Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Declination
SERIES: Borealis Investigations #3
AUTHOR: Gregory Ashe
NARRATOR: Charlie David
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 11 hours, 48 minutes
RELEASE DATE: April 28, 2020
BLURB:
Shaw and North are together. Finally. After eight years of knowing each other and loving each other and slipping past each other, they’ve finally told each other how they feel. Borealis Investigations is growing, and they have a major prospective client on the line. Everything is finally moving the way it should.
Until the night Shaw receives a phone call telling him that Detective Jadon Reck, his former boyfriend, has been attacked.
In spite of a warning from Jadon’s partner, Shaw and North begin an investigation into the attack. But nothing is at it seems. City police are working to cover up evidence faster than Shaw and North can find it, and the motive for the attack seems impossible to unravel.
When a conspiracy of dirty cops takes action against Shaw and North, the two detectives realize they are running out of time. They have to get answers about the attack on Jadon before they lose their own lives. But Shaw knows there are things worse than death. And one of them has come back for him, to finish what he started seven years before.
The West End Slasher has returned.
REVIEW:
It’s taken them years, but North and Shaw are finally together. It’s not easy or without issues. For one Shaw still have many hang-ups from his attack by the slasher, and naturally so, and it’s something they are still trying to learn to navigate. For the most part they are doing good, but then Jadon is attacked (again) and the hunt for dirty cops and the West End Slasher intensifies. All of this has Shaw spiraling in ways we’ve never seen, I mean he’s on a trip and a half and North is trying his best to calm him – not always succeeding. But it isn’t always going downwards, there are some really moving and honest moments between them and they make you believe that they will actually make it.
Like the previous books, Declination is mostly a procedural and a hunt for answers. An intense and dangerous hunt, and I would say at times even stupid. I mean after everything these two have been through, and considering who they are hunting they do take some pretty idiotic risks, to the point where I actually marveled that they were still alive. But I guess that’s a bit of luck and a huge dose of tenacity for you. There are so many threads and clues to keep track of that you’ll probably won’t be able to. But in the end it all fits – well, after a few twists and turns. Well, there is that cliffhanger muddling things up…
The production of this audio wasn’t ideal. It sounded like Charlie David was speaking in a tin can. You got used to it pretty quickly, but it is noticeable every time you start listen. Once you get into the story the narration was great. David is talented and he brings out Shaw and North and makes them real. He modulates his voice and intensity after the events taking place; if a character is shouting, for sexy times etc. It grounds the listener to the story and holds you captive.
I think I read somewhere that this would be the last book in this series, but considering the ending of it, I’m wondering if Ashe don’t have more stories in mind for these two.
RATING: 
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