Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Pros & Cons of Vengeance
SERIES: Pros & Cons
AUTHOR: A.E. Wasp
NARRATORS: Alexandre Steele and Tor Thom
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 8 hours and 54 minutes
BLURB:
Five jobs. Five chances for redemption.
There’s nothing like being blackmailed by a dead man to really bring a group of cons together. And what a group we are: a hacker, a thief, a con artist, a thug, and a Federal agent with an ax to grind.
The deal is simple: We do the jobs, and Charlie’s lawyer wipes the slate clean for each of us, one at a time. Since job number one calls for some muscle, it looks like I’m up first. I’m Steele Alvarez, ex-Special Forces close protection specialist (aka, a bodyguard for some not-so-nice guys).
After learning what the job is – taking down a seemingly untouchable senator with a penchant for beating up young male prostitutes – I’m in. No questions. A bullet ought to do the trick. Then I met Senator Harlan’s latest victim: Breck Pfeiffer, the gorgeous hooker with a heart of gold and the soul of a fighter. One look at him, and I’m gone. That kid laid me out harder than any punch ever did.
I’ll do anything to protect Breck, even kill for him. But Breck doesn’t want the senator dead, he wants vengeance. If we’re going to find a way bring down the slimebag and get the blackest mark on my record erased, I’m going to need all the help I can get.
REVIEW:
This story starts at the funeral of the mysterious Charlie. He’s and interesting guy apparently – having collected a rather motley crew of mourners that include ex-Special forces, cat burglar, hacker extraordinaire, con artist, FBI agent, etc. And Charlie has something on all of them – something they don’t want to be made public. So he’s blackmailing them from beyond the grave with the help of his lawyer to make sure they do some final jobs for him.
In this case, the job it to take down on Senator Harlan, former preacher, foe of all things LGBTQ and secret abuser of drugs and rentboys. And he’s really good at blackmailing people into supporting him and his campaigns. But it seems that he’s picked the wrong rentboy to mess with as this particular rentboy has ties to Charlie’s crew and isn’t going to just take it. Little does Breck realize that he’s far from on his own in this and he’s intrigued by the cavalry that rides in to help.
Steele Alvarez has a past. One he’s tried to push from his memory. But this case has him all tied up in knots – particularly since he falls head over heels with Breck. Breck is extremely attracted to him too – which is something Breck rarely experiences. This comes as a blow to Breck’s brother Ridge, but it just can’t be helped 🙂 Ridge has always been protective if Breck, but he’ll just have to get over it. Steele is dedicated to helping Breck with payback to Senator Harlan, not just for what he’s done to Breck and his friend, but the damage he continues to do to the LGBTQ community with his power in the Senate.
The caper will require the members of this crew to work together, and they do pretty seamlessly. Each member contributes from his particular skillset in a fantastically climatic evening outside Washington, DC. Everything is timed to the minute with everyone doing their part to take the Senator down. There are of course some tense and scary moments, but there are some additional guests who help save the day as well.
This is the start to an interesting series. I would liken it somewhat to a caper movie in book form. The premise is a familiar one – gathering a bunch of people for a funeral only to find out that they are by no means done with the deceased and that there will be lots of surprises in store for everyone. I really liked that aspect and also the fact that they are using their various “talents” to right wrongs in the past and free themselves from whatever Charlie has over them. At first I was a little confused by the number of characters – I had not read the books before listening to the audio. After the first few chapters I got with the program. I was also slightly thrown off by the alternating narrators because their voices for the other characters were so different. It took me a little while to get used to that too. But in the end, I really enjoyed the story and the characters as well. There is a good balance of levity and heavier content in the story that helped move the story at a good pace as well and the climactic take down was really well done. The final chapter is a preview into book #2 and I’m really looking forward to seeing what’s up next for this whole crew.
RATING: 
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