Kill Without Shame (Ares Security, #2)

by Alexandra Ivy

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

I was very excited to get back into the world of ARES Security and the brothers of a sort that run it. This series follows five guys who became friends while in a Taliban prison. They endured hell which has made them closer than brothers could ever be. Now they all use their skills to keep the people in America safe from other Americans.

Lucas St. Clair came from an elite family. They expected him to one day run for government. His family has very strict rules for how a family should be and how one should present itself. Lucas wants nothing to do with that. He got really tired of his family always frowning at everything he wanted. Now he just wants to do his job with his friends. He isn’t happy when he is drawn back into town when a old friend from high school is killed. Tony was not only dead, but he was found with a picture of Lucas’s old girlfriend, Mia.

Mia is very much blue collar girl. She grew up in the wrong part of Louisiana swamps. She was very embarrassed by her alcoholic father and trashy yard. Even when she was in school, she knew that she wasn’t good enough for Lucas (even though Lucas didn’t believe that for a moment). Now, she is all grown up and has taken her father’s lawn mowing business and turned it into a very successful landscaping business.

This story has a great mystery in how they go about trying to figure out who killed Tony. There is also some great investigation in how some other people are tied to this case. In addition to Lucas and Mia, there is a romance between two secondary characters, Max the detective and Taylor, and single mother that works for Mia in the office.

While I’m a really big fan of reading a series in order, those of you that are not bothered by reading out of order can start with this book. The story is mostly stand alone and I think Ms. Ivy does a great job of bringing in the details you need for that were given in the first book. If you like a romantic suspense/murder mystery, this is a great choice.

Narration
I’m a huge fan of Jim Frangione. I started listening to him with Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I’ve been very pleased with several books that i’ve listened to since I first found him. I will mention that I felt a little bit like I was back in the BDB world at the beginning of this book with the characters talking “shitkickers” and saying “True that.” Luckily, that didn’t stick around for long and I was back in the headspace for ARES. I’ve known some people who don’t like Frangione’s women’s voices, but I don’t mind them. I do like him for alpha male type characters. I also think he is great with pace and tone.

**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.