Where Death Meets the Devil

By: L.J. Hayward

Narrated by: Rowan Scott

Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Decent Fellows Press presents Where Death Meets the Devil, book one in the stunning, original Death and the Devil M/M thriller series.

Jack Reardon, former SAS soldier and current Australian Meta-State asset, has seen some messy battles. But messy takes on a whole new meaning when he finds himself tied to a chair in a torture shack, his cover blown wide open, all thanks to notorious killer-for-hire Ethan Blade.

Blade is everything Jack doesn't believe in: remorseless, detached, lawless. Yet, Jack's only chance to survive is to strike a bargain with the devil and join forces with Blade. As they trek across a hostile desert, Jack learns that Blade is much more than a dead-eyed killer, and harder to resist than he should be.

A year later, Jack is home and finally getting his life on track. Then Ethan Blade reappears and throws it all into chaos once more. It's impossible to trust the assassin, especially when his presence casts doubts on Jack's loyalty to his country, but Jack cannot ignore what Blade's return means: The mess that brought them together is far from over, and Ethan might just bring back the piece of Jack's soul he thought he'd lost forever.

©2018 LJ Hayward (P)2022 Decent Fellows Press

4.5 stars

I really liked this story and this audiobook. Ethan and Jack are interesting individually but together, they’re explosive, Looking forward to book 2.

Fantastic story, terrific narration!

In this nail-biting, action-packed and sexy romantic suspense story, former SAS officer Jack Reardon and Ethan Blade – one of the world’s most deadly assassins - end up striking the devil’s own bargain when they’re forced to work together in order to survive a trek across the hostile Australian desert while evading a s**t-ton of mercenaries in the pay of a dangerous mob boss. It’s a brilliantly structured dual-timeline story told in chapters that alternate between “Then” – Jack and Ethan in the desert – and “Now”, the events of exactly one year later

I was absolutely captivated by the story from the very beginning and remained pretty much on the edge of my seat the whole way through! Sometimes in dual timeline stories, I find one storyline more compelling than the other, but that wasn’t the case here at all; L.J. Hayward has structured the story so well, creating a series of (mini) cliffhangers between chapters that dovetail together or mirror each other in such a way that the transitions never jar. The plot is incredibly clever, but what makes the novel so special is the central relationship and the characterisation of the two leads. Jack and Ethan are like different sides of the same coin – a fact that doesn’t escape Jack – in that they both kill for money, but they come at it from completely different ends of the legal and moral spectrum. Both of them are clearly carrying around a significant amount of emotional baggage, Jack from his time in the SAS, and Ethan… well, there’s still a lot we don’t know about him. Their relationship is superbly written, too, a wonderful, sexy mixture of opposites attract, enemies-to-lovers and sizzling slow burn that culminates in love scenes that are hot, sensual and organic to the story, serving to build intimacy and illustrate the shifting feelings the two men are developing for one another. And those feelings are extremely well articulated even though the story is told entirely from Jack’s PoV; this enables Ethan to remain something of an enigma, but the author does a fabulous job of showing us Ethan through Jack’s eyes, revealing a surprising vulnerability that Jack doesn’t always see. The story ends with a promising HFN,

I admit to being a little apprehensive whenever I try out a new-to-me narrator, but this turned out to be one of the times when an unknown voice proved to be a pleasant surprise; Rowan Scott delivers a strong performance, and as the story takes place in Australia and most of the characters are Australian, I was really pleased to hear an Australian narrator had been used. His voice is easy on the ear, his performance is well-paced, he differentiates fairly effectively between the large secondary cast, and his portrayal of the two leads is excellent. He captures the dynamic between them really well, and the English accent he uses to portray Ethan is accurate and consistent throughout (and ridiculously sexy, too!). The interactions between the pair are well-timed and the ever-changing emotions between them nicely played. Best of all he’s emotionally engaged with the story in a way that communicates itself to the listener and definitely added to my overall enjoyment.

The plot is complex and twisty, the central characters are compelling, and their relationship is just the sort of messed-up and angsty that I tend to enjoy. It’s highly recommended – but be warned… it’s addictive. Once you’ve started listening, you won’t want to stop!

Fabulous book loved this narrator

I read the theory several years ago, and was delighted to dive into the audiobook. This narrator is really something special. Sorry to see that this series is the only one he does. However, I’m delighted that there are so many more volumes ahead. Fabulous story intriguing characters highly highly recommended.

Great start to the series

It took a few chapters for me to really get into the story but once I did I couldn't put it down. I'm usually not a fan of flashbacks but they really didn't bother me with this book. I loved Ethan and Jack's story. By the end of the story their relationship was barely beginning so I can't wait to hop into the next book!

Fun.

First by both author and narrator.

I found this story exciting, engaging, and fun.

These two main characters play well off each other, and the story is intriguing.
I normally do not like tales that jump back in time, but the author did a good job keeping it relevant to the flow of the overall story that it worked.

I have all of the books already waiting in my wishlist, so all be clicking on the next one right away.

The narration was great, kept the story flowing, and did a wonderful job with all the different voices.