Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE:  Unstable Connections

SERIES:  Valor and Doyle, Book 3

AUTHOR:  Nicky James

NARRATOR:  Nick J. Russo

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH: 12 hours and 44 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  December 21, 2022

BLURB:

Missing children are reappearing, and the ties to a 30-year-old cold case can’t be ignored.

Detective Quaid Valor has too much on his plate. Between his shaky, brand-new relationship with reformed office playboy Detective Aslan Doyle, his sister’s case going from cold to hot overnight, his father insisting on being involved, and his boss breathing down his neck, Quaid is on edge.

The stress of the case is impacting Quaid’s whole life. He isn’t eating or sleeping, and every time he and Aslan are together, he is overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy which threaten to ruin the one good thing he has. Aslan’s patience seems unending until something happens to turn his life upside down too.

Can their relationship survive the personal and professional pressures they’re facing, or will it crash and burn? 

Between media rumors and unstable connections, Quaid and his team need to hustle and piece together a complicated case before more children fall victim to their unknown serial kidnapper. Maybe once everything is solved, Aslan and Quaid will have time to work on their rocky relationship and find stable ground once again.

*Unstable Connections is the third book in the Valor and Doyle Mystery Series. It is a same-couple series that should be read in order. Although each book has a self-contained mystery with no cliffhangers, the romance is over-arching and progressive throughout the series.

REVIEW:

Unstable Connections, aka Man on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown starring Quaid Valor, exhibits Nicky’s James’ razor-sharp insightfulness and carefully scripted storytelling to depict Quaid coming apart at the seams. How much can one man take? He doesn’t remember his older sister Juniper – she disappeared when he was only five – yet her disappearance has profoundly impacted every aspect of his life for the last thirty years. Quaid disappeared from the collective consciousness in the ensuing fallout and his mother’s departure shortly thereafter solidified for Quaid that he’s an afterthought, fundamentally inadequate and unimportant.

If you are looking for a visceral portrait of pain, look no further because James is an astounding artist. I’m glad I only need one hand to operate my Kindle Oasis because the other one was firmly clenched over my aching heart. Quaid’s confusion and plaintive internal cry – why wasn’t I enough? why was I forgotten? why did she leave me behind? – evokes our intense need to protect Quaid, and like his (ironically) emotionally committed boyfriend Aslan, we want to smite all the hurt. Is it any wonder Quaid fell prey to his ex-boyfriend Jack, a vile, cheating porn king who constantly lied and betrayed him at every turn? After decades bereft of the love and family he longs for, Jack’s recent betrayal ripped open Quaid’s wounds anew. 

James takes a divining rod to our empathy, and she finds her prize in the bereft readers that attach to Quaid’s devastation and loneliness. She deftly exposes Quaid’s vulnerability without emasculating him. Quaid’s scars are painful to see and frustratingly difficult to tolerate at times. Yet Aslan the playboy finds he no longer wants to play around. Despite the challenge, his need to surround himself with everything Quaid overrules logic and past behavior. While terrifying in its intensity and confusing in its novelty, Aslan embraces it and willingly lets the tide take him where it may.

James seamlessly and convincingly flips the script on Aslan. He’s the perfect boyfriend – who knew?? – proving to be a patient, intuitive and understanding partner, even when buffeted by his own rocky seas. He’s also a stalwart friend with some mad matchmaking skills, brokering his partner Torin’s overture to date MPU detective Allison Bright. James recognizes her audience needs heartbreak with a side of humor, and she provides it through exceptional banter consistently dished out by Aslan, Torin and a surprising hero in presumed-homophobe IT-whiz Ruiz. She delivers both, along with a solid, hopeful HEA, and her balance of the competing elements rivals a Twister board – not keeping them equal, but ensuring nothing falls to the floor.

Quaid and Aslan dynamically adjust as their relationship deepens, and Nick J. Russo similarly fine-tunes his vocal performance on the audiobook. His deepening understanding of Quaid and Aslan shows in the way he embraces the myriad, complex emotions thrumming through the narrative. Solving the mystery of Juni’s disappearance comes at a cost in the unraveling of Quaid’s precious relationship with his Dad, his only family. The crime solving and father/son discord run in parallel to the Quaid/Aslan relationship journey, and the chaos kicked up by the mix feels like riding a tilt-a-whirl. Russo excels in technical precision, but his composed performance doesn’t fully capture that emotional furor. The volatility of the story’s events and emotions also pokes at his consistency. His distinction between similarly-pitched Quaid and Aslan lives in the timbre of the voices, but the rapid pacing, not typically Russo’s forte, causes some muddying of the waters. It’s nitpicking, though – the flaws are minor and completely forgivable. Russo’s impressive, nuanced narration otherwise hits its mark across the board.  

Unstable Connections calls for pre-reading of the earlier series books, an exercise you’ll relish.  Then embark on this audiobook and you’ll experience a wholly subsuming thirteen hour demonstration of how a story should be told.  Easy on the ears and hard to forget.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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