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downtown_kb's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
4.75 stars rounded up for my love of Jem and Tean
The primary suspect in a murder investigation is demanding to speak with Jem. It turns out that the victim is one of Jem’s childhood friends and the accused is claiming he’s innocent and asking for Jem’s help to clear his name. He’s pointing fingers at a man who made Jem’s childhood a nightmare.
This was a great conclusion to the trilogy. The suspense plot was complex and interesting. Things get pretty dangerous and they both get beat up quite a few times. Jem and Tean really turn into a “dynamic duo” of crime solving.
I adored Jem in this book and my heart was breaking for him. I was a little frustrated by the storyline with Ammon. By the end, I felt it was getting dragged out to build angst just for the sake of angst and not because we got any inner monologue from Tean explaining himself. He was just stuck in a cycle until all of a sudden he changed his mind. It makes sense, ultimately but I felt a little tricked for the sake of plot.
When these two finally figure it out, the banter goes from so good to the best I’ve ever read! I really wish we got more time with these two happy together before the ending, it felt abrupt and open ended and maybe that is on purpose. I know we get some more from them in The Face in the Water and I'll just have to read that one I guess.
This is again a wonderful audio book by JF Harding.
The primary suspect in a murder investigation is demanding to speak with Jem. It turns out that the victim is one of Jem’s childhood friends and the accused is claiming he’s innocent and asking for Jem’s help to clear his name. He’s pointing fingers at a man who made Jem’s childhood a nightmare.
This was a great conclusion to the trilogy. The suspense plot was complex and interesting. Things get pretty dangerous and they both get beat up quite a few times. Jem and Tean really turn into a “dynamic duo” of crime solving.
I adored Jem in this book and my heart was breaking for him. I was a little frustrated by the storyline with Ammon. By the end, I felt it was getting dragged out to build angst just for the sake of angst and not because we got any inner monologue from Tean explaining himself. He was just stuck in a cycle until all of a sudden he changed his mind. It makes sense, ultimately but I felt a little tricked for the sake of plot.
When these two finally figure it out, the banter goes from so good to the best I’ve ever read! I really wish we got more time with these two happy together before the ending, it felt abrupt and open ended and maybe that is on purpose. I know we get some more from them in The Face in the Water and I'll just have to read that one I guess.
This is again a wonderful audio book by JF Harding.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Rape, Violence, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
laura_katie_j's review against another edition
5.0
I will never love again after finishing this trilogy.
syka's review against another edition
5.0
Third book for me from Gregory Ashe and I so love his writing.
The way some philosophical/observational musings are included is very organic and does not go over the top (in a "i'm 14 and this is deep" kind of way) - for example Tean's explanation of how a religious person perceives suffering/pleasure and juxtaposing that with the idea of authenticity in philosophy.
Out of the three books in this series, I found this one to have the most interesting mystery to it and it felt more realistic as well I suppose, though it might be the fact that it's set up from the beginning of the series via Jem's life story.
There are a few minor things that bugged me, like Tean's somewhat childish display of jealousy (which I didn't think fit his personality) or the conflict at the date (which was bordering on that trope where a misunderstanding needs to happen for the plot to go a certain way), but I do think these stood out to me simply because most interactions and situations do not stray too far from being grounded and realistic.
Alsooo J.F. Harding is such a wonderful narrator, just absolutely stellar.
The way some philosophical/observational musings are included is very organic and does not go over the top (in a "i'm 14 and this is deep" kind of way) - for example Tean's explanation of how a religious person perceives suffering/pleasure and juxtaposing that with the idea of authenticity in philosophy.
Out of the three books in this series, I found this one to have the most interesting mystery to it and it felt more realistic as well I suppose, though it might be the fact that it's set up from the beginning of the series via Jem's life story.
There are a few minor things that bugged me, like Tean's somewhat childish display of jealousy (which I didn't think fit his personality) or the conflict at the date (which was bordering on that trope where a misunderstanding needs to happen for the plot to go a certain way), but I do think these stood out to me simply because most interactions and situations do not stray too far from being grounded and realistic.
Alsooo J.F. Harding is such a wonderful narrator, just absolutely stellar.
estelleisreading's review against another edition
1.0
what a frustrating read, the lone star is for Jem and Jem only.
I shouldn't have read this series. It's marketed as 3 books with multiple murders, amateur sleuths and a so-called love triangle on top.
But how can it be a love triangle when one of the three characters is an abusive manipulative disgusting piece of shit??
The way this character was handled ruined this series for me. Ammon literally made Tean drink alcohol and then forced himself on him. Tean couldn't consent. He was bleeding. That was sexual assault. This happened in book #1 and here we are 2 books later: Ammon is still here, he smiles and jokes around. Everyone loves him, Tean even feels bad for him. The only sane ones here are Jem and the dog. I wanted to scream out of frustration.
You can have a character like Ammon in fiction but there is a responsability that goes with it: to handle this subject with care and respect. There is a way to talk about toxic relationships and how the victim (yes victim) feels stuck in it. It's not done well here. It's not even aknowledged. In the end, Tean is the one apologizing to Ammon. How fucked up is that? Tean deserves so much better.
To review only this third book: too many dead bodies, the mystery is a big mess. It's centered around Jem's time in Juvie and what happened to him. He described explicitly one of the times he was sexually assaulted so be careful.
And while i'm happy Jem and Tean seem to have finally found each other... at this point, with all this Ammon nonsense, I didn't even care.
Rep: gay mcs, latino ex-Mormon mc
Cw: sexual assaults (past), homophobia, toxic and abusive relationship, animal abuse, violence
I shouldn't have read this series. It's marketed as 3 books with multiple murders, amateur sleuths and a so-called love triangle on top.
But how can it be a love triangle when one of the three characters is an abusive manipulative disgusting piece of shit??
The way this character was handled ruined this series for me. Ammon literally made Tean drink alcohol and then forced himself on him. Tean couldn't consent. He was bleeding. That was sexual assault. This happened in book #1 and here we are 2 books later: Ammon is still here, he smiles and jokes around. Everyone loves him, Tean even feels bad for him. The only sane ones here are Jem and the dog. I wanted to scream out of frustration.
You can have a character like Ammon in fiction but there is a responsability that goes with it: to handle this subject with care and respect. There is a way to talk about toxic relationships and how the victim (yes victim) feels stuck in it. It's not done well here. It's not even aknowledged. In the end, Tean is the one apologizing to Ammon. How fucked up is that? Tean deserves so much better.
To review only this third book: too many dead bodies, the mystery is a big mess. It's centered around Jem's time in Juvie and what happened to him. He described explicitly one of the times he was sexually assaulted so be careful.
And while i'm happy Jem and Tean seem to have finally found each other... at this point, with all this Ammon nonsense, I didn't even care.
Rep: gay mcs, latino ex-Mormon mc
Cw: sexual assaults (past), homophobia, toxic and abusive relationship, animal abuse, violence
achillespatroclus's review
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
ele_lieb_reads's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It's the perfect 3d book in a trilogy
I loved every aspect of it
✨the mystery (small town),
✨the writing: the descriptive writing, the dialogues, the information flow, how the side characters are written (Ammon, especially, he's a real life piece...), the pov aspects in the writing,
✨the audiobook (sometimes i would read first and listen later and vise versa because both was so good)
✨and add everything i said about the previous books in the series
Eventually, I might ve gotten too relaxed, though 🥲
before, I'd already pre-wrote sth about appreciating that Greg - while giving the reader emotional stress always ends a book with a HFN ending and with THE SAME END being the last book in a trilogy, I didn't expect that the ending would leave me shaky - the writing got to me hard too. I had to re-read the final silver-lining-scene(s) more than once to feel better
the final exta story that plays out directly after the last chapter (same month in their timeline) helps too [2]
I really loved so many scenes in this book, that I definitely see myself coming back to reread it
durin's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5