He was surrounded by robbers and burglars and murderers, but they all understood a brother’s love for his sister.
Andrew Bourelle
48 Hours to Kill
Format:
Audiobook
Publisher’s Synopsis:
Serving a ten-year sentence in a Nevada prison for armed robbery, Ethan Lockhart hopes that he can one day become a productive, law-abiding member of society. But society has other plans for Ethan. When he’s given a forty-eight-hour furlough to attend his sister Abby’s funeral, he learns that her body was never found—just enough blood to declare her dead instead of missing—and he begins to suspect that there’s more to her death than was reported. Ethan decides to use his forty-eight-hour window to find out what happened. But to get to the bottom of the mystery, he’ll have to return to his unsavory past.
Ethan teams up with his sister’s best friend Whitney in a search for the truth. United in their shared grief, their chemistry—both emotional and physical—also begins to heat up. But romance goes on hold as the suspects mount. Ethan’s old boss, Shark, a mid-level loan shark now heads a criminal empire. As Ethan and Whitney uncover more clues, they become convinced that Shark is responsible for the murder, but they have no proof.
If Ethan is going to solve his sister’s murder in forty-eight hours, he will have to become the criminal he swore he’d never be again.
Point of view:
3rd person. Multiple perspectives.
Rellim’s Thoughts:
Huge thanks to Kashif Hussain at Best Thriller Books for this rec! I really enjoyed this fast paced mystery/thriller. On furlough from prison to attend his sister’s funeral, Ethan Lockhart has only 48 hours to find whatever answers he can.
I loved the anti-hero protagonist, which meant a lot of not legal ways of tracking down who is responsible for Abby’s death. There are very few truly “good guys” in this story which gave it depth and kept me on my toes trying to guess what would happen next.
While I normally don’t enjoy flashbacks – Bourelle made “past” chapters from Abby’s perspective and the “current” ones from Ethan, Whitney, Shark, etc. I loved the way that this was executed and it kept the pacing steady and the mystery intriguing.
I didn’t guess the “whodunnit” until the moment the main characters did and even this opened up a new exciting apprehension sequence. I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed the pacing.
Narration:
David Bendena was new to me and he was absolutely the perfect fit for Bourelle’s writing and characters. It was a truly enjoyable performance. I never wanted to push pause.
About the author:
Andrew’s short stories have been published in The Best American Mystery Stories, The Twisted Book of Shadows, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Jabberwock Review, Molotov Cocktail, Mystery Tribune, Prime Number Magazine, Pulp Adventures, Stoneboat, Thriller Magazine, Whitefish Review and other journals and anthologies. A former newspaper reporter, Andrew is now an associate professor of English at the University of New Mexico.
You can connect with Andrew Bourelle here:
My Favorite Quotes
I would dive into hell itself for you. – 48 Hours to Kill by @AndrewBourelle #Audiobook narrated by David Bendena #Mystery #Suspense #Thriller
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This furlough wasn’t about freedom. It was about Abby. – 48 Hours to Kill by @AndrewBourelle #Audiobook narrated by David Bendena #Mystery #Suspense #Thriller
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He was surrounded by robbers and burglars and murderers, but they all understood a brother’s love for his sister. – 48 Hours to Kill by @AndrewBourelle #Audiobook narrated by David Bendena #Mystery #Suspense #Thriller
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