Point of No Return

By: N.R. Walker

Narrated by: Sean Crisden

Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

Book one in the Turning Point series.

Matthew Elliot is one of LA’s best detectives. He’s been labeled the golden boy of the Fab Four: a team of four detectives who’ve closed down drug-rings all over the city. He’s smart, tough and exceptionally good at his job. He’s also a closeted gay man.

Enter Kira Takeo Franco, the new boxing coach at the gym. Matthew can’t deny his immediate attraction to the man his fellow cops know as Frankie. But in allowing himself to fall in love with a man known to his colleagues, Matthew risks outing them both.

Matt and Kira work to keep their relationship and private lives hidden from Matt’s very public life, fearing it would be detrimental to their careers. But it’s not the other cops who Matthew should be worried about finding out his deepest, darkest secret.... It’s the bad guys.

Third edition - has new cover and has been re-edited, though no new content has been added.

©2016 NR Walker (P)2018 NR Walker

Loved Sean's Performance!

Matthew Elliot is closeted at work and at home. Unofficially the face of his fab-four narcotics team he spends his time afraid anyone will discover his deepest secret.

Kira "Frankie" Franco is the new instructor at the cop gym down the block. Matt takes one look at Kira and knows he's in trouble. Kira realizing Matt is closeted gives him the perfect out - even though Kira is out in his personal life, he has made sure to keep his private life complete private after starting work at the gym. So the two begin seeing each other in secret and their passion explodes.

But it's not all about passion. Matt finally has someone who understands every part of him - including his ambitions - and matches him at every stage. The two are quick to fall in love, and Matt is happier than he's ever been, but the case he's working on is heating up - and about to change all of their lives forever.

Told from Matt's single POV there's a bit of angst, some mystery that's woven really well throughout, action that (with Sean's performance) had me on the edge of my seat, and some pretty hot sex. But mostly, I loved getting to see the relationship between Matt and Kira deepen into a real abiding love.

I don't know if I was just in the mood for it this time, or if Sean Crisden's performance was just that great, but I enjoyed this so much more than when I read it. Sean Crisden was on point with his performance and even managed to drag a couple of tears out of me. This was a really enjoyable listen. Sean's voice was like honey in my ears and a warm blanket wrapped around me.

If you like cops, sexy boxers, some angst, a lot of romance and hot sex, and some kick ass narration - pick this up.

I cannot wait for the other books in the series to come out on audio!

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Ticks all my boxes...

I'm a huge NR Walker fan and this book didn't disappoint.

The early relationship between closeted MC's Matt and Kira (both strong men) is low angst and feels right as it slowly develops, that is until Walker, who likes to put her MC's through their own personal hell, shoves the men into the open and they decide what (or rather who) is important.

Good guys, a great supportive cast of family and friends, and bad guys who get theirs in the end all make Point of No Return an excellent story to get lost in for a couple of hours.

As always, Sean Crisden does excellent narration and I hope he gives voice to the remaining books in the series. He did a great job of voicing the subtle venerability in Detective Matt Elliott’s character, something that can often be lost in alpha cop characters.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Get it you won't regret it.

First of all Shawn Crisden is a wonderful narrator, he gives life to all his characters.
The story itself was pretty good. It had everything I expected from this genre, good storyline, good plot great characters and we have some hot sex scene.
I will say that Kyra's mom is the best, and Sean does her accent so well.
There are two other stories that go along with this story and I'm so excited to read them.
Get this book you won't regret it.
Also the Steelers don't play on Saturday night!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Suspense and Love

Great story and kept me on the edge of my seat! The relationship between Matt and Kira was beautiful. Sean did a wonderful job as always narrating, I highly recommend this story you won’t be disappointed

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great!

This novel has many enjoyable elements – the detective camaraderie, the well done M/M romance, the criminal suspense, and the excellent narration by Sean Crisden.

This book is a good example of how an author can build a world that involves co-workers, family, and other secondary characters that play pivotal roles in the novel - in a way that is easy to absorb (as opposed to force-feeding the information). Matthew’s work colleagues are his family with whom he has a strong relationship; and Kira’s parents are warm, hilarious and a wonderful balance in a novel filled with serious topics such as the closing down of drug rings and closeted gay love.

Speaking of which, I felt the author handled well the issue of Matthew and Kira’s closeted sexual preferences and the societal consequences of their ‘coming out’ especially with work colleagues.

The romance was very well executed – Kira and Matthew are mature, likeable men who don’t play games in the courtship phase of their romance. They are refreshingly honest about how they feel and make it a joy to follow their romantic journey. Heart-pounding suspense grips you as Matthew’s detective work-life smashes into his private life testing all his relationships old and new.

Although this is the first in a 3 part series, it is a complete stand-alone that ends with a Happy Ever After or Happy For Now. You can stop reading at the end of this novel if you wish. However, it was excellent and I went on to listen to the remaining 2 novels (about the same characters). The follow-up novels are also great with excellent narration.

I loved every moment of this romance. Highly recommended.

Wow...why did i wait so long to listen to this?

The vocal performance was in a word, perfect. As I listened to this performance I thought I’d found another new one-click vocal performer…I didn’t realize I’d heard Sean Crisden perform other books. I didn’t remember him being this damn good. As big an NR Walker fan as I am I don’t know why I hadn’t read this series but I hadn’t and I’m kind of glad my first time through them was in audio format thanks to Mr. Crisden. The voices for each of the characters are so impressive and he absolutely makes the story come to life.

This book/series is such a departure from the books I’ve read by Ms. Walker I was surprised it’s as good as it is. I have started to stray away from stories with closeted characters but it’s NR Walker so….

I like Matt and Kira so much. Kira is patient and sweet with Matt. They have immediate and explosive chemistry…chemistry is hard to hide. The resolution of the suspense plot was emotional and hard to listen to for everyone involved.

I can’t wait to move on to book 2!

5 stars = I freaking LOVED this audiobook!!!

I received a free copy of this audiobook to listen to and review for Wicked Reads.

To begin, I have to say that I freaking loved that BOTH men were in the closet. I’m not sure that I’ve ever read a m/m romance in which both men were in the closet; maybe a ménage romance, but I have yet to think of one in the past week as I’ve listened to Point of No Return several times. Even though Matt seems to lose sight of the fact that Kira is also in the closet – likely due to his past failed relationships where his partner was forced back into the closet with him – he is not the only one with something to lose if their relationship is discovered by their co-workers. The other part of Matt’s being in the closet that I thought was an interesting angle to the story was WHY he was in the closet. He wasn’t concerned that his partner or close colleagues were homophobic, but rather that his being gay would define him rather than his record. It certainly made me think and I could definitely see this as being a valid concern, especially in his career.

As for the story itself, Walker packs one heck of a punch in Point of No Return – actually, quite literally when it comes to Matt and Kira’s meet cute. The opening scene was quite effective in showing the reader the kind of man and detective Matt is all while providing the needed background information for the romantic suspense threads of the story, without it feeling like an info dump. Because the story is told from Matt’s point of view, we get to see just how hard his physical attraction to Kira hits him (no pun intended), but we have to wait a bit to learn that the attraction is mutual. Walker does a great job of balancing the secret romance with Matt’s demands as a detective, capturing the disappointment and frustration that comes with dating a person whose job requires them to be on-call for emergencies. While I figured out the twist relatively early, I credit that with being a reader of romantic suspense and psych student, and not a detective who’s watching his CI deteriorate to the point that his information is questionable. But even knowing the twist didn’t prepare me for the direction the story went, and I found myself caught up in all of the detectives’ distress when the bad guy made his move. I won’t go into what happened because potential readers or listeners deserve to take that rollercoaster ride with no warnings, but I absolutely loved how it played out – both professionally and personally for Matt and Kira.

Now for the narration. I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying Sean Crisden’s narrative performances before, but he was perfect in Point of No Return. The voice he uses for Matt is ALL COP. By that I mean, there was no doubt in my mind that I was listening to an overworked but determined detective trying to find his way through the muddy waters of a complicated case all while walking a personal relationship tightrope. Crisden made me feel Matt’s emotions – his frustration, his confusion, his need, his anticipation, his happiness, his fear, his stark terror, his relief, his I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude, and his love. And Crisden does a great drunk Matt voice that I found myself grinning at because Detective Matthew Elliot is an amusing drunk. I got sucked down the rabbit hole with this audiobook and went back for repeated trips as I found myself queueing it up several times this past week. I thoroughly enjoyed Point of No Return and hope that book two, Breaking Point, will be available on audio soon as I want more of Matt’s story.

“I Love You Too”

-dreamy sigh- Still my first love of MM romance stories. Years ago when I first came across this story, it was the cover picture that captured my interest, then the story created this type of adoring magic in my heart for these 2 alpha men (Matt and Kira) with their alpha careers and I was done for. I’ve been reading MM romances ever since.

Everything about this story is perfect! You have romance, action, sexy alpha males, an interesting plot with a bit of mystery, and a fantastic support cast.

I’ve read this story so many times and though it wasn’t MacLeod Andrews, Michael Ferraiuolo, or Greg Tremblay (My dream team of narrators) that brought this story to life for me, having the chance to listen to it truly had me in a ‘dream-filled romantic shield of cloud 9 happiness.’

I still love this story and Kira and Matt so much! ❤️ I’m so grateful the original book cover is back with a small improvement. Good job who ever made that decision 👍

Thrill Ride with Great Characters

I’m on a bit of an N.R. Walker kick these days. This book is one of her (relatively) older books, and has just been released on audio. Since I love N.R., am a Sean Crisden fan, and an audio addict, picking this up was a no-brainer.

Unlike many of her other books, this one is set in Los Angeles instead of Australia. I missed the Aussie expressions, but since I’m Canadian and we are frequently mistaken for Americans, adapting to this different setting was easy.

Matt Elliot is an L.A. police detective who, at 28, already has 10 years with the force. He is one of a group of four detectives who investigate illegal drugs and those involved – dealers, kingpins, gangs, and others. The book begins as the four are hanging at the gym after a major bust. All of the men enjoy working out, but it’s Matt who enjoys sparring in the boxing ring with the gym’s best trainers. Kira Takeo Franco (Frankie) is the best Matt is facing that day and the sparks are instantaneous and intense. Matt’s partners don’t notice, but Frankie does. Matt may not be out – as a police officer it can be dicey –but he and Frankie feel the sexual attraction.

Frankie actually prefers to go by ‘Kira’, the name bestowed upon him by his Japanese mother. She is supportive and accepting of his homosexuality, as is his deaf Spanish father. He is their only son and they adore him. Matt lost his mother at the age of seventeen and has been on his own ever since. He has trouble adapting to both the Francos and their attractive son.

Soon, though, they fall into a comfortable routine. Kira works at the gym, while Matt puts in insane hours at the office. The team brought down a major drug kingpin, but his enterprise has continued without a hiccup. I will say there are supposed to be two surprises and I had both figured out long before they were revealed, but it wasn’t a huge issue.

In their home life, Kira and Matt are completely compatible – in and out of bed. Kira respects Matt’s need to stay in the closet, but it does hurt him.

I liked the development of the relationship. Yes, there was super-hot sex, but there is also an emotional connection, something I expect from N.R.’s books.

The thriller part of was well-done and believable, all the more so because of the strong bond between the two men. After the crisis is over, both men have to settle back into their lives, dealing with the huge changes. Of course they do adjust, but there are a few bumps along the way—same as there are in life.

Sean Crisden is one of my favourite narrators and a perfect pick for a novel set in the U.S. He also did a good job with the accents, including Eastern European and Japanese.

I recommend the book. As Kira says to Matt, “I need you”. Well, this book came at the perfect time for me.

Absolutely perfect.

With N.R. Walkers words and the beautiful voice of Sean Crisden this audiobook is perfection..
Everything about this audiobook is wonderful..
I felt as if I was there ..

Terrible narration

I've read a few of N.R Walker's books and enjoyed them. But this book, from 2012 must have been one she 'learned' with.
Quite frankly I got whiplash with the jerky pace of the narrative. It was carelessly speed written, repetitive and there was no consideration of word choices. I hadn't expected such shallow fluff or such poor narration.

Sean Crisden flew through this narration as if he had somewhere else to be. I didn't feel like he connected with the text at all, and I certainly didn't connect with the narration.

Consider me disappointed!

Enjoyed...

If you love your characters a little on the alpha side, then you'll love this story. I especially enjoyed the narrators vocals/accents for each characters, sometimes when listening to audio books you can lose the plot and you just don't know who is talking, but I found it quite easy to follow the story.

Woohoo!! It's the Matt & Kira show....

This is the first NR Walker audio I've bought, due to all of her other series so far being narrated by someone I'm unfortunately not that keen on 😕. Sean did a really good job with this first Matt & Kira story, and I can't WAIT to see what he makes of Tom & Cooper [Thomas Elkin series].