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For what seems like the first time in Teancum Leon’s life, things are looking good: he’s put an end to the toxic relationship with his former sex buddy, work is going well, and Jem Berger has officially decided they are best friends—in spite of Tean’s objections. Things are looking good for Jem too, although he’s not thrilled that somehow Tean has talked him into getting a real job. Everything changes, though, when Tean’s friend Hannah asks for help: she’s being followed, she tells them, and she thinks she’s might be in danger.
After Jem and Tean spend a weekend tailing Hannah, trying to catch her stalker, they make two unpleasant discoveries. First, Hannah is right that she is being followed. Second, she isn’t being stalked. She’s being watched by the police, who are interested in Hannah’s connection to a missing person investigation. And the detective in charge is none other than Ammon Young, Tean’s former friend and ex-sex buddy.
Tean and Jem’s search for the missing woman leads them to a body. The cause of death is a mystery, but one thing is clear: someone wanted the remains destroyed. Tean believes it was homicide, and so do the police.
When Hannah is arrested for the murder, Tean and Jem must race to prove her innocence. But everyone seems to be lying, including Hannah, and she’s willing to take her secrets with her to prison—or to the grave. The answer may lie with the animal teeth marks on the victim’s remains. Good thing Jem knows a wildlife vet.
Rating: Narration – A; Content – A
Gregory Ashe’s Utah-set The Lamb and the Lion series continues with The Same Place, which takes place a few months after the events of The Same Breath. Wildlife vet Teancum Leon and con man Jem Berger have decided they’re better as friends than lovers (well, Tean’s decided, and Jem is mostly going along with it), and over the past few months have settled into a routine of sorts; Jem breaks into Tean’s apartment and makes himself at home whenever he feels like it and talks him into spending money he doesn’t have on clothes he doesn’t want, and Tean is teaching Jem to read and trying to help him settle into a ‘normal’ life, with a job, an apartment, and all the things Tean thinks Jem needs. Unfortunately however, Tean’s idea of normal isn’t really Jem’s – but, well, Jem loves Tean and likes to do things that make him happy. Although it would be easier to do that if Jem didn’t keep getting fired. On top of being fired from his latest job, Jem learns that his abusive former foster mother LouElla has committed identity theft, taken out a number of credit cards in his name and defaulted on the payments. He had hoped never to have anything more to do with the woman, but he isn’t about to stand by and let her ruin his life – again. However, confronting her doesn’t quite work out the way he’d hoped, and seeing her again stirs up memories and feelings he thought he’d buried for good.
At work, Tean is kept busy tracking an outbreak of canine distemper among the local coyote population, but he’s also very concerned about his friend and colleague Hannah, who hasn’t been herself in recent weeks. Tean hasn’t really known how to ask her what’s wrong – but one day, she bursts into tears and tells him she thinks she’s being followed. Concerned, Tean suggests that perhaps she might consider hiring Jem to look into it – he’s observant, he’s got a good memory and he was a big help in tracking down his brother’s murderer – and is newly unemployed. Hannah agrees to the idea, against the wishes of her husband and her very proper Mormon parents who think she’s worrying about nothing, and Tean and Jem spend the weekend trailing her, discovering that she is, indeed, being watched. By the Salt Lake City PD.
Detective Ammon Young – with whom Tean had been in a very toxic relationship until recently – is not at all pleased to find Jem and Tean watching him watching Hannah. He tells them in no uncertain terms to back off – and that he’s following Hannah in the hopes of discovering the location of a missing woman named Joy Erickson, an eco-terrorist who had once been very close to Hannah. Tean isn’t pleased to discover that Hannah hasn’t told him the whole truth, but she insists she doesn’t know anything about Joy’s latest activities – and then asks Jem and Tean to look for Joy. After all, if the police are looking for Joy, finding her would get them to leave Hannah alone. Wouldn’t it?
Tean and Jem aren’t so sure about that, but when they find the body of a woman, it seems they may have found Joy. But the cause of death is hard to determine. Given the state of the remains and their location, it would appear that whoever dumped the body wanted it to disappear without trace. The animal bite marks on the bones could bear out that conclusion, but Tean doesn’t think so. He starts to suspect that this was murder made to look like an animal attack – but without being able to match the bites to a specific animal, it’s going to be impossible to prove.
There’s always plenty going on in a Gregory Ashe story, and as one would expect, the mystery is solid – skilfully constructed and interesting with plenty of red herrings and twists and turns along the way. The writing is superb; the descriptions of the Utah landscapes are beautiful and evocative, much of it cleverly and subtly mirroring the emotional content of the story – and the characterisation is sublime. Easy-going Jem and buttoned-up Tean make a wonderfully odd couple; they’re like chalk and cheese and yet they see and understand each other in ways nobody else ever has, their chemistry is through the roof, and although they insist they’re ‘just’ friends (yeah, right!) the depth of their affection for each other is evident in every word and deed. There’s absolutely no doubt that they love each other or that they’re in love with each other – but the trust and communication issues that caused such problems and put paid to their burgeoning relationship in The Same Breath are still hanging between them, and they’re both wary of screwing up their friendship, something neither has really had before and which means a lot to both of them. They’re damaged and flawed and so wonderfully human – and in this book, we get a little more insight into why they’re the way they are, especially Tean, who, while not disowned by his Mormon family, is nonetheless made to feel like a leper because he’s gay. The way they treat him reveals so much about why he is the way he is, and makes it easier to understand why he put up with Ammon’s crap for so long. But although Tean has ended his affair with that shit-head Ammon, he is – unfortunately – still in the picture, insisting that he’s changed, that Tean is the most important thing in his life and that he’ll do whatever Tean wants so they can be together. Jem – and just about everyone else on the planet – knows it’s all total BS, but two decades of emotional manipulation is a long time, and Tean is too ready to give Ammon the benefit of the doubt.
J.F. Harding’s narration of The Same Breath was flawless so I had high expectations going into the audio of The Same Place – and I’m delighted to say I wasn’t disappointed. If anything, I was even more impressed! His portrayal of the two leads is perfection – they’re very clearly differentiated, their personalities simply shine through, and their strong emotional connection is superbly conveyed. The deep affection they have for one another permeates the entire book, but comes through most strongly in their banter – Jem’s gentle teasing and Tean’s attempts not to join in (although not really) – and Mr. Harding pitches it just right, with expert comic timing and a wonderful range of expression and nuance. His narration is well-paced, the secondary cast is distinctly portrayed and the few female characters are voiced appropriately, without squeaks or falsetto. But his Jem and Tean steal the show in all their damaged, fucked-up glory, which is just as it should be for these two wounded but adorable characters.
The Same Place is another combination of masterful storytelling and outstanding narration from this hugely talented author/narrator team, and is an audiobook I’m sure I’ll be revisiting often. At time of writing, the final book in the trilogy – The Same End – has just been released, and I can’t wait to get stuck in.
This review originally appeared at AudioGals.
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