Narrated by Declan Winters
Gregory Ashe’s paranormal/horror novel Stray Fears is a spooky tale featuring two engaging, flawed characters and a clever mystery plotline which draws on Louisiana folklore for inspiration. I read and enjoyed it when it was published last year, and was pleased to see it coming to audio with Declan Winters narrating; I’ve enjoyed his work in C.S. Poe’s Magic & Steam series and was looking forward to a similarly strong performance here.
The story centres around a support group for people with PTSD, and when it begins, a meeting is in progress. Elien Martel is one of the attendees, a young man of twenty-two whose life was ripped apart a year earlier when his elder brother shot their parents and then himself. Mired in grief and guilt, Elien is a mess; volatile, sarcastic and filled with self-loathing, he lives with his much older boyfriend Richard – a psychiatrist and therapist – whose equanimity and refusal to rise to Elien’s frequent baiting and have a damn good row irritate Elien no end.
Quite honestly, Elien seems like a total dick much of the time, but his sharp tongue belies a genuine kindness and wit, and he’s surprisingly good with the other members of the group, showing them the sort of patience and compassion he doesn’t extend to himself. When the group leader – who is a colleague of Richard’s – asks Elien if he’ll check up on fellow group member Ray, who hasn’t been doing so well lately, Elien agrees without question.
Sheriff’s Deputy Dagobert – Dag – LeBlanc has been on the job for a few years now, but even though he’s good at it (something he continually disputes) it’s not really what he wants to do with his life. He’s a total sweetheart; kind, supportive and caring, he just wants a simple life where he can enjoy listening to his whale song and indulge his interest in marine life.
Elien and Dag meet when, a few days after the group meeting, Elien goes to Ray’s apartment and after getting no response to his knocking on the door and calling Ray’s name, dials 911 and requests a wellness check. Dag and his partner Mason – who is also a member of the support group and who, for no apparent reason, hates Elien’s guts – respond to the call, but when Mason sees Elien there, he tries to persuade Dag that Elien is pulling some kind of stunt and that they should leave. But Dag isn’t about to neglect his duty and calmly accompanies Elien into Ray’s apartment, where they find Ray’s dead body sprawled on the bed, eyes open and dancing with blue fire. No spoilers, but things take a particularly creepy turn here – and Dag escorts a freaked-out Elien out of the building, only for Elien to call him a coward for refusing to admit to the truth of what they’d both seen happening inside.
A few days later, however, finds Dag unable to deny that something weird is going on when he goes to pick up Mason from a group meeting – and watches him pull a gun on Elien in broad daylight. Dag acts quickly to stop his friend murdering Elien in cold blood – but unfortunately, Mason is killed during the altercation. Not long after this, another member of the support group is found dead, apparently by suicide, and then another… someone – or something – is picking them off one by one, and clearly isn’t going to stop until they’re all dead, and Dag and Elien are going to have to work quickly to find out who – or what – is responsible before they become its latest victims.
Stray Fears is fast-paced and imaginative, and Mr. Ashe creates a real sense of unease right from the start, developing a strong sense of disquiet as the story progresses and peppering it with a few nail-biting set-pieces along the way. The spooky mystery is really well done, but once again, it’s the damaged yet loveable characters who are the book’s heart and soul. Mr. Ashe excels at creating protagonists who, while sometimes massively flawed are nonetheless captivating individuals you come to care about and root for – and that’s especially true of Elien here. He’s suffered a horrible tragedy – and worse – and he clearly doesn’t like himself very much, but despite his propensity for self-destruction he’s sympathetic, in that he just wants to feel whole and ‘normal’ again. Dag… well, Dag is this huge teddy bear who, while generally calm and laid back, is no pushover and quickly works out how to handle Elien. Their romance is sweet and although it takes place over a short space of time (shocker! It’s a Gregory Ashe book – what’s going on?! *wink*) it’s founded on a strong connection and, actually, does have the feel of a slow burn about it.
Despite the dark subject matter, there is a considerable amount of humour in the book, much of it provided by Dag’s parents, who clearly adore their son, but are just a little bit (!) over-invested in his love life – and Elien’s snark and Dag’s dry sense of humour are entertaining, too.
Declan Winters proves once again that he’s a narrator to look out for in m/m audiobooks. I said, when I reviewed him in The Gangster, that I suspected he may work under another name as well because he was too good to be a newbie, and I’ve since discovered that to be the case; I mention it only because if, like me, you check out a new-to-you-narrator by looking up what else they’ve done, I don’t want you to be put off by the small number of books he’s narrated under this name. His performance is well-paced and clearly enunciated, and he voices the various supporting characters – male and female – using a variety of timbre and tone and differentiates well between them all. His portrayals of Dag and Elien work really well; he does a great job of conveying the vulnerability beneath Elien’s sharp-tongued waspishness, and the bravery and stubbornness that lurk behind Dag’s easy-going exterior; his comic timing is good in the bantering exchanges and other lighter moments, and you can hear the exasperated affection in Dag’s interactions with his parents. The one criticism I can level is that there isn’t always enough of a difference between the way Dag and Elien sound, so that sometimes I struggled to work out which of them was speaking during conversations or whose PoV we were in (the story is third person alternating PoV.) Dag has a very very slight Southern accent, which I appreciated, because it’s enough to subtly place the story without being completely over the top, but because it’s so slight, it completely disappears at times, and leaves Dag and Elien sounding too similar in both narrative and dialogue. That caused me to knock off half a grade point, but otherwise, Mr. Winters delivers a strong and expressive performance, expertly conveying the strength of the emotional connection between the two leads and injecting just the right amount of tension into the scary bits!
Stray Fears is every bit as clever, twisty and well-plotted as Gregory Ashe’s ‘usual’ mysteries, and the characters are just as complex and well-observed. I’d probably describe it as paranormal rather than horror, although there’s no denying it does have some grisly moments, and that the pervasive sense of dread that builds throughout is truly creepy! If you’re unfamiliar with the author’s work, this could be a good place to start, as it’s the first in a series (book two, Cascade Hunger came out in print at the end of October) – just bear in mind you might want to listen to it in a well-lit room or from behind the sofa!
This book features several violent (off-screen) suicides, gaslighting and a scene of attempted sexual assault.
Caz
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