4.5

Closure at last. After discovering all the atrocities that had been going on in that damned hick town for decades, however, I can only say the taste of this ‘victory’ is bittersweet — but mostly bitter. My thirst for revenge, for the pained, terror-filled screams of those POS bastards when they got the taste of their own medicine had been left unquenched and I am not fine with that.

I understand what happened here. I know it had to happen this way. But I am not ok, and I’ve got a tension headache now.

Also, this book was just too damn long. I can’t believe I’m saying this because I like long books, and I love GA’s writing so much that I’d happily read his shopping list, but 600 pages is pushing it, especially for a book in a series, and some parts were a little tedious.

[On that note, can books 2 and 3 of Flint and Tinder be 600 pages each, please? ( )

4.75 Stars
This is one of the most intense stories I've read in a while, with both Emery and John-Henry dealing with the pains of their pasts and presents, and Mickey Grames.

Grames is one of the most awful, awful creatures to ever grace the pages of a book. If he was ever human is questionable. On the one hand we never get more of his background than how it intersected with Emery and John's, so if there were things in his home life (abusive parents/sibling/family) or if he is just one of those people who genuinely never develop empathy for others that hampered in his development, we'll never know. On the other hand, this is one of those situations where maybe it just doesn't matter in the end. What he does to both men he does just because he can and enjoys himself.

While Grames' death is no where as poetic as I would have liked, it still had a nice finality to it that is satisfying.

As for Emery & John. Those two have martyr leanings of the worst kind and communication problems up the wazoo, but are still better together than they are apart.

Emery's quitting the police force fits in with his need for peace, because as John keeps noting, at heart he's a very gentle person. His reasons are good too (I wouldn't want to work for Naomi either!). I think he'll make a good father in the future, though I'm not sure we'll actually see their future, since I get the sense that Mr. Ashe is done with the story he wanted to tell with these two men. His running around searching for clues while John is being tortured is its own form of torture to read, but the closure is as important as the finale for this story. I was getting a bit annoyed, but I understand why Mr. Ashe structured it that way.

John is awesome. To live through the torture Mickey puts him through and all the crap that piece of offal talks about and still manages to win is wonderful. However, it does not quite mitigate the stupidity of going off on his own in the first place and not communicating with Emery about Mickey's demands.

I've really enjoyed the journey with Emery Hazard and John-Henry Somers. It will be a while before I reread this particular book, but the whole series is good and well worth another read. ( )

[3.3-3.4] After the series-long allusion to the pervasive treachery in this godforsaken town and the hidden truths of the past, it’s only fitting for the final book of this half of H&S shenanigans to take a deep dive into their trauma for real answers. The past catches up to them but things are not quite what they seem ( )

These guys and their TBI, that's all I could keep thinking. This book was crazy, like action overload to the point where I missed what makes this series great. The quieter puzzle pieces and the process itself.

Don't get me wrong it was still very satisfying! But I probably prefer the prior 3 books overall.

I know I have some shorts to go (and apparently a second series?), but I desperately need to get the fuck out of Wahredua... But of course these two are enough to keep me there. Sigh.

I give the whole series a 4 for the writing and characters. Overall, the loose threads through the series were well done, just within the series there was some inconsistent suspense, which I can forgive.

This series has its problems, but what an ending!
This particular book was hard to read because of all graphic content and so much hate.
Also I liked that at the end no one proposed, but it's clear that they have a big future ahead of them.
Now I want to read a book about sheriff's son and his husband. ( )