics, at least not more than I already have, but it was utterly unbelievable. So leave all notions of any kind of basis in reality at the door because during this trip we are so far from it we might just need HUBBLE to get a glimpse at it. I’m not saying that’s it is wrong or bad, just give you a heads up of what to (not) expect.
You might (not) remember my wariness when starting listening to the previous book, where there had been a change in narrator from book one. I was quickly convinced then that the change worked for the book as the POV changed from Ollie to Kade and they, like the narrators had very different voices. However, with Model Investigator we are back to Ollie’s POV again and ideally we’d also be back with the original narrator; Mike Pohlable. But that’s not what we got, so I’m a bit peeved about it. I think that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t connect with Ollie as much as I used to. Why I didn’t love him as much as I did in the first book. I’ve already “heard” his voice, know his personality. And it was different when Hutchinson narrated. It felt like a new person entered the stage. I kept waiting for “my” Ollie to come out to play.
I don’t mean to say that Brian Hutchison is in anyway a bad narrator, because he’s not. He just didn’t capture Ollie as well as Pohlable did. I didn’t mind that in book two as everything was told through Kade, but this time Hutchinson had to “be” Ollie and for me he didn’t quite get there. As far as the actual narration goes he did a good job of it with good pacing and diction. Though he basically the same voice for all characters. There were some minor change at times, but you had to really listen for it to notice. Still he has a pleasant voice to listen to and sometimes that’s all you need.
There is something about this series and cliffhangers…. Again, there’s a small cliffhanger at the end of the book, but it’s nothing like Model Bodyguard where you end up cursing the author and where you are so desperate for answers that RL just have to wait just a few more hours. This time it’s more new questions being raised and needing answers. Okay, so there’s a little cursing, but hey I like to have my answers when I finish my books, not being left with new ones.
RATING: 
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