Narrated by Nick J. Russo

Working my way through Nicky James’ backlist brought me to The One That Got Away, a standalone romantic suspense novel from 2021. It’s a tense, compelling story featuring the kind of interesting, complex characters the author writes so well, and the superb narration by Nick J. Russo makes audio a great way to experience it.

When he was just twelve years old, Charlie Falkingham was among a group of children – most younger than him – who were abducted by a trafficking ring. When the police staged a rescue, Charlie was the only survivor; all the other victims were killed in the explosion rigged by the perpetrators, although thankfully, they were caught and brought to justice. Unsurprisingly, going through such a harrowing experience had a profound affect on Charlie and he lives with a number of mental health issues, including a severe paranoia disorder. Seventeen years later, he’s become a not infrequent caller to the local police department, making reports of suspicious cars, suspicious people and activity, and is regarded as something of a nuisance, but owing to the department’s collective guilt over failing to prevent what happened to him (and his mother’s position as the city’s crown attorney), he’s always treated kindly, to his face at least, and never knows that his concerns are not taken seriously.

So when he becomes convinced he’s being followed – he’s seen the same white car several times over the past couple of days – he heads off to the police station in Hamilton to report his concerns to Detective Graveman, who was one of the officers responsible for smashing the trafficking operation and for Charlie’s rescue. Graveman always listens to him and Charlie arrives at the station confident that once he’s made his report, the matter will be looked in to. Except… Graveman isn’t there. Charlie tries to stem his rising panic on learning that the detective retired the previous month. Maybe if he can explain to Sergeant Nikola, he’ll call Graveman and Charlie will be able to speak to him.

When Nikola gets the call from the front desk telling him Charlie Falkingham wants to see him, he’s in the middle of giving one of his beat cops a severe bollocking over an altercation that left a local big-shot businessman with a bloody nose. (For good reason.) Takoda Dyani is an all round pain in the arse; he’s aggressive, mouthy, and egotistical, with a chip on his shoulder a mile wide; even his colleagues regularly complain about him. Takoda is waiting to hear what his punishment is going to be when the phone rings – and it turns out to be worse than he’d expected. Nikola assigns him to deal with Charlie Falkingham and his regular complaints, and Takoda doesn’t like the idea one little bit. The last thing he wants to do is coddle some prissy rich boy – but he’s aware that Nikola knows how he feels about people who come from money and/or power, and is setting him up to fail so he can kick him out. Takoda is going to have to be on best behaviour for at least the next month if he wants to keep his job.

To say that Charlie and Takoda don’t get off to a good start is an understatement. Charlie can feel the hostility radiating off the other man, and Takoda thinks Charlie is just some overpriviliged, whiny brat who has been sucked up to for far too long, and he’s angry at being stuck with a ‘babysitting’ gig he thinks is a total waste of time. Takoda is a very unsympathetic character at the outset, in direct contrast to Charlie, who is a total sweetheart and deserves the world. But as Takoda comes to understand more about Charlie and why he is the way he is, he becomes his fiercest advocate and protector. Not having known the traumatised child Charlie was, Takoda doesn’t see him through that lens, instead seeing him as a man who, for sure, has some serious mental health challenges, but who is more capable and reslilient than everyone else around him allows him to be.

The mystery develops fairly slowly to start with, and the author skilfully plants a few seeds of doubt, so that, up until a certain point in the book, the audience is not completely sure whether Charlie is really being followed or if it’s simply another manifestation of his paranoia. There’s a very real sense of foreboding permeating the story and there are some truly nail-biting moments as the tension ratchets slowly and it becomes clear to Takoda that something is very wrong – and it’s not Charlie’s instincts. It’s not an action-packed story; it’s more about the developing connection between Charlie and Takoda, about Charlie learning to trust him and about Takoda learning to understand what makes Charlie tick and how best to help him. I loved that he gets so furious on Charlie’s behalf when he realises just how dismissive everyone – even Graveman – has been of him, that nobody ever really listens to him, and how he’s regarded as some kind of helpless basket case who needs to be humoured and then quietly ignored.

The suspense plot is really well done and reaches an exciting climax, and the romance works well, too – the relationship development is great and the author very wisely doesn’t rush it. Charlie knows he’s gay and had buried the sexual side of himself after what happened to him, but Takoda elicits feelings and wants he’s never allowed himself to experience before, and his slow awakening is nicely done.

I had a few issues with the story, though. Firstly, the author takes great care not to go into detail about what happened to Charlie – which I appreciated – and I assumed that part of his trauma was due to sexual abuse. But later in the book, we’re told (several times) that “nothing” happened to him when he was being held captive. I certainly didn’t want gory details, but this was confusing. My other main concern is that the ending is very abrupt – I’d have liked to know a little more about what Charlie and Takoda’s future might look like. And while the first half of the story flies by, the pacing in the second half is a bit off.

Nick J. Russo is a long-time favourite narrator of mine and is someone I know I can rely on to deliver a strong and thoroughly enjoyable performance. Hi senunciation is clear, his pacing is just right and his portrayal of the two leads is excellent. Charlie’s lighter tones are a good contrast to Takoda’s deep, gravelly growl, which gets stronger when he gets angry (which is often!) and retreats when he’s teasing or joking, and in the quieter moments, there’s a real sense of layers being peeled back to reveal the real Takoda – a caring, compassionate man – beneath. Charlie’s vulnerabilities are expertly conveyed – Mr. Russo injects a real sense of fear and panic into those moments where Charlie starts to spiral, but doesn’t go over the top – and the handful of secondary characters are all clearly differentiated; there’s never any confusion as to who is speaking during conversational scenes, and recurring characters are easy to identify. It’s a terrific performance that hits all the emotional beats and really immerses the listener in the story.

The One That Got Away is a gripping, suspenseful story wrapped up in a terrific performance that had me glued to it for the entirety of its run-time. It earns a strong recommendation.

Breakdown of Grade:  Narration – A; Story – B+

Running time: 12 hours, 34 minutes