An explosion shatters the night.

The three men I love are thrown from the bluff into the raging sea below. And one of them can’t swim.

But the fall isn’t the only thing trying to kill us. Every step we take, danger stalks closer. Every breath we steal, the killer waits in the shadows.

When he rips someone I love away from me, the fragile family I’ve fought to build begins to unravel. The killer has to be unmasked. The ruin has to end.

Because this time, losing means more than death. It means giving up the only people I can’t live without.

REAPER AND RUIN, the third and final novel in the Saint View Murder Squad series by USA Today bestselling author Elle Thorpe.

An abused ice cream truck, a slightly kidnapped duck, the world’s ugliest cat, a furry enchilada, a beautiful Omelet, and so many unalived people. 5 stars!

Violet Garrisen + X/Knox, Whip/Wyatt, Levi/Reaper

Okay, before I get started with this review, I have a couple of housekeeping items to address. First, this is a review of the series, not just the final book in the trilogy. I’ve held off on posting my thoughts on the trilogy because I’ve had a few trilogies/series recently that were great for the first couple of books and then just utterly shit the bed with the finale. That’s not at all the case here and it’s pretty obvious given all the raving and praise you’re about to read. The second item to address is the quotes I chose to share. This might be the most quotable series I’ve ever read. Selecting which quotes to share was super-hard, and almost all of them are quoting X. So if you read the series and are wondering why I don’t have a lot here from Levi and Whip, it’s because X is a beautiful chaos butterfly and I adore him. I’m playing favorites and I’m not even ashamed. He’s mine, bitches! (*quietly reminds herself that X is not in fact real and cannot be claimed*)

I am a cover whore. I admit it. I don’t even feel bad about it. This time around, it certainly worked out in my favor. After reading through my third or fourth series by Sadie Hunt, the ‘Zon recommended X’s and O’s to me on Kindle Unlimited new releases. With the series name Saint View Murder Squad emblazoned in large print, the cover caught my eye immediately. The blurb sounded interesting, so I scooped it up and started reading right away.

Nothing about that blurb remotely prepares you for the fact that this series is a dark romantic comedy. I giggled, snorted, and all out full-belly laughed my way through the book. The humor is dark at times and inappropriate all of the times 🤣 but if you’re following my reviews, chances are pretty solid you’re not of the easily offended ilk. (*bring in your high fives* ✋)

I was hooked with that first book and have obsessed over the release of the other two books in the series. Now that the final book is out, we’re going to have to talk about the series. And I promise to keep my review spoiler-free. I’m not a psychopath. (*you’ll get that joke in a second*)

The series kicks off by introducing you to Violet Garrisen and her bestie friend Toby Horton. They have known each other long enough to have been through some real shit together. Our girl Vi has been writing to an inmate (Levi/Reaper) for a year at this point and she’s obviously head over heels for her prison penpal. While Toby may have some hesitancy when it comes to her beau behind bars, he’s also the one who convinced her to join the penpal program for convicts in the first place. Due to a stupid miscommunication (I fucking hate that trope more than anything), things don’t go the way they’re supposed to when she and Levi meet in person for the first time. I won’t go into much detail beyond that because soooooooooo many spoilers, baby.

X is introduced in a much more colorful way. Which I can’t tell you about. What I can tell you is that this gorgeous 6’3” chaos butterfly is my absolute favorite part of this series and I wish he’d gotten more time on the page.

I didn’t know you could fall in love with someone in the space it took for them to pitch a rolling pin at your head. But here I was, utterly and completely in love with a woman who wouldn’t stop throwing things at me.
X About Violet, X’s and O’s

I grinned at Scythe and mouthed, “I’m gonna marry her.”
X About Violet, X’s and O’s

X has got unstoppable golden retriever energy… if that golden occasionally morphed into a blood thirty Doberman with a bad case of lock jaw. There are only a handful of situations in this series where his switch gets flipped and you really see the Doberman. In those moments, even Whip and Levi are reminded of just how dangerous a man X is, regardless of how many jokes he slings or how many tangents his ADHD leads him on. The golden side, though? So sweet and optimistic to a delusional degree that you can’t help but adore him. When he meets Violet, she’s throwing things at him out of fear and his reaction isn’t to call her a crazy bitch, it’s to declare his undying devotion. You can practically see the cartoon hearts floating above his head. X takes instalove to a whole new level.

“And your name is…?” I prompted.
A tremble moved through her. “Why do you want to know?”
That was easy. I grinned. “So I know what name to write on our marriage certificate.”
X Talking to Violet, X’s and O’s

“Fine. What’s rule two then?”
Stupid rule two. I sighed. “No witnesses.”
He glanced over at the woman. “And what is she?”
I knew how to answer that. “The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” I threw her my most charming smile.
Grayson and X, X’s and O’s

X is my absolute favorite character in the whole series. He may be a psychopath but I don’t know how anyone could possibly resist his charms. I find him to be delightful (and so does he).

Men were fucking disgusting.
Present company excluded, because I was delightful.
X, X’s and O’s

“Your knife pose is really coming along nicely,” I said sarcastically.
He brought his hands together and bowed his head. “Namastab.”
Levi to X on His Yoga Skills, X’s and O’s

The thing with X is no matter how infatuated he is with Violet, he’s still a guy who likes/needs to unalive people. As a result, he ends up terrified that he’ll hurt her even though, consciously, he knows he doesn’t want to. He spends a lot of the first book afraid to be left alone with her. When he finally lets go of that hang up, I love, love, LOVE them together. She never treats him like there is anything wrong with his brand of chaos and the connection they form is really sweet. I really do love her whole trio of men but I would have been fine with X and Violet getting their own story.

He stuck his head around the corner and gave me a wolfish grin. “Scale of one to ten. How mad would you be if I licked this thing like a lollipop?”
I widened my eyes.
He winked at me and tossed it back onto my bed. “Okay, love you!”
Violet and X About Her Vibrator, X’s and O’s

“Wait. Are you inviting me in?”
“Seems easier than waiting for you to climb through the window again.”
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “You’re the best wifey I ever had.”
Violet and X, X’s and O’s

“Not a virgin. Just never kissed anyone. Never trusted myself to be that intimate with someone.”
“Because you might…”
“Put my fingers around their necks and strangle them?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to do that to me?”
A look of pure determination swept over his handsome face. “Only in the kinky way.”
Violet and X, X’s and O’s

“You know what I like to do after a good round of sex club shenanigans?”
Whip glanced over at me warily. “Shower? Fucking hell, X, you reek of sex.”
“Glorious, isn’t it? But no.” I squeezed them tighter. “Murder, boys. I’m emotionally unstable, sexually satisfied, and lightly caffeinated. Let’s go commit a felony.”
X to Whip and Levi, Whips and Chains

Whip is the caretaker in the group. He’s got the whole silver fox thing working for him. His jobby job is as a sex worker, working with men and women to show them how to be more confident with sex. He’s also part of the Murder Squad for… reasons. I can’t tell you what those reasons are because it blows a big portion of his story line because of spoilers. He’s the first one in the trio to really break through with Violet and he’s got a “Daddy”/teacher/guide vibe with her. Sort of. At the start of the series, I really thought that Whip was going to be my favorite but, outside of their spicy time together, his M/M story line really distracted from his story line with her. I wasn’t nearly as invested in them being together because it didn’t seem like he was either. It feels like his hang up about figuring out Levi and whatever was happening between the two of them takes up all his idle thoughts in his chapters. That being said, I loved the M/M story line with Levi. I’m not complaining about it, I just felt like it didn’t leave much room for Whip and Vi to connect in the same way she does with the other two.

“Ah. I know all about unresolved tensions.” He grinned over at me and winked. “Get ’em drunk. Get ’em naked. Get in the middle. Guaranteed to fix all.”
War to Violet on How to Get Her Men to Get Along, Whips and Chains

That brings us to Levi/Reaper. The fucking miscommunication trope. Smh. The rocky start that Violet and Levi have is infuriating but he’s sooooooooooooo madly in love with her from page one that you can’t even hate him for it. You can’t help but cheer for him while they figure their shit out. And even though Levi is the other half of Whip’s M/M story line, his M/M story line was not distracting in the same way. It really feels like Levi is equally invested in both of them throughout the series, his early hiccups with Whip aside.

“I see dead people…” Then added, in my usual cheerful one, “Mostly because I put them there. But, hey, semantics. I’ve basically been Uber for corpses all day.”
X, Whips and Chains

“You haven’t been calling me Omelet,” I said sleepily.
“It’s hard to call you Omelet when I just want to call you mine.” He shifted behind me, pressing a gentle kiss to my shoulder. “I love you. Violet.”
Violet and X, Reaper and Ruin

Overall, I loved the Saint View Murder Squad trilogy. I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve never been so grateful for my slutty tendencies when it comes to pretty book covers. This trilogy will be on my re-read list for rainy days, for sure! While sliding through a landscape of non-stop action and hot AF romance, the Murder Squad delivers laughs the whole way through. I’ve gone through and added all the author’s other Saint View series to my TBR on Goodreads – Saint View High, Saint View Prison, Saint View Psychos, Saint View Rebels, Saint View Slayers vs. Sinners, and Saint View Strip (the only MF series within the world, not why choose/reverse harem). For those interested, you can find the world reading order here. That being said, I did not have a problem reading Saint View Murder Squad even though I hadn’t read anything else in the world. It worked just fine as a standalone trilogy.

Spice Level
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

My Rating
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Tall, Curvy Virgin FMC With Snark for Days
Unhinged MMC With Chaotic Golden Retriever Vibes
Silver Fox MMC With Daddy Vibes
Grumpy Alphahole Biker MMC With a Gooey Center
LGBTQ+ Bestie With Ride-or-Die Energy
Why Choose / Reverse Harem (MM Within the Harem)
Chosen Family
Found Family
Past Trauma / Emotional Scars
Fish Out of Water
Instalove / Obsession
Some Light Stalking
Some Adorable Breaking and Entering
One-on-One and Group Spice
Twisted Games

CONTENT WARNING: This is a good opportunity to remind everyone to check out the Trigger Warning page here on my website. This message applies to my books and pretty much everything you’re going to see on my blog, whether it’s dark romance or urban fantasy romance (which tends to be violent). I don’t include this message with every review but some antiheroes rise above the others and do some truly depraved shit. In a world where the three MMCs need to occasionally gut a bad guy to take the edge off, I assure you there are things in this series that some may find to be a bit too much. I loved every second of it but you know. Ye be warned and all that.

Amazon & Kindle Unlimited

BookBub | Goodreads

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The review copies of this series were read through the Kindle Unlimited reading program.

Review Policy & Ratings Guide

ELLE THORPE lives on the sunny east coast of Australia, about an hour out of Sydney. When she’s not writing stories full of kissing and chemistry, she’s a wife, and Mummy to three tiny humans. She’s also official ball thrower to one slobbery dog named Rollo. Yes, she named a female dog after a male character on Vikings. Don’t judge her. Elle is a complete and utter fangirl at heart, obsessing over The Walking Dead and Outlander to an unhealthy degree. But she wouldn’t change a thing.