Shades of Gray

A KGI Novel

By: Maya Banks

Narrated by: Adam Paul

Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

The Kelly Group International (KGI): a super-elite, top secret, family-run business. Qualifications: high intelligence, rock-hard body, military background. Mission: hostage/kidnap victim recovery. Intelligence gathering. Handling jobs the U.S. government can't...

P. J. and Cole were sharpshooting rivals on the same KGI team and enjoyed a spirited, uncomplicated camaraderie. Until the night they gave in to their desires and suddenly took their relationship one step further. In the aftermath of their one-night stand, they're called out on a mission that goes terribly wrong, and P. J. walks away from KGI, resolved not to drag her teammates into the murky shadows she’s poised to delve into.

Six months later, Cole hasn't given up his search for P. J., and he's determined to bring her back home where she belongs. Bent on vengeance, P. J. has plunged into a serpentine game of payback that will make her question everything she's ever believed in. But Cole - and the rest of their team - refuse to let her go it alone. Even if it means sacrificing their loyalty to KGI, and their lives...

©2012 Maya Banks (P)2012 Penguin Audio

Another really good KGI read

This romance touched on some really violent, horrific & sensitive subjects, but Ms Banks handled them really well. It’s tragic that these things happen daily in the real world. The story of PJ & Cole was really heart wrenching. She got a man straight out of her romance books, she loves so much. A sweet, alpha badass.

Loved the story but not too fond of the narriator,

Any additional comments?

Please bring back Harry Berkeley! With his gruff voice just made the voices of the people he was portraying come to life. I did get used to the new narrator however his voice was more feminine and made the males sound more like sissy's then the tough KGI group that they were.

Music

The music was horrible in the beginning and at the end. Liked the reader in the first books better.

Love the Story, Not the Narrator

I am on my second list of all of the KGI books. This story, while it has a sad aspect, told PJs story wonderfully. The narrator however (like everyone else has said), should have listened to prior books to get the inflections more accurately - esp for Rio. He didn't do the Kelly brothers and Steele's voices justice either. Not sure why Harry Berkeley didn't continue with the series, but it would be nice if books 5.5 thru 9 could be re-recorded with either Harry or Tad Branson. Or if Adam could re-record but with the correct intonations for everyone. Overall, I will be sad when this series ends. Thankfully I own them all so can listen over and over again.

Great story, terrible narrator

If you could sum up Shades of Gray in three words, what would they be?

I do not know why a change with the narrator. This narrator made it very difficult to concentrate on the great story.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Adam Paul?

The Harry Berkeley - he's been the narrator for the previous 5 books.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes - I think this has been the best of the series. I did find it difficult to stop listening.

Kick ass action and romance...and hot sex!

I read this book before I got the audio version and was impressed with it--so much so I quickly bought the previous books in the series as well as those since. Curiosity led me to try the audio version and I was not disappointed.

The reading was not a dry repetition of the words. Mr. Paul brought the same emotion and life to the characters that I read in the print edition.

Shades Of Gray is Book 6 of Maya Banks' KGI series about a private military unit made up of Alpha, former Spec Ops soldiers who happen to be brothers. I was very pleased to discover the women involved with the Kelly's--the one woman on either of the teams as well as their romantic interests--were as Alpha as the men themselves.

The action is as hot as the characters but there is always a human edge to every action.

Cole and P.J. finally act upon their mutual attraction just in time to be thrown into a mission that quickly goes sideways and leaves P.J. feeling like she has to leave her team in order to avenge herself on the men who raped her.

Her decision hurts her teammates and pisses them off but *not* to the point of deserting her. When she needs them most, they're right there covering her back and supporting her in every decision. Including the one she's faced with: to return to KGI or let her unwelcomed resignation stand.

The action is bloody, the character interaction tense in all the right places and the romance true to those involved. These are individual *people* and are portrayed as such in both print and audio.

This book received some criticism due P.J.'s rape scene, but it was a major point in the story and Maya Banks handled it and the resulting trauma tastefully I thought. I also thought that those who criticized this have, for the most part, no problem with a character having a rape in her history. They just don't want to 'see' it. Which is not what happens here and I think skimming over it or merely referring to it would not have offered as strong a story.

PJ

I was a little bummed PJ story was done by a man I felt her narrator should of been female. Narrator was good Just weird when you get used to a voice for a character and they change. I love PJ Cole story.

fantastic

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

Triggering but good

I wanted PJ story for a long time. It does not disappoint. And neither does her partner.

Love, Justice and Delicious Mercenary Men

We take a break from the Kelly brothers in this one. It was nice that the focus was on two members of a KGI team this time. At first I didn't like the new narrator or rather was shocked by the change. But Paul grew on me after a while; I liked Cole's southern accent. PJ is strong; Cole is sexy. Banks is able to voice opinions on the sex trade without sounding too preachy. PJ is just as tough as any of the Kelly brothers or KGI team members, which I love. Lots of action. Banks takes it up a notch. Very enjoyable listen.