Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Inevitable Disclosure
SERIES: Valor and Doyle, Book 4
AUTHOR: Nicky James
NARRATOR: Nick J. Russo
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 11 hours and 52 minutes
RELEASE DATE: February 22, 2023
BLURB:
Quaid is adrift in MPU. With his partner on extended leave, he’s alone and unsure if he wants to continue working on missing persons cases now that his sister’s case is closed. When the missing teen he’s been seeking for a week turns up dead, it’s the icing on the cake.
Maybe it’s time to explore a different career path.
Aslan and his partner, Torin, take over Quaid’s case, but Quaid can’t help but get involved. He wants justice for the girl. Justice for her grieving family.
Is homicide the career change he’s been looking for?
The trio makes a solid team, and their banter takes the edge off a serious case. Working alongside Aslan again is fantastic. They have found a balance that works, but for as comfortable as they have become as a couple, for as inevitable as their future together seems, something’s missing.
Aslan is ready to take the next step in their relationship, but Quaid needs certain feelings to be disclosed first.
Do actions speak louder than words? Or is there magic in saying I love you?
Inevitable Disclosure is the fourth book in the Valor and Doyle Mystery Series. It is a same-couple series that should be listened to in order. Although each book has a self-contained mystery with no cliff-hangers, the romance is overarching and progressive throughout the series.
REVIEW:
Inevitable Disclosure accomplishes an unusual feat: it surpasses the first three excellent books in Nicky James’ addictive Valor and Doyle mystery romance series. Series usually start to decline as additional installments are added, but not Valor and Doyle. Quaid and Aslan are a couple like no other. James sets them up as the apotheosis of M/M romantic relationships and then delivers. Indeed, with each book in this series, Quaid and Aslan’s relationship deepens, but it’s not smooth sailing. What I most appreciate about James’ stories is that she creates authentic, relatable, mature characters struggling with real-life problems, and she’s not afraid to make things messy. Her leading men are flawed in significant ways, yet she doesn’t shirk away from showing that.
In Inevitable Disclosure, Aslan has morphed from the consummate anti-relationship playboy into the perfect boyfriend, while Quaid struggles with his often crippling insecurity. Quaid is downright annoying at times in this book, especially in contrast to Aslan, who is patience personified. James shows that because it’s real. She doesn’t gloss it over, letting us see Quaid and Aslan’s struggles and frustrations, their give and take, which deepens our connection with them. Across this series, Quaid and Aslan aren’t at their best but also not at their worst. Rather, they move between the two balancing each other out.
Like the Valor and Doyle series books, Nick J. Russo’s vocal performances on the audiobooks across the series keep improving as well – not that they were ever bad to begin with. Russo is a more than capable narrator with technical precision most vocal performers would envy. Now, four books in, Russo knows Quaid and Aslan well, and you can tell he’s intuiting everything James wants to convey through their story.
Inevitable Disclosure contains the most interesting plot of the series, which is then layered with the strongest emotions as well. The prologue will have you all in from the get-go and the story arc is a roller coaster ride that runs the gamut of human reaction and experience. Plus, all kinds of schmoopy, swoony goodness between Quaid and Aslan. James conveys all of this clearly and impactfully on text alone, but Russo takes it to the next level. He is locked in, on point, and one hundred percent successful in hammering home everything James wants us to feel and understand. You may have loved Quaid and Aslan before, but just wait … by the time Inevitable Disclosure ends, you’ll be drowning in your need for more, more, more.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the fabulous banter James develops between Quaid, Aslan, and Aslan’s partner, Torin Fox. Seriously inspired, witty writing that Russo delivers with aplomb.
Inevitable Disclosure is the best of the best so far in this series – one that James, thankfully, has no intention of ending anytime soon. You need to listen to Russo’s performance on the audiobook – it’s a subsuming twelve hours of audio bliss. Read the book with your eyes. Hear the performance with your ears. Live the Valor and Doyle experience in your mind.
RATING: 
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