Narrated by Jeremy York
The Protector is the fourth full-length novel in HelenKay Dimon’s series of romantic suspense tales, Games People Play. The other three aren’t available in audio (yet?) but fortunately, while there are some characters who recur in each book, each story is self-contained, so there’s no need to be familiar with the earlier instalments in order to be able to follow this one. It might help to have a rough idea of the premise – the hero of each story is a member of a mysterious group that operates under the radar (and sometimes outside the law) in order to fix the seemingly unfixable – but the author includes enough basic information about the enigmatic Wren and his organisation for the newbie to be able to work it out easily enough. Jeremy York is another of those narrators I’ve been aware of for some time but haven’t yet listened to, so as I’ve read some of the earlier books, this seemed like a good opportunity to give him a try.
Cate Pendleton has been trying for years to find the truth about the circumstances surrounding her sister’s death at a place known as Salvation, a commune in South Pennsylvania that advertises itself as the ideal place to live, work, share and learn among other like-minded people. But Cate suspects it to be something more sinister, and past events involving the place would seem to bear that out. Around fourteen years earlier, an FBI investigation into Salvation ended in violence, and Cate is convinced the place is more akin to a cult than a harmless Utopian community. Having come to dead end after dead end, Cate has only one place left to turn for help in her search for the truth about her sister, and reaches out to Wren in the hope that he’ll be able to help her to get the answers she’s looking for.
Damon Knox doesn’t want to take the assignment. He has inside knowledge of Salvation that could be helpful, yes, but he has too many bad memories and wounds he’d rather not open, too many unanswered questions he wants to keep buried to ever want to go back to the place that nearly destroyed him. But… Wren is a difficult man to say no to, and when he tells Damon that someone from Salvation is keeping tabs on Cate and trying to intimidate her, Damon’s natural instinct to protect and his need to find ways to atone for the past soon have him warily accepting the assignment – which is to go back to Salvation and see what he can find out.
So he’s not best pleased when Wren introduces him to Cate and says arrangements have been made for them to go to Salvation together, posing as a couple – which will allow them to spend a lot of time together and share accommodation without arousing suspicion. Damon and Cate strikes sparks off each other from the get go, and the attraction between them builds quickly, even though Damon makes it clear from the start that he’s a “no strings” kinda guy who doesn’t “do” emotional entanglements. I liked Cate’s metaphorical eye-roll and “yeah, yeah, you’re dead inside, got it” reaction; it made a nice change from a needy heroine wanting to soothe the damaged hero’s wounded soul. Not that Cate doesn’t see that Damon really does have a lot of emotional baggage; she does and comes to realise that he needs to face his demons if he’s ever going to be able to shake free of the shadows of his past – but she doesn’t push him too hard and (mostly) lets him open up when he’s ready. She’s comfortable in her own skin, she’s focused, mentally strong and doesn’t need a man to prop her up. She’s strongly attracted to Damon, and if all he is prepared to offer is a few bouts of hot sex, then she’s okay with that, although the more time they spend together, the more Cate realises that there’s a lot more to Damon than the rather aloof front he projects – and how much she’d like to get to know the warm, funny, thoroughly decent guy she is starting to see behind it.
Going back to Salvation is difficult for Damon, and once we – and Cate (who is, rightly, somewhat pissed that Damon didn’t prepare her for the truth about his past) – get to know exactly why that is, his initial resistance to going back and his dislike of being there make perfect sense. He’s a complex character who carries deep mental scars as the result of his regimented upbringing and a devastating betrayal that destroyed the man he was. Like the other members of the “Quint Five”, (heroes of the other books), he was well on his way to self-destruction when he was taken under the wing of Quint, a former undercover operative who taught him to redirect his energy and use his new-learned skills for other – legal – purposes. Wren re-invented himself as the mostly anonymous fixer (The Fixer is the first book in the series) and the others all work alongside him in some capacity. Some of my favourite scenes in the book are those between Damon and Garrett (Wren’s right hand man, and probably my favourite of all of them – I’m a sucker for his brand of dry, smart-mouthed humour!) and Damon and Trevor, who is Wren’s inside man at Salvation; Ms. Dimon writes these interactions extremely well, and they’ve been highlights of all the books in the series I’ve read.
The thing is, that while the idea of Salvation-as-cult had a lot of potential, it’s not fully realised, and I found that aspect of the plot to be a little flat. There’s a definite air of menace permeating the chapters that take place at the commune, and there are some exciting moments, but while Damon’s character development and the romance between him and Cate are well done, the suspense part of the story just wasn’t quite as… well, suspenseful, as I’d hoped it would be.
I’m really glad, though, to have finally got around to listening to Jeremy York. I know he’s a very experienced performer and that he narrates quite a lot of romance novels, so with luck, I’ll be able to find more of his work to add to my TBL. His performance here is generally well-paced and clearly differentiated; Damon, Wren, Garrett and Trevor are all alpha males with forceful personalities, which comes through clearly in Mr. York’s interpretations of them, and they are all easy to tell apart whenever they’re in scenes together – mostly it’s Damon with either Wren, Garrett or Trevor, so it’s easy for the listener to keep track. I was impressed with his portrayal of Cate as well; his female voices are pretty good, not pitched too high, no recourse to falsetto, and while there aren’t too many other women in the story, there’s clear differentiation there, too. The steamy scenes are nicely-judged, and he injects a sense of urgency into the more dramatic moments; it’s a strong performance all-round and I’m looking forward to listening to him again.
I enjoyed listening to The Protector, even though I found the suspense element somewhat lacking. Jeremy York’s narration kept me engaged through the weaker parts of the story, and I’d certainly be open to listening to other books in the Games People Play series, should they ever find their way into audio.
Caz
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