Review: Wayward by Gregory Ashe

Title: Wayward

Series: Hazard and Somerset: A Union of Swords: Book Four

Author: Gregory Ashe

Publisher: Self-Published

Length: 428 Pages

Category: Murder Mystery

At a Glance: All the requisite ingredients of a Hazard and Somerset novel are accounted for in Wayward: the sharp dialogue, the whodunnit, the complexities of a blended life, the complications in the sort of deep and abiding love that feels like breathing but can sometimes hurt like bleeding. If there’s a book in the A Union of Swords collection that explores the peaks and pitfalls of what it means to be in a long-term, committed relationship, Wayward is it.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Emery Hazard is trying to plan his wedding, even though his fiancé, John-Henry Somerset, isn’t exactly making things easy for him. To be fair, Somers has been distracted lately; his father is running for mayor in a hotly contested election, and their hometown is splintering under the weight of divisive politics.

In a matter of hours, those poisonous politics invade Hazard’s life in a way he couldn’t have imagined. Glenn Somerset, Somers’s father, shows up on their doorstep, and he wants two things: first, for Hazard to neutralize a blackmail threat; and second, for Somers temporarily to move out of the house he shares with Hazard, part of public relations stunt to win the election. To Hazard’s shock, Somers agrees.

Determined to lose himself in his work, Hazard takes on a missing person’s case, but his investigation only leads him deeper into the tangled web of small-town politics. To find the truth, he must face off with the viciously rich who rule Wahredua—and with the poor, desperate, and marginalized, who fight just as viciously in their own way.

When Hazard’s investigation uncovers a murder, he is forced to work with Somers to bring the killer to justice, despite their fractured relationship. But the sudden news that Hazard’s father is failing fast threatens to put an untimely end to the case—and, in doing so, jeopardize Somers’s last-ditch effort to repair his relationship with his own father.

The killer, though, has an accelerating timeline, and in a world of wayward children, every relationship is fraught with hidden dangers.

Review: When Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” he couldn’t have predicted that I’d go into these books thinking, okay, NOW Emery and John-Henry have their relationship figured out and things on the home front will be less fraught from here.

Hahahaha. No. That’s what I get for thinking.

The battle between family obligation—a son seeking his father’s approval, with no small amount of futility—and prioritization—a man expecting to come first in his relationship, feeling this should be an unspoken position—kicks Wayward off in a particularly heated way when Glennworth Somerset calls in the chips on a bargain and, in the process, serves his need for John and Emery to give all appearances that they’ve broken up in order to give him, Glenn, any little bit of advantage he can get in the upcoming mayoral election. Gotta court that conservative base, after all, and having a son in a relationship with another man simply does not serve. Somers going along with the short-term plan has deeper implications, however, than the hope that his dad might offer him a crumb of respect. Somers acquiescing hits Emery hard, and this event sets the tone for the remainder of the book, providing a backdrop of hurt, anger, jealousy, and some resentment as well amidst the investigation of a missing person which, in short order, becomes a murder investigation the likes of which exposes a dangerous psychopath hiding in plain sight.

All of what should be considered the requisite ingredients of a Hazard and Somerset novel are included in Wayward: the sharp dialogue, the whodunnit, the complexities of a blended life, the complications in the sort of deep and abiding love that feels like breathing but can sometimes hurt like bleeding. In addition to this is the small-minded gossip, and the father/son relationship dynamics which are problematic, to say the least, and have informed both Hazard and Somers in some detrimental ways. In particular, the relationships between John-Henry, Emery, and their respective fathers serves to influence how they approach the way they each think about themselves and how they respond to certain impulses. In the two steps forward and one step back relationship tests, I can’t help but think they’re nothing less than solid now. All indicators point in that direction, but fool me once, twice, etc. All signs point to the positive, though.

One of the potentially most shocking developments in Wayward might just be my evolving attitude towards Gray Dulac, John’s partner on the force, and the fact that in one fell swoop I understood him, and in understanding him, I felt no small amount of empathy for him, and in my feeling empathy for him, I started feeling something a bit like liking him. That there could be the possibility of something akin to a friendship—or at least a truce—going forward in how he’ll fit in with John and Emery also plays into the morphing and blending of John and Emery’s lives and the accumulation of other friends and friendships. The topic of what they’ve given up in order to be together plays a role in Wayward, but all that they’ve gained couldn’t be made any clearer.

If there’s a book in the Hazard and Somerset collection that explores the peaks and pitfalls of what it means to be in a long-term, committed relationship, Wayward is it. Not to be overlooked, though, is the fact that the Keeper of Bees is still out there, is testing and taunting Hazard, and is ready to escalate against Mitchell Martin. The next book—the last in the A Union of Swords collection—will no doubt be loaded with all the danger, drama, action and suspense that makes these books so much fun to read.

You can buy Wayward here:
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