Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Catching Out

SERIES:  Rail Riders #3

AUTHOR:  Nicky James

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  374 pages

RELEASE DATE:  January 20, 2022

BLURB:

Dodger Valmai is sure about three things:
He is straight.
He will ride the rails until the end of his days.
And there is a serial killer out on the lines.

When rail riders in the community start to go missing, Dodger is convinced the Canadian rail lines have their very own serial killer. When those same riders start turning up dead, he is determined to prove it and get justice for his long-lost comrades.

Brady Thompson has been studying the mythical rail killer and tracking his movements for the better part of a year in his quest to finally write his thesis and obtain his doctorate. But there are holes in his theory, and only one person can help fill in the gaps. He isn’t sure if requesting help from a homeless vagabond on a sketchy freight-hopping forum is the answer, but he is running out of options.
When Brady seeks Dodger out to help him prove a killer exists, Dodger can’t turn him down. With a little more evidence, and a little more proof, they can take their suspicions to the authorities and have the killer caught once and for all.

Dodger isn’t what Brady expects, and he’s unprepared when Dodger says he will only help under one condition: Brady must take to the rails too.
Will this cross-country journey give them the answers they’re looking for? Or will Brady and Dodger discover things they never expected as their summer adventure turns into much, much more.

** Catching Out is the third book in the Rail Rider series and should be read after End of the Line and Lost at the Crossing for full enjoyment. It is a bisexual-awakening novel filled with adventure, suspense, and self-discovery. **

REVIEW:

You are such a freaking spaz. Live a little. It won’t kill you. The only way you’re going to die out there is if you drive me batshit crazy and I smother you in your sleep.”

Take Dodger’s I don’t give a fuck attitude, add a quirky, sweater-vest-wearing nerd, mix in some high adventure on the rails, along with a generous helping of mystery, suspense, and an Oscar the Grouch unibrow, and you have Nicky James’ fantastic new Rail Riders book, Catching Out. This is Dodger’s story of traveling across Canada, hopping freighters and searching for clues into the purported CP Rail serial killer, all while falling in love, for the first time, with Brady.

Catching Out briefly overlaps the end of Lost at the Crossing. We know Dodger has been obsessing over the rumored killer for years, as evidenced by the collection of clues he’s amassed. Some people think he’s off his rocker, while others, like RaptorZ, aid his search. Now, Dodger’s found his counterpart in university grad student, Brady, who holds the same hypothesis. He has his own vast collection of pictures and maps adorning his apartment’s walls. Unlike Dodger, though, he has access to police and coroner reports. Dodger arrives at Brady’s place in Toronto to find his antithesis: a preppy, socially awkward, wildly gesticulating genius. They’re like night and day, nothing alike except in their belief that the killer is real, and in their need to prove the theory true. When Brady asks Dodger to travel across the country looking for clues about the missing riders, Dodger ropes an entirely unprepared and ill-equipped Brady into accompanying him. When I say “ropes”, I mean Dodger gave him an ultimatum: come with me or I’m outta here.

Brady’s demeanor is amusing. His ineptitude at certain tasks is a riot. I got a good laugh at his attempt to pack slippers and a bathrobe into his backpack. And the reference to his commonality with a Sesame Street character slayed me. He’s attracted to Dodger on the night they meet; he has a weakness for bad boys, it seems. It takes Dodger longer to recognize his own attraction since he’s never liked boys before. Suddenly, this heretofore straight identifying man is questioning why he’s noticing Brady’s pouty lips and delicate features. He accepts his new found sexuality without much stress. I love angst-free bi-awakenings.

Going into this book, I was already smitten with the straight-shooting, tell-it-like-it-is Dodger. Now we see another side of him – he has feels hidden beneath that big ego. His attraction to Brady is not unwanted but it’s certainly foreign to him. He’s feeling things he never has before. His heart is fuller. But he’s also dealing with an unknown future. Where he’s been happily carefree for years, he’s now feeling unsettled as he watches his friends pair off and pare back on their freight hopping. Would he be willing to give it up, he questions? Would continuing to ride mean giving up Brady? What is he willing to sacrifice for a future with the man he now loves?

“The sense of liberty riding gave me, the autonomy, the thrill, it was something I didn’t think I could live without. I rode so I could breathe.”

Part of the appeal of this series is the opportunity to vicariously experience a lifestyle so foreign to our own. What must it be like to feel the adrenaline rush of jumping onto a train at breakneck speed? To sit in the open door of a boxcar watching the world pass by. Feasting on the views of mountains and valleys and lakes, the rich hues of the foliage, the decrepit, abandoned old stations. Nicky James breathes life into it all. While hopping freighters is terribly difficult for Brady, he does come to appreciate the beauty and freedom. Their time together is not always easy, but their romance grows as the kilometers pass. I couldn’t visualize how the romance was going to materialize between such vastly different men. It was fascinating to imagine how Nicky was going to pull it off.

The tension and suspense keep the story moving briskly. I was kept wondering how the mystery would resolve and how much danger Dodger and Brady would be subjected to. The CP Rail killer plotline is logical, believable, and frightening. We’re also treated, once again, to the heartwarming found family that’s been cultivated over years of riding the rails together, bonding over their chosen lifestyle. Dodger, Killian, Tyler, and Willow are now joined by Leo and Elian.

If you want to do some virtual rail riding, give Catching Out a read. Willow and Billie’s story is up next and I look forward to catching out up with Dodger, Brady, and the other boys then.

RATING: 

BUY LINK: 

Amazon