Synopsis:

His brother has thrown himself under the eight o’clock freight train, or so he’s been told.

Felix is heartbroken, mystified, and above all else: deeply suspicious. His gut screams foul play.

The black sheep of a wealthy, respected family in New Orleans, Felix knows his gut is untested, naïve, addled by drugs and self-doubt. Who will believe him? Should he even trust himself?

As the Mardi Gras season descends on the city, Felix will have to find a way. His purpose is, for once, very clear: to find out who, or what, caused his big brother to die in such heinous circumstances, no matter what it takes.

But there are shadowy forces at work. As he gets in over his head, he’ll need the help of a garrulous police detective, the family’s ancient butler, and a massive pork fortune, all in order to fight his way to the bottom of things.

Will he live up to the family name and avenge his brother? Find out in part one of a hard-boiled detective series set in the Big Easy.

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This audiobook was sat in my TBL list for far too long and I’m gutted it took me so long to get to it because it was the perfect roadtrip listen over Christmas. For the first time ever, I managed to convince Mike, my beloved Beefcake, to share his thoughts on an audiobook we listened to together.

Set during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, it felt like an extra character in this dark thriller. Felix, the disappointing son from a rich and dysfunctional family, is grieving the death of his brother from an apparent suicide until he starts to suspect that all might not be as it seems and starts investigating what really happened. He puts himself in some dangerous situations but thanks to the grumpy detective Melancon and his family butler, he manages to survive his own poor choices and uncover the truth.

The characters were all interesting and complicated, I particularly liked Tomas’ the butler’s characters though I found I was often yelling at Felix for doing idiotically dangerous things.

The narrator, Gary Bennett, was a revelation – his character voices were spectacular and felt like an entire cast. He really added a sense of suspense to a slow burn which I think I personally would have struggled to read on my own.

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‘The character development was really good by the story progression was slow with a chaotically quick ending.
The narrator was fantastic, the character voices and accent were really good and made the most of the story.’

~ Beefcake