The Night Of ~ Tal Bauer

The Night Of is a political thriller where everyone is a suspect!

It’s certainly a ‘whodunit’ where the why is more of a mystery than the who. I guessed (it took me a while though) about 75% into the book who was responsible, but why was a mystery. I thought one thing, but it really didn’t make sense, but it seemed like the only option, until it was revealed….. Head spin, I didn’t really see it coming!

This wouldn’t be a Tal Bauer book without the romance, and as per normal, it exists alongside the mystery, complementing and enhancing it. The emotions run high in this book, especially for the first 50% or so. Over the course of the first half, we slowly get a picture of how Jonathan and Sean’s relationship slowly developed, but we still have no idea why it ended, or why Sean is still devastated by it. Of course, we discover the full story, and my heart simply broke for Sean, Jonathan too, but mainly Sean. He had lived with something awful, only to discover it wasn’t what he thought.

"Hi, it's me," I'd say breathlessly every time. Hello, Me, he'd say back, always, always laughing at me silently. I could hear the humor in his voice, shifting beneath his words"

Once this miscommunication of an epic scale is cleared up, Sean and Jonathan’s relationship quickly heats up. It’s not all smooth sailing, and the boys seriously need to work on their communication, but their relationship is beautiful to watch unfold, especially the power play between them, the President and the Secret Service Agent, can a relationship survive such a power imbalance? When each has an overwhelming respect for the other, yes it can.

"You," Jonathan breathed. "Loving you was my dream."

This is an age-gap relationship, not that it’s ever really said, and honestly, I didn’t even really think about it until it was pointed out by a friend. It’s not huge though, I suspect maybe a tad over 10 years, maybe? Jonathan is perhaps mid-forties, and Sean is likely early – mid 30s, so it’s not a big deal.

The Night Of was an absolutely enthralling tale, I didn’t want to put it down, except that annoying thing called life made me do it, but when I was able to pick it up again, I used matchsticks to keep my eyes open, there was no way I could go to sleep without finding out who, how, and most importantly, why!

This is only my third book by Tal Bauer, but he is already one of my favourite authors. This book is an excellent example of why.

"What I meant was, You're the rest of my life. You're the love of my life. You're my everything, Jonathan."