Redirection

Borealis: Without a Compass, Book 3

By: Gregory Ashe

Narrated by: Charlie David

Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

When it comes to your ex, nothing is ever easy.

The Borealis boys are settling into their new normal, or at least into their new digs. But when North’s soon-to-be (please-let-it-be-soon) ex-husband, Tucker, is arrested and charged with murder, everything goes sideways.

Hired by Tucker’s parents, North and Shaw begin looking for proof that Tucker is innocent, in spite of the evidence against him. When they find seemingly incriminating photos hidden in Tucker’s BMW, North is convinced that someone is trying to frame Tucker - and might get away with it.

But the cast of alternate suspects presents its own challenges: an estranged son, a betrayed wife, and North and Shaw’s close-knit circle of friends from college - men who had their own connections to the victim, and who had their own reasons for wanting him dead. A threatening email suggests that the motive, whatever it might be, lies buried in the past, in a relationship gone wrong. The question is, which one?

When Tucker is poisoned, North and Shaw realize that the killer isn’t finished. Clearing Tucker’s name won’t be enough; they must find the killer before someone else dies. And to do so, they will have to unearth truths from their own pasts.

©2021 Gregory Ashe (P)2021 Gregory Ashe

Great story. Good narration.

I thought the last book was a bit intense. This one was equally tense. Gregory Ashe has a gift for creating a suspense filled series that has a satisfying resolution at the end of each book but has the reader anticipating more. He also does a wonderful job of torturing the reader by putting his characters in dire situations that may end in disaster.

North and Shaw's relationship is a core focus of the story, but it also plays an important role in their cases. This book really highlights the connection between their personal interactions and the cases they work on.

I like Charlie David's voice. I appreciate how he narrates each character's dialogue, but sometimes the way he says a word makes we want to double check the dictionary for proper pronunciations.

This was a great read/listen that I will definitely be reading or listening to again because I find something new every time I dive back into one Gregory Ashe's books.

Outstanding!

While North and Shaw continue to work on what their relationship can be they take on new client Tucker Laguerre, North's abusive soon to be ex(hopefully) husband.
As if that won't muddy the waters at all.
This story will put you through the wringer yet you won't be willing or able to put it down!
As always, Gregory Ashe does an amazing job with the storyline, the character development and the emotions behind everything!
Charlie David does an outstanding job of giving life to these characters. I truly got lost in this audiobook, which is the best compliment I could give the narrator!
I can't wait for more!

a roller coaster of feels

So at the end of the book 2 in this series, North and Shaw had broken up. After the wait for them to get together in the first series, I had thought for sure they would stay together, so I was shocked. I have said it in all my previous reviews, but the way these two hurt each other I wasn’t sure if it wouldn’t be for the best if they didn’t break up. Still, I came into this book hoping that they would find their way back together. These two might not always be healthy for each other’s sanity, but I can’t see them with anyone else, either. But it will take a bit for them to sort things out when North’s almost ex-husband gets arrested for murder and Tucker’s parents hire North and Shaw to prove he didn’t do it.

The victim is a former professor at the college North, Shaw, Tucker, and several of their other friends attended at the same time. It seems that the dead guy was not quite an innocent bystander. Cheating on his wife, and having affairs with men (including Tucker,) allegations of rape and blackmail during college and insider trading in his business life add to the reasons why the victim ended up how he did. Not to mention the surplus of potential suspects. The guy seemed like a total creep to me, so I was wasn’t really invested in seeing the killer brought to justice, but wanted to know the why and who for curiosity’s sake.

North and Shaw do somehow work well together to discover the killer even though their personal relationship is all over the place. At one point, my co-reviewer mentioned that the pair was going to make her lose her mind. She was a little ahead of me so I kept listening to try and figure out what she meant, but there were so many moments where they (well, mostly North) stunned me with their behavior and had me shaking my head. Again, the rational part of me said they should just stay apart, but my silly sentimental still held out hope that they could make amends and fix things.

As far as the mystery, I don’t think its too much of a spoiler to say that they two men did their job. While the killer wasn’t really apparent among the other suspects, it wasn’t Tucker. However knowing what happened after they cleared Tucker’s name, I really wish the frame job on him had stuck. I have not really met a more detestable character, not even North’s “uncle,” Ronnie who makes veiled threats during the book. Because you know from the start Ronnie is crooked and bad, but while Tucker was slimy, I thought there was some humanity in him, but by the end I was no longer sure.

With the first series featuring North and Shaw only lasting three books, I was worried that this was the end of this series, because there are several things I would still like to know. Luckily, I see there is another book out, and I hope it comes out on audio soon. These guys and their drama, and their love are so addicting. The narration by Charlie David is great and really works for these two. I definitely recommend.

Perfect

I never expected any of these events. N and S are complicated and so well presented. I love it when authors don’t take the easy way out

The End is the End

The second arc of the North and Shaw adventures is at its end. A lot of threads are closed, plots resolved, and the air is a little clearer. The constant menaces are removed, friends love stories are prodded carefully and pain is found in the most sunny places/lofts.
As always, Shaw is all for peace. North is confused. He wants something — a departure from the image of the perfect male our society promotes. Even if, most of the time, that image is his amber. Shaw is also on a road of discovery — mainly that North is not only sometimes right, but that he has the right to his own decisions.
These are the premises. To this we add the murder case the boys have to solve. A former professor turned consultant living the gay life and the power life. Society is a monster of many faces, forcing people to hide their pain, distrust and displeasure for a successful 4th of July party. From this pov, Ashe parts with the mainstream romance. Yes, abuse is possible, yes, people lie, yes, the consequences can last a lifetime.
Ashe uses certain mechanisms to represent stress to his readers. A hero who doesn’t sleep suffers more acutely than a well rested one. Alcohol, violence, the shadow of the past, all can weigh in the rationalisation process of a good detective. And as such, North merely stumbles on the solution, barely having time to save his own life.
Overall, more frightening than the murder is Norths’ predicament. An easy way to verify a story is to replace a character with another. Let’s say that North were a woman. Would her current love interest have the courage to tell an abused woman the she needs to get over it, the her attitude is not healthy, and that the poor abuser is taking steps to become a better human, so respect that. Shaw says that to North. He apologises later, but the cringe remains. Maybe pain leads to nowhere, maybe it doesn’t have any inherent value. It still needs to be respected. People owe victims of violence that.
Being the last book in a series, it is a mustread. There is no other way to say goodbye to these guys than to read this book. And it is closure.
I received an advance copy. Here is the review.

Those boys make me so mad!

I truly love every book in this series. Gregory Ashe is an amazing author and Charlie David is a great narrator. The boys make me so mad with their miscommunication sometimes but I will forever love North and Shaw.

It gave me anxiety!

I love Shaw and North and all their flaws, almost as much as John Henry and Emery. This book gave me so much anxiety that I found myself turning it off because I was so nervous for them. I had both the book and the audible, so I can quickly read over some of the parts where I didn’t want anything else bad to happen.
Gregory Ashe has not disappointed me. Just when I think I know whodunnit, there is a twist! I’m conflicted with reading the next book because I don’t want to miss them when the story ends.

Needs More sizzle.

North isn't off the hook with me for hooking up with Tucker right after Shaw told him how he felt. It was scummy scum bucket scumbag scum. It's an analogy of how folks don't think about how actions affect others.

Another solid Gregory Ashe book

North and Shaw are in third place on my Greg Ashe couples list (Jem and Tean are solidly in first; sorry, Hazard and Somers), largely because I really don't understand them, Shaw in particular. And boy are they in a tough place through most/all of this book—which makes for painful listening. Still, Ashe's stories are always worth the journey. I wish this series had a different narrator; I find his pronunciation wacky at times (Michelob?) and his emphasis often off/distracting. But no narrator is perfect. Overall, if you've been enjoying this series, you'll be glad to listen to this installment.

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

Oh The Feels!

I continue to adore Shaw and North. The characters and their relationship is complex and both heartening and heartbreaking. And Tucker, who is a... well, jerk is a more polite word, serves to show us how much better North is with Shaw regardless of their issues. The mystery is solid and engaging, as I've come to expect from this author. With all the emotions in this story, Charlie David does an excellent job of narrating and navigating the listener through them. This is a great addition to the series!