Long Past Dues & Last to Leave the Room

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher
Narrator: James Patrick Cronin
Series: The Unorthodox Chronicles #2
Published by Berkley Publishing Group, Penguin Random House Audio on October 10, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Urban
Length: 11 hours 15 minutes
Pages: 416
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon | Audible | B&N | Kobo | Libro.fm

Grimsby, the newest Auditor in the magical Department of Unorthodox Affairs, finds himself in hot water when he intercepts a friend’s case in this fast-paced and thrilling urban fantasy.

Against all odds, Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby has become an Auditor, enforcing laws about magic for Boston’s Department of Unorthodox Affairs. But Grimsby soon realizes the daily grind of his job is far removed from the glamour he imagined. Overlooked for every exciting case, Grimsby tires of being told to handle mundane magical troubles, and appropriates a case file intended for a friend.

Alongside Leslie Mayflower, the temporarily unretired Huntsman, Grimsby aims to crack the case and discover the origin of a strange, unfinished ritual—one that seems to imitate the handiwork of a foe Mayflower put down twenty years ago.

Together, they’ll have to deal with escaped werewolves, a cursed artifact, and a perilous journey to the mysterious subterranean city below Boston, all to uncover the shocking truth. At any cost, Grimsby must stop this ritual from finally being completed. Yet the cost may be paid not by himself but by his friends. . . .

I had a great time with this book! I really enjoyed the first book in this series so I was eager to give this second book a try and I am pleased to report that I was not disappointed. Grimsby finally has the job of Auditor that he has always wanted but things are not nearly as glamorous as he had hoped for. Desperate for a real case, he grabs one meant for another Auditor and gets Mayflower to help him out. Of course, things ended up getting much more complicated from there.

There were a lot of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end and I grew to like this group of characters even more as the story progressed. I found this book to be very exciting with plenty of action to keep things very interesting. I really liked the magic of the world and thought that those elements added a lot to the overall story. The relationship between Grimsby and Mayflower has evolved a bit and I liked seeing Grimsby become more of a leader.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that James Patrick Cronin did a wonderful job with the story. I have enjoyed this narrator’s work in the past and believe that he has a very pleasant voice. I liked the various voices that he used to help bring the cast of characters to life. I am certain that his narration added to my overall enjoyment of this book.

I would definitely recommend this book to others. This is the second book in The Unorthodox Chronicles which is a series that really should be read in order if at all possible. I found this installment to be very entertaining and I cannot wait for book 3!

I received a review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group and Penguin Random House Audio.

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling
Narrator: Xe Sands
Published by Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press on October 10, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Horror, Fiction / Thrillers / Supernatural
Length: 11 hours 51 minutes
Pages: 320
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon | Audible | B&N | Kobo | Libro.fm

Last to Leave the Room is a new novel of genre-busting speculative horror from Caitlin Starling, the acclaimed author of The Death of Jane Lawrence.

The city of San Siroco is sinking. The basement of Dr. Tamsin Rivers, the arrogant, selfish head of the research team assigned to find the source of the subsidence, is sinking faster.

As Tamsin becomes obsessed with the distorting dimensions of the room at the bottom of the stairs, she finds a door that didn’t exist before - and one night, it opens to reveal an exact physical copy of her. This doppelgänger is sweet and biddable where Tamsin is calculating and cruel. It appears fully, terribly human, passing every test Tamsin can devise. But the longer the double exists, the more Tamsin begins to forget pieces of her life, to lose track of time, to grow terrified of the outside world.

With her employer growing increasingly suspicious, Tamsin must try to hold herself together long enough to figure out what her double wants from her, and just where the mysterious door leads...

I had a fantastic time with this book! I really liked The Death of Jane Lawrence when I read it last year so I was eager to give this book a try and I liked this book just as much. I was hooked by this story from the beginning and was curious about what might be happening to Dr. Rivers. I love that the story left me questioning everything and I found it to be a very entertaining read.

The city of San Siroco is sinking and Dr. Tamsin Rivers is trying to figure out why. Her basement seems to be sinking even more than the rest of the city and a mysterious door has appeared. When she meets her doppelgänger, she does not know what to think but things start to go horribly wrong as they spend more time together. I had a great time trying to figure out how everything fit together. The story kept me guessing until the very end with plenty of twists and turns along the way, including a few really big surprises.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Xe Sands did an amazing job with this story. I really felt like I was there with the characters experiencing this story. I thought that she did a fantastic job of bringing these characters to life by adding just the right amount of emotion to her reading. I know that her performance added to my enjoyment of this story.

I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a rather unique story that blended the genres of horror, science fiction, and thriller quite nicely. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of this author’s work in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press.

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