Quick Take
- Narration: Abby Craden captures Tori Hunter’s hard edges and Sam’s warmer volatility with equal conviction, keeping the antagonism between them feeling physical rather than theatrical.
- Themes: Walls built for survival and the cost of keeping them, partnership as the first form of trust, desire that outpaces permission
- Mood: Slow-burn and tense, with a crime procedural backbone that keeps the pacing honest
- Verdict: Gerri Hill’s Tori Hunter series opener holds up as one of the foundational sapphic crime romances, and Abby Craden makes a strong case for listening over reading.
I came to Hunter’s Way later than most of Gerri Hill’s core readership, which means I arrived knowing its reputation. Books that have been in circulation since 2003 and still pull four-point-six stars from hundreds of reviewers are doing something right. I started it on a Tuesday morning with no particular expectations and finished it that evening, which answered the main question.
The setup is a police procedural with a romance architecture underneath it: Tori Hunter, homicide detective, is the kind of person her precinct works around rather than with. Six partners in seven years tells you what you need to know about her interpersonal style. Sam Kennedy arrives as partner number seven, hot-tempered and competent and coming from a precinct that has its own culture. Neither of them wants this partnership. Both of them are going to have to make it work through a serial killer investigation that does not wait for them to sort themselves out.
Our Take on Hunter’s Way
What makes this first book in the Tori Hunter series stand out in a crowded genre is Hill’s patience with her own characters. Tori is not softened to make her more immediately likable. She is difficult, and the book does not pretend otherwise. Her difficulty has a source, Hill gives her a backstory that explains the walls without excusing the damage they cause, but that source is revealed slowly, in the rhythm of a partnership that has to function under pressure before either woman is ready to lower her guard.
Abby Craden is an important asset here. Tori’s voice, in Craden’s interpretation, has a clipped quality that is not unfriendly so much as defended. Sam comes through with more warmth and visible frustration, which creates the necessary friction. The romantic tension in the audiobook works because Craden maintains that gap between the two women even as the narrative is slowly closing it. The ten and a half hour runtime allows the slow burn to develop at the pace it needs.
Why Listen to Hunter’s Way
The crime plot is not ornamental. Hill builds a serial killer investigation with enough procedural detail to function as an actual thriller, not just a container for the romance. The serial killer and drug investigation threads run parallel to the developing relationship without either one feeling like it exists purely to provide proximity and peril. Readers who love sapphic romance but need their crime plots to hold up independently will find both elements competent.
The book also has unexpected humor. One reviewer flagged this explicitly, noting that Hill managed to keep the story funny and honest alongside its more serious elements. That balance, tense and procedural and occasionally very funny, is not easy to achieve, and it is one reason Hill’s readership has been loyal for more than two decades.
What to Watch For in Hunter’s Way
The book contains a rape of a primary character, and it has generated consistent critical commentary in reviews. Multiple readers across different decades of response felt the aftermath was handled too quickly, that the character moves on in ways that minimize the severity of what happened, particularly regarding sex. Hill’s defenders note that survivor responses are not uniform, but this is a content warning worth carrying into the audiobook, and if the handling of that aftermath is something you know matters to you, it is worth factoring in.
The romance does not reach full resolution in book one. Tori and Sam’s relationship moves significantly across the ten and a half hours, but Hunter’s Way is the beginning of a series for a reason. Listeners who need a complete romantic arc within a single title should know this before committing to the runtime.
Who Should Listen to Hunter’s Way
The right listeners are fans of sapphic crime romance who have not yet encountered Gerri Hill’s Tori Hunter series, and who want a slow-burn dynamic between two women who are equally capable of being the difficult one. Craden’s narration makes this a strong case for audio specifically, the character differentiation she achieves is something that takes more interpretive work on the page. Readers sensitive to the rape subplot and its handling should weigh that carefully. Series readers will want to continue; the book is designed to pull you forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books are in the Tori Hunter series by Gerri Hill?
The Tori Hunter series currently runs to multiple entries. Hunter’s Way is book one and establishes the partnership between Tori and Sam. Readers who connect with these characters will find a substantial backlist to continue with.
Does Hunter’s Way have a satisfying ending, or does it leave things unresolved?
The criminal investigation concludes within book one. The romantic relationship between Tori and Sam moves significantly but does not reach full resolution, this is the first entry in a series and Hill builds toward a continued arc. Readers who need complete romantic closure within a single title may find this frustrating.
How does Abby Craden handle the two lead characters, and does she differentiate them clearly?
Craden differentiates Tori and Sam clearly through voice quality and register, Tori’s delivery is more clipped and guarded, Sam’s warmer and more openly frustrated. Multiple reviewers cite the narration as a reason to choose the audiobook over the print version.
Is the rape subplot a significant part of the story?
It occurs within the main narrative and involves a character readers will have spent time with. The aftermath is handled relatively quickly, which some reviewers felt minimized its impact. This is a meaningful content consideration for listeners who find that kind of treatment of sexual violence troubling.
