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Where Death Meets the Devil

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Where Death Meets the Devil

By: L.J. Hayward
Narrated by: Rowan Scott
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About this listen

Decent Fellows Press presents Where Death Meets the Devil, book one in the stunning, original Death and the Devil M/M thriller series.

Jack Reardon, former SAS soldier and current Australian Meta-State asset, has seen some messy battles. But messy takes on a whole new meaning when he finds himself tied to a chair in a torture shack, his cover blown wide open, all thanks to notorious killer-for-hire Ethan Blade.

Blade is everything Jack doesn't believe in: remorseless, detached, lawless. Yet, Jack's only chance to survive is to strike a bargain with the devil and join forces with Blade. As they trek across a hostile desert, Jack learns that Blade is much more than a dead-eyed killer, and harder to resist than he should be.

A year later, Jack is home and finally getting his life on track. Then Ethan Blade reappears and throws it all into chaos once more. It's impossible to trust the assassin, especially when his presence casts doubts on Jack's loyalty to his country, but Jack cannot ignore what Blade's return means: The mess that brought them together is far from over, and Ethan might just bring back the piece of Jack's soul he thought he'd lost forever.

©2018, 2025 LJ Hayward (P)2022 Decent Fellows Press Romance Romantic Suspense Suspense
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The only thing that would have made this better would have been them heading to Minto instead of Ingleburn and having him pronounce it Minno.

Awesome Aussie narration!

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I can’t believe I have only just discovered L J Hayward! What a writer, I’m just in love with this story. Then…..then..,.we hear Rowan Scott’s sublime narration!
I’m off to listen to the Novellas and beyond…….❤️❤️❤️

What a ride!!

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What a great start to a series. I was invested from the start. I am very happy that this has an Australian context and is read with a local accent. It just makes the whole thing mean more for us who live down in this part of the world. Ethan and Jack are great characters and the secondary characters are also great fun. The story is not too far fetched, with no-one being superhuman, which makes a change.
Rowan Scott performance is great with a lot of subtle voice changes for each of the characters, and with a great sense of the humour in the situations as well.
Looking forward to the next one(s) - a series of shorts I think before the next full novel

Great Aussie Tale

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If I had known it wasn’t a proper ending I wouldn’t have read it I don’t like those kinds of endings.

On the whole a weird book it was exactly the blurb nothing really extra.
The author I felt was also useing words that I don’t think they knew the meaning of or whatever bc they would say a big word but before that the sentence was literally the definition of that word it felt like they were trying to sound smart idk I explained that badly but yeah the words the auther used were weird and unnecessary they also referred to bugs as harty idk what they were going with there but whatever.

I don’t know if I enjoyed this book they didn’t get together in the end i know it’s a series thing but I don’t like that personally.

Trigger warnings: something similar to forced prostitution (done to the love interest) it’s not said that it’s non consensual but in the circumstances that’s basically what it is. PTSD about military combat. And the love interest has whip scars on his back and talks about being punished like that a bit by an organisation he grew up in I wasn’t listening at that time so I really know.
If I forgot anything I’m so sorry I have a terrible memory and I barely listened to most of this book

End on like half a cliffhanger

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filled with action, adventure, and just a touch of spice, it makes for a great weekend read!

engaging spy thriller

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An ex-SAS soldier, Jack Reardon is an enhanced Australian agent for Meta-State, a government intelligence conglomeration of South-East Asian and Pacific countries. After his cover is blown and he rescued by notorious mercenary Ethan Blade, Jack’s standing within Meta-State is dubious at best and it only deteriorates further when Ethan turns up at Meta-State HQ a year later to find Jack. If only Jack could ignore the attraction he feels for the dangerous man.

I was really looking forward to this homegrown Aussie story performed by an Aussie narrator and I really liked the premise, but the whole thing left me frustrated and unengaged. The biggest issue is the structure of the book, it has short chapters which relentlessly alternate between past (Jack’s rescue by Ethan) and present (Jack at Meta-State HQ). The past could have been interesting but we know that Jack and Ethan make it out alive because we keep getting shoved back to the present where they’re both ok. The present is repetitive and boring, Meta-State is a government department with all the life sucked out of it—think endless meetings, a strict boss, and death by committee. Jack’s boss says at one point, “What underrated commonality did the marines all have in common?”, it needed better editing. The constant chopping and changing between the short past and present chapters caused whiplash; the plot would just be starting to move when we were whisked away again and again and again. The world-building was too minimal and failed to answer basic questions, and the romance was unconvincing, there wasn’t enough effort put into making it engaging. I’m guessing this is a debut book so maybe things will improve but based on this I’m not willing to take the risk. 🎧 Voice actor Rowan Scott has a pleasant voice but I felt he lacked the gravitas for an action series. I think he would perfectly suit cuddlier romances.

Frustrating and disappointing!

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