“No secret can remain hidden forever. Silently and patiently, it waits in the dark. It lets you build your life, carefully stacking the bricks one by one, and then it appears. It deals its blow and everything crumbles.” ― Stefanos Livos
Title: Cop Out
Author: KC Burn
Narrator:: Tristan James
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Run Time: 7 Hours, 3 Minutes
Rating: 5 Stars
Blurb: Detective Kurt O’Donnell is used to digging up other people’s secrets, but when he discovers his slain partner was married to another man, it shakes him. Determined to do the right thing, Kurt offers the mourning Davy his assistance. Helping Davy through his grief helps Kurt deal with the guilt that his partner didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth, and somewhere along the way Davy stops being an obligation and becomes a friend, the closest friend Kurt has ever had.
His growing attraction to Davy complicates matters, leaving Kurt struggling to reevaluate his sexuality. Then a sensual encounter neither man is ready for confuses them further. To be with Davy, Kurt must face the prospect of coming out, but his job and his relationship with his Catholic family are on the line. Can he risk destroying his life for the uncertain possibility of a relationship with a newly widowed man?
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Review: I read Cop Out a couple of years ago and gave it a five star rating. But as an audio… It’s awesome! After surviving the explosion that killed his partner Ben, Detective Kurt O’Donnell finds out that as much as he thought he knew his partner, Detective Ben Kaminski had a secret. While attending his partner’s funeral, Kurt mistakenly assumes that Ben left behind a pregnant wife, which turned out to be false assumption.
Ben did leave someone behind, but not a wife.
It’s at this point of the story that I’m not feeling too sympathetic over Ben’s death. Finding out that Ben was a closeted gay man and an extreme neat freak was bad enough, but to also find out that Ben’s paranoia of being outed meant forcing his partner of ten years to keep their relationship a secret, thus driving Davy to the point of isolating himself from friends and family, felt borderline abusive. As the blurb mentions, Kurt does help the grieving Davy, and it doesn’t take long before the two become good friends. This is what captured my attention and hooked me into the story to make it worth a repeat experience.
When I saw that Cop Out was out on audio and saw who the narrator was, well, duh, I was not gonna pass up a chance to listen to Tristan James’s sexy voice. For me, the listening experience of having Kurt and Davy brought to life is so much better than just reading the story. I love it when the voice matches the characters, and just the right emotion is thrown in to make it an emotional and moving experience. Examples of my emotional moments: Kurt becoming jealous of Davy when he came home with Andrew, Kurt falling apart when Davy kicked him out of his life, when Kurt came out to his mom. I found myself holding my breath, waiting to see what her reaction would be. Then there was the part when Simon was in the ambulance with Kurt.
I’m giving the audio version of Cop Out another 5 Stars! And I’m highly recommending it if you enjoyed the book version. You will not be disappointed.
You can buy Cop Out here:
Thx for the review. I’ve listen to the sample of this one and have it on my wish list but haven’t bought yet. I’m not a die hard fan of TJ voice, to stuck on Charlie David I think? So I’m on the fence w/this one.
But I think your review just pushed me over ;)