King of Clubs by Sandra Owens

Narrated by Amy McFadden & Sebastian York

I am a sucker for a rescue trope. Damsels in distress aren’t all that popular these days but I have a soft spot for them I admit. Nevertheless, my feminist side usually wants the heroine to do a bit of rescuing herself to balance things out. It’s not a surprise then that King of Clubs’ blurb caught my eye.

Lauren Montgomery was married to an abuser. There are some graphic depictions of violence to her in the book so listeners need to be aware of that going in. She married Stephan when she was 19 and divorced him at age 21. Still in college, Lauren celebrated her divorce by going on a spring break holiday to Panama City. There, she met Court Gentry and fell in love.

When she returns home after their six-day fling, she and Court have plans to manage a long-distance relationship (both seniors, they each attend different universities in Florida), and the future looks bright. However, Stephan is already in her apartment when she gets there and he can tell she’s been with another man. Stephan makes it clear that whoever he is, is a dead man. He beats her viciously to get Court’s name but Lauren stays silent. From her hospital bed, to protect him, she texts Court to tell him it’s over with no explanation.

The story picks up six years later when Lauren’s roommate and business partner, Madison, is dating Alex Gentry, Court’s brother. Court and Lauren therefore come into each other’s orbit and the sparks fly. Court is angry that Lauren broke up with him for no reason. He thought they were in love and he’s not over it yet. Lauren, for her part, does not want to tell Court the reason for her text; she’s still protecting him.

Stephan was jailed for 6 years for his violent assault on Lauren and is now about to be released from jail. When Stephan’s brother, Peter, delivers a message to Lauren, making it clear that Stephan still regards Lauren as his wife (and his property), the truth comes out and Court goes full-on white knight.

The Gentry brothers, Nate, Court and Alex are all FBI agents, running the biker bar Aces & Eights as their cover story. The brothers are very close, having had an abusive father and basically raising themselves after their mother left when the boys were young. Court was only nine at the time and his experience, of his mother and Lauren, is that “women leave”. (Poor tortured man! Also, this is where Lauren can do a bit of “rescuing” of Court as it happens.)

Sure, it’s ridiculously improbable that there would be a trio of brothers all working as FBI agents in the same location, all working undercover and running a biker bar as camouflage. One kind of has to go with it if one presses play. And yes, I did wonder just how their cover could be maintained in all the circumstances. In the course of this book alone, Court outs himself as an FBI agent to quite a few people. Surely there must be some consequence for that coming up? Possibly in Nate’s book (which I think is next)? I did roll my eyes a little bit (okay, a lot) but I nevertheless went along for the ride.

The chemistry between Lauren and Court is smokin’ but they have to navigate the risk to both of them from Stephan, as well as Lauren’s desire to run and hide – for her own safety and his. Court does not want to open his heart again to Lauren if she is just going to leave. Also, Lauren is worried that she won’t be able to handle being in a relationship with someone whose job involves near-constant physical risk. There’s a lot to be worked out for them to get their HEA.

The narration by Sebastian York and Amy McFadden was very good. I liked the way Mr. York portrayed the bond between the brothers. There wasn’t a lot of difference between their voices but there was some and it was enough for me in this case.

It was mainly Ms. McFadden who did the heavy lifting with the Russian accents (Stephan and Peter are Russian). She did well with this. I didn’t feel they were caricatures.

Both Ms. McFadden and Mr. York delivered the emotion and tension of the story very well, with good light and shade in their voices and great pacing. If I became a little impatient with Lauren about her reluctance to be in a relationship with Court (even though she already loved him and what was her alternative, really?) that wasn’t on Ms. McFadden.

I felt the timeline in the story was a little fuzzy, particularly with regard to the overarching series and there were some things which had been left, seemingly for months, with insufficient explanation, but overall, I really enjoyed King of Clubs. The narration by this talented duo made experiencing the story on audio a bonus.

Kaetrin