TEST
Note: This is the thirteenth full-length novel in the Hazard and Somerset series, so new readers are advised not to start here. There are spoilers for the previous books in this review.
I think, if I had to write a one-word review of Gregory Ashe’s Custody Battles, it would be OUCH. I spent most of the time reading it with my insides tied up in knots, and even when they were able to unknot a little, I knew that wouldn’t be the end of it.
Things are already fraught when the book begins, as Hazard and Somers are getting ready to host dinner for friends and family – the family including Somers’ parents, neither of whom is shy about making known their disappointment in him. Adding to Somers’ already heightened tension is the fact that Cole – the teen he and Hazard are now fostering (see Relative Justice) – absolutely hates him, for no reason that Somers can fathom. Somers has been friendly and reasonable, but no matter what he says or does, Colt is completely hostile – and while Somers recognises that Colt has had a crappy time of it and that he’s a vulnerable kid, he can’t help feeling bewildered, hurt and, sometimes, resentful. The quiet evenings watching TV and eating takeout with his husband he’d been looking forward to have gone out the window, and Somers can’t help but feel – at times – as though he’s being pushed aside. He knows it’s ridiculous to feel that way – he’s a grown man and can be adult about the situation, but… those feelings are there nonetheless.
Things go from bad to worse later that evening, when Colt’s deadbeat dad Danny Ballantyne shows up and confronts Somers, threatening to petition to get custody of Cole back unless Somers pays him to go away. Somers knows – he knows – it’s dumb to think he’ll go and stay away – but on top of everything else – Colt’s hatred, his parents’ condescending disapproval, his feeling that things are slowly spinning out of control – Somers decides that here’s something he can do for Colt and for Hazard (he knows losing Colt would devastate him) and decides to handle it himself so as not to worry them. He agrees to find the money to pay Ballantyne off, even though they really don’t have it – and not to tell Hazard what’s going on.
Okay, so at this point, I was mentally screaming – ‘Somers, you idiot, you know better than to keep this from Hazard!’ – but before that disaster is allowed to unfold, another looms in the form of Somers’ dad’s ‘invitation’ (insistence) that Hazard and Somers accompany him on an overnight hunting trip. Neither is keen and both are suspicious; Somerset Sr. eventually tells them he’s heard rumours of a potential parental kidnapping and that he thinks Somers just being around will be enough to prevent it. Reluctantly, Hazard and Somers agree to go, and when they arrive the next day, they find themselves in the middle of the most awful group of people imaginable, (quite honestly, I would have been quite happy had they ALL been bumped off!), which includes the couple they’d heard about, who are engaged in a very acrimonious divorce and fighting for custody of their completely obnoxious son.
When the husband is killed somewhere out in the forest, suspicion immediately falls on the Boone’s neighbour Dunkie Newcomb, a member of the right-wing extremist Ozark Volunteers, with whom the Boones have had frequent disputes about property boundaries, but Hazard and Somers aren’t convinced, and start to dig a little deeper. The fact that the victim was a lying, violent, bullying piece of shit means there’s no shortage of people who would have liked to have seen the back of him, and the sudden appearance at Hazard’s office of Naomi Malsho – Somers’ former sister-in-law and someone with strong connections to the Volunteers – complicates matters still further. She insists Newcomb has a cast-iron alibi, but that she can’t reveal it for fear of endangering others. Hazard knows Naomi is clever and devious, and even though he’s extremely suspicious, he agrees to take the job she’s offering – to prove Newcomb innocent of the murder.
Oh, what a tangled web…
As I said at the beginning, this is one of those books that will tie you up in knots. As well as another clever, gripping and suspenseful mystery (including some seriously edge-of-your-seat moments!) Custody Battles takes a long, hard look at parenthood in all its various forms, both good and (very, very) bad – a look which includes Somers’ own parents, whose approval he still craves even though he knows it shouldn’t matter. Although Hazard and Somers always get equal billing in these novels, this one is most definitely a’ Somers book’, focusing on his struggle to adapt to his new roles as Chief of Police and as parent of a difficult teenager – and it’s not going at all well. He’s aware of his deep-seated need to be liked, but hasn’t yet realised he can’t continue to be everyone’s friend at work, and Colt’s open hostility is wearing him down even further and causing massive amounts of tension between him and Hazard, especially when they clash over discipline issues. Wanting to find a way to get Colt to like him, Somers always steps in and tries to smooth things over when he thinks Hazard is being too hard on the boy, without recognising he’s doing precisely what his parents did whenever he screwed up; making excuses for his behaviour and trivialising whatever it was he did, telling him it wasn’t his fault and generally making it seem as though he could do no wrong. It takes him a while to realise this, of course – although he – and we – are very clearly shown what’s at the end of that particular path through the character of Junior, a deeply, deeply unpleasant and damaged young man thanks to exactly that sort of behaviour on the part of his parents.
Custody Battles is absolutely brilliant in its focus and level of insight, and it packs one hell of an emotional punch, but it’s a tough read with several moments of uncompromising, brutal honesty along the way. That Hazard and Somers love each other deeply is never in question, but knowing each other so very well means they each know exactly how to twist the knife – and when they do, it’s not pretty. Yet for all the difficult discussions and arguments, there’s still plenty of humour to be had, as well as some lovely tender moments between our heroes – and that ending. Gah!
The secondary characters are all superbly crafted; we’ve met many of them before, and of all of them, it’s Nico who really shines. (The way he deals with Naomi is priceless). I’ve never been in the ‘I hate Nico’ camp (I know some H&S fans dislike him), and I’m really enjoying watching him grow as a character and into someone Hazard has come to call a friend (not that he’d ever admit as much!)
Custody Battles isn’t always an easy read, but it’s utterly compelling and completely un-put-down-able nonetheless. The characterisation and relationship development are superb, the mystery is well-crafted and Hazard and Somers are as captivating now as they ever were – possibly moreso. They love and they fight and they screw up, but they’re never any less than human as they navigate their way through work, life, marriage, and parenthood, making it up as they go along – just as we all have to, most of the time.
Fans of Hazard and Somers won’t be disappointed in this latest Arrows in the Hand book (although they might gnash their teeth and shout a bit!), and Gregory Ashe proves that thirteen isn’t always an unlucky number and chalks up yet another DIK.
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Grade: A
Book Type: Romantic Suspense
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 03/12/21
Publication Date: 12/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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You’ve summed this book up perfectly, Caz. It’s a terrific read and a great follow-up to Relative Justice, which remains a perfect A+ for me!
The character writing and development, of all the characters, alongside good, solid suspense plotting is what makes Gregory Ashe’s writing so special. Most of my reading over the last two years has been pretty low-angst but I really enjoy these ouchy books because he writes them so well. Some bits are also laugh-out-loud funny too.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Nico and hope he finds some happiness in future books. I still don’t like Dulac, though! Lovely to have cameos from Auggie and Theo too.
Still lots to sort out for Somers on the work front, I think……
I haven’t read the extract from the next book, Domestic Animals, yet, just the blurb. Hmmm, are we heading for crossover with North and Shaw and the Nik storyline, do you think? Has GA said how many books will be in this series?
Yes to everything you say about what makes GA’s books so special – the characters and relationships and they way they are all developed is amazing.
I *think* he’s said there are five books. I haven’t read the teaser either, but I do remember that set-up at the end of Out of Office 2 – I was thinking that might be a lead in to the next Borealis series, but I’m not sure. If I find out, I’ll let you know!
Ashe is always super reliable; this sounds great!
It’s great and agonising – every time I think he’s written his best book ever, he proves me wrong!
Like Elaine I haven’t read the books but always read your reviews,which are wonderfully interesting. I’ll just have to experience this author vicariously, though, because if it had you “tied up in knots” it would lay me out fora week! I wish Ashe would write something a little less agonizing than his usual, but then I guess it wouldn’t be Ashe, then. From the one book I’ve finished of his,I know he is an amazingly gifted writer.
Yes, this one really laid on the angst – I love it, but it was hard even for me! Thankfully, he does let up on the angst in the short stories he sends out with his newsletters – usually there’s one in between each book release. He makes these available in collections, usually with one new, previously unpublished story – and those are where you get to see his characters just chilling out and for GA to really show his gift for writing comedy. Off Duty and Off Duty 2 are the shorts in the H&S series, although I’m not sure how much sense they’d make to someone who isn’t at least a little bit familiar with the characters and storylines. But they’re pretty inexpensive to buy, and if you’ve read my reviews, you’ll have a bit of background, so maybe you wouldn’t be completely at sea! There’s one short story in Jem + Tean: Guys Gone Wild (the shorts that accompany The Lamb and the Lion series) that had me howling with laughter!
Although I admit I haven’t read any of this series, Caz, I have read the reviews with interest as they appear. I wondered whether you thought this would transfer well to a TV series on, for example, Netflix, etc. It would be the sort of deep, sincere, honest and involving series of stories that might translate well to the small screen. Sight unseen, I think I would prefer it to Bridgerton. I did read most of those and thought that the screen version was just silly, shallow and woke; I won’t be watching anything after series one.
Thank you for sticking with me! These books certainly have a lot of the grit that TV mysteries seem to require, and the central relationship is amazing and superbly written – the things that happen in this book in particular feel so honest and real, even though they’re hard to read.
I review these books here because I believe they deserve the coverage AAR can offer, although they’re not genre romance – that said, if you took away that element of the story, they wouldn’t be nearly as good! (The author said in an interview that he’s incapable of writing a book without a romance in it – and he does always – well, so far, in my experience – provide his leads with an HEA, even though they have to work hard to get there).
I would much rather watch a TV version of H&S than Bridgerton – which was all froth and no substance – that’s for sure.
Not me! Angst is hard–Bridgerton was fun. After the past two years, I need all the fun I can get!
Even with everything that’s happened and happening, I’m still an angst-bunny. When it’s done right – as it is here – it’s a safe way of experiencing the negative stuff because you know it’ll all work out in the end. I just read a lovely novella (by someone else) for this month’s TBR challenge that hit me in all the feels and made me sniffle – I’ll take that over fluff any day.
Angst over fluff, yes please for my police procedurals! It is sometimes like lancing a boil but vicariously so the pain is indirect and fleeting. I find light stuff like, say, Midsomer Murders, just silly (enjoyable though) but it no way compares to the grit of something like Mare of Eastwood. It’s funny, I rarely ever read detective fiction but lap it up on the small screen. Just started American Rust and wondering where that will go.