Fatal Trust by Diana Miller

Fatal TrustNarrated by Tanya Eby

Fatal Trust is the story of Philadelphia attorney Catherine Barrington and small-town mechanic Ben Gallagher. This unlikely duo is forced to work together when Ben’s grandfather is found dead, and a letter from the now deceased horror writer, insists that his death was no accident. Catherine must pose as Ben’s girlfriend in an attempt to catch the killer.

None of this is routine for the ever practical, goal-oriented, socially aware Catherine. She has spent her life trying to live up to her mother’s unmeetable expectations. Pretending to be a cocktail waitress named Lexy would definitely fall into the category of things her mother wholeheartedly disapproves of. In spite of this fact, Catherine has a soft spot for Max, and she decides to do what she can to find out who is responsible for his death.

Ben is not at all pleased to be saddled with Catherine. Sure, she’s pretty enough, but she is everything Ben has sworn off when it comes to women. His ex wife was a successful career woman, and Ben is determined not to fall for anyone even remotely like her. However, he owes a lot to his grandfather, and he reluctantly falls in line with the scheme, even going so far as to help Catherine come up with a suitable cover story for her presence at the funeral of a man she claims never to have met before.

Narrator Tanya Eby is no stranger to romance audio. I’ve listened to her narrations for years, and I am usually quite impressed by her delivery. Unfortunately, this book is not among her best efforts. Ms. Eby did far too much emoting, in this listener’s opinion, causing some characters to come off as cartoonish and difficult to take seriously.

As always, I admire Ms. Eby’s ability to perform each character distinctly. Dialogue tags were often present, but I did not find them necessary. Her voice is midrange, making it easy for her to portray both male and female characters without sounding fake. If she hadn’t put quite so much emotion into what she was reading, I would have enjoyed this quite a bit more.

Ms. Eby is very skilled at communicating the sexual tension between Catherine and Ben. We know they’re attracted to each other, but both are quite determined to fight their feelings. When the inevitable happens, and we see Ben and Catherine giving into how they feel, their shared passion radiated right out of my iPod. I had absolutely no doubt that these two were meant to be together, no matter what roadblocks are put in their path.

Fatal Trust is a story rich with family secrets, and filled with plot twists sure to keep the listener guessing until the very end of the book. Some of these twists are a little over the top, and the family secrets proved a little anticlimactic for my taste. Still, if you’re looking for a good romance mixed with suspense, and, if you won’t spend too much time analyzing the path the book leads you down, this could prove to be an enjoyable listen.

Shannon


Narration:  B-

Book Content:  B-

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Escalated fighting

Genre:  Romantic Suspense

Publisher:  Brilliance Audio

 

Fatal Trust was provided to AudioGals for review by Brilliance Audio.