Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Between You & Me

SERIES:  The Last Picks

AUTHOR:  Gregory Ashe

PUBLISHER:  Hodgkin & Blount

LENGTH:  217 pages

RELEASE DATE: October 21. 2024

BLURB:

Hunting a killer is scary. Talking about your feelings is scarier.

Dashiell Dawson Dane is certain the universe is conspiring against him. After all, things have been good—almost too good—for way too long. He’s got a great group of friends. He’s writing regularly. And things with Bobby seem like they might, maybe, possibly be moving beyond friend territory. It’s all so good, in fact, that it feels like the setup for something truly catastrophic. Not to mention, it’s the weekend before Valentine’s Day.

So, when Dash and his friends visit Shipwreck Shores, a local amusement park, he’s not terribly surprised when he stumbles across a body in the fun house. The surprising part comes when the body disappears before park security—or the sheriff—can see it. And while no one will say it to his face, some people in Hastings Rock seem to suspect Dash is making it up.

No body means no official investigation, so Dash finds himself forced into his own search for answers. But the killer isn’t done yet. And Dash’s sleuthing sets the two of them on a collision course.

REVIEW:

Man!  These two!  I WANT TO SHAKE THEM!  We are at the end of book 5 and I’m not sure what these Dash and Bobby are even doing.

Once again, Dash and Bobby are spending a lot of time together.  Bobby makes Dash hike with him.  They are living in the same house.  They spend their free times together.  Everyone except them see that they have feelings for each other.  But something ALWAYS seems to get in the way of them have a real honest conversation.  Unfortunately that thing is usually a dead body 😉

Dash has to be the unluckiest guy around.  He has stumbled over more dead bodies in the year he’s been in Hastings Rock.  And now it’s Halloween and the whole gang goes to the local “haunted theme park” in which you guessed it, Dash stumbles across a body in the fun house – which is weirdly similar to HIS house, Hemlock House.  He also gets pushed down a shaft but manages to catch himself on the ladder.  But by the time the cops get there, no body can be found.  As usual, the Sheriff is none too pleased.  Bobby tries to keep a lid on things and others thing Dash is mistaken.  The owners of the property are furious thinking Dash is trying to cause problems – although the dissension among the wrong doesn’t go unnoticed by dash too.

The really weird thing is that the body Dash saw is eerily a doppelganger for someone ESLE in town.  Hmmmm.  The plot thickens.  So of course the Last Picks decide that they MUST investigate.  You can see where this is going.  In the meantime, someone is trying to set Dash up with another guy, Fox is having relationship issues themselves and clearly are not acting like themself which has the rest of the crew worried.

Bobby is worried about Dash because he does always seem to find himself in trouble.  Then Dash finds another body while poking around after hours at the park.  Once again the killer is there and manages to remove the body before Dash can be rescued.  Dash is humiliated when he realizes that it seems everyone recognizes his feelings for Bobby.  Except for Bobby of course.

Dash of course figures things out and puts himself in jeopardy again. And JUST when I think they might be making some progress, well a certain phone chime shuts it down.  Again.

GAH!!!  I’m getting to the point that I’m frustrated with these two.  Then really need to get it together.  They are so worried about their friendship that they cannot be honest with each other about their feeling stronger than friends 🙁  I really really hope that something happens in the next book that will force them to look at their lives and realize this dance around could potentially mean losing the best thing that could ever happen to them.  Bobby clearly isn’t happy.  Both of them were relationship guys for a long time.  Dash is building a life and trying to get his writing off the ground, but they depend a lot on each other without really focusing on that.  Their friends are trying to be supportive but they are also looking at them a bit askance now.  Really they need to both be brave and I guess they aren’t ready for it yet.  Hopefully soon!  Recommended and fans of the series will definitely enjoy this book 🙂

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon