Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Benji

SERIES:  The Wylde Street Boys

AUTHOR:  N.R. Walker

NARRATOR:  Glen Lloyd

PUBLISHER:  BlueHeart Press

LENGTH:  4 hours and 55 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  January 31, 2025

BLURB:

Nolan O’Brien is a public prosecutor, and if he ever sees the name Bruno Barbieri again, it will be too soon. After a long week preparing for the trial of the decade, it takes no convincing to hit the men’s club for a few drinks.
Except the club wasn’t the only thing he hit that night.
Benji Smith works on Wylde Street as a rent boy. When he’s chased by two men, he runs into the path of a moving car. With a no-cops, no-hospital policy and needing to escape the men following him, he agrees to go back to the driver’s place.
The last thing Nolan expects is to offer Benji a place to stay, to recuperate, and to lie low. And the last thing Benji expects is to be attracted to the man who saved him.
But their worlds are about to collide in a way neither of them was prepared for, and both men need to decide what’s at stake, what they’re prepared to lose, and what they’ll fight for.

REVIEW:

Nolan is a lawyer who works hard at his job as prosecutor.  His mentor/best friend Dominic pulls him away from work one evening and they head out to their exclusive men’s club for a drink or two.  Nolan notices some rent boys on the street before they enter the club but Dom wants a drink and tells Nolan he can find fun after they hit the club.  They stay awhile and enjoy themselves.  Dom tells Nolan to walk home or get a ride, but Nolan decides he’s fine for the short drive home.

When he’s between the office and his home though, someone runs out from between cars into the street and Nolan cannot stop in time and he hits the person.  He discovers a young man on the road – he’s not unconscious, but he’s definitely a bit banged up.  Nothing seems to be broken, but the guy is bruised up and has a cut on this forehead   He begs Nolan not to take him to hospital and so Nolan does the only thing he can think of which is take the guy to his place.

Nolan is mortified.  First, he was drinking and driving – not that he likely could have stopped in time, but it would certainly raise a lot of questions.  Secondly, he recognized the guy eventually as one of the rent boys he saw on the street.  Little does he know that the guy, Benji, has his own issues.  The cut on his forehead isn’t from the car accident – it’s something that happened before that when he was running from two men who were chasing him.

Benji doesn’t divulge a lot, but it’s clear that something bigger than his life in sex trade isn’t the only thing going on here.  He is shocked that Nolan treats him like a person and refuses to take him up on his offers of sex in exchange for staying at Nolan’s while he recovers.  Fitch, one of Benji’s mates has no such compunction and gets Nolan to spring for some things for Benji while he waits it out at Nolan’s since he’s in no shape to work (and he needs to hide from the guys looking for him).

Needless to say this becomes complicated and Nolan develops feelings for Benji.  What he can’t possibly know is that Benji could be the key to a case that he and Dominic have spent years building.  And it could all come crashing down around everyone – most of all Benji!

This is the first story in a new series from N.R. Walker that centers around a group of rent boys.  Nolan and his colleague Dom are involved in a case that is big.  They also have more than a passing acquaintance with some of these boys   When their worlds overlap in a most unexpected way, well there are potentially catastrophic consequences for everyone if they can’t execute a plan that will put the bad guys away for good and protect the victims and informants who can help make that happen.  Nolan is a really good guy.  He didn’t look down on Benji because of his life circumstance or profession. He understood his privilege and he treated Benji with respect from the get go.  It’s a little bit of a Pretty Woman scenario crossed with a criminal organization tie-in.  Benji was probably the strongest character of the whole story. He’s been through A LOT.  It’s a little bit of instalove, but it’s clear that these guys really do care about each other.  I’ll be interested to see what happens next in this series with Dom and Fitch up in Book 2!  This group of characters are quite fascinating, so I can’t wait to find out more about them.

Glen Lloyd takes on the narration duties for this series.  As usual, his accent is spot on.  His choice of voice elements for the main characters here – Benji, Nolan, Dom and Fitch were very much how I expected them to sound.  Benji and Fitch are younger, more flirty guys.  Nolan and Dom are older, established, series lawyers – even if they do need to let of steam once in a while   The banter and teasing dialogue was just perfect.  This is a serious story, but I did find myself chuckling a few times.  I always know that this author/narrator combination will be a winner and this book is no exception.  I’m really looking forward to the next audio in this series coming soon.  Definitely recommended

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon