Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE:  Temporary Partner

SERIES:  Valor and Doyle, Book 1

AUTHOR:  Nicky James

NARRATOR:  Nick J. Russo

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH: 10 hours and 15 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  July 27, 2022

BLURB:

Can two rivals work together to solve a case?

When an infant is taken from his carriage in broad daylight, missing persons detective Quaid Valor must race against the clock to find the child and bring him safely home to his family. Unfortunately, Quaid’s partner isn’t available, and his team is spread thin. Begrudgingly, Quaid must accept the help from his rival, homicide detective Aslan Doyle, if he wants to get the job done. 

Aslan is Quaid’s opposite in every way. He’s bold, outspoken, arrogant, and the office playboy. And much to Quaid’s chagrin, Aslan seems to have set his sights on Quaid as his next conquest.

Quaid doesn’t have time to deal with Aslan’s flirty behavior when he’s trying to solve a case and juggle his cheating ex’s incessant interruptions. 

It doesn’t matter how attractive Aslan is or the undeniable chemistry they seem to have. Getting involved with Aslan would be a huge mistake. 

But as tension with the case builds, Quaid keeps forgetting he’s supposed to hate this new partner. Maybe Aslan is exactly the kind of distraction he needs. 

Temporarily, at least. 

Right? 

Temporary Partner is the first in the Valor and Doyle Mysteries.

REVIEW:

Infrequently, I find myself with a significant divergence of opinion on a book versus its audiobook. Temporary Partner, the first book in Nicky James’ Valor and Doyle series, has put me in that quandary.  Overarchingly, James’ story is excellent, and although it’s slow to get going, it hits its stride midway and becomes unputdownable. The audio, however, feels disconnected from this tightly woven story and dynamic characters. I found it to be a distraction rather than a net positive to the experience of the book. My rating ultimately reflects the average of what I consider to be a 4.5 heart book on text, but a 3.5 heart story told on the audiobook.

I’m sure many will take great umbrage at my assessment of Nick J. Russo’s narration. It’s quite common to see glowing reviews of his work. Indeed, Russo is a talented narrator with solid vocal chops. But where I see room for improvement is in his versatility as a vocal performer.  Russo is superb when the title sits within his wheelhouse. But outside of that, it’s a stretch for him, and the strain is often noticeable in a performance that doesn’t quite capture the nuance of the work being performed.

For Temporary Partner, with all due respect to James, I do not think Russo was the right choice. While he’s generally an easy listen, pleasant and poised, that’s exactly the reason why I did not care for his narration of Temporary Partner.  Russo’s solid vocal fundamentals are evident, but Russo’s rather pedantic, slowly-paced delivery of this story doesn’t match with the progression of the plot or the lively vocal sparring and viscerally charged chemistry between Quaid Valor and Aslan Doyle.  Emotionally, Russo’s performance felt flat, like he lacked the intuitive understanding of Quaid and Aslan and the dynamics of their snappy banter and raw vulnerabilities that they defensively try to hide beneath their facades.

While chock full of humor and witty repartee as well as a simmering attraction that boils over into undiluted, raw lust and passion, the story is at times gritty, and at heart devastating. This is especially the case in the beginning when we learn about the horrific abduction of an infant from his crib in his own backyard. James describes the mother wailing in anguished agony and the circumstances are tense and highly charged. Yet there’s no sense of urgency in Russo’s narration, nor does he inflect or pitch his voice in a manner consistent with these dark happenings. Russo sounds very much like a narrator reading lines rather than a voice actor who’s engaged with the storyline and the characters in it. He employs his typical slow, moderated pacing, which strips away much of the dynamism in Valor and Doyle’s relationship.  I also found that speeding up the playback doesn’t solve the issue. Rather, it exacerbated that disconnected feeling I heard in his voice.

That being said, my critique of the audiobook should not in any way dissuade you from partaking in James’ terrific story, even if you do so on text. Note that it is important that you read Department Rivals, the prequel novella, first. James tells you what you need to know plotwise within the text of Temporary Partner, but you really need that prequel to spend time with Quaid and Aslan. Otherwise, you will find yourself irritated by Aslan’s unprofessional, callous needling of Quaid in the early parts of the book, and have no baseline for his behavior versus his true character. 

Because Department Rivals is not on audio, I did not read it first, and that was a mistake because  I was challenged in the early parts of Temporary Partner with both characters, especially Aslan. They are both complicated men that hide behind masks. They do such a good job of hiding away that I had trouble getting past Quaid’s grumpy, crotchety persona and difficulty forgiving Aslan’s obnoxious commentary and continued needling. While Aslan is indeed acting like an ass, he is at core a good person who is trying to protect himself from his surprising, inexplicable feelings for Quaid. He leans into his playboy persona to protect himself, just as Quaid firmly affixes his trademark sneer to his face and firmly adopts his uncompromising, stick-in-the-mud attitude to protect himself from showing how hurt and lonely he really is. What I needed was time to get to know them. The prequel provides that crucial opportunity.

The beginning of Temporary Partner is a bit staccato with some oddly disconnected tones and outlandish behavior.  What I expected to be a dire race against the clock with the gravitas that accompanies it, turned out to be a soap opera with a tone that threw me off a bit. But James rights the ship about halfway through. The plot takes shape and Quaid and Aslan start to peel back some of the onion.  All of a sudden, I found myself riveted – unable to put the story down.  And when it ended, every other book and audio I had went by the wayside because I needed to start the audiobook for book two, Elusive Relations, stat.

This brings me full circle:  Temporary Partner is a great book and one I anticipate rereading.  I may try the audio again sometime too – but I cannot provide an enthusiastic recommendation for it.  Because audio is so subjective, and because Russo is undoubtedly skilled, you may want to give it a try anyway. Whatever you decide, just make sure you read Temporary Partner.  This is a continuing storyline following Valor and Doyle throughout.  By the end of this book, you’ll be fascinated if not addicted to these men and their brewing romance.  Luckily Elusive Relations is already available and book three, Unstable Connections, soon to release.  Trust me, you’ll have a hard time waiting to see what happens next.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Audible 

Amazon