Review: The Evening Wolves by Gregory Ashe

Title: The Evening Wolves

Series: Iron on Iron: Book Four

Author: Gregory Ashe

Length: 373 Pages

Category: Mystery/Suspense

Rating: 5 Stars

At a Glance: The Evening Wolves took such a rivetingly dark turn, which seems counterintuitive considering none of these books has ever been what anyone would call intensity-lite. It solidifies the friendships between the characters (whether some of them want to admit it or not) and, more importantly, the commitment to making those who would perpetrate corruption and commit evil pay the ultimate price for their crimes.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Every victory comes at a cost.

The trail has gone cold. For months now, Emery Hazard and John-Henry Somerset have been trying to find something—anything—that might help them uncover the truth about the criminal organization operating out of the Cottonmouth Club. But every lead has turned out to be a dead end, and every step forward has cost them two steps back.

Until, one night, John-Henry is arrested for a terrible crime.

As their friends gather again in Wahredua, Emery and John-Henry must rush to prove John-Henry’s innocence. The falsified evidence used to implicate him provides them with fresh clues, but as the charges against John-Henry ripple out into the community, they find themselves without their usual resources, and facing new and unexpected opposition.

Putting an end to this evil, they discover, might be possible.

All it will cost them is everything.

Review: To quote the late, great Gilda Radner, “It just goes to show ya it’s always something. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” This is exactly how it felt reading The Evening Wolves. Every page of this book revealed something that made me wonder how these guys keep moving forward when everything seems hell-bent on sending them multiple steps back in this investigation. Dead (literally) ends, false identities, absolute psychopaths, not to mention John-Henry being accused of the most vile and heinous crime. A lie evil enough to ruin his reputation and damage his sense of well-being so thoroughly from the mere accusation as to make me wonder how Gregory Ashe will move things forward from here.

The end of this book doesn’t give away many, if any, clues.

The Evening Wolves took such a rivetingly dark turn, which seems counterintuitive considering none of these books has ever been what anyone would call intensity-lite. The return of Gray Dulac, if only briefly, was so exquisitely bleak and disturbing that I was, to my utter shock, left wishing for a return of the dudebro Dulac from the before-times. Ashe dispels any doubt whatsoever that Dulac was left scarred (not just physically) from the simple fact of being excellent at his job. His role in helping Emery when the going not only got tough but seemingly hopeless, certainly helpless, gave me some new feelings about Dulac’s character, all of them good.

This book doesn’t ask the question, “To what lengths would you go to protect the ones you love?” Ashe has answered that multiple times over with these characters. Instead, The Evening Wolves begs the question, “To what lengths would you go to avenge the ones you love?” This is answered conclusively. Emery Hazard and Shaw Aldrich answer it most definitively, though, and in a way that reminded me Shaw is dangerous in some frightening and delicious ways, despite his efforts to be the quirky outlier in the group. That Emery turned to Shaw when push came to shove was a brilliant bit of validation, especially coming from Hazard.

John-Henry Somerset suffers in this book. Every moment of honest reflection is obscured by a past framed in his golden-boy status. Every step of his life, every decision, every drink, is open to his own harsh scrutiny. No one is tougher on Somers than Somers is on himself. Fortunately, The Evening Wolves solidifies the friendships between these characters (whether some of them want to admit it or not) and, more importantly, the commitment to making those who would perpetrate corruption and commit evil pay the ultimate price for their crimes.