Reviewed by Anna Lynn
TITLE: Absolution
SERIES: The Protectors
AUTHOR: Sloane Kennedy
NARRATOR: Joel Leslie
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 7 hours 16minutes
RELEASE DATE: August 19, 2016
BLURB:
After four years abroad, artist Jonas Davenport has come home to start building his dream of owning his own art studio and gallery. But just as he’s ready to put the darkness of his past behind him forever, it comes roaring back with a vengeance.
The only thing keeping ex-cop Mace Calhoun from eating his own gun after an unthinkable loss is his role in an underground syndicate that seeks to get justice for the innocent by taking the lives of the guilty. Ending the life of the young artist who committed unspeakable crimes against the most vulnerable of victims should have been the easiest thing in the world. So why can’t he bring himself to pull the trigger?
After years of fighting in an endless, soul-sucking war, Navy SEAL Cole Bridgerton has come home to fight another battle – dealing with the discovery that the younger sister who ran away from home eight years earlier is lost to him forever. He needs answers and the only person who can give them to him is a young man struggling to put his life back together. But he never expected to feel something more for the haunted artist.
Cole and Mace. One lives by the rules, the other makes his own. One seeks justice through the law while the other seeks it with his gun. Two men, one light, one dark, will find themselves and each other when they’re forced to stand side by side to protect Jonas from an unseen evil that will stop at nothing to silence the young artist forever.
But each man’s scars run deep and even the strength of three may not be enough to save them.
REVIEW:
This is the first book in the series The Protectors written by the Ms. Sloane Kennedy. This is also the beginning of my obsession with books written by Ms. Kennedy. Her books, as we all know, are high in angst level and tackles issues in our society that are often overlooked or “not sensationalized” due to its sensitivity and/or due to its abhorrent(unspeakable, atrocious) nature. And precisely because of this nature, we will also be reading about the delivery of justice for these criminals that are outside the perimeters of the law. So if this kind of topic is something that is against what you believe in then this series might not be for you. But fair warning, it is one of the most loved series in this genre, amazing writing, great narration and just an overall 5-star book.
When you or your family have been dealt with the most heinous of crimes (murder, rape, kidnapping and subsequently human trafficking, drugs, etc.), you’d feel like there is no more reason to live because what else is there to live for, right?
Mace was a police officer who was supposed to pick up his 7-year old son, Evan, from school, but after pulling a double-shift, he overslept. His son decided to walk the two blocks or so from school to their home. He was abducted in between. His body was found a little distance from where they live two days later. He was raped and killed. After which, Mace spiraled, blaming himself for what happened, until such time Ronan Grisham found him and gave him a new purpose in life. Ronan offered him a more productive way of venting his anger, a way of bringing such gruesome criminals to justice, when the law fails to deliver them. Ronan would give them assigned targets. In his current job, he is supposed to take out a Pedophile. He was specifically chosen for this particular assignment because of his past.
Jonas was fourteen years old when his parents decided to kick him out because he was gay. With his only money, he decided to take the bus to Chicago where his life of hell started. The so-called man who offered to help him made him a sex worker at that young age. He endured it for some time until he was able to escape. While in this life, he met and befriended two young women who both saved him, from himself and ultimately from their pimp. To say that their lives were hard is an understatement. It was pure hell! So when they got the chance to escape, they took it.
After eight years, Jonas can finally start to live the life he always envisioned for himself. As an Artist, he wanted to have his own studio/school where he can display his works and teach young children to paint.
Cole was honorably discharged from the Navy after his last tour. When he arrived home, he found out that his missing sister’s body was finally found and identified. When he tried to get the details of her death (and the circumstances that surrounded it), he found out about Casey Prescott and Jonas Davenport. His sister went missing eight years ago. In between tours, he tried to follow up on her whereabouts. His mind, though, made him believed that she is somewhere living a happy life.
When these three men met there were sparks that both surprises and baffles them. Jonas somehow elicits these feelings from both Mace and Cole. Jonas himself feels the same. Mace has been with both men and women (although not so much when he was younger, but more after Evan died). But how he reacts to Jonas confuses him because this man, he believes, is abhorrent. He is not supposed to feel this way towards Jonas. Meanwhile, Cole has never thought he’d be attracted to men, let alone two men at the same time. He just wanted to talk to Jonas because of his connection to his sister.
Now imagine listening to all these amazing characters, with all their pain and anguish, as they are being voiced over by Mr. Joel Leslie, how would you feel? For me, it made it much more real! I cried reading all those scenes, but listening to all of it made it more tangible somehow. I felt the pain that these three men felt listening to Mr. Leslie. I got angry at all the injustices that they have suffered and I want to take action to stop it all. That is how emotionally invested I am reading and listening to these men’s stories. Mr. Leslie is incredible!
Every time I read a Ms. Kennedy book, I can’t help but think that aside from being an amazing writer, she has the ability to make you feel all these emotions whilst reading her stories. She takes you with her every step of the way. Just Phenomenal!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
[…] Read More » […]