Rack & Ruin

THIRDS, Book 3

By: Charlie Cochet

Narrated by: Mark Westfield

Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

New York City's streets are more dangerous than ever with the leaderless Order of Adrasteia and the Ikelos Coalition, a newly emerged Therian group, at war. Innocent civilians are caught in the crossfire and although the THIRDS round up more and more members of the Order in the hopes of keeping the volatile group from reorganizing, the members of the Coalition continue to escape and wreak havoc in the name of vigilante justice.

Worse yet, someone inside the THIRDS has been feeding the Coalition information. It's up to Destructive Delta to draw out the mole and put an end to the war before anyone else gets hurt. But to get the job done, the team will have to work through the aftereffects of the Therian Youth Center bombing. A skirmish with Coalition members leads Agent Dexter J. Daley to a shocking discovery and suddenly it becomes clear that the random violence isn't so random. There's more going on than Dex and Sloane originally believed, and their fiery partnership is put to the test. As the case takes an explosive turn, Dex and Sloane are in danger of losing more than their relationship.

©2014 Charlie Cochet (P)2015 Dreamspinner Press

Mark Westfield Rocks This Series!

Any additional comments?

I absolutely love and adore Mark Westfield’s narration of this series! To me, it’s Westfield’s narration that makes this series shine.

Things I enjoyed about the book:

1. Getting to see the progression of the Sloane and Dex’s relationship. Finally getting to see Sloane remove his head from his ass and recognize what he has in Dex was awesome.

2. The humor. Once again, it was the humor, and in many cases with this particular story, it was only the humor that kept me from throwing my Kindle out the window.

3. The audio narration. Mark Westfield does a really good job bringing the characters and situations to life. I enjoyed his narration just as much this time, and it’s his narration that keeps me going.

Things that drove me nuts?

1. How do I keep figuring out the bad guy? I am probably the most oblivious person you will ever meet. Seriously. So I find it absolutely tragic that I have figured out who the bad guy is in each of these “mysteries” only a couple chapters in. That’s just sad.

2. Sloane, and then Ash’s, whole “I’m so broken because of tragic things in my past, so therefore you’re better off without me” bull****. I just can’t. The whole thing between Ash and Cael? I was so hoping Cael would kick Ash in the nuts. In. The. Nuts.

3. And then…and then! There’s a part that had me literally writhing on my chair with rage and disbelief – I won’t spoil it – but it had me CRAZY. Ok? CRAZY. So I found it totally implausible Dex would only tell Sloane, and not say something to Tony. Then I found it COMPLETELY impossible that Sloane would do…absolutely nothing. He barely even has a conversation about it. I cannot even. Worst soldier/cops ever.

Sloane doesn’t even follow up until the following day (or was it days?) later! And then Sloane does nothing. Sloane and Dex don’t tell the team? Putting everyone in jeopardy? What the hell?

AND THEN…the cliffhanger? The one that even I could see coming a mile away and without spoilers?

But…BUT! What can I say? This series is full of humor, action, suspense, and sexy times. Couple all of that with Mark Westfield’s narrative delivery, and I’m hooked!
Fans of the series won’t be disappointed with this installment. And I freely admit I can’t wait to get my hands on the next audio book in the series.

RECOMMENDED!

The mystery deepens as does feelings

Would you listen to Rack & Ruin again? Why?

Absolutely. The story kept me engrossed. The suspense was nail-biting and the romance hot.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Oh yes! There were some shocking twists, some surprise revelations, and the ending was really a shock!

What about Mark Westfield’s performance did you like?

I think my favorite thing is when they talk on coms or radios or there is a broadcast how his voice sounds like it's actually coming through one. It's pretty cool.

If you could rename Rack & Ruin, what would you call it?

Traitor In The Midst

Any additional comments?

I loved this story. I like the mystery, suspense and how it shows a few other men's relationships as Sloane and Dex explore theirs. It picks up after the surprising end of the last book with the Order still out there yet without a leader and now a Therian Coalition is fighting the Order too. There is a mole in the Thirds, a few surprises in store and another explosive ending.

Sloane and Dex's relationship deepen and we find out there is a couple others developing too.
Dex lends a touch of humor to the deeply suspenseful story and there is enough hot sex that there is a good balance of it all.


If you like Mystery/Suspense / Science Fiction / Werecats/Shapeshifters/ twists/romance/ and some hot man-sex you will love this

Better and better...

Keep falling more and more in love with Dex and Sloan...now we can add Ash to the list. The series keeps getting better and better...Cochet is great and Westfield is phenomenal.

Another GREAT from Chochet & Westfield!!!

Keep 'em coming!!!! Can't wait for book 4 on Audiobook and book 5 on ebook and audiobook!!!!! If only they can be longer!!!

Just as amazing

This series just keeps getting better! Absolutely love the character development in book! Can wait to read the Ash and Cael book!

A lot of build up for a lot of couples

Awesomeness cliffhanger of an end (although that might be because the books are already released and I dived right into Rise & Fall once I finished this and I didn't have to wait)! Seriously I loved that ending! It was everything when it comes to the story AND the description of Ash zombie watching TV, with beers all around. Yes I kinda loved his pain because he is unreasonable in his stubbornness of not talking to Cael.

Action packed, with a really good mystery and our favorite couple. Dex and Sloane mature even more in their relationship (both on and off the work) but they aren't without their hiccups. Sloane somehow manages to upon up even more about his past with Dex AND STILL keep some of himself back!

Frustration and UST galore is the name of the game for all the other potential couples ;)

- 4 to 4.25 stars -

I thought this book was pretty good. Had a lot of funny moments, a couple sad moments, and surprising moments as well.

*Spoilers*

I was honestly surprised at how much relationship drama was going on within Sloane's team. Everyone besides Letty and Rosa had personal problems going on that was affecting their work performance. The team was literally falling apart because of it and thankfully they were functioning as a team during the times when they seriously needed to be. Sometimes the drama was a bit much.
I actually respect and like Ash a but more in this book. I never disliked or liked him, but I knew he would have a book later on with Cael, so I know things will eventually work out with them. But I have come to realize that he is a sweeter guy underneath his anger, but I also now understand the reasoning behind his anger, why he is in such denial about liking guys, and also with what was going on with him throughout the book. I am happy to see that Dex is starting to get along with Ash and is really starting to care about him - not that he hadn't before, but he's seen a different side of Ash and is wanting to see him get back on his feet, and is even worried about him since he isn't himself after he rejected Cael. I really didn't like Cael's reaction to his rejection and leading on Seb, as Sebastian is a nice guy who is still in love with Hudson. But as Dex had said, they are both adults and Hudson won't give Seb the time of day right now.
The scene with Sloane visiting Gabe's grave and finally coming to terms and moving on was heartbreaking.
I was not expecting who was the mole. I honestly thought it could have been Taylor, with how annoying he was with Dex and the way he kept popping up. But Dex was right about one thing, the quiet ones are the ones you should keep your eyes on (even though he was referring to Calvin at the time)
There were a few confusing moments, such as Sloane's conversation with Sparks about how he apparently chose to have Isaac killed instead of keeping him alive.
The ending scene was sad, but I liked how Ash - despite being severely injured - rushed out to protect Dex from getting killed and tried comforting Dex (and probably himself) with what happened to Sloane. Sloane was right about there being some sort of darkness underneath Dex's happiness, but I never thought it stemmed from what had happened to his parents. I really hope someone can draw him back, because I would hate to see him go to the dark side - no matter how interested I am to see what he would do or how differently he would act. Love can be a dangerous thing sometimes. I also think that maybe Ash and Dex might get along better after this, and if was honestly sad how they were clinging onto he each other and probably blaming themselves for what had happened to Sloane.
The drive thru scene was pretty funny with how Dex was sitting on Hobbs lap to put in their order. I have to wonder though if Calvin was at all bothered by that. Hobbs seemed fine by it. I was surprised though that even after Dex saved Hobbs life that he still doesn't speak out loud to him, but I am glad he can talk in other ways.
I found that Cael was a bit....wishy washy in this book? I mean, he was kind of hot and then cold with what he would say, and it could be a bit confusing at times. He was right though about his concerns with Ash and that he was a good guy, but....I don't know. He kind of seemed to fuel the drama a bit, probably unintentionally. I don't really know what to make of his character anymore. I for one didn't like his behavior towards Ash by the end of the book, but I can kind of see where he is coming from.

* Narration *
Once again I thought the narration was pretty good and enhanced my enjoyment of the book. Maybe about 2 times words were skipped over. A couple other times the sentence was changed slightly, but I think it probably helped with the flow of the sentence, but I'm not exactly sure. I wasn't bothered by it though since I was reading along with the ebook.

Rack & Ruin

Omg this audio book was absolutely positively amazing. I would highly recommend this audio book.

Best of the series

Light and fun, Rack & Ruin is probably my favorite in the series. It pushed Dex and Sloane's story along at a perfect pace, and included more of the boys' backgrounds. It's got a great mixture of humor, drama, and action and is Charlie Cochet at her best.

We get what the J stands for in Dex's name. His boyish love for chocolate chip cookies, Sloane's and Ash's background with the hospital tests as kids, unusual coffee mugs, an hysterical conversation when Ash figures out what's going on between Dex and Sloane

"It's not what it looks like! I dropped some change, it rolled under the closet door, and when I went to pick it up, my clothes fell off. True story!"

"We had sex in your bathroom during my party!"

"Would it ease your mind if I told you I jizzed in Sloane's mouth?"

Great lines, awesome performance from Mark Westfield, and of course, Charlie's fantastic sexy times. It's one of the titles in the series that you can pick up a second time and get just as much enjoyment from it

Cliffhangers Are Dangerous

With the maniac from books 1& 2 taking care of, with this book we get a whole new kind of crazy....
Action packed and hilarious as the other books, the Thirds take you on another wild race, and this time the bad guys are always one step ahead. And this one leaves you with a bang (literally) of a cliffhanger.
I'm really in love with the voices Mark Westfield gave these guys, when I read the books alone the voices he has created just pop in my head. If I have too pick a voice that stands out, I would say it's Ash's, he sounds like he's from the Bronx and I know his hair is short for work, but with the voice I picture it shoulder length. The power of the VOICE....

Another fantastic audiobook from Charlie Cochet

What made the experience of listening to Rack & Ruin the most enjoyable?

The story line and the fun and suspense makes keeps you entertained. Mark Westfield brings the book to life.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Broody Bear Brodie

Have you listened to any of Mark Westfield’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Mark Westfield always understands the characters but in the Thirds series he brings the character's alive.

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

I listen to this book in one sitting and then again the next day.

Any additional comments?

Each of these books in the series are well worth listening too over and over again.

Never enough!

Story: Once you start this series, there is no going back. It has EVERYTHING you might need - brilliant characters, an amazing storyline and world building of the best quality! This part brings all the heat, all the humor and all the drama! Never enough!
Narration: Brilliant performance and so many different voices! Amazing

Another great THIRDS story

Charlie Cochet is on good form with a well told conspiracy facing the Destructive Delta team as they battle a vigilante group of Therians exacting revenge on humans responsible for violence against Therians in the riots of the 80s. Added to that, they have a traitor in their ranks giving the vigilantes help; Dex scares Sloane; Dex says the 'L' word and Ash hurts Cael.
The narration was good, but odd words were emphasised that made it a bit irritating, almost as if the narrator was trying too hard. In comparison to the previous novels it sounded less natural. It was still good, but I got the feeling he'd forgotten how he'd narrated the others.
For all that, I still enjoyed it and will listen to it again & I've bought the other audio books in the series so I would recommend it.

5 stars!

An amazing follow up in the "Thirds books" perfect in many aspects and amazing narration by mark.

Can't wait for the final book.