Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Polyamory on Trial
SERIES: County Durham Quad #2
AUTHOR: Jude Tresswell
PUBLISHER: Rowanvale Books Ltd
LENGTH: 187 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 31, 2018
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DISCLAIMER: Adult content
A young Syrian needing treatment at Warbridge Hospital is seen by Phil Roberts, one quarter of a gay, polyamorous quad living in North East England. The men in the doctor’s life are Mike Angells, Ross Whitmore and Raith Balan, who Phil grows closer to each day.
Phil is troubled. Is his patient in the UK legally? Who has caused his injuries? Is trafficking involved? As the foursome struggle to find out, hampered by the fact that Mike is no longer a detective, cracks begin to appear in their relationship. Can four men be equals? Meanwhile, there are cracks of a different sort to deal with—and the job of doing so seems to fall exclusively on Mike’s broad shoulders!
This second tale about Mike, Ross, Raith and Phil can be read as a standalone or as a sequel. As in the first story, Badge of Loyalty, comments about living polyamorously are interlaced with events. This time, it’s Mike who offers readers an opinion.
REVIEW:
Possible triggers: rape, smuggling ring, beating and using others to keep everyone in line.
Even though Mike isn’t a cop anymore, he can’t help but get involved when Phil brings to his attentions patient who was raped and not gay and Syrian. The woman who was with him made everything seems more fishy and the more they dug, they were finding out people are being smuggled in. Mike has contacts still he talks and everyone is trying to figure out what to do. They decide to break in to see if they can find out some things and end up finding Khaled, the patient. They get him out of there and they all do their best to remain unaffectionate around the boy. But in one moment, Ross and Mike weren’t thinking and Khaled ran away. While they chased him and tried to stop him, he ended up climbing a ridge that didn’t support him and feel to his death. They’re all devastated and they try to save another. They do and this one turns out better. But it’s also left Phil injured. And I’m this book with all that’s going on, the doubts about their relationship are rising up quick with Phil. Even a bit with Raith. And it’s now up to them all to try to make their relationship better and maybe try to save some others. But how can you when it seems never ending?
This book is harder on the polyam quad. It’s more from Mike’s perspective in parts of the book, but as a whole, this case is causing some doubts in Phil. He feels like an outsider instead of being a part of the group. Especially since Ross only interacts really with Mike. Mike is the one who is affectionate with Raith and Phil. But then Riath and Phil have kind of formed their own duo as well so maybe it won’t be as bad. It’s just causing a bit of rift between them all and it’s hard to talk about with everything else going on. As much as he tries. He communicated it somewhat but to him, when he does admit it, it feels like he’s being selfish and that bother him even more. So, I feel for Phil in this one. As well as Mike. Mike is still recovering from what he went through at the end of book one. It’s not been an easy time for any of them to be honest. The secret Mike is still keeping about why he quit is getting to Raith and Phil and Ross had to finally explain it was because of him. He didn’t explain why, but he had to tell them at least that much. So it’s been a rough book all around. It’s still a good story though.
This has been a pretty good series. I’m glad I’ve got to read it.
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