Author: Abigail Roux
Narrator: Mason Lloyd
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Run Time: 7 hours and 48 minutes
Category: Historical, Western, Action/Adventure
At a Glance: As usual, Mason Lloyd delivers a top notch narration. His voice is distinctive in each character, and makes the book more than enjoyable.
Reviewed By: Mike
Blurb: US Marshals Eli Flynn and William Henry Washington – longtime friends and colleagues – are escorting two prisoners to New Orleans for trial when they discover there’s more than outlawry to the infamous shootist Dusty Rose and the enigmatic man known as Cage. As the two prisoners form an unlikely partnership, the marshals can’t help but look closer at their own.
When forces beyond the marshals’ control converge on the paddle wheeler they’ve hired to take them downriver, they must choose between two dangers: playing by the rules at any cost or trusting the very men they are meant to bring to justice.
Review: In a post-Civil War America, US Marshalls Eli Flynn and Henry Washington are charged with transporting notorious gunslinger Dusty Rose, a mute former Confederate scout known as Cage, and a third man, to their respective trial sites.
Through the course of the book, the third prisoner is handed over to his jailers fairly quickly. But an attempted escape means that Dusty and Cage must be taken to a Federal Judge in another state. As the story progresses, what had been two Marshals and two prisoners becomes two romantically involved couples. Naturally, the Marshalls are not so quick to express themselves as they have been holding in their mutual feelings for years. Not so for the outlaws, who know they need to take comfort wherever they can when met with a kindred spirit.
During the transport of prisoners on a paddlewheel steamer down the Mississippi, a gunfight breaks out, and the Marshalls and prisoners have to rely on one another to survive. The action here is brisk, as one would expect in an Abigail Roux book. The story, while complete, is, however, open ended, leaving the possibility of returning to this world at some point.
As usual, Mason Lloyd delivers a top notch narration. His voice is distinctive in each character, and makes the book more than enjoyable. He gives lighthearted touches, where required, and really sticks to the narration during the action sequences, making them come alive. Accents and inflections are completely within character and do not distract from the story at all. We are really lucky here because the talent is equal to the material. It can be difficult for lesser talents to not go for the expected with historical romances. Fortunately, Lloyd is comfortable enough with the material to really pull us in and let us have fun with passion and action in another time period. I’m not aware if there is a second book in this series or not, but one hopes that if there is, that Mason Lloyd is picked to continue with these characters.
This book is a definite buy if you like Abigail Roux or Mason Lloyd. You will really enjoy being able to let yourself go into another time and place.
You can buy According to Hoyle here:
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