Body Count

Happy release day to this spin-off from the perspective of one of the messiest characters in the entirety of the Hazardverse (and GA veterans know there's no lack of gargantuan messes to sift through)!

- Buy direct: https://shop.gregoryashe.com/b/sfZAG
- Audiobook (narrated by Greg Tremblay): https://www.audible.com/pd/Body-Count-Audiobook/B0F6DT9JMW

Suggested reading order: after all three Hazard & Somerset arcs (H&S Mysteries, Union of Swords, Arrows in the Hand) and The Evening Wolves (Iron on Iron #4)

- List of CWs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-4poLMcuCtu5p8C-SqDygXCUsZ9sp9Jgj2qIEHVz_qM/edit?tab=t.0#bookmark=id.a8j9boi139wf

—–
[4.4~4.5] One of the highest compliments I can dole out to Gray Dulac in an attempt to encapsulate his no-limits, fratboy, noir-esque cynicality and self-deprecation is the mirages of Nick Nowak, protagonist of the incredible Boystown series, that I saw in his wake. Dulac's younger in many ways, arguably more self-aware in some, but their similarities are ever prominent in the directional shifts: the prolonged fall, adrift and lost for too long and with little means to cope, to meanderingly slow rise, from bitter venom to golden drops of elusive hope.

GA enacts an impressive display of the duality of man by penning this at the same time as his cozies. It's as if everything he's been holding back found their outlet in a cathartic rush. The angst, the grit, the swearing - a dam burst so painful and delightfully familiar, a flood relieved to spew unrestrained at last. No punches were pulled in the making of this book, much to Dulac's chagrin. So much so that you'll do well to heed the first two sentences of the blurb.

The case in parallel sets Dulac on a stuttering trot across a field of thorns to the land of self-reflection. While at times nebulous on the logistics, the mystery held me in rapt attention. I loved the tie-ins, the situations Dulac was led into, the creeping doubts. Taking flawed characters to their limits is where GA's stories excel, and this was no exception. I'm already wearing the edge of my seat for the official release of Dulac's Story Part 2, and sincerely hope a certain other individual gets to tell his story in the future.

Thank you to the author for providing a complimentary copy of this book; this is my honest review :)

——pre-release thoughts——

From what I've read of the serialization so far, this book is a dangerously compelling character study into a broken soul that redefines rock bottom. It's also been personally the roughest for me to digest in all its difficult themes and graphic depictions - no ifs, ands, or buts about it. To be honest, I don't know if I'd be able to read this again without a narrator holding my hand through it. I'll be here desperately waiting to learn who the narrator is of this far-off audiobook