A Solitary Man

By: Shira Anthony, Aisling Mancy

Narrated by: Jim Pelletier

Sparks fly when Chance meets tall, sexy Xav at a Wilmington bar and they have the hottest one-nighter of their lives. But Chance doesn't do repeats, Xav seems detached, and they go their separate ways without a word. Later, when closeted assistant district attorney C. Evan "Chance" Fairchild meets Dare's Landing's newest deputy sheriff, Xavier "Xav" Constantine, Evan isn't only wary. He's irritated as hell.

Xavier is a former FBI agent turned deputy sheriff who is hot on the trail of a South American child prostitution ring. Evan is fighting to put an end to rampant cocaine trafficking and chafing under the thumb of an election-hungry boss. When someone tries to kill the 11-year-old witness who holds the key to both their investigations, they're forced to work together as they put their lives on the line to protect him. As Chance and Xav collide in the heat of a sweltering North Carolina summer, dodging bullets and chasing bad guys isn't the only action going on.

©2015 Shira Anthony, Aisling Mancy (P)2017 Dreamspinner Press

Heart-wrenching sexy mystery suspense

If you could sum up A Solitary Man in three words, what would they be?

Gripping, chilling, sexy

What other book might you compare A Solitary Man to and why?

I think it compared some to the Cole McGinnis Mysteries by Rhys Ford

Have you listened to any of Jim Pelletier’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't think so.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The book kept me on the edge of my seat. I held my breath a few times and yes I cried some as well.

Any additional comments?

The forward and Author's note at the beginning of the book sent chills down my spine. This book is a work of fiction but based on some actual events and things officers deal with.
I need to warn you that there are some very graphic descriptions of child sexual abuse and slave trafficking (which take place off-page) that are particularly gut wrenching.

Chance meets Xav at a bar and sparks fly. Little does he know that Xav is the new deputy working on a missing children's case . Xav is just as surprised when Chance walks in introduced as Evan, Assistant DA working on drug trafficking.
I am not going to tell you more since it will be spoilers and I want you to enjoy the mystery as it unravels.
The characters are intense, sexy, some funny and all fit their parts so well. the story is a good mystery suspense with lots of twists and turns. There is a little bit of romance between the two main characters and it is explosive when they do come together.
If you like Mystery/suspense, harsh topics, and some hot man-sex you will love this book.

Fantastic story with an okay narration

Chance meets Xav one night in a bar and they connect immediately. Hot – super inferno hot – sexy times but they never expect to meet again. Imagine their chagrin when they end up working together on a child prostitution ring and drug smuggling case.

Chance, aka Evan, is an in the closet ADA for a smallish town in North Carolina. He’s doing his job to clean up the streets. Drugs have affected his life in a very bad way, and he’s determined to do what he can to stop them from hurting others. He has demons that keep him up at night and he lives a life not “open” to the idea of a gay ADA. He’s amazingly attracted to Xav, but also tormented by his very existence.

Xav has seen bad case after bad case. He vows that if he’s even able to save one missing child he’ll feel good about all the danger he puts himself into and the “life” he gives up by fighting so hard for them.

As things heat up and the two get closer to making connections to bust the ring, their relationship changes and their lives get more in danger.

**

WOW.

I have to pause and breathe because this story was so unbelievably moving.

The child stuff is hard. I won’t lie. Parents, aunts, uncles…. Really anybody will be moved by the fate of these kids. The authors said that while not specifically true it’s based on true stories. That alone will chill your bones.

Aside from the very exciting and sometimes terrifying case that Xav and Chance solve, the romance is also moving and so very sweet.

Xav is such a great hero. He stands up for what he believes and refuses to bend – even when that bites him in the ass.

Chance starts off as such a prickly bastard but by the end he’s so ooey gooey sweet that you want to hug and kiss on him over and over.

I loved these guys together. I loved that they TALKED to one another. I loved that when things got rough, Chance’s first call was to his shrink. Amid all the terrible-ness they took into account very real emotions and dealt with them. I found that so refreshing!

This story felt so REAL to me. Sadly in some ways, but awesome in others. I loved the Gabe- Twyla and the wholesome goodness what was Winston. The bad guys (to be named later) are really bad and the ending was almost not good enough for them – they really need to suffer!

I can’t say enough great things about this and I highly recommend it – but be prepared with a hug for your kid and some Kleenex – cuz you’ll need them both.

6 of 5 stars

Audio

I was so disappointed by this. Ok, that’s not fair. I was a bit disappointed. On the one hand, it’s a fair way to listen to this and it wasn’t hard to get through. On the other hand this book had so much potential with a wide variety of characters with such unique personalities and the narrator - - who is new to me – didn’t do as much with it as he could have.

He does give some southern accents here and there and he reads well, but in general, this was uninspiring and I LOVED the book – I wanted to be inspired by the narration, too!

I still recommend this – it’s a great way to experience this story if you haven’t already read it.

4 of 5 stars

Overall 5 of 5 stars

Mejor solo en ebook

No me ha gustado el narrador. Tenía una voz bonita, y la parte narrativa la hacía bastante bien; mi problema ha sido con las voces. Supongo que pretendía que se notase cuándo estaba narrando y cuando hacía la voz de un personaje, y la mejor forma que se le debió ocurrir fue hacerles tartamudear a TODOS, TODO el tiempo. Rara es la frase de un personaje que no empiece con un tartamudeo, y no se limita solo al inicio de la frase. Tampoco me pareció que consiguiera los tonos, sobre todo al principio del libro. Todos los personajes parecían sobresaltados o sobreexcitados todo el tiempo, independientemente del tono que se suponía que debían tener. Sinceramente queda muy raro que el personaje hable como un niño excitado y después el narrador te diga... "dijo con frialdad"... ¿eing?. Reconozco que consigue algo muy difícil, que es dar cierta diferencia a las voces de los personajes (aunque prácticamente no me gustara ninguna). Hace relativamente fácil seguir la narración, y no solo diferenciar cuando alguien habla (que no siempre es fácil), sino que además, más o menos, puedes saber quién está hablando. ¿Cómo consigue hacer eso y que al mismo tiempo todos suenen igual todo el tiempo (sobresaltados)? Aún me lo estoy preguntando. Por último el acento; no voy a decir que estuviera mal, porque no tengo ni idea, pero me hacía rechinar los dientes con algunos personajes, aparte de que entenderles era una odisea.

Solid story

A Solitary Man was an intense book. I kind of also want to say that it was horrible. But not in the way you might think - the writing was great, I loved the characters and the plot was a great one. An important one. But it's also what makes it so horrible. This book is very mystery focused, the romance is not the important part or does it play a huge roll. What does play a huge roll is human trafficking, rescuing missing boys believed to have been sold into the sex trade and smuggled out of the country. Dealing with the reality, the futility, the hopelessness, and the aftermath if it all. That's why I said it was horrible. Reading stuff like this, knowing that it's not fiction – oh the book is fiction, but sadly this kind of thing does happen every day and all over the world. It's scary and humbling and I admire the people who are out there fighting for the victims and putting their lives in danger, in the hopes to save just one. Because we never do get everybody home safe - do we?

Jim Pelletier wasn’t the best choice of narrator for this book. Sure he had different voices and even some accents. I do love different accents in narrations, they add another level to the narration - and it helps distinguish between different characters. It still wasn’t enough though. At times it felt like Pelletier was over-acting, it didn’t feel natural and was a bit much that it felt unbelievable. In turn it made the character unbelievable and it threw me off and out of the story. It made me focus on the narration instead of the story unfolding. Which was a shame, because the story truly deserves all the attention it can get – and then some.

A Solitary Man is well worth a read or listen, it is a heart-breaking story. But there’s also hope and a will to fight the evil in the world. So while painful, it’s a story that I highly recommend.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A Solitary Man

When a FBI case to save young boys from a sex trafficking network goes wrong, Xavier resigns and heads to North Carolina to take a with the sheriff's department. Before starting his job, Xavier heads to a bar and picks up a guy for a hook-up. The night is hotter than either man expects, but that one night is all they're going to have. The department Xavier works for is different than expected, but the work becomes very familiar. It doesn't take long before Xavier is finding more clues and missing boys linking to his FBI case. And, to Xavier's surprise, the man he hooked up with is closeted Assistant District Attorney Evan. Evan is not happy to find out that his one night stand is the new deputy, but he does what he does best and shuts it all down and pretends it doesn't exist. And, Evan doesn't have time for Xavier, he's too busy trying to please his power hungry boss and to figure out how the cocaine is coming into their town.

This is a difficult story with sex trafficking and I thought the author did a great job with it. Though this isn't a true story, it's definitely one that is more common than many of us would like to acknowledge. Child sex trafficking is a big issue and I commend the author for tackling such a difficult subject.

As to the characters, I had a hard time with Evan's character. It was just hard to understand how someone who wants to do so much good in the world, could be such a pawn to his boss like he was. I could certainly understand his closeted behavior, it's the south! I liked Xavier. He didn't let anyone stop him from doing what needed to be done. He didn't care who it was, he would speak his mind and for a man in his position, that's exactly the behavior I would expect. And, I loved that he went into his new position unwilling to hide who he was.

This story is narrated by Jim Pelletier, and honestly, something about it didn't work for me. This was a complicated story with many twists and turns, but I spent more time thinking about the narrator and less time focusing on the story. I can't say exactly what about the narrator and this story did not work for me, but it definitely didn't. I feel like this is a story that I would really like but I just wasn't able to focus on the story itself.

Though I wasn't a fan of the audio, this is a book that I'm going to read and see if that makes a difference. This story has all the things I love to read (well, I'm not a fan of child abuse of any kind, but you know what I'm saying), and I feel that reading the book would allow me to focus on the story. With the premise and what happens to the boys in this story, I should have been in tears, but I wasn't so I know my emotions wasn't engaged in this audio. Once I read the book, I'll give the audio another chance to see if that makes a difference in how I feel about it.

Overall: 4 stars
Performance: 3.5 stars
Story: 4 stars

ANNOYED

What disappointed you about A Solitary Man?

Characters did not fit with the idea of the story. Xan and Chance are very one dimensional but I really could not listen to the narrator! He had 5 voices and that was all. I wanted to delete it from my library but then I would have nothing to listen to while at work.

Would you ever listen to anything by Shira Anthony and Aisling Mancy again?

no!

How did the narrator detract from the book?

yes!

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment. The idea of the book is great but there were so many wholes.

Any additional comments?

I want a refund!