Title: Transactional Dynamics
Series: Hazard and Somerset: Union of the Swords: Book Three
Author: Gregory Ashe
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 444 Pages
Category: Mystery/Suspense
At a Glance: Transactional Dynamics is yet another superb addition to feed our insatiable addiction to this series.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Emery Hazard is ready for Valentine’s Day. He’s made reservations months in advance, he’s ordered flowers, and he’s got a boyfriend he wants to treat right—even if John-Henry Somerset occasionally lets the dishes sit in the sink a little too long. They even have an extra reason to celebrate this year: Somers has received a special commendation for his police work.
Everything begins to go wrong, though, when Hazard’s ex-boyfriend shows up on their doorstep. Billy claims he just needs help getting away from an abusive partner, but Somers believes Billy has other motives, including designs on Hazard.
When men who have been hired to track Billy show up in Wahredua, Hazard agrees to help his ex elude them. But as Hazard prepares to sneak Billy out of town, a woman is murdered behind the local gay bar, and Somers’s investigation leads him towards Hazard’s ex.
As Hazard and Somers find themselves working together to find the killer, they both must confront a hard truth: everything comes at a cost—career success, healthy relationships, and even justice. The only question is if they’re willing to pay the price.
Review: Reviewing a series such as Hazard & Somerset/Union of the Sword—which now totals nine books—isn’t easy. Not because I don’t know what to say, but because every single thing I’ve already said before still applies across the board. Gregory Ashe metes out the relationship suspense as methodically as he does the details of the latest murder and, in addition, there’s still the long-running mystery of exactly who it is that’s coming for Emery Hazard. We don’t yet know the identity of the Keeper of Bees, but we do know they are still a threat, and all those ingredients combined are what make this author’s various series so immensely addictive. I never know which is going to take the worst hit—my heart or my head.
Emery and John are still feeling their way through the dynamics of their relationship. And, they still fumble it more often than not. Collapse seems imminent as they fight their way through adjusting to the domesticities of cohabitation, all the little things that play into making a home together—work, the division of chores, the compromises and the distribution of responsibilities. All of these private stressors compound and aggravate and commingle with the investigation of Wahredua’s most recent murder case. It doesn’t help that Emery’s psycho ex-boyfriend Billy Rolker has shown up on Hazard’s doorstep either, with a story performed to precision and meant to elicit the exact response Emery initially gives him.
Emery Hazard being played becomes a sticking point. It’s an accurate portrayal of his relationship history to say that he’s had some really crappy taste in men in the past. It’s his modus operandi to expect crumbs when he deserves a feast, and to accept the bare minimum when he only wants to be loved for who he is. The way he and Somers communicate continues to be an issue, and that is present here in some revealing ways. Emery has tended to believe the worst about himself while John tends to absorb his image as the golden boy and uses his ego to justify his feelings. Ashe is now beginning to balance those characteristics to allow Emery and John to support each other, to be vulnerable with each other rather than them using those things to hurt each other. The going is slow, but progress is made.
As always, the murder plot is laid out meticulously, with plenty of suspense and tension to up the investment for readers. Appearances by characters in supporting roles to flesh out the mystery are gratifying in every way—some walk-ons, some as suspects, some as necessary evils (Gray Dulac isn’t technically evil, but still…he’s necessary). The Wahredua PD is a messy nest of vipers, which again plays into the storyline and begets a different sort of trust issue for Hazard and Somerset. Altogether, Transactional Dynamics is yet another superb addition to feed our insatiable addiction to this series.
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