Quick Take
- Narration: Angelina Rocca handles Keres’s fierce, raw energy well, though her range across three POVs occasionally flattens the distinctions between Ace and Romeo.
- Themes: Revenge and trauma recovery, unexpected intimacy, mafia power dynamics
- Mood: Intense and propulsive, with sharp emotional swings
- Verdict: Readers already invested in the Chicago Ruthless world will find Keres a compelling protagonist, but newcomers should start at book one before arriving here.
I was somewhere around the third hour of this one when I had to pause and recalibrate. I’d come into Keres, the fourth book in Sadie Kincaid’s Chicago Ruthless series, expecting a fairly standard mafia romance. What I got instead was something messier and more interesting: a heroine built entirely from damage, weaponizing every scar she carries, heading straight into a lion’s den with no plan beyond fury. I listened through a long Saturday afternoon, and the pacing kept me moving right through dinner.
This is a book that knows exactly what it is. It’s dark, it’s spicy, and it doesn’t apologize for either. If you’ve read the previous Chicago Ruthless installments, you already know the Moretti family’s world. Keres Sideris arrives as its mirror image: born into captivity while her siblings lived in comfort, raised by horror rather than privilege. Kincaid uses that contrast with real intention, and the result is a protagonist who feels genuinely distinct from the heroines we’ve seen in the earlier books.
Our Take on Keres
There is a review from a reader named Sarah Hannock that captures something true about this book: Kincaid “knows how to write characters that grip you by the throat and heart and don’t let go until they’re finished with you.” I’d agree, with one caveat. The grip is firmest when the story focuses on Keres herself, on her history, her drive for vengeance, her very deliberate negotiation of fear. The moment the MMF romance accelerates, the tension shifts. Another reader, Jenna Bicknell, raised a fair structural concern: the romantic feelings developing between Keres, Ace, and Romeo while a separate rescue operation is underway creates a credibility problem. It’s not fatal to the story, but it does require the reader to accept a somewhat compressed emotional timeline.
That said, Kincaid handles the trio’s dynamic better than most comparable books. The betrayal threads running through the relationship feel earned rather than manufactured, and the redemption arc in the final act lands with genuine weight. This is not a clean, comfortable romance. It’s a book about people who have been broken in different ways trying to trust each other while the world is still on fire around them.
Why Listen to Keres
Angelina Rocca is a strong choice for this material. Her performance captures the tension in Keres’s voice, the controlled rage beneath a carefully maintained surface. She doesn’t oversell the emotional beats, which is exactly right for a character who has learned to survive by suppressing. Where Rocca is slightly less sure-footed is in differentiating Ace and Romeo during shared scenes. Both men are drawn with enough individual personality on the page, but aurally they blend more than they should, which makes some of the early three-way dynamics harder to track.
The pacing of the narration matches Kincaid’s prose well. This is a fast book, and Rocca’s delivery keeps the urgency intact without rushing through the quieter character moments. At just under nine hours, it moves efficiently and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
What to Watch For in Keres
Content warnings matter here. Multiple reviewers note that Salvatore Moretti’s history of slavery and human trafficking is addressed both on and off the page, and Keres’s own backstory involves extended captivity and abuse. Kincaid does not sanitize this. The darkness is load-bearing: it explains who Keres is and why her choices make sense even when they are extreme. But readers who prefer their dark romance to keep the worst implied rather than rendered should know what they’re entering.
The revenge plot and the romance coexist with varying levels of success across the book’s runtime. The first two thirds prioritize the former; the final act leans into the latter. If you’re primarily here for the mafia thriller elements, the final stretch may feel like a gear shift. If you’re here for the relationship, the early sections might test your patience. Readers who want both in roughly equal measure will find this hits that balance more often than not.
Who Should Listen to Keres
This book is for readers who are already somewhere in the Chicago Ruthless series and want to see the world expanded through an outsider’s eyes. It’s also for anyone who gravitates toward heroines defined by survival rather than softness. Keres is difficult, dangerous, and sometimes makes choices that frustrate the people who care about her. That specificity is what makes her compelling.
Skip this one if you haven’t read the earlier books and have no interest in catching up. The relationships between characters, the Moretti family’s internal politics, and the emotional resonance of several key reveals all depend on prior knowledge. It’s also not suited for readers who need romantic partners who are straightforwardly good people: Ace and Romeo are bodyguards for a crime family, and the book doesn’t pretend otherwise. But if dark romance with genuine emotional stakes is your zone, Keres delivers it reliably.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to read the earlier Chicago Ruthless books before starting Keres?
Yes, strongly recommended. Keres is book four in the series, and the Moretti family dynamics, prior character relationships, and plot context from earlier books are assumed knowledge here. Starting here would mean missing the emotional weight of several key moments.
How explicit is the content in Keres compared to the rest of the Chicago Ruthless series?
Keres is consistent with Kincaid’s established style: explicit sexual content and dark themes including violence, trafficking, and captivity are present both on and off the page. Multiple reviewers flag the human trafficking backstory as particularly graphic, so checking your triggers before listening is wise.
Does the MMF dynamic work as an audio experience with Angelina Rocca narrating?
Mostly yes. Rocca handles Keres’s perspective with strong conviction. The main weakness is that Ace and Romeo’s voices aren’t as distinctly differentiated as they might be, which can make early three-way scenes slightly harder to track. It doesn’t break the experience, but listeners who pay close attention to voice acting may notice it.
Is the revenge plot resolved by the end of Keres, or does it carry into the next book?
The core revenge arc involving Keres’s personal history reaches a meaningful resolution within this installment. The broader Moretti family storyline continues across the series, but Keres’s individual journey has a satisfying endpoint. One reviewer does note the book concludes with emotional closure rather than a cliffhanger.
