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  • A Friend in the Fire

  • An Auden & O'Callaghan Mystery, Book 2
  • By: C.S. Poe, Gregory Ashe
  • Narrated by: Garrett Kiesel
  • Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (12 ratings)
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A Friend in the Fire cover art

A Friend in the Fire

By: C.S. Poe, Gregory Ashe
Narrated by: Garrett Kiesel
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Summary

After solving the mystery behind the death of his former friend in July, ex-Army Sam Auden has been aimlessly wandering the country. Everything had gone sideways in New York City, so when his phone rings three months later, the caller is the last person Sam expected to be asking for help.

Confidential informant Rufus O’Callaghan has been struggling. His NYPD contact was murdered over the summer, and the man Rufus is head over heels for was driven away by his own undiagnosed trauma. But when he receives an anonymous letter that promises information on his mother, life goes from dark to dangerous in the blink of an eye.

Sam and Rufus must dig into Rufus’s rough and turbulent past in order to solve a series of contemporary murders connected to his mother. And if the two can’t expose who the killer is in time, they will most certainly become his next targets.

©2021 C.S. Poe, Gregory Ashe (P)2021 C.S. Poe, Gregory Ashe

What listeners say about A Friend in the Fire

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Enjoyable Story

The story premise is good and the characters are likeable. The narration was good too.

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  • Overall
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Rufus and Sam do good

Ashe and Poe continue with Rufus and Sam and I for one am glad. They have good souls.
This is a very good crime story with some interesting and some unpleasant characters which creates a page turner that is both sad and evil. It also reveals some of Rufus' back story as a child so we now have insight into the man he is today. This leads us to the continuation of Sam and Rufus' relationship building where each has to expose some of their vulnerabilities in order to let the other one in and Garett Kiesel narrates this beautifully
This series has more to give.

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Back together

I wasn’t thrilled with the way book 1 ended. Yes, Sam had his reasons for walking away from Rufus, but it hurt my heart. Of course I could see it was the first in a series – and I know Gregory Ashe’s propensity for putting his protagonists through Hell - so I knew there was a reunion in the offing.

Sam’s gone wandering again and winds up at the Pretty Pretty in Wuarenda – a town I am familiar with thanks to Ashe’s other series, Hazard and Somerset. Nice to see some old friends, if only for a quick visit. Sam’s not coping well, and I keep trying to want to fix him even though I know he’s got to do it himself. He’s soon drawn back to NYC and Rufus (yay!) but they’re investigating the death of Rufus’ mother almost twenty years ago. Talik about a trail gone cold.

Rufus has to relive much of his trauma from those early years and that was tough. As the men try to find answers, they’re trying to stay one step ahead of the police and one step ahead of the killer they seem to have poked into restarting his murders.

The mystery is good, of course, but it was Sam and Rufus who carried my attention. Oh, and the dénouement was pretty, uh, gruesome. I’m hoping there’ll be more books in the series as I’m hoping to see both men farther along on the path to recovery.

Finally, I’m enjoying Garrett Kiesel’s narration of the series and I’ll be happy to see him continue.

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Serial Killers and Past Secrets

The Auden and O’Callaghan Mystery series needs to be read in order. Each book builds from the previous and are not standalones. A Friend in the Fire picks up a few months later after A Friend in the Dark ends. Sam and Rufus are separated, but when danger comes sniffing around Rufus, all it takes is one phone call to bring Sam running back to help Rufus out.

The writing team of Gregory Ashe and C.S. Poe has turned out another wonderful addition to the Auden and O’Callaghan Mysteries. The writing style for the book was smooth and of high quality—it’s easy to tell that both Ashe and Poe are masters of their craft. They’ve created such intriguing and dynamic characters with depth and flaws. The romance between Sam and Rufus is far from the fluffy, insta-love tropes, but instead borders almost into a slow-burn. Their relationship is intense with a gritty edge that translates so well into passion. The mystery plot line was full of twists and turn with action and suspense. I really enjoyed it.

The audiobook was narrated by Garrett Kiesal, a new-to-me narrator. He narrated the first book in the series as well as this one. He did a nice job and I can tell he improved from the first book. I liked how he was able to change his voice and make it versatile for Rufus. I hope Garrett narrates the rest of the books in this series, because he did really well voicing the main characters.

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