really rather good!

Badlands (Badlands #1) - Unabridged - Morgan Brice, Gail Z. Martin, Kale Williams
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted the audio copy of this book. Simon has run to Myrtle Beach after he lost his job and his love. Vic is there after he saw something he could not explain. There have been some murders in town, and Vic, a homicide cop, comes across Simon's ghost tours and seance shop and figures it can't do any harm, right? To ask? But as Simon and Vic get closer to each other, so the killer gets closer to Simon. And Simon doesn't think anyone can stop him, except Simon, or that he will walk away alive. I liked this! A lot! Simon is disgraced by a disgruntled parent who says he was teaching the occult, and leaves his Folklore professor job and runs to Myrtle Beach. He finds relative happiness in town, with his shop and ghost tours. Meeting Vic makes him realise he is lonely though. Helping Vic with his murders seems a natural thing to do, but that puts Simon in the cross hairs of the murderer. And also makes Simon a suspect so Vic has to take a step back from Simon and become objective in his job. It breaks his heart that he might lose Simon before he can have him, though. Simon solves the case, and has to hope that he can stop the murderer and maybe, just maybe, he can survive. Both Simon and Vic have a say, and I loved that was they are drawn to each other, right from the start, so powerfully! The attraction both men feel is off the charts, and it doesn't take them long to give into that attraction. Simon's abilities are a bit of a sticking point, but they do come through for Vic and his case. Vic doesn't want to believe, look how much trouble it caused him when he voiced what he saw in Pittsburgh, for crying out loud! But he knows, deep down, Simon is for real, and maybe, Simon is FOREVER for Vic. They just need get through this. It's a bit gruesome in places, because the crime scenes are described in some, but not great, detail. Just enough to make you cringe, and wish you could un-see the picture that comes up in your head. Sexy in places, scary in others. First of Brice I've read, and would like to read more. Kale Williams narrates. I *thought* I had listened to something else by Williams before, but I can't find what, but no matter. I really did like his narration here. There are a lot of characters with foreign accents, and Williams delivers them very well. His reading voice is clear and even, and all the voices are distinctive enough for me to follow who was speaking, without out being told. As a person with some hearing loss, this is VITAL for me to enjoy a book! I loved the way Williams gets the emotions of Simon and Vic across. Even when things were going down, and things were getting scary, Simon's love for Vic shone as the brightest emotion. Fabulous narrating! 4 solid stars for the book 4 solid stars for the narration **same worded review ill appear elsewhere**