Lunatic

Necessary Evils, Book 6

By: Onley James

Narrated by: Liam DiCosimo

Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Every psychopath in the Mulvaney family has a role to play. Archer Mulvaney is the gambler, a drunken reprobate making his living as a high-stakes poker player. Very few people know the real Archer, not even his brothers. But there is one man who knows far too much.

Mackenzie Shepherd spends his days photographing endangered wildlife. He’s also the brother of a sociopath and son to the woman who literally wrote the book on raising one. When his mother asks him to head a secret government project, it seems like the perfect excuse to run away from his life.

But running from his past has Mac colliding straight into Archer. And that’s a problem. For this project to be successful, Mac and Archer have to agree on every decision, and the two see eye-to-eye on nothing. Except maybe the sex. The sex is off the charts.

When Mac’s old life comes back to haunt him, Archer insists on putting their differences aside to help keep him safe. But Mac, like Archer, is used to solving things on his own. Can they finally stop fighting each other to find the truth, or is their relationship the next thing on the endangered species list?

Lunatic is a filthy hot, enemies to lovers, psychopath romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. It features a sexy, roguish degenerate and a hunky, bleeding heart ginger who love how much they hate each other. As always, there’s gratuitous violence, very dark humor, more blood than a slaughterhouse, and enough heat to melt your metaphorical undies.

This is book six in the Necessary Evils series. Each book follows a different couple.

©2022 Onley James (P)2023 Onley James

Can't wait for the next one!

LOVE THIS AUTHOR AND NARRATOR! I cannot get enough of the wit and banter

ᗩᗷՏOᒪᑌTᗴᒪY ᗪᗴᒪᎥᘜᕼTᖴᑌᒪ

A fantastic and highly enjoyable book in the 𝘕𝘦𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘴 series. Fantastically narrated by Liam DiCosimo.

enjoyed it

📖 Story comment: Good pace, interesting characters and "out there" concept.
I'm enjoying how different this series is. This one's probably my favorite. Although the initial setup of the relationship happens between Archer and Mac before this book starts, the dynamic between the two work well and I feel like there was a bit more "meat" to the plot in this one - even if it does setup a spin-off series.

🎧 Narrator comment: I enjoyed Liam DiCosimo performance, he gives each of the characters their own voice and personality, he has good timing, inflections and intonations and brings the story to life.

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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 [3⭐] • 5 enjoyed it [4⭐] • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator [4⭐] • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list [4⭐] • 8 kept me up past bed-time [4.5⭐] • 9 recommended to family/friends [4.75⭐] • 10 own it in all formats [5⭐] • 11 keep a copy with me at all times [5⭐]

Archer & Mac

Excellent story, I enjoyed the narrator’s performance- which really brought these characters to life. My favorite part of this series is getting each new piece of Thomas’s history with each of his sons. The prologues are so unique and heartbreaking, but also a critical piece of the story. I loved having Molly Shepherd and her sons be part of the Mulvaney world- a perfect fit for this series. It’s a very engrossing listen, the plot is dark and genuinely scary as the Mulvaneys take on human traffickers this time. It has excellent tension, great writing, and a wonderfully twisty mystery to solve. I really loved this couple, Mac and Archer’s romance provides a perfect balance to the dark things happening around them. I loved their combination of heat, snark, and sweetness. I also loved all the surprising revelations we uncover about the mysterious Archer Mulvaney, no spoilers - but what a fun listen. Excellent, highly recommend!

My Guilty Pleasure

Another over the top , ridiculous , out loud laughing addition to the series that have become my guilty pleasure.

These books are pure escapism.

5 stars

Every time I can’t possibly love this series more, James ups the ante on us again. I knew going in that this book would cross over with another series by the same author, and that it would also tease a planned future series. Little did I know how much the world of the Mulvaneys was about to explode. After all, Thomas got what he wanted with his seven sons, who are all productive adults. It should have been obvious that the larger-scale version of his epic plan is already in production; this is just the first time we’re getting a chance to see it up close. James doesn’t waste time setting up too much backstory with this book, either for the secret government project, the external plot regarding the threat on Mac’s life, or even the initial meeting between Mac and Archer that launches their professional partnership and personal dynamic.

After spending time with Aiden in the previous installment of this series, Archer remained the most mysterious Mulvaney brother. And it turns out that everything we thought we knew about him was wrong, even when we were technically correct. He wears the persona of drunken pirate the same way Adam, Asa, and Avi are playboys, except he doesn’t drop this mask for his brothers. The fact that I know James didn’t have every detail of all of her characters planned out from the very beginning just makes her creativity and storytelling even more mind-blowing; for example, putting together the pieces about August and Archer as children goes a long way toward explaining the shift in Thomas that resulted in Atticus growing up so touch- and affection-starved. In much the same way that facet of his adult character made Jericho his perfect match, James also creates Mac as the perfect foil for Archer—with a twist.

A common joke about this series is how the Mulvaney boys seem to imprint on their partners like psychotic penguins, but I’d argue that the reverse happens here. Mac is familiar enough with how to deal with Archer’s particular flavor of neurodivergence since he’s the twin of a man with a related diagnosis and the son of the woman who literally wrote the book on how Thomas approached raising his children. (Perhaps there’s a tiny bit of some form of -pathy hanging out in Mac’s brain after all.) The lower-key power exchange between him and Archer evolves throughout the book from pure sex to pure passion as feelings enter the mix, despite Archer’s best intentions. However, since feeling something is what begrudgingly attracted Archer to Mac in the first place, his crankiness about the situation is more adorable than angst-ridden. In the end, Archer and Mac probably win for worst public shenanigans in Mulvaney family history, and I almost became the first real-world Mulvaney victim by choking on my coffee in surprise.

But apart from the relationship drama and before they can get back to work on their top-secret government project, Archer and Mac still have to figure out who has a contract out on Mac’s life and what it has to do with a picture he didn’t mean to take. Luckily, Mac now has the entire weight of the Mulvaney family behind him, and I had a ton of fun with all the appearances made by other familiar characters. I’ll always have a soft spot for Noah, the founding member of Team Emotion, and his subplot hit me right in the feels and impressed me with how he has grown as a character. James takes us to another pretty dark place in this book, in which the external conflict is unfortunately rooted in an all-too-familiar reality based on current American events. This adds verisimilitude to the story and a bit of catharsis when the plot is resolved, but also reminds me of why it’s almost a shame that the Mulvaneys don’t exist in the real world.

I’m already excited about multiple things after reading this book, based on the hints dropped throughout the pages—not only the conclusion of this series in book 7 but also exploring a brand-new series that extrapolates on what James has developed here. However, I also know I’ll enjoy re-reading this story since I’m as much of a fangirl of this series as Lucas is of Molly Shepherd and Molly is of Lucas’s husband (and if James is taking suggestions for bonus scenes, that’d be a great dinner party).

Still a strong series

If feels like I’ve waited forever for Lunatic to come to audio, so I tried to keep my expectations lowered after months of build up. First, yet again, Liam DiCosimo is outrageously good in giving each character a distinctive voice. He’s an absolute joy to listen to!

This one started off a bit slowly for me and I actually had to double check that I didn’t miss a book somewhere. I had zero idea who all these random military characters were. Apparently from a spin-off series? Ugh.

Anyway, my biggest issue with Lunatic is that Archer and Mac were already hooking up prior to the start of the book. In the other stories, we have an outsider brought in by one of the brothers. Half the fun is seeing how the new significant other adapts to the truth about the Mulvaneys. I was never really able to get fully invested in the MCs’ relationship here because so much of it happened “off screen.” That was a wasted opportunity.

This is still a good listen, and it’s always nice to catch up with the family. I especially liked the dynamic between Noah and Archer after Noah felt betrayed by Archer’s false persona.

The ending and epilogue set up the final book and I guess yet another spin-off series for an X-Men like school for super villains. Eh. I could have lived without that.

PS - Best line was Adam calling Archer “Hannah Montana.” I snickered!

Loved every word !

I love this series, it was so fun catching up with the other brothers, form the previous books. Can't wait for the next book to come out.

Archer and Mac are perfect

I just adore the Mulvaney’s and their SO’s. And Archer and Mac are no different. They don’t disappoint. I absolutely called something that comes up. Archer is not what he seems and when things come to light, he hurts and pisses off a lot of people. His dad has put him in charge of a classified, top secret program. And this is where he works with his soulmate. Mac is also in charge at this program. Archer and Mac meet in Vegas and start something up but it really develops after a drunken night in Vegas. Typical Archer. Mac is hot and has a heart of gold, but someone is trying to kill him and after a close call in Vegas with Archer, the Mulvaney’s pull together to help Mac out. This case deals with some heavy topics but as always the author lightens that heaviness with dark humor. I loved the families banter. It was perfect. It was well written. I listened to the audio book and omg Liam Dicosimo does such an amazing job. I love his voice, he truly brings the characters and the book to life and gives it a three dimensional feel. I absolutely love this series and am a little sad it’s almost over, but I can’t wait to see what is going down with the last Mulvaney’s.

Archer and Mac are amazing

Archer and Mac are one of my favorite couples in the Necessary Evils series and this was another awesome installment! I'd highly recommend listening to this series in order as the family dynamics builds on previous stories. I absolutely loved Archer and Mac together. Archer wasn't quite what I was expecting from his previous appearances. However, I really enjoyed when he word vomited all over Mac. Both Archer and Mac are working through some new feelings as they navigate their relationship. I'll never not want to see new members get "initiated" into the Mulvaney family! These two are also fire between the sheets and I think they're pretty good competition for Jericho and Atticus.

We also get more of Adam and Noah in this one and I must say that Noah is quite impressive! He's got skills that I don't think many of the brothers have seen yet. We also get introduced to a new crew that I'm sure will be featured in a spin off series! I can't believe there's only one more Mulvaney who needs a story before this series comes to an end. It's been a wild, steamy ride and I can't wait to see how the last pieces fall into place.

The story in this one sounds outrageous but it's also heartbreaking to think how easy something as horrifying as domestic servitude and worse of immigrants really is. It definitely highlights some of the radicalization that is happening right now. Each story in this series has touched on difficult topics but I think because of the current political climate, this one felt a bit more tangible than others.

Liam does an amazing job of keeping the voices of all the character pretty distinctive and his performance is incredible as always!