Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: Hodgkin & Blount 

Tags: Murder/Mystery, Genre Fiction, LGBTQ Romance, Religious Backdrop, Psychological 

Length: 374 Pages

Reviewer: Kazza

Purchase At: amazon, author page

Blurb:

Predator. Prey. Pack.

When Teancum Leon’s ex-lover confesses to murder, Tean doesn’t believe it. Sure, Ammon has a dark side, but he’s not capable of killing someone.

Except Tean seems to be the only one who feels this way. Tean’s boyfriend, Jem, is more than willing to take Ammon’s word for it. The police are thrilled to bring the official investigation to a close. And Ammon’s wife, Lucy, is afraid of what he might have done in a fit of rage.

With the police no longer looking for answers, it’s up to Tean and Jem to find the truth. Their investigation leads them to more victims—and to the realization that a serial killer is at work, and he’s targeting gay men.

But someone else is stirring on the high steppe. Someone even more dangerous. Someone who has been content, until now, to watch. And wait.

Until Tean and Jem wake them up.

The Same Bones begins a follow-up series and should not be read as a standalone. Jem and Tean’s story starts in The Lamb and the Lion book one, The Same Breath.

Review: 

I feel like I need to be a Rhodes Scholar in order to follow the link between the books, characters, and series of Gregory Ashe. I bought this book because I’d read the first three books prior BUT I think Tean and Jem appear in another linked series that precedes this one and I haven’t read that one. I can’t seem to find it on Goodreads but I think it exists. Either that or I’m gaslighting myself. Also, even though this says book #1. It’s not. You have to have read the previous 3 books in The Lamb and the Lion series. I have them listed in order at the end of this review

I just want to add that I understand the religious backdrop. The personal dilemma of being gay within organised religion, especially lifestyle religion. If you do read this review and you are in a religion that does not support your sexuality or your identity, please find a safe person to talk to. They exist. 

Jem and Tean are partners, they’re living together now, or as Jem describes it, they’re ‘best friends with a soulmate connection that you only see once in a million years.’ Which pretty much sums up Jem and Tean. It certainly explains Jem’s concept of their relationship. Anyway, they have a mortgage and the bills that go with running a house in Utah. They also have a dog. Scipio was originally Tean’s dog, but after a tough start Jem loves Scipio and vice versa. Right now, it’s the best way to talk to one another or make a point in Tean and Jem’s relationship. Through Scipio. It makes sense for them. 

Tean is still at the DWR, he’s a veterinary doctor, and Jem, who used to be a conman, has transitioned into a car salesman at Little Dick’s Chevrolet. It may seem like a match made in… somewhere. But irrespective of either of their jobs, they always end up involved in solving a murder. If Dr Mark Sloan and Jessica Fletcher could do it, why can’t they?

Tean has to deal with a boss who knows nothing about wildlife preservation and management and everything about kissing wealthy arse. Making Tean perform a ridiculous necropsy on a local rancher’s cow because Joe Neff, said rancher, has lots of money and clout. Neff wants any excuse to ‘legally’ hunt a wolf and he pressures the DWR. It’s bullshit. Tean knows it and his report spells out the science. However, Ed and his Karoline Leavitt crony make sure it gets Tean suspended for not playing the ‘suck up to the money game.’

“Second, we don’t have packs of wolves in Utah.” Which Ed would have known if he had any background or experience appropriate for his current job, instead of being a former executive at a pesticide company.

Jem’s job is stealing his lifeforce from him. Sure it gives him opportunity to use his scamming skills, and he’s a good salesman. His boss knows it. Even though Jem is good at it, and even though Little Dick shoos some pesky police off his site when they’re giving Jem a hard time, Jem hates the performing seal mentality that is expected with the job, and Little Dick is triple threat cunty – narcissistic, homophobic, misogynist. 

The brief backdrop of this story is that Teancum was raised Mormon. The man he was in a twenty-year relationship with, Ammon Young, was married. It actually started prior to and continued after Ammon married Lucy. Ammon and his family remained in the faith. Tean, no. Jem isn’t Mormon.

In spite of what Ammon has done to Tean for over twenty years, he’s always been a coercive, angry, and self-serving man. In spite of what Lucy feels toward Tean, and it isn’t nice, Tean is a mostly kind person, although sometimes he forgets how his connection with Ammon affects Jem. Ammon and Lucy have shown their children that being gay is something you cover up and/or pray away. The Youngs leave their fifteen-year-old son, Daniel, confused, believing there’s something broken in him for being same-sex attracted, causing Daniel to run into the arms of the wrong man, Brennon Lee, a Mormon mentor groomer, who has recently been murdered. Daniel’s head has well and truly been messed with. 

“Can you imagine growing up like that? Everyone around you telling you how sick and bad and evil you are, how messed up it is for anyone to feel the way you feel, and then one day, your dad—who has been feeding you that BS your whole life—tells everyone he’s gay, and he’s moving out, and best of luck, see you at Christmas.”

~*~

“Daniel has always struggled with his mental health. You know.” This last bit was directed at Tean, who nodded slightly. “He’s hurt himself. Tried to—tried to kill himself. We tried medication. Prozac. Lexapro. Zoloft. Celexa. We tried combinations. Cymbalta.”

Imagine being that fifteen-year-old child. Pfft. Organised religion.  

Thankfully Tean is there when he’s asked to be. And because of that, Jem is also there to help find who killed Lee and to also find an angry and hurt Daniel who runs as soon as he can. Ammon has previously been a total dick to Jem because he’s jealous. He always wanted Tean to be there for him, waiting on the sidelines. Ammon confesses to the murder and, of course, it makes things more complicated because Ammon is good at that. Tean doesn’t believe he did it. Ammon makes Lucy call Tean because Tean won’t say no to looking into what happened. Ammon counts on Tean being Tean. Jem is an amazing boyfriend because despite the shit show that has been his partner and Ammon, despite the hold Ammon still seems to have over Tean, Jem’s going to help him prove Ammon didn’t do it while also helping an angry, hurting, elusive Daniel.  

As with the previous series books, The Same Bones takes the reader over more parts of Utah than Salt Lake City. This is a dark murder/mystery. The subject matter is unpleasant, the victim wasn’t a good man. Ammon just being mentioned on page is enough to make a reader feel like someone’s dragging nails down a chalkboard. Him confessing can’t be about protecting his son. Why start now? Daniel missing is plenty bad enough but let me tell you, that boy is going to be in therapy for a while. I’m not kidding when I say Tean and Jem encounter the weird and the wild looking for the killer or killers and searching for Daniel. Law enforcement is thinking Tean and Jem must be involved somehow with the murder. There are multiple people who could have killed Brennon because he wasn’t just an active Church member….

The romance is complicated. It took until the 88% mark for them to feel somewhat connected. Tean is going out late at night. Never getting much sleep. Jem is also awake a lot because he worries what might happen to Tean, especially given the nature of the crime. Jem always wants to be there for Tean and Tean wants to be with Jem but it’s hard. They help each other when the world closes in on them. They have different emotional skillsets but their current and past trauma causes a disconnect throughout the book.    

Tean is usually nihilistic but this time he’s absolutely depressed after the events of the last book. He adds extra worry to his already large mental load with concerns about the world and the ecosystem humans are destroying, that people aren’t nice, and his feelings certainly aren’t without merit. Jem has past trauma that he is dealing with as well. He also worries about being a solid guy in Tean’s life. Tean is educated and has worked at the same place for sometime. Jem isn’t educated and has moved about a lot, it’s not easy settling into a permanent legal job for him. Dear lord, I think we’ll need to buckle up based on the end of this book, it’s not a cliffhanger but threads are dangling, and the sneak peak into the next book screams more Ammon. 

Overall:

You absolutely need to have read 1) The Same Breath, 2) The Same Place, and 3) The Same End prior to reading this book. I haven’t added my review of The Same End above, it’s a link to Amazon, because I thought it was the series end and was harsh based off an incorrect assumption. This book is a Gregory Ashe special. It’s melancholy. It’s well written. It’s thoughtful. There is ever-present trauma. It’s also slowly paced and builds momentum because this most definitely is a new but interlinked series. It’s taken me nearly a week to process my thoughts and feelings about The Same Bones and at the same time I’ve tried to write something intelligible about it because this is a hard book to review. If it helps further, I’ve preordered the next book, The Same Blood. For The Same Bones, it’s 4 Stars!