I was reorganizing the horror section at the library - yes, at 8 PM, because that's when the good shelving vibes hit - when I decided to throw on something different. Romantic suspense isn't my usual territory. But a witness protection story with a romance author as the protagonist? Okay, Pauline Baird Jones, you have my attention.
Here's the thing about Last Enemy that caught me off guard: it actually understands tension. Not horror tension, obviously, but that slow-build dread of knowing someone wants you dead and not knowing who to trust. Dani Gwynne is running through Denver after her safehouse gets compromised, and there's this underlying grief about her dead son that gives the whole thing weight. It's not just "hot marshal protects pretty witness." There's actual emotional stakes here.
When the Chase Actually Works
The pacing surprised me. I expected the romance to slow everything down - and look, sometimes it does - but Jones keeps the action moving. The cat-and-mouse stuff with the hitman had me actually engaged during my drive home. Not scared, obviously. Shirley Jackson this is not. But engaged? Yeah.
The romance subplot is handled well enough. It's not overwhelming the suspense, which is honestly my biggest pet peeve with romantic suspense. The dialogue between Dani and Marshal Kirby has some wit to it. Nothing that made me laugh out loud, but I wasn't cringing either. That's a win in this genre.
What I appreciated most was that Dani isn't helpless. She's a romance author who's been through hell, and she's making smart (mostly) decisions about her survival. The whole "I don't know if I can trust this marshal" thing could've been annoying, but it felt earned given what she'd been through.
Kevin Scollin: Gets the Job Done, Nothing More
Okay, so here's where I have to be honest. Kevin Scollin is... fine? He's got a clear voice, the audio quality is clean, and he doesn't do anything that pulled me out of the story. But he also doesn't do anything that elevated it.
I couldn't find much about Scollin's other work online, but based on this performance, he's solidly in the "gets the job done" category. His delivery is natural enough - no weird pauses or robotic reading. But the character voices? Pretty similar across the board. The emotional moments? They land, but they don't punch.
For a book dealing with grief, witness protection, and a budding romance under life-or-death circumstances, I wanted more. The narrator commits... kind of. Like, he shows up and does the work, but there's no magic happening. No moments where I thought "oh, THAT'S why this needed to be an audiobook."
(My podcast listeners are going to ask me about this one, and I'll tell them exactly what I'm telling you: it's accessible, it's competent, it's not going to blow your mind.)
The Softness Problem
Here's my issue, and it's not really with the audiobook specifically - it's with the source material. The writing style is... mild. Jones won an RT Book Reviews award back in 1999, and you can tell she knows how to construct a story. But there's a softness to the tension that kept me from fully investing.
In horror, we talk about the difference between being startled and being scared. This book startles occasionally - there are some genuinely tense chase sequences - but it never really scared me. And yeah, I know it's romantic suspense, not horror. But suspense should still make your stomach clench, right? This made my stomach... lightly flutter? Ceremony in Death nails that stomach-clench feeling while still making room for relationship dynamics—it's the balance I wanted here.
The romance is well-written enough that it provides nice breaks from the action. But those breaks sometimes felt like they were undercutting the urgency. "Oh no, a hitman is after me! But also, this marshal has nice eyes." I get it. I just wanted the stakes to feel higher.
Who's Going to Love This (And Who Won't)
If you're a romantic suspense fan who wants something accessible during your commute, this delivers. Fast-paced action, a relationship worth rooting for, clean production. It's comfort food for the genre. Skip it if you need narration that'll stick with you or suspense that'll have you checking your backseat.
Undone gave me similar "it's fine" vibes—competent but not memorable. Scollin's performance is the audiobook equivalent of a reliable sedan - gets you where you're going, nothing exciting about the ride.
Shelving This One in the "Fine" Section
I finished it. I don't regret the time. But Shirley (my cat) was unimpressed, and honestly? Same energy.
