Up Close and Personal by Jay Hogan

Narrated by Gary Furlong

This third instalment in Jay Hogan’s Auckland Med series has a bit of a romantic suspense vibe going on, as the two leads – one a detective, one a pathologist – become embroiled in a murder investigation that poses a threat to their lives. I enjoyed Up Close and Personal when I read it on release in early 2020; the frenemies-to-lovers romance is a sexy slow-burn and the leads are likeable guys who actually *gasp* talk to each other about what’s happening between them, but I’m sorry to say there were things that just didn’t hold up this time around – mainly I think because I’m more apt to spot certain weaknesses in audio than I am in print.

When the story begins, Dr. Edward Newton, the (relatively) newly installed pathologist at Auckland Med., has arrived at a remote location where he’s tasked with inspecting a body that’s been washed ashore on a nearby beach. Because the weather is atrocious, the body is being temporarily housed in a tent on site – and Edward’s heart sinks when he enters to begin his examination and discovers that the lead detective on the investigation is Mark Knight, who, in all of the three months they’ve known each other, has never passed up an opportunity to flirt with him – and has made no secret of the fact that he’d like to do a lot more than flirt. As usual, Edward ignores or rebuffs the detective’s innuendo and gets on with the job at hand – while wondering why, given Mark is not his type by a long chalk, he is nonetheless attracted to him.

During the autopsy, Edward discovers that the dead man – who has been identified as Rowan Bridge, a brilliant research scientist in the field of renewable energy – had been drugged and (possibly) tortured before he was killed. His deeper investigation into the drugs used shows one other instance of its discovery in the body of a murder victim – so it can’t be a ‘regular’ street drug – and the victim was also a scientist and had worked for the same company as Bridge. And there’s more bad news. Edward realises that the autopsy was carried out by his predecessor – but that there is no mention whatsoever of the drugs in the victim’s system on the autopsy report. Is there more to these two deaths than meets the eye? Or is it just coincidence?

Ed saves all the necessary files and alerts Mark to his suspicions, but before they can investigate further, they’re attacked in Ed’s home and his computers and all the files are stolen – all except for the flash drive he’s kept hidden.

The attack – during which both men sustain some nasty injuries – means they have to disappear for a while until the information Ed has unearthed can be followed up, so they end up staying at the remote cabin owned by Cam andReuben (Crossing the Touchline), and their enforced proximity gives them the chance to finally get to know each other better and talk about how things between them might work despite their very different attitude towards relationships. Mark is a player and casual is just how he likes it; no strings, no drama and no repeats, while Ed prefers to know and like the people he goes to bed with; for him, sexual attraction is about the whole person regardless of gender. His inconvenient crush on Mark is unsettling (and unusual for him), and Mark can’t quite work out what it is about the prickly, self-contained doc that pushes all his buttons…

There’s no question these two have plenty of chemistry, and although they dance around each other for a while, where this book really scores is in the way both men are prepared to be honest and emotionally available to each other in order to explore what they might be able to have together. Mark grew up in a family in which he was never anything but an afterthought or inconvenient extra because his parents were so obsessed with each other, so opening himself and his fears up to Edward is a big thing. And Edward has to decide whether letting Mark in is worth the potential risk to his heart. Their willingness to talk about what they want in a partner is refreshingly mature – but while I’m celebrating a romantic couple who actually communicates, there are times there’s too much talking and telling and going over old ground, and there are large chunks in the middle of the story that suffer from repetition and stodgy pacing.

And the suspense plot, once it’s provided the impetus for Mark and Edward to spend time together, kind of gets lost until the last few chapters. It’s interesting, but underdeveloped and really just book-ends the story.

I’m a big fan of Jay Hogan’s and have read everything she’s published so far. Up Close and Personal is one of her earliest works – her third or fourth published title, I think – and having now the read the half-dozen-or-so books she’s released since, I have to say that it shows. She has developed tremendously as a writer over the past year or so; the following Auckland Med book (Against the Grain) is superb and made my Best of 2020 list. The things that have become the hallmarks of her writing – complex characters, snarky banter, and a very earthy sexiness are all present here, but not so strongly, and weaknesses I maybe didn’t spot as I read (I read pretty quickly) are much more apparent in audio where there is more time to notice them. The repetitiveness of some of the discussions between Edward and Mark and the amount of inner monologuing and overdone mental lusting going on are way more apparent in audio. I mean, I noticed them in print, but they didn’t bother me as much.

I’ve been consistently praising Gary Furlong for his work in this (and a number of other) series recently, but although his performance here is good overall, I noticed some significant character differentiation issues – which isn’t something I’ve ever identified as a problem in any of the narrations of his I’ve listened to. It’s usually easy to identify Edward aurally; his voice is deep and his speech is considered, which fits the way he’s presented as a man who likes to think things through – but the portrayal of Mark is somewhat inconsistent; the higher pitch assigned to him comes and goes so that it’s not always possible to distinguish between him and Edward without referring to the dialogue tags. The same is true of the interactions between Mark and his work-partner, Liam, and between Mark, Edward and Josh in the few scenes in which Josh (First Impressions) appears – they often sound too similar. What Mr. Furlong gets very right however, is the emotional connection between the leads; when Mark and Edward are talking you feel as if you’re eavesdropping on an actual conversation – the pacing, the rhythms of speech, the degree of expression and all the little things like pauses or chuckles or snorts are spot on – and the way he injects a real sense of camaraderie, respect and admiration into the friendships definitely enhances the impression of a group of people who have each other’s backs without question. I freely admit to the possibility I’m holding Mr. Furlong to a higher standard precisely because he’s so good – I think we all do that to an extent with our favourites; there’s good and then there’s GOOD, so that the merely ‘good’ becomes somehow disappointing. I did enjoy his performance though; the differentiation issues I’ve mentioned aren’t frequent, and the narration worked for me in all other respects.

Up Close and Personal isn’t my favourite book in this series or by this author, and although I liked the characters and the narration, the problems with the storytelling I’ve outlined mean I can’t quite give it a wholehearted recommendation.

Caz

---

Buy Up Close and Personal by Jay Hogan on Amazon