Ground Zero

Zero Hour, Book 1

De: Aimee Nicole Walker

Narrado por: Tristan James

Duración: 10 h y 4 m

Resumen del Editor

Heat, humidity, and homicide are things veteran Detective Sawyer Key expects to encounter on his first day with the Savannah Police Department, but the hostile reception from his new partner catches him by surprise. Sawyer isn't a stranger to heartache and recognizes that Royce Locke is a wounded man who's reeling from a devastating loss. Relentless and patient in all things, Sawyer is determined to make the new partnership work.

Savannah, Georgia, is known for her quirky people, oak trees draped in Spanish moss, and antebellum architecture. Beneath the Southern charm and hospitality, festering hatred and violence is soaring with the summer temperatures. Locke and Key find themselves at the epicenter when their first case involves the death of a former shock jock who appears to be the victim of vigilante justice.

Opposites in nearly every way, the two detectives set aside their differences to take back their city and restore law and order. From this reluctant truce, an intense attraction grows that will either tighten or shatter their tenuous bond. The fuse is lit, the clock is running, and the zero hour is upon them. Ticktock.

Contains mature themes.

©2019 Aimee Nicole Walker (P)2020 Tantor

Omg yes!

This made me so happy I loved it! Great story and great audio! I can't wait for the next one!

Great storyline

As usual ANW writes an outstanding book. Characters you love and ones you might have to learn to love. Great storyline and I loved the side characters. Sawyers mom was fantastic. Who doesn’t want a mom like that.
Narrator is good. I wish there was more range in character voices.

Two cops with a heavy past

This book is just excellent and the narration by Tristan James amazing. I recommend greatly!

Wonderful book!

This book addressed so important issues on what people are forced to go through daily, resulting from ignorance. I really hope some people are able to learn from these examples. I really loved it.

Very Nice

I enjoyed this a lot. The story is believable and the dialog feels natural with just the right amount of being larger than life.

Lately I've been irked a bit by how much gratuitous sex there is in M/M books. Natural and understandable but it gets old if one has a normal sex life. I get it that a lot of people are reading the genre for vicarious thrills. In this book the sex flows with the story, helps you understand the characters better and how they're responding to each other, I didn't feel like fast forwarding or feeling annoyed that the author is just stringing together a series of cut and pasted sex scenes with whatever the story is.

Another thing I seriously like about this is the narrator is clearly paying attention to the story and isn't just drifting off and reading whatever is said with the same 'narrators voice'. This is getting more rare in gay audiobooks, especially with the popular authors with sexy voices who sound the same in every book. After you've heard several it starts to al run together (for me) so the fact that the narrator is so in synch in this made it especially enjoyable.

So thanks very much! Nice work all around

solid 4 stars

Would I listen to it again: yes ✔
Did the story keep me engaged: yes ✔
Was I invested in the characters: yes ✔

📖 Story comment: Good pace, entertaining story, interesting characters.
It took me a while to warm up to Locke, but Sawyer's character was strong and interesting enough to carry the story for me. Overall i'm glad I stuck with it, because i've listened to all three books in this series (plus the Sinister in Savannah spin-off) back to back and enjoyed them all.

🎧 Narrator comment: Tristan James can be a narrator you either enjoy or don't. Personally I love him, I go through phases where he's just what I need in a narrator. I enjoyed his reading of this series and the Sinister in Savannah Series spin-off and will happily listen to them again.

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📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 7

• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough • 5 enjoyed it • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list • 8 kept me up past bed-time • 9 recommended to family/friends • 10 own it in multiple formats • 11 keep a copy with me at all times
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Fabulous first book in a great extended universe!

I listened to Ground Zero last month and loved it! I finished the trilogy, listened to the spin-off trilogy (Sinister in Savannah,) and I just finished the Matrimony and Mayhem trilogy follow-up with Sawyer and Royce. I love all of these books but I am restarting Ground Zero at the moment to re-live the beginnings of this fabulous love story, the moments that are cringe, funny, sad and heart melting, not to mention spicy. I have a feeling that all of these books will become frequent listens and reads for me because the characters are so fantastic and I love seeing so many appear in their own stories. I can't wait for a few more spin-offs to reach audio so I can buy them and listen.

Love Locke and Key

I LOVE the book series so much that I stalked the release date for the audiobooks a few months ago. Lol.

Aimee has written Sawyer and Royce in such a way that you can’t help but be attached to them, root for them. Specially because both are in the process of healing & the beginning of their partnership was a bit rough. But how it turned around and made both stronger together was magical.

I’m waiting for the second book. It’s gonna take time for the third book, but I’ll be here for it too.

Tristan James is a solid narrator, however I can’t help but feel like sometimes the narration had awkward pauses in them when it shouldn’t? And sometimes it sounded a bit flat when it calls for heightened emotions? Overall, he did good.

4 stars

* spoilers*

Technically, I've not finished reading or listening to this book, but I wanted to write down a few things before I forget. So this review will be updated at a later date.
This is a long book, longer than I originally thought, and I was losing interest/getting tired due to lack of sleep (which is likely to affect how I'm reviewing this book) and decided to skim ahead without the audio to find out what was going on.
This book definitely has a different feel/take to all of the other detective/police based MM books I've read before. I will say that it felt pretty realistic with how they did things as detectives. Usually, there is a mystery to be solved on "who did it" and all of that. I didn't really get that sort of mystery vibe from this book. I was also surprised that there was more than one crime within this book. It didn't surprise me on who the culprit was for the first crime. I'm not exactly sure why though. The one question that I had that I don't think was answered, was about how the culprit learned about the victim's secret. Was he tipped off by the victim's wife or her friend? Or did he snoop around himself and discovered it that way?
The second crime was pretty direct in who the culprit was as well and it was honestly no surprise who did it after the very detailed confession from the one of the victim's closest friend.
Honestly, the relationship between Locke and Key was pretty fast. They seemed to have been going in circles for a while there. I don't exactly have a whole lot to say besides this about their relationship. I think they fit each other though.
I did find it amazing though that at one point I was crying due to what Key's deceased husband was telling him about finding love again once he had passed and then the next moment I'm laughing for a little bit by the fact that Key is listening to an audio book that I recognized (A book by Hailey Turner) which I found amusing, especially since it's also an MM book. And then there is a moment that I've heard so many people say has happened or is afraid that will happen to them: which is someone hearing it while it is playing in their car. That moment was funny but I also felt a little bit of second hand embarrassment.
I do hope that the cute café shop guy will keep to his word about wanting to be friends.

*narration*
I've listened to Tristan James before and I like his narration skills. But with this book, it fell a little flat for me. I honestly wish there could have been a bit more variation with his tone of voice. Like when Key was stated to be whispering or speaking softly, there wasn't much of a difference in tone of voice. Same thing when Key was speaking campy with someone on the phone and when he yelled at the culprit for running away. There wasn't a whole lot of change, and I felt when Key was yelling at the culprit and stating that he was from the police, I felt like he should have sounded a bit more stern and authoritative. Despite the few issues I had with his narration falling a little flat at times with the tone of voice, this narrator suited the characters really well.


Overall, it was an alright book that I will continue at a later date. I believe I will continue this series at a later date as well.

fast paced but so good

the story spans over such a short time period but it's crazy how invested you can get. I love these boys, and can't wait for the next books