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What You Break

Written by: Reed Farrel Coleman
Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
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Publisher's Summary

Former Suffolk County cop Gus Murphy returns to prowl the meaner streets of Long Island's darkest precincts with a Russian mercenary at his back in the stunning second installment of Reed Farrel Coleman's critically acclaimed series.

Gus Murphy and his girlfriend, Magdalena, are put in harm's way when Gus is caught up in the distant aftershocks of heinous crimes committed decades ago in Vietnam and Russia. Gus' ex-priest pal, Bill Kilkenny, introduces him to a wealthy businessman anxious to have someone look more deeply into the brutal murder of his granddaughter. Though the police already have the girl's murderer in custody, they have been unable to provide a reason for the killing. The businessman, Spears, offers big incentives if Gus can supply him with what the cops cannot - a motive. Later that same day, Gus witnesses the execution of a man who has just met with his friend Slava. As Gus looks into the girl's murder and tries to protect Slava from the executioner's bullet, he must navigate a minefield populated by hostile cops, street gangs, and a Russian mercenary who will stop at nothing to do his master's bidding. But in trying to solve the girl's murder and save his friend, Gus may be opening a door into a past that was best left forgotten. Can he fix the damage done, or is it true that what you break you forever own?

©2017 Reed Farrel Coleman (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Solid Modern 'Noir' Mystery-Thriller

Reed Farrel Coleman continues a remarkably gritty, atmospheric, pessimistically-mooded series following the actions of an ex-Suffolk County (Long Island) PD cop using his contacts on the force to investigate crimes (in this case the murder of a Vietnamese-American girl for mysterious reasons with some Russian Militant intrigue involved).
The descriptions are mind's-eye vivid, the dialogue is realistic, and the plot is twisty-turny and unpredictable (while plausible). Less fortunately, Farrel Coleman continues to struggle with the incongruities in his protagonist: worldly, tenacious, and pragmatic.. but an absolute mess after a death in his family for some reason (quit "The Job"; left his wife & daughter; abandoned friendships/relationships) - who then exhibits unreserved loyalty and dedication.. but not always. Gus Murphy is a headscratcher.
Character motivations are hence weak, but - despite a straight-up silly climactic encounter - the story was good enough for me to set aside my reservations with the writing in this book.

Blackstone Audio Inc. also did well to enlist Keith Szarabajka to read this second book in the series (there is a noticeable improvement in the performance over Book One). Szarabajka's female characters aren't great, but his voice-acting is otherwise great, his cadence/rate of reading/tone are genuinely praiseworthy and his gravelly baritone timbre is perfect for the "Hard-boiled", action-heavy, expletive-laced text. The narration is definitely above-average.

When everything is taken into consideration, 'What You Break' is worthy of 9 stars out of 10. I am happy that Audible made this series available as part of the 'Plus' initiative.. because the books are an imperfect but very high quality pair of Crime-Thrillers. This installment would actually rate a Credit if they asked for one.

(Note: You don't need to listen to 'Where It Hurts' first, but I recommend it. Book One enriches this story.)

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Really good mystery series

I think I like this book even better than the first. The reader is different from that first one to this one and so it was hard to hear the main character as I had remembered. They were both good. I just wish it was consistent. It’s very raw and the language is not pc. But that’s more like real life and this is a story about violence and horrors so it seems fitting. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series

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