When Death Frees the Devil by L.J. Hayward

Narrated by Rowan Scott

All good things must come to an end – and here we are at the final instalment of L.J. Hayward’s brilliant Death and the Devil series. As the conclusion to a series featuring the same central couple and overarching plotlines, When Death Frees the Devil will absolutely not make sense if you haven’t read or listened to the books that precede it – and be prepared for spoilers for those in this review.

At the end of Why the Devil Stalks Death, we left Jack and Ethan in a good place. Ethan had finally left his old life behind and severed ties with the Cabal, he and Jack have moved in together and THE KISS finally happened. (Several kisses, actually!) They might not have exchanged those three little words yet, but there’s no doubt about what those kisses meant and no doubt on the part of either man that this is IT for both of them. And then, in Ethan’s PoV, that final word of the final chapter.

“Ping”.

We all knew that didn’t bode well.

I’m not going to go into the plot in too much detail, but that “ping” and the message it leads to is enough to set Ethan on a dangerous and potentially self-destructive path in order to protect Jack and his family. Realising the Cabal can still get to him through the people he cares for, Ethan decides there’s only one way to be free of them (and to rid the world of their evil machinations) once and for all – he’s got to track down the leaders of the group and eliminate them. Only then will be truly free to live a life of his own making with the man he loves.

To say that Jack isn’t happy when he wakes up to find Ethan gone (again) is a massive understatement. Ethan has left him no clue as to the reason for his disappearance, and at first, Jack just thinks (hopes) that maybe he had some errands to run, but as the day goes on and there’s no sign of him – and no response to the messages he’s left – he starts to worry. He’s pretty sure that, given everything they’ve been through and everything they’ve now acknowledged, Ethan wouldn’t just have up and left him for no reason, but it’s hard to keep remembering that in the face of Ethan’s continued silence.

Gah! As with the previous books in the series, there are a lot of moving parts to this story and the structure isn’t completely linear, although things are organised a little differently to how they were in books one and two. The story is split into three sections with changing PoVs – Ethan, Jack and Ethan & Jack – and while there are flashbacks/dual timelines, they’re not used as much as in the previous books. The story is clever, totally gripping, fast-paced and action-packed – the very definition of ‘emotional rollercoaster’ as daring plans are hatched, betrayals take place and strings are pulled and our heroes have to fight for their lives and each other as never before.

Seriously, if you thought the first book was a wild ride… then you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

And then there’s the relationship between Jack and Ethan, which has evolved so amazingly throughout the series. The action and suspense elements are superbly conceived and executed and make for a lot of breathless excitement, but Jack and Ethan are the beating heart of these books, two stubborn, damaged men who are like two sides of the same coin. Even though there’s a lot of action in this instalment, there’s still room for some wonderful character and relationship exploration as we watch both of them finally letting all their barriers down and being vulnerable to one another, facing up to intensely traumatic pasts (we finally find out why Jack vowed never to return to India) and just being there for one another, doing whatever they can to support each other. It’s both painful and heart-meltingly beautiful.

Speaking of India, a large part of this story takes place there and I loved that we at last get to see Jack interacting with that part of his heritage (his mother was Indian, his father, Australian) and communicating in both Hindi and his mother’s language, Malayalam. The author does a terrific job with her setting here, vividly describing the sights and sounds of breathless chases through the streets of Mumbai, a road trip to Goa and the overnight train to Kerala.

Although Jack and Ethan are apart for most of the first half of the book, they’re never far from each other’s thoughts and their emotional connection is stronger than ever, Ethan drawing strength from the knowledge that Jack really sees him and not Ethan Blade the assassin, Jack finally understanding that he doesn’t have to be alone any more. I liked watching Ethan becoming comfortable around Jack’s family and friends – especially his growing friendship with Lewis, Jack’s colleague and best friend – and when the blanks were filled in about the Cabal and what they did to Ethan and his siblings to turn them into killing machines, I was captivated and horrified (it’s not pretty.) Given everything that happened to him, Ethan insisting on making his own choices and living according to his own moral code is really impressive. His dynamic with Four and Ten and with the Doctor is oddly compelling in its sheer ugliness, a stark contrast to the loving – if uneasy – relationship between Jack and his family.

Rowan Scott has delivered excellent performance after excellent performance throughout this series. His interpretations of Jack and Ethan are absolute perfection, skilfully conveying Jack’s easy charm and passionate nature and Ethan’s more reserved personality and dry humour. In the way of the very best audio performers, he gets inside their heads and under their skin and has made them his own so that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else speaking L.J. Hayward’s words. I already loved Jack and Ethan after reading the books in print, but Mr. Scott takes things to another level, rounding out every facet of their complex personalities and imbuing their conversations and thoughts with a wide range of real, deeply-felt emotion. He captures the humour, the pathos, the tenderness and the passion, bringing a real sense of drama and urgency to the action scenes and rendering the deep emotional connection between Jack and Ethan with absolute perfection. I’ve talked a lot in other reviews about his portrayal of Ethan – sigh – but his Jack is every bit as good; fierce, loyal, funny, affectionate, and vulnerable in his way as Ethan is in his. There’s a fairly large secondary cast across the series, all of whom have been delineated clearly and distinctly using a good variety of accent and timbre; the pacing is spot on, and the love scenes are just the right mix of sexy and tender. These are audiobooks I know I’m going to return to again and again, not least because of this brilliant set of performances.

When Death Frees the Devil is a fantastic series finale – full of superbly written action set-pieces and edge-of-the-seat excitement, tying up all the loose ends and delivering a hard won, lasting HEA for Jack and Ethan. The epilogue is swoonworthy (although I couldn’t help wishing they’d both decided to hang up their spurs and raise alpacas or something) and Ethan’s last words are just The Best. This is one of my all-time favourite series and I’m so grateful to L.J. Hayward for creating Jack and Ethan and their adventures, and to Rowan Scott for bringing them so vividly to life. Bravi!

Caz

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