Divorced, Desperate and Deceived

AudioBook Review: Stars: Overall 3 Narration 4 Story 2 Not having read the first two in this series, I did have a bit of disconnect with previous events, but this isn’t a requirement to understanding most of the events here. And the simple breakdown of plot here, the three friends finding support and healing in their little group. Now, with two of the three having found new love and happiness, the only person left to find a new path is Kathy – and she’s convinced that her past relationships have left her too damaged to dare and try again. Enter Stan – a plumber and rather all-around decent guy, and it’s pretty obvious he’s got a crush on her. But, like most of Kathy’s life – all isn’t what it seems: in fact, Stan isn’t simply a plumber, he’s an FBI agent under protection these past years – and he’s got a conflict. The mobster he’s to testify against has found him, and Kathy – the Kathy he’s tried to convince for years to give him a chance, is still undecided. Oh there are issues and challenges galore here, and there shouldn’t have been a problem between set-up and execution. But there was. Oh was there ever. The plot struggled - a lack of tension, characters who’s backstories reflected their behavior and an actual sense of danger and chemistry were missing. While I didn’t expect huge surprises in the ending – the almost pat, expected conclusion to this story, while wrapping up all of the threads, felt simply adjacent, not connected. Narration for this story was provided by Wendy Tremont King, and while she always presents character voices that are unique and distinct, the story let her down somewhat. Mixing a “keystone cops” frenetic energy through repeated samey actions with the attempts to build “gravitas’ with a dangerous ‘adversary’ that felt more show than tell makes this a difficult opponent for a narrator, despite their talent. King did everything possible to wring out the emotion and tension, unfortunately the depth of the story was puddle-shallow, and this story doesn’t encourage my investigating further in the series. I received an AudioBook copy of the title from Tantor Audio for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.