Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: King Slayer
SERIES: Fog City #2
AUTHOR: Layla Reyne
NARRATOR: Tristan James
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
RELEASE DATE: October 15, 2019
LENGTH: 5 hours, 37 minutes
BLURB:
Never fall for a mark. Mission fail.
Christopher Perri—a.k.a. Dante Perry—infiltrated the Madigan organization with one goal: vengeance for his murdered partner. Falling for the assassin at the head of the table wasn’t part of the plan, but Hawes Madigan is not the cold, untouchable Prince of Killers Chris expected. Everything about the newly crowned king is hot, and every inch of him eminently touchable . . . and off-limits once Chris’s cover is blown.
Exposure couldn’t come at a worse time. Hawes’s throne is threatened, and Chris suspects the same person who killed his partner is behind the coup. Working with Hawes benefits them both, but Chris’s employer has other ideas. Dismantling criminal organizations is what Chris does best, and his boss expects the King Slayer to deliver.
But Hawes is taking the Madigans in a new direction, one Chris can get behind, and the two men form a shaky alliance strengthened by the irresistible attraction between them . . . until Chris learns who killed his partner. Once he knows the truth, the King Slayer is unleashed, and Chris will stop at nothing to destroy those who betrayed him, including the king who stole his heart.
REVIEW:
Christopher Perry – Dante – infiltrated the Madigan organisation to find justice and vengeance for his late partner. To find the truth about what really happened on that night she died. When we left the guys in Prince of Killers, Dante had just captured Hawes and revealed his true identity. It was a bit of a cliff-hanger – to say the least- King Slayer picks up the moment where we left them, starting right in on that rising tension, the betrayal and hurt. Right off the bat Tristan James portrays these feelings so accurately that you are transported into that moment and are right there arguing with them and feeling that sting of betrayal.
Some secrets are secrets for a reason. The truth can hurt more than you ever thought possible. That’s also something Chris learns as he unravels the secrets of the past. He starts to question everything, his orders from atop, his loyalty, his feelings towards the man he should hate but don’t. There are more shades of grey in the world than he ever knew, and sometimes doing the right thing isn’t always the best (or legal) path to take.
To say that Chris and Hawes’ relationship takes on rollercoaster qualities in this book is putting it mildly. They go round and round, up and down, in twists and turns, but how could they not? There are feelings between them, at the same times there are also clear lines separating them – not the least one being the head of a criminal organisation and the other law-enforcement. What they both go through, the feelings and apprehension, fear and whatnot, it all fits. It feels genuine to me and I guess time will tell how this will all work out in the end. Because honestly – somehow it all will work out, it’s just a matter of how to get there.
As mentioned earlier, Tristan James captured our main characters beautifully and made you a part of their journey – not only their fights, but the tender moments and the heart pounding ones as well. He is a master of accents, so it’s a treat whenever he brings those out. However his narration was flawless. At times his sentences sounded choppy and stilted as he added strange pauses in the middle of sentences. There was no natural flow of the words or story and it made it feel off. It was most noticeable whenever you start listening, before you were fully immersed and engaged into everything that took place.
Predictable, after finishing this book we are in the same spot as we were in the beginning – with another cliffhanger. The sad part is, we don’t know how long we have to wait for the next, and I’m thinking last book of the series. As far as I know it doesn’t even have a title yet… So I guess it’s time to get comfy while we wait.
RATING:
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