Game Misconduct by Ari Baran

Narrated by Cooper North

Game Misconduct is the first book in the new Penalty Box series, and is Ari Baran’s début novel for Carina Press. It’s an angsty enemies-to-lovers, newbie/veteran romance set in the world of professional hockey in which both protagonists are ‘enforcers’ – which I understand to be defence players whose job often involves beating up members of the opposing team. I’m going to say right now that my knowledge of ice hockey has been gleaned entirely from hockey romances, so a lot of the ‘hockey stuff’ here went right over my head. Some reviews I’ve seen have indicated that on-ice violence is going out of fashion these days.

Anyway. We have two D-men from opposing teams, one – Mike Sato – at the beginning of his career and the other – Daniel Garcia – nearing the end, who are massive on-ice rivals and make a point of throwing down the gloves and throwing punches at every opportunity. Mike is a pretty angry guy even when he’s off the ice, it seems; he’s smaller than most defencemen and even though he’s only two years into his NHL career, he’s resigned himself to being a ‘goon’ for the rest of his career – which is fine because it’s all he’s good for anyway. Danny, on the other hand is a lot more laid-back; he’s just a couple of years away from retirement and is determined to hang in there for as long as his worn-out body will let him. He’s been using drugs and alcohol to take away the pain of his multiple injuries for years and although he’s still managing to hide his addiction from his teammates and coaches, it’s clear to the listener that it’s even odds as to whether his body will give out or the drugs and booze will do for him.

Mike is on his way home from a pretty crap night out when he notices a guy lighting a cigarette in an alley behind a restaurant, a big, burly guy with wavy dark hair who is exactly the type Mike goes for… or would be if it wasn’t for the fact that the guy is Daniel Garcia. Mike knows he should just walk away, but because he’s been drinking for hours – mostly alone – and he’s miserable and angry, he starts yelling and gets up in Garcia’s face. Daniel’s calm, somewhat amused response only enrages Mike further – but their encounter doesn’t end in the way Mike had expected when, after a few vicious punches, Garcia sinks to his knees and gives Mike possibly the best blow job of his life. The only thing in Mike’s head after he comes is “What the fuck?” (I have to say, I agreed with him on that!)

A few months later, Mike is watching a game on TV and decides to give Garcia some shit via his Instagram. He doesn’t expect a reply – and he curses the tiny voice in his head that hopes for one.

Daniel doesn’t quite understand why Mike has started trash-talking him in DMs and he doesn’t really know how to respond, so he doesn’t. Until he does.

What follows is a kind of long-distance relationship that develops mostly through texts, phone conversations and face-time sessions and the occasional face-to-face encounter when their schedules permit. This feels realistic; maintaining any kind of relationship when you’re constantly on the move is difficult, so Mike and Danny making time for each other in this way shows how much they are coming to mean to each other. On the downside, it means they’re not physically together for much of the book, but they do communicate pretty well once they’ve got past the shit-talking stage and start really talking to each other.

[Speaking of physical togetherness, there’s a content warning at the beginning for “under-negotiated kink”, because these two like it rough – slapping, hitting, biting – and there’s no advance discussion of it or of limits. It’s clear the violence is welcome on both sides, and that had one of them been uncomfortable with it, it would not have continued.]

Game Misconduct isn’t a light-hearted listen; the road to an HFN for these two is filled with pain – physical and mental – rage, doubt and addiction, but the author also builds a really strong connection between them, one full of genuine, deep affection and joy at slowly discovering each other after so much anger and rivalry. One of my favourite parts of the story is when Danny challenges Mike about the trajectory of his career, telling him he’s got so much potential he’s not using and that he’s a far better player than even he thinks he is. When Danny suggests an intensive regimen of extra drills and practices, Mike scoffs at first… but then, conceding that maybe Danny has seen something in him even the coaches haven’t, Mike decides to give it a try. His playing improves in leaps and bounds and he’s moved up to second line where he can play more and fight less – and he also realises that many of his anger issues stemmed from frustration that he wasn’t happy with the way he was playing and felt he wasn’t being developed by the people who were supposed to nurture his career.

But as his star is rising, Mike is becoming increasingly worried about Danny and the dependency on alcohol and drugs he’s continuing to hide from everyone else around him. He realises Danny has deliberately cut himself off from his family – who love him and are equally concerned for him – because he doesn’t want them to know, or to see how physically broken and exhausted he is. Mike doesn’t know what to do – he knows the first step is for Danny to admit he has a problem, but Danny doesn’t seem ready to do that, and he can’t bear the thought of watching the man he’s coming to love continue to destroy himself without trying to help. I appreciated that the author doesn’t have Danny magically ‘cured’ by love, and that his decision to make a change is just that, his decision, made after really listening and accepting that the people he loves are genuinely worried about him and that he deserves to get better.

But there are also a few things here that didn’t work all that well for me. Mike is so angry all the time for no apparent reason, and his animosity towards Danny seems over the top, seeing that, like Mike, he’s just doing his job. Then there are a few things that happen off page – such as the early conversations between Mike and Danny that show their changing relationship – that should have been on the page. And while their romance actually turns out to be quite tender and, at times, rather sweet, I couldn’t get on board with the violent sex. I’m not kink-shaming, it’s just not my thing and given the amount of violence in the rest of the book, I could have done without it in the bedroom. Danny underplaying the dangers of a concussion seemed really odd for someone who should, surely, know exactly what those dangers are, and the ending is a bit rushed – there’s a definite HFN but the story ends just as Danny has decided to seek treatment.

This is a fairly long book by romance standards, clocking in at ten hours and twenty minutes of audio, but Cooper North’s fabulous narration had me hooked from first til last and the hours just flew by! His performance is expressive, well paced and clearly differentiated; in addition to the two leads, there’s a fairly large secondary cast of team-mates and family members, all of whom are voiced distinctly, using a good variety of tone and accent. Mr. North’s interpretations of the two leads are spot on, and their deep emotional connection is expertly realised and conveyed to the audience. Mike’s voice is pitched higher than Danny’s, which points to their different physicalities, and there’s an energy to Mike’s dialogue that highlights his constant restlessness and his anger, and which contrasts really well with Danny’s slower, more relaxed manner. The humour is nicely played and the more emotional parts of the story are finely nuanced.

I enjoyed Game Misconduct in spite of my reservations, and will probably pick up the next book in the series, especially if Cooper North is on board for the audio.

Note: Mike’s flatmate Bee (Beatrice) plays for the same team as he does, which puzzled me. Are there mixed hockey teams, or is it just a bit of wish fulfilment? She’s a great character and a great friend to Mike, but given the sheer physicality of the game (and in this book, I swear there’s more fighting than hockey!) having a woman on the ‘front line’ who is also an ‘all star’ felt implausible. Maybe someone more knowledgeable about hockey can enlighten me!

Caz

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