Badlands pairs a psychic who lost his career to his own gift with a cop who has spent years refusing to believe in exactly the kind of thing that psychic does for a living. This audiobook opens the Badlands series with Simon Kincaide running ghost tours and psychic readings out of a Myrtle Beach boardwalk shop after his visions cost him a folklore professorship and a relationship, while Vic D'Amato, a transplant from a Pittsburgh shootout he still cannot fully explain, tries to solve a serial killer case without admitting he needs the one local resource he has spent years avoiding.
What We Made of It
Reviewer SKM_Heuristic_Bibliophile sums up the appeal in a single sentence: an intricately woven plot, well-developed characters, a thoroughly established supernatural element, and several distinct communities of people sharing one setting, all stacked with intrigue, danger, plot twists, and undeniable attraction. That same review closes on something more specific than the usual romance-novel praise, describing the payoff as self-sacrifice for someone you love and the peace that comes from finally trusting another person with your heart, which suggests the emotional arc lands as more than a backdrop to the mystery plot.
A skeptical detective paired with a medium he needs but resents needing gives Morgan Brice a structural engine that can carry both the mystery plot and the romance without either one starving the other of attention. Simon's day job as a ghost-tour operator and psychic reader gives the book a built-in world of its own, a boardwalk shop, seances, private readings, distinct from the police procedural machinery Vic brings with him, so the story has two genuinely different worlds to draw material from rather than one setting stretched thin across two genres.
One detail buried in reviewer Dane H.'s review is worth flagging on its own: writing as a first-time reader of "Morgan's (Gail's)" work, Dane H. refers to the author as Gail throughout, which suggests Morgan Brice may be a pen name rather than the writer's only public identity. Nothing else in the listing confirms this directly, but a reviewer volunteering that detail unprompted is worth passing along rather than ignoring.
The Best Parts of Badlands
Gregg BD, a self-described fan of paranormal novels generally, ghosts and psychics especially, calls this one of the best in the genre, praising how the serial-killer plot and the slow-building trust between Simon and Vic stay thrilling through to the end. Reviewer Jerri's review title, "Psychic bad*ss," gets at something specific about Simon as a character: he is, in Jerri's words, "so secure in himself and his abilities," and has built a real life for himself in Myrtle Beach despite what his gift cost him, which Jerri credits as part of what makes Morgan Brice's books distinct from other paranormal romance on the market.
Dane H.'s review loved the two leads enough to want more of them immediately, writing "need more stories with them, pronto," and specifically calls out Simon's best friend Tracey as a fun addition to a secondary cast that could easily have been an afterthought around the central pairing instead of a character worth naming directly. Reviewer DLM, offering the most measured take in the set, still describes it as a great romance, mystery, and paranormal novel all at once, with a chilling central case and a Simon whose openness about who he is comes through as one of the book's real strengths rather than a soft character trait bolted onto a procedural plot.
What Might Not Land
That same reviewer, DLM, is also the most useful source of actual criticism in the set. Two specific issues stand out: the suspicion that falls on Simon as a possible culprit in the case goes past reasonable narrative tension into what DLM calls something closer to conjecture than earned plot logic, and the handling of his alibi discussion did not land cleanly either. A four-star review sitting alongside four five-star ones, with a specific, named complaint about plot mechanics rather than vague dissatisfaction, is worth more to a prospective listener than the overall average alone.
A direct look at the listing's own numbers is worth taking too. The rating count reads 1, which sits oddly next to the five full written reviews actually visible here, and no single whole-star vote can mathematically produce the displayed 4.4 average under any rounding convention regardless. Something in how this listing tracks its rating count does not line up with what is actually visible here, so treat the star average as a loose signal rather than a precise reflection of the five reviews you can actually read for yourself. Vic's own backstory carries real weight in that story too: relocating from Pittsburgh specifically to leave behind a shootout he still cannot explain gives him a documented reason to resist Simon's world rather than playing a stock skeptical-partner role a lesser mystery might lean on instead.
Who Should Pick Up Badlands
Fans of M/M paranormal romance built around a slow-burn partnership between a skeptic and a believer, with a real mystery driving the plot rather than sitting in the background, are the clear audience, and reviewer Gregg BD's enthusiasm for the psychic-plus-serial-killer combination specifically suggests this lands well for readers who want both genres running at full strength simultaneously. Anyone drawn to found-family secondary casts, Simon's best friend Tracey among them, gets a series clearly built to expand outward over future installments too.
Tightly plotted mysteries mattering more to you than romance and atmosphere points toward a different book, since DLM's specific complaints about plot holes and a rushed ending are worth taking seriously even inside an otherwise enthusiastic review. Listeners drawn to Simon and Vic's dynamic specifically will find the reviewer consensus pointing toward a series worth continuing well past this first book, alibi issues and all.
Before You Press Play
- Voice: Kale Williams narrates this M/M paranormal mystery; reviewer attention stays on Simon and Vic rather than the reading itself.
- Big ideas: skeptic-and-believer partnership, a serial killer case, psychic ability as personal cost, found family in a new town.
- Atmosphere: Tense and romantic in equal measure, with a slow-burn central pairing.
- Worth it?: A strong series opener for M/M paranormal romance fans, undercut somewhat by plot holes one reviewer flags directly.
Questions Listeners Ask
Does this Badlands audiobook stand alone, or do I need to read other Morgan Brice books first?
It stands alone as the first entry in the Badlands series specifically, introducing Simon and Vic from scratch. Reviewer Dane H. writes as a first-time reader of the author's work and had no trouble following the story without any prior familiarity.
Are there any real plot weaknesses reviewers mention about this audiobook?
Yes. Reviewer DLM, while still positive overall, specifically criticizes how far the suspicion toward Simon as a possible culprit stretches past reasonable tension, along with how the alibi discussion within the story gets handled, describing both as real, specific frustrations.
