Requiem & Reverie

Sandman Duet Series 2

By: Keri Lake

Narrated by: Alexander Cendese, Lidia Dornet

It takes a killer to catch a killer.

And no one understands the motives of ruthless murderer The Sandman quite like Rhett Voss.

Having spent his childhood in the shadows of the deranged lunatic, he's become an expert on the topic. Killing is in his blood, and as a hitman for hire, Voss maintains a steady diet of carnage, himself. Except lately, it's lost its appeal. Until he's enticed to track down the clever Sandman who has his sights set on Nola Tensley.

The stunning single mom is a distraction Voss can't afford, but to catch his elusive kin, he needs to watch the next victim closely. Consequently, stalking her soon becomes a dangerous obsession, turning a friendly game of cat and mouse into more than he bargained for, when someone close to Nola goes missing.

Suddenly, it's no longer an old vendetta fueling Voss's need to hunt down his enemy, but new stakes that are sure to mean more bloodshed. Voss knows better than anyone, though: to draw a killer out of hiding, one must have the right bait.

And both of them want Nola.

Contains mature themes.

©2019 Keri Lake (P)2020 Tantor

Warning-Don’t Stay Up Until 4am Listening

First, an author who finally knows Chicago! Yay! I’m a native Chicagoan and I love how out of town people are like, ‘oh, don’t go to the south side’ and I’m like….um, that’s not the side you need to worry so much about.
Second, normally I’m not a big fan of this particular male narrator—at least not in romance novels. But he does a good job with the first book in this duet and an adequate job with this one. It goes off the rails a little bit with the narration but not enough to ruin it. So I think his milieu might be classified as “tough guy suspense”.
Third, what the flip is up with that ending? As you probably guessed from my title I did, indeed stay up until 4 listening to get to the happy ending. (It was a holiday the following day, it’s fine, I’m fine.) But I’m not fine! Because there is no happy ending! Spoiler alert: the reader comes to know something about the villain that the H & h aren’t privy to. So you know your beloved characters are going to spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders and they don’t need to…unless that wasn’t ACTUALLY the meaning of what I just heard and they DO need to spend the rest of their lives in fear. Either way, it was an excruciating thing to hear at scary bleary-eyed o’clock. Unless there’s a novella coming, I’m very upset. And I can’t tell that there are any plans for a follow up. So I’m upset.
And fourth, these books are well-written and I think I would still say they are worth it. So what a good author! Well done.

One sick MF

We’re dealing with a sadistic and depraved mad man. Nola is trying desperately to keep it together. Voss is trying to end the madness.

Awesome!

Great story! This was such a wild ride and more than worth the credits. I cannot wait to read more from this author.

good conclusion

So, did I guess who the villain was? Yes! But I still felt like it could have been a few people up until the final reveal.

Overall, a quick series listen that was thrilling, sexy, and DARK.

What this book is giving:
✅ Dark Romance
✅ Dual POV +1
✅ Hitman
✅ Single Mother post-traumatic widowhood
✅ K!nk
✅ Serial Unaliver
✅ Traumatic Pasts

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ /5
🌶️🌶️🌶️+ / 5

The Sandman chapters were something else!

To get into the mind of the Sandman, Keri Lake did such a great job. It was dark and unsettling.
Several chapters had my jaw on the floor! Slowly making the connections across both books was beautifully done.
I just don't think I can hear the word "nectar" anymore... 😅