Thursday, August 8, 2024

2024 #28 Kill Season - Jake Cashen #2 (James)

 

Kill SeasonKill Season by Declan James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As I mentioned in my review of the first of the Jake Cashen series, I'm so impressed with Alexander Cendese's reading, that it is enough that I'm sticking with the series via audiobook. James wisely refrains from building too much upon the first book, so there are no spoilers, but there are light references--nice for those reading the series, but vague enough to entice readers to hit up Murder in the Hollows if they haven't already.
Wrestling does not take a front seat here, thankfully, but hunting does, so those who do not approve of hunting in any form are likely to want to pass on this one. There's a lot of testosterone that gets thrown around in this series, but my favorite character is actually Sheriff Landry, who is a great character and she is beautifully voiced by Cendese. In this particular book I found myself losing patience for hearing the killer's thoughts, but at the end it does help make us more convinced of the killer's mental state. I was less than thrilled with Jake's treatment of "Birdie" (Erica), the younger sister of his friend Ben--he was patronizing at best--so the insinuation at the end of the book does not make me look forward to seeing her character in the next book.
As a mystery it works well---James sets up the typical red herrings and didn't rest on the gambit he used in the first book. With Cendese's reading, the book is more of a 3.5 for me, and I'm looking forward to Bones of Echo Lake.

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