Pretty Pretty Boys cover art

Pretty Pretty Boys

Hazard and Somerset Mystery Series, Book 1

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Pretty Pretty Boys

By: Gregory Ashe
Narrated by: Tristan James
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About this listen

After Emery Hazard loses his job as a detective in Saint Louis, he heads back to his hometown - and to the local police force there. Home, though, brings no happy memories, and the ghosts of old pain are very much alive in Wahredua. Hazard's new partner, John-Henry Somerset, had been one of the worst tormentors, and Hazard still wonders what Somerset's role was in the death of Jeff Langham, Hazard's first boyfriend.

When a severely burned body is discovered, Hazard finds himself drawn deeper into the case than he expects. Determining the identity of the dead man proves impossible, and solving the murder grows more and more unlikely. But as the city's only gay police officer, Hazard is placed at the center of a growing battle between powerful political forces. To his surprise, Hazard finds an unlikely ally in his partner, the former bully. And as they spend more time together, something starts to happen between them, something that Hazard can't - and doesn't want - to explain.

The discovery of a second mutilated corpse, though, reveals clues that the two murders are linked, and as Hazard gets closer to answers, he uncovers a conspiracy of murder and betrayal that goes deeper - and closer to home - than he could ever expect.

©2017 Gregory Ashe (P)2018 Tantor Literature & Fiction Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Police Procedural Romance Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction

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All stars
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I’ve had Pretty Pretty Boys in my audible library for some time and now I’m asking myself why it’s taken me so long to get started because I’m now totally hooked into this series and foresee a lot of Gregory Ashe in my immediate future.

Gregory Ashe is a talented, clever writer. His stories are intelligent, unique and well plotted with interesting and diverse characters. Hazard is gay but understated - he doesn’t sleep around and prefers monogamous relationships. This is one aspect I really like about this author’s writing - the lack of gratuitous sex. He hints at sexual attraction, but it’s slow burn and the way he implies it is actually far more sexy than full on descriptive detail; so if it’s hot and lusty you’re looking for then this author isn’t for you. Hazard’s obvious attraction to his partner, Somerset, and his to Hazard (although he’s closeted with a wife and child), slowly builds throughout the story. But it’s more in the background of this interesting and cleverly crafted story. I suspect it’s going to be a few books down the line in this series before these two gorgeous men get together.

Besides which, Hazard has a lot of issues to work through from his childhood with Somerset and this was yet another thread to the story that I found to be compelling and fascinating.

Overall a very satisfying and thoroughly enjoyable listen. However, although I really enjoyed the timbre and tone of Tristan James’ voice, I sometimes found it difficult to know when Hazard or Somerset were speaking. Strangely, only those two, as he has a wide and varied store of voices in his arsenal for the secondary characters. For this reason alone I am marking him down to 4* as otherwise I really enjoyed his performance and just wish he had differentiated more between the two MC’s.

An addictive first in the series

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Loved this book - reading and listending to it . Narrator does a greaat job. You woin't be dissappointed.

Great storytelling

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I liked this book. The main characters were interesting and the plot kept going. I really did not like the narration. He has a nice deep voice but read the whole thing including all the characters in exactly the same monotonous voice so it was easy to get lost and wander off. There were several points when he seemed completely unable to read ahead and missed the sense of the sentence completely. It was not helped by some poor writing with a lot of repetition. The word detective was sometimes used 3 times in the same sentence. Such a shame as with a bit of proper editing and JF Harding doing the reading the book could be really excellent. I'm not getting the audible of the next one. I'll read it instead. Tristan James is not for me.

Good story - shame about the narration

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I finally take time to write a review for this book, I was too busy ready the next one of the series, than the next, then the next etc.

From reading the comments I was a bit septic as a lot of them say that it's much more about the crime story than the relationship between the two characters, no steamy scenes (which we don't mind having for sure ;D ), long to listen too etc. But I had it in my wishlist for some time so I decided to give it a go. And oh boy what a good idea!
I absolutely adore this series!
Yes it's focus on the crime/detective part a lot but for me it's one of the series the most focus on the characters relationship. No we don't have steamy sex scenes, but every look, every talk, every move is about their relationship, passed and present.
The crime mysteries on the side/front (depending how you take it) is really well constructed, interesting till the end and keeps the story going. It's over a short period of time so I don't feel it drags on.
All the characters are well done, have a past which explain their actions. Hazard and Somerset are old bully and victim, then partner, then friends and all along we can see their feelings changing, evolving.
I'm always disappointment about "enemies to lovers" (not saying it's how it ends, I haven't finished yet but I hope!) because it's going too fast, it's not credible. Here it feels real!
It's really well written, beautiful text and not complected.

The narrator Tristan James is one of my favorite so I wasn't disappointment here either. His voice is amazing and he's doing a great job at giving the text emotion. Somerset and Hazard voice, being similar, are a bit complicated to differentiate sometime but it's not too much of a bother.

It's a BIG 5 stars for me and I highly recommend giving it a go to annoying who likes crime/detective stories and love/relationship stories.

On my way to read the book 4!

One of the best series!

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Really not very good. Perhaps the series will improve, but not for me. A bit tired & not a great detective story

Poor plotting, tired ‘will they, won’t they’ storyline.

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Very easy to get too involved with the characters and wanting them to sort out their issues.

The plot is well thought out and the language used it easy to follow the twists and turns. I had no problems with remembering the different characters although some were a little improbable and designed to fit the story.

But a rivetting read (sorry listen), excellent storyline, excellent narration, thank you Gregory Ashe.

excellent story

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In revisiting this very first novel featuring Hazard and Somers, you can compare and contrast with what follows. There's a suitably knotty case but that has to fit around introducing the principal characters and their milieu. Of course, we don't learn everything about them. Gregory Ashe's characters are way too complex for that. He does well in establishing them both, Hazard especially. There's enough to intrigue, to lead you on, to wish you could fill in the gaps. Sixteen books on and they're still mysteries on some level.

Tristan James is equally finding his way. Although he has voices for the main characters, they're not second nature to him as they are in later books. Occasionally, it's not clear who's speaking but that soon resolves itself.

Setting the scene

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Absolutely loved this book. The narrator is fantastic at bringing Hazard and Somerset alive. Can’t wait to read/listen to more of this series.

Brilliant

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great cop story with lots of UST. Fab narration, I bought book 2 straight away.

great story, great narration

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This is a book I love to read myself and now it is so nice to hear it read by a voice that is perfect for the job.

Read several times

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