Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Ghost of Truth

SERIES:  Medium Trouble

AUTHOR:  Alice Winters

NARRATOR:  Greg Boudreaux

LENGTH:  9hour and 12 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  February 11, 2022

BLURB:

Hiro

When I first realized that I could see the dead, I never imagined that it would allow me to help save the lives of others, or pull me into Detective Maddox Booker’s path. Through my ability, ghosts have become some of my greatest friends and allies.

But now, someone’s dead, and his ghost is gone. Ghosts have sought my help for my entire life, wanting to be heard. Now, something is keeping them quiet, almost hostile. as our search for the ghost of the dead man leads us to a small village. Even though everything looks normal on the outside, I’m starting to wonder what’s happening on the inside.

Maddox

Life is better than it’s ever been. Hiro’s by my side, and has brought my best friend Reggie back into my life – if we can consider Reggie’s harassment (even as a ghost) a positive. And even Hiro’s horde of ghosts won’t keep me from asking him to move in with me. The only issue is that, work is never quiet, especially when Hiro is able to dive into a whole new side of a case by speaking to the victims of the dead.

But, when someone takes Hiro from me in the middle of the night, I know that I will do absolutely anything to get him back, and I will make them pay for what they’ve done.

Ghost of Truth is full of action, mystery, humor, and romance. Though more is planned for this couple, the mystery is solved – and there is a happy ending.

REVIEW:

NOTE:  This is the second book in this series and as such follows the events of the first book pretty quickly.  There are major spoilers for the first book and multiple references to events in the first book, so it’s best to read/listen in order.

Bookstore owner and ghost whisperer Hiro Moore and his boyfriend, homicide detective Maddox Booker have progressed their relationship from the first book in this series.  Hiro is a consultant for the police department work with Maddox in homicide cases where he might be able to communicate with he recently deceased to find out what they can tell him about their death.  There are many skeptics and Maddox and Hiro try to keep his actual abilities under wraps.

When a bunch of ghosts pull Hiro to a possible murder and he finds a man in the woods, both Maddox and Hiro are surprised.  The man seems like he’s being helpful and trying to help them figure out what is really happening.  Maddox is concerned though when later he is called out to the same location to find that the property owner is dead – and that it wasn’t the man they met in the woods. There isn’t physical evidence and no one seems to know who the man is.  Hiro does manage to talk to the man’s wife – well her ghost – but she had been away and isn’t any help to them in the investigation.

Keaton, another detective is sent with Hiro to the small town where the man’s daughter lives on the errand to speak to the man’s daughter.  They have a sketch of the man they met in the woods, and it turns out it’s a man who has been reported missing from the same town.  Things really get weird from there.  Keaton starts acting weird, Hiro is attacked by ghosts and Maddox is extremely angry.  When things go even more crazy and more dead bodies show up, it’s clear that there is a lot more going on than meets the eye.  Somebody knows about Hiro’s ability to see and hear and interact with ghosts.

When Hiro is abducted, Maddox is determined to move heaven and earth to get him back.  Hiro’s being drained by all the ghosts that continue to surround him.  He’s exhausted and he’s not sure how he can help.  He’s being bombarded and chased by too many people and he’s not sure why any of them are doing it.  Neither he nor Maddox know who they can trust nor what the motivations of the ghosts are since they routinely clam up or tell him to go away.  The whole town seems to be in on whatever is happening and want to keep Hiro, Maddox and their ghostly crusaders away.

The small town also just happens to be where Reggie, Maddox’s BFF was when he was killed.  Reggie’s ghost haunts Hiro and Maddox all the time.  In addition to Natalie and a ghost cat and raven, Hiro and Maddox and a new ghostly friend have to escape from the bad guys – except they never really know who all the bad guys are.  There are many secrets in this small town that are someone connected – not just to the current situation but also things in the past.  If they can’t solve the mystery and figure out how to control the ghosts, well more things will go wrong 🙁

This book definitely had its moments.  The mystery is VERY twisty-turny with not only the humans but the ghosts as well.  Previously we could tell if ghosts were either helpful or malevolent.  Here, not so much.  This is the same with the humans too – who can be trusted and who cannot be trusted?  It’s definitely hard to tell  The ghost powers are very much changing in this book also compared to the previous book in the series.  It’s unclear if it’s Hiro who is contributing to this change or maybe it’s a combination of things?  I came away unsure of exactly what is causing all these changes and how that’s going to impact things going forward.  There is a LOT of Natalie and Reggie in this one.  Sometimes I could have done with a little less Reggie, but he is who he is and he really does want to help Hiro and Maddox.  The mystery is resolved – maybe not so neatly in some cases, but definitely there is closure.

I found the narration really ramped up the angst and drama in this one.  Hiro in particular is repeatedly in peril.  In fact, I was getting so stressed out at the end that I had to speed up the narration 😛  Greg Boudreaux does a great job portraying the distress of Hiro when confronted with all the ghosts.  At times, I just wanted Hiro to run away.  The climactic scenes of the story were very long but ultimately satisfying.  I really want to know what’s happening next with both Hiro and Maddox and those pesky ghosts.  Highly recommended for fans of suspense and mystery and ghosts!

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

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