Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Tigers on the Run
SERIES: Tigers & Devils #3
AUTHOR: Sean Kennedy
NARRATOR: Dave Gillies
LENGTH: 7 hours, 53 minutes
RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016
BLURB:
Young Australian Micah Johnson is the first AFL player to be out at the beginning of his career. Retired professional football player Declan Tyler mentors Micah, but he finds it difficult, as Micah is prone to making poor life choices that land him in trouble. Nothing Dec can’t handle. He’s been there, done that, more times than he’d like to admit. Being Simon Murray’s partner all these years has Dec quite experienced in long-suffering and mishaps.
As usual, Simon thinks everything is going along just fine until his assistant, Coby, tells him a secret involving an old nemesis. Simon and Dec’s problems mash together, and to solve them, they must undertake a 1000-kilometer round trip in which issues will have to be sorted out, apologies are finally given, and a runaway kid is retrieved and returned to his worried parents.
REVIEW:
Tigers on the Run is the third novel in the saga about Simon and Declan. I wouldn’t recommend listening to or reading these books out of order as each book builds on the previous ones. By now Simon and Declan have been together for eight years, we’ve seen them through some ups and downs and how their relationship has matured and grown. As have the relationships of their friends.
Another nemesis from the past comes out of the woodworks in the most unexpected ways – at least for Simon. It causes upheaval and strain on more than one friendship, and causes more than a little drama. Personally much of the ensuing drama felt childish. I’m not saying there isn’t cause for the hurt feelings and animosity, but the way it was handled didn’t really reflect grown men. Then again, grown-ups don’t always act as grown-ups.
Another part of the story is Declan’s out-reach program, mentoring LGBTQ teens and trying to keep them out of trouble. One of the teenagers, a young and promising football player causes more trouble than the rest. Micha’s easy to unlike at first, but there’s so much hurt underneath the surface that you just wanted to help him out. Well, when you didn’t want to strangle him, he did have an uncanny knack for pushing buttons. I wouldn’t mind seeing him too happy and settled – not necessarily in a relationship, he is a teen after all, but settled in his life and who he is.
Dave Gillies once again did a great job narrating this story. I love his accent, it does so much to the sense of place of the story. I also love that he narrates with such enthusiasm, he really lives in the story and draws the listener in. He even goes that extra mile and sings a few lines instead of reading the lyrics. Small things like that enhances the experience and if nothing else, it will make you smile.
Sadly this is the last audiobook in the series and I can only hope the last book will make its way there soon – and that Gillies will narrate.
RATING: 
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