Inevitable Disclosure by Nicky James

Narrated by Nick J. Russo

Note: This is a same-couple series in which the relationship development is ongoing, and there are references to events in earlier books in this review.

Nicky James hits it out of the park again with Inevitable Disclosure, book four in her superb series of romantic mysteries featuring detectives Aslan Doyle and Quaid Valor, who, in this story, end up working together to investigate the murder of a teenaged girl.

With his partner, Eden, on extended leave while she cares for her sick daughter, Quaid has been working solo on the case of seventeen-year-old Saphira Nottingham, who went missing from the parental home after a row with her boyfriend. Saphira has a history of storming off whenever she doesn’t get her own way and has always turned up within the next twenty-four hours or so, but she’s been missing for six days now, and Quaid is starting to think the worst. His suspicions are confirmed when he receives a call telling him that the body of a young woman has been found floating in the creek south of Centennial Park, and he suggests to Aslan that they should both take a ride out there. If the body is Saphira’s and her death wasn’t accidental, then chances are Aslan and his partner Torin Fox will begin a homicide investigation.

When Aslan and Torin catch the case, Quaid asks for permission to remain involved. After the gripping and deeply emotional events of the previous book – which wrapped up a major plot arc – he’s feeling somewhat adrift at work and is starting to re-think his career choices. For years, he was driven by the need to find out what happened to his missing sister, but with that mystery solved, and facing the prospect of being assigned a new partner, he’s no longer sure that MPU is where he wants to be. He explains to his boss that he’s thinking about the possibility of a change of direction – there are openings in Homicide and Intelligence that interest him – and is allowed to assist Aslan and Torin and to spend some time in the Intelligence division to see which might be the best fit for him.

Aslan, Quaid and Torin make a great team and their working relationship is one of my favourite things in the book. Torin has become much more accepting of Quaid – not just because Quaid and Aslan are together, but because Torin has seen for himself how good an investigator Quaid is and that he’s not the standoffish prick he’d believed him to be – and Quaid brings a fresh perspective and different skillset to Aslan and Torin’s existing dynamic. I also enjoyed the continuing development of the relationship between Quaid and Ruiz, the department’s very overworked IT guy; the good-natured teasing and banter between these characters provides humour and lighter moments amid the seriousness of the investigation. The case seems to be fairly routine to start with, but it’s not long before our intrepid trio find themselves in the middle of an ever expanding web of lies and duplicity which grows more confusing at every turn. The night she disappeared, Saphira had a group of friends over, a mouthy, entitled, argumentative and downright rude bunch whose perception of the truth is viewed through wildly differing agendas and whose willingness to throw each other under the bus creates layer upon layer of conflict and obfuscation.

Nicky James weaves an intricate and thrilling story, gradually building the tension towards a heartbreaking and disturbing climax, the effects of which will surely resound into the next book. And as the mystery unfolds, the relationship between Aslan and Doyle, who really have come a long way since the first time we met them, continues to strengthen. They’re committed to each other and have fallen into comfortable routines; they rarely spend a night apart and Aslan has suggested they should move in together a couple of times, but something is holding Quaid back. He knows he’s being stupid, but Aslan hasn’t repeated the “I love you” he sang for all to hear while stoned after he was kidnapped (Unstable Connections), and although Quaid knows it shouldn’t bother him – deep down, he knows how Aslan feels about him – he can’t help letting all those old insecurities eat away at him and stop him from taking the next step he so badly wants to take.

When Aslan thinks back over the last few months, he can’t believe how much his life has changed – how much he has changed. He’d never thought of himself as a relationship kinda guy, but now, here he is, happily committed to one man and intending to remain so for the rest of his life. He knows exactly why Quaid is hesitating about moving in together – his cheating ex left some deep emotional scars – but is prepared to wait for however long it takes and to do his utmost to show Quaid just how much he means to him every single day. He knows that Quaid is waiting to hear those three little words again – but he’s a strong believer in actions speaking louder than words, he’s a little things guy rather than one for grand romantic gestures and doesn’t quite understand Quaid’s need to hear them. Given how well Aslan knows Quaid, I was a bit surprised at how long it took him to finally figure out that sometimes, Love Is saying “I love you” because the man you love really needs to hear it, but I really liked the way they both come to see that maybe their position is a bit too entrenched and are prepared to compromise.

Nick J. Russo delivers another accomplished and entertaining performance, imbuing each of the secondary characters with their own voice and distinct personality while maintaining consistency in all the main and recurring roles. His narration is well-paced and expressive and he does a fantastic job of conveying the strong emotional connection between the two leads, the depth of their affection and love for one another coming through in every thought and action. The interplay between Aslan and Torin is superbly done – Aslan’s congenial, laid-back manner a nice foil for Torin’s growly gruffness – and the back-and-forth between Quaid and Ruiz is equally good; it’s nice to hear Quaid more relaxed and bantering with someone other than Aslan. He captures the attitude of the obnoxious teens really well, from the cockiness of Saphira’s boyfriend, Griffin, to the cattiness of Lark, the outsider; there’s a large supporting cast in this story and Mr. Russo juggles all the characters with great skill, finding appropriate character voices and clearly differentiating between all of them. One small criticism I can level is that because Quaid and Aslan’s voices are differentiated by timbre rather than by pitch, there are a few times where they sound a little too similar. It’s not a huge problem, as it’s usually easy enough to tell them apart, but I did notice it this time around more than I have before. The other niggle I have is with Mr. Russo’s pronunciation of “Ruiz” as “ROO-ehz” – it was that way in the previous books so he’s consistent with it, it just isn’t the way I’d have thought it would be pronounced.

But those things are very minor, and neither was enough to spoil my enjoyment of the story or the performance in any way. Inevitable Disclosure is another terrific outing for Valor and Doyle, an expertly crafted blend of mystery and romance that will have you on the edge of your seat one minute and and sighing happy sighs the next.

Caz

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