A Friend in the Glass

An Auden & O'Callaghan Mystery, Book 3

De: C.S. Poe, Gregory Ashe

Narrado por: Garrett Kiesel

It’s winter in New York City, and Rufus O’Callaghan is trying to make things work. He’s still got his job as a confidential informant, and he’s still got Sam Auden. The ex-Army drifter has moved in with Rufus, and the two men are trying to build a lasting relationship as Sam struggles to find his footing in the city.

When Sam gets a call from a woman offering to sell him information about Project Stonefish, though, neither man knows what to make of it. Sam still has questions about the training operation that caused him to leave the Army—and that ended in the death of someone Sam cared about. And Rufus is all too aware that when it comes to Stonefish, Sam’s judgment might be in question.

Everything changes when Sam and Rufus learn that the woman who called Sam has died from a suspicious overdose—and that, before she died, she contacted someone else about Stonefish. Someone who wants Stonefish to stay buried in the past. Someone with the power—and the ruthlessness—to make sure it stays buried. And to learn the truth about what happened all those years ago, Sam and Rufus will have to place themselves in the crosshairs.

©2024 C.S. Poe, Gregory Ashe (P)2025 C.S. Poe, Gregory Ashe

One phone call changes everything

A Friend in Glass by Gregory Ashe and C.S. Poe is the third installment of the Auden & O’Callaghan Mysteries where Sam's past rears its ugly head and bodies in its wake. With one phone call from an amateur blackmailer who mentions a failed mission called stonefish. Sam has been trying to find out the truth of who killed his friend because he knew something was off about the whole mission. The phone call and help from Rufus has sent him on the to correct the wrongs of his past. Rufus and Sam are a great pair who compliment each other perfectly. This story was fantastic with the twists and turns while the narration by Garrett Kiesel was amazing that compliments the seamless storytelling of Poe and Ashe. I cannot wait for the next installment.

Nice installment

3.5 stars - This is the 3rd book in the Auden & O'Callaghan Mystery series. It has been so long since I listened to Book 2 I had to go back and listen to the last few chapters to remind me of this couple and their dynamic. I think that is one of the reasons this story did not really resonate with me. Rufus and Sam are an established couple who went through a lot to be together. In this installment, it is 90% murder mystery and 10% couple relationship. That is not my favorite dynamic.

One of my issues with the story was I had a really hard time following all the characters and how they intersected. The story seems disjointed with characters entering the conversation only to drop dead. Also, I really didn’t like Sam in this story. He just seemed irrationally angry about the death of someone who he claims was just a friend. So much so he was willing to put Rufus in danger just to “avenge” his friend. It just didn’t make sense to me. Both authors are extremely talented in their own books, but this one just didn’t work for me.

Finally, the narrator did a great job with all voices except Sam. Honestly, he just sounded like a robot unless he was emoting anger. It was weird to listen to.

I was given a free copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review

Sam and Rufus!

This story is such a great listen. I really love reading Sam and Rufus continued story. I am happy that we get more of Sam backstory. Both these authors make such a great story that I just couldn't stop listening. This is such a great listen and Garrett Kiesel does a great job bring this story to life.

So much love for this series!

Shoot, I thought I'd reviewed this already, but nope! Shame on me. I loved the ebook version of this, and I was delighted to get to revisit it in audio. These characters are marvelous, and seeing them progress emotionally (individually and as a couple) has been a delight. I'm beyond happy that this isn't the final book in the series! I'll be eagerly awaiting book four.

My thanks to the author for a complimentary copy of this audiobook.

A great continuation of the series

These are two of my favorite authors, and I love them telling a story together. Getting an ongoing series from the two of them is a real treat, and I'd been waiting for the release of the third book and the audio for over a year.

Unlike the main characters in the other series I've read from them individually, Sam and Rufus live on the fringes of society in a way that makes their larger existence and particularly their relationship precarious. Neither of them has the safety net that characters normally do; they have each other, and that's about it. The tenuous nature of their existence and the strain that places on them as individuals and as a couple is well-developed and adds to the overall tension of the story. It also drives a lot of their character growth as they try to build a real, functional life together in the face of dangers from their pasts returning and putting them at risk.

This book is everything I was hoping for from Ashe and Poe and so much more. Sam and Rufus have so much to deal with as individuals, between themselves, and with the larger world, and I didn't know if that would be addressed as fully as I would like, but it really was. These characters seem like real, flawed, human people, which is something I always love from these authors.

And while the characters are such a huge part of driving the action, the plot is an intricate tangle of past and current events. This wasn't an audio I could just put on in the background while I did something else, or I would have been completely lost. There's so much going on here. The characters feed the development of the plot, and the plot feeds the growth of the characters, and it's a giant web.

Absolutely without a doubt recommend this book, this series, and really anything by Gregory Ashe and C.S. Poe.

(I got this audio for an honest review, but I paid for the first two audios and all three ebooks with my own human dollars and would have paid for the audio of this one, too, if I hadn't gotten the review offer, so, you know, make of that what you will.)