Desert Isle Keeper
Wayward
Wayward, book four in the Hazard and Somerset: A Union of Swords series, takes place five weeks after the events of the previous book, Transactional Dynamics. As anyone who has read our reviews of these books/this series will know, none of them really works as a standalone; each Hazard and Somerset novel features a complicated, densely plotted standalone mystery that ties into an overarching suspense plot. That plot gains momentum as the series progresses and keeps the reader on edge looking for villainous behavior from every secondary character in the story. Hazard and Somers are flawed, compelling principal characters you can’t help but love and root for, even as they struggle with many of the mundane, everyday relationship problems we all do; each book is chock full of sly humor, intrigue, smart, sharp dialogue, and clever storytelling. Ashe gets nearly everything right in every single book. Wayward isn’t my favorite in the series, but it’s still tremendously good.
Note: There are spoilers for earlier books in this review.
In Transactional Dynamics, Emery Hazard and John-Henry Somerset were newly engaged, living together, and raising their daughter Evie (along with John’s ex-wife Cora). But shortly after that story began, the surprise arrival of Billy Rolker, Hazard’s emotionally abusive ex-boyfriend, revealed cracks beneath the surface. Somers was struggling with his work/life balance and drinking to deal with it; Hazard’s PTSD (and resistance to therapy) and past history with Billy wreaked havoc on his emotional well-being, and the Keeper of Bees has made a creepy reappearance. Fortunately, by the end of the novel, Hazard and Somers are recommitted to the relationship and each other (le sigh) – honestly, no one does soul-satisfying, highly romantic, emotionally authentic end-of-book chapters like Ashe – Somers is newly sober and Hazard is mostly free of the demons of his past relationships (although his unresolved PTSD is still a problem).
Wayward picks up with Hazard frustrated over wedding planning (big surprise), and secretly enjoying spending time with their small, but steadily growing group of friends – neighbors Noah and Rebeca, Dulac and his on-again boyfriend Darnell, Wesley (the local pastor) and his girlfriend, Nico, and Mitchell, the lone survivor of the Keeper of Bees (IS IT ONE OF THEM???!!). Somers is sober and content with his chore list (wink, wink) and work/life balance. But their happy bubble is burst when Glenn Somerset, John’s father, shows up at their home. Running for mayor in a tight race, Glenn decides to call in favors from Somers and Hazard. He asks Hazard to help him with a blackmailer – although he won’t tell them why he’s being blackmailed – and Somers to move-out (for two weeks) as part of a last minute, public relations stunt. Hazard reluctantly agrees to investigate the blackmail and Somers mistakenly assumes it’s okay for him to agree to his favor, too. Somers, as readers well know, longs for a better relationship with his parents and doesn’t immediately recognize the repercussions of his apparently easy acquiescence. Hazard, shocked and deeply hurt by John’s decision – what he believes is a rejection of him, their relationship, and his sexuality – rejects Somers attempts to explain, and after an angry exchange, he confirms Somers is actually leaving and then heads out to cool off.
Bewildered by Emery’s reaction and oblivious to his betrayal, John relocates to a local inn; the move triggers rumors (most likely spread by John’s father) that they’ve split up and that Somers is reuniting with his ex-wife. Hazard, predictably, lashes out and refuses to talk to Somers; Somers maintains his sobriety – barely – and grows quietly desperate with the knowledge of how deeply he’s hurt the love of his life, knowing he’s made a terrible mistake.
When a vaguely familiar stranger walks into his office the next day, Hazard is tempted to tell her to leave. Courtney Vega wants Hazard to find her missing sister Donna May Plenge (Savanna Twilight in Police Brutality). After regular disappearing acts, it finally seemed like she was ready to settle down in Wahredua and raise her young daughter Dolly, and maybe reconcile with Dolly’s father, Joshua Dobb. But she’s been missing for more than a month; yesterday, the police (Somers and Dulac!) – acting on a new custody order – came and took Dolly to live with Josh. Dolly is gone, Donna is missing, and the Vegas are devastated.
Hazard suspects Courtney isn’t telling him the whole truth, but takes the case for the paycheck; he’s convinced Somers agreed to move out because of money he borrowed from his father to launch Hazard’s detective agency. But trying to track Donna’s last movements proves impossible. She isn’t in any of her usual haunts and the people who saw her last – Courtney, Josh, her therapist Melissa, and Daniel Minor, Josh’s best friend – all have motives to kill her. After canvassing the trailer park where she lived with her parents, he realizes the Dobb estate is within walking distance. He sneaks into Josh’s home – which appears empty but isn’t – so he makes a hasty exit and walks down to the boathouse. There, Hazard discovers Donna’s decomposing body hidden under a tarp. When the police arrive on the scene, Somers and Dulac are drawn into the murder investigation, too.
While finding Donna May’s killer makes for a nicely nasty mystery, it’s the fractured relationship between Emery and John that steals your attention. Somers is thrilled to be working alongside Hazard again, but Hazard isn’t ready to move on. Somers knows it was a mistake to move out; unfortunately, Hazard doesn’t want to talk about it… or confess he knows that the decision wasn’t actually about him – but about Somers’ need for his father’s approval. Their relationship continues to fracture, until Hazard’s fraught relationship with his own dying father forces him to re-examine what it means to be a family. Somers, who’s done some soul searching of his own, is there to offer comfort and solace and the rift between them finally begins to heal.
Wayward is more than the sum of its parts. Yes, it features a clever murder mystery, but it’s also a sobering look at what it means to be a family. Wayward children, wayward friends, wayward partners… Ashe drives his theme home at every level and in every relationship. He immediately sets his principal characters at odds and quickly introduces the suspense plot, and just when it seems like Hazard and Somers can’t ever find their way back to each other, he slowly – meticulously – merges these two seemingly disparate threads. Family – blood and found – tears them apart, but also brings them back together. Ashe doesn’t flinch from difficult personal relationships – between Emery and John; Dulac and Somers; fathers and sons – and his unsparing depiction of these difficult dynamics – the good, the bad, the pleasure, the pain – elevates this novel to a DIK.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started an H&S novel, puzzling over how the pieces fit, only to sigh with satisfaction as Ashe slowly, inexorably pieces it all together. While I hated the hurt and distance between Emery and John for so much of this story, I’m blown away by Ashe’s storytelling. From that opening sequence showing Hazard and Somers with their new found family, to the examination of their own father/son dynamic, to that lovely closing sequence wherein they choose each other all over again, Ashe fleshes out what it means to be part of a family. It’s poignant and moving, and masterfully done.
Reader: WHO DO YOU THINK IS THE KEEPER OF BEES????!!!
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Book Details
Reviewer: | Em Wittmann |
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Review Date: | May 30, 2020 |
Publication Date: | 05/2020 |
Grade: | A- |
Sensuality | Warm |
Book Type: | Romantic Suspense |
Review Tags: | Hazard and Somerset Mysteries | Hazard and Somerset: A Union of Swords series | Male/Male romance | Queer romance |
I enjoyed this latest installment with H&S, and agree with WendyF’s comments. It is the focus on the relationships that kept me up reading last night! I appreciate Ashe’s ability to write realistically about peoples’ lives as they get to know one another, and learn to deal with each other. There is so much more to relationships beyond the HEA. It’s no surprise then that I am a fan of series that are able to sustain relationship arcs over several books, and a list of my favorite *writers* has lots of series in their backlists. Romantic suspense really lends itself to this: a new mystery to solve or bad guy to catch while life continues apace for the MC(s).
I finished this book yesterday and posted about how brilliant I thought it was, but my post disappeared somehow!
Anyway, I think that this is my favourite of all the H&S books. Mainly because in this one the balance between the relationships and the crime is skewed heavily towards the relationships – not just the main one between H&S but many others between friends, family and colleagues. Many of the side stories that have been simmering get moved along a lot, towards the finale that will happen in the next book.
Even though H&S are going through very difficult times in their relationship I still felt there was a lot of lightness and humour in this book compared to some of the previous ones. I admit that I had read the newsletter/email that Gregory Ashe had sent out the day before publication in which he had warned of the relationship issues but had said that better times were ahead, which probably made a difference.
Although I love these books, I do sometimes find the crimes in them unsettling or upsetting, which wasn’t the case in this one.
I think that I have an idea who the Keeper is now and I’m looking forward to finding out in July. (I did
guess the Seven of Spades early on, so who know, I may be right on this one!)
WENDY. DID YOU SEE CAZ’S COMMENT??!! You think it’s someone else??!!!!!!!! FIRST INITIAL!!!
Not D but there’s more than 1 person with the initial!
I’m at a similar stage to where I was with the Seven of Spades; basically, I suspect almost everyone but am not sure enough to commit to anyone! I’m happy to wait until July :)
Nice review, Em! This is such a FANTASTIC series; compelling characters, great storytelling and amazingly insightful writing, and GA just seems to get better and better. The series finale is going to be a real nail-biter – and even better, there are more H&S books planned for next year :)
I have NO idea who the Keeper is though. There’s a fairly small pool of suspects (I can’t believe he’ll just throw in a random someone we haven’t met yet), but I am rubbish at guessing these things and am content to wait until July to find out!
I decided after the first book in this series that I knew who the Keeper was – or, that it was one of two characters. But after the last two books…I HAVE NO IDEA. I’m dreading the discovery that it’s one of their friends, but resigned to the fact it probably is. :(
This series is so excellent on every level.
Yeah… to have it be one of the two new characters (D&D) in the first book seems too obvious… I am waiting to have my mind blown when all is revealed!