Review: Stalked (The Slayers, #2) by H.C. Brown

Who's more dangerous – a stripper, an assassin, or a serial killer?

The Stripper Ripper is stalking the streets of New York City, preying on male strippers, and the press is making mincemeat of a helpless police force.

In desperation, the police refer the serial killer's case to the Slayers, a team of enhanced, undercover super soldiers. The commander of the Slayers puts his team on the streets to watch over the Ripper's favorite targets.

One of these targets is Micah, a twink stripper and a desirable sub. Micah's baby sitter is one of the newest members of the Slayers, Sorren, as cold-blooded an assassin as they come, and the last person you'd expect to harbor feelings for his charge.

True to form, Sorren is as surprised as anyone at his new infatuation, but Micah is hiding something. Will Micah learn to trust his protector, or is he destined to be the next victim on the Stripper Ripper's list?



Come join me in WTF land, won't you? There are pancakes.


We'll need the sustenance.

New to me author, H.C. Brown's "Stalked" is the second book in The Slayers series. It is about nano enhanced super soldiers or ex-soldiers who are extremely rich, like mega billionaires (they like throwing that around while stating it's not a big deal) who investigate murders under the FBI's nose (for why?) and run an ultra exclusive BDSM club.

The setting is supposed to be New York City where the city that never sleeps actually sleeps: "the road is empty and I'd say the entire population is asleep". And has a murderer on the loose, the Stripper Ripper. The Stripper Ripper is targeting dark haired gay twinks. Micah who is 5'2" , a stripper and submissive is hiding a past and secrets (that is never explained in the book). His real name is Jeremiah Sterling but he goes by the stage name Snake. He's the next target of the murder but is truly doing the space cadet league of the TSTL Academy proud because he continues to bumble his way into the killer's path over and over again.

Oh...while making time to strip and be submissive. For whom? The Slayers, of course! The Slayers are cyborgs? *scratches head* Some of them are and all of their blood is. Who cares?! They play pretend at BDSM and have lots of cash like at a time $5000!! They have billions in the bank! Whoop whoop, hooray for superficiality!



Soren is the big bad 'Dom' Slayer who doesn't care because he's programmed that way. But he likes the "butterfly" aka Micah. While searching for the killer (LOL to the search and the killer), Soren forces Micah to have sex under the guise of using their nano pheromone the first time since Micah was iffy with his consent. He basically told Micah to shut up and take it. It was supposed to be sexy? So I'll warn if the book doesn't, dubious consent. The rest of the times the sex happened, it wasn't SSC [safe, sane, consensual] or BDSM but in WTF land I think it's considered BDSM...so...




The BDSM...I am tagging it as such because the book is tagged as such. Please don't think this is. This is some made up BDSM that is just abuse. You have a nano enhanced 6'7" asshole who admits he wants to torture his "pup" and flay his skin off since the nanos will heal him. He think it's "pain pleasure"/ "edge play" or whatever bullshit he wants to package it as but it is abuse. That is not BDSM.
"Can we discuss boundaries? A contract perhaps?"

Soren wanted to shake him. Boundaries, holy fuck, would this little shit ever trust? "No! I refuse to discuss limitations, or contracts. I am a Dom and in my dungeon, we go by my rules. I will push you to the edge and you will trust me to give you pleasure."
There is nothing more that I loathe than Doms written like Soren. This book went from a possible 2.5-3 Hearts to a straight D- aka 1.5 Hearts with that bullshit. Ordering someone around and declaring yourself a Dom while wearing black leather and having a "dungeon" doesn't make you a Dom.


With that asinine logic I should go to my bank and declare myself a frigging millionaire!

The book barely knew the basics of BDSM. Anytime it sort of got something right, there goes Soren or the Slayers or whatever other hokey thing barging in to muck it up.

The book started like a bad B movie, it was laughable, but sort of fun. However, once the crap BDSM started, and the way Soren treated Micah happened, it wasn't fun anymore. I can only stretch my reality suspension rubber band so far. It broke somewhere in the middle. The author didn't seem to care about characterizations or plots or setting as much as the story continued.

Suggestions:

* Have an American read future stories in this series over if there will be more since it read like pseudo Brit/Aussie mish-mash. This is supposed to be set in America and it doesn't read like it.

* Know the setting - just because New York City points of interests can be Googled doesn't mean it will read authentic. It doesn't. Was this an alternative universe? A different planet with a fake Manhattan? If it was, it should have been clearer.

* Having all of your characters use the same colloquialisms and share the same thought processes melds all of your characters together. Though this story is a deep as a pocket of air, it made the story useless by the end. Um...Sorren style. (What was up with the lame and awkward dialogue and catchphrases by the way?)



* A person who is 6' 7" can not just stand straight and have sex with another person who is 5' 2" without some body mechanics issues. Think...of the logistics. The taller one's cock will automatically land in the shorter one's ass when in the book he complained about the shorter one barely reaching his shoulders? Unless the shorter twink has freakishly long toes, about 12 inches or so. Excuse me.


* Since when did stripper = sub? A stripper can be a sub but it doesn't mean that all strippers are submissives. So why would a random person call a gay strip club to order a personal night with a submissive? Is there a menu that I missed? The strip club (Pinkies) where the twink originally worked did not state at any time that it was also BDSM club. In the land of WTF, this is all okay and $5000 seems to be the golden ticket to anything. (Please refer to the awesome gif above.)

The suspense part was ridiculous. The murder? why? The entire thing was stretched out. He could have struck so many months earlier. The couple is ridiculous. The premise was interesting, maybe written differently...it could've been something? I didn't read the previous book. I was lost about the backgrounds of the Slayers but I think I'd still be lost if I did read the first book. There were questions unanswered, items not developed. I'm not interested in reading any more of this series. My eyes can't roll any more for today.

Why not the just give it a 1? Hm...it wasn't so bad in the beginning. cheesy as hell, weak characters and surprisingly not all about sex but once the sex started, it went to shit. And the cover isn't bad. *shrugs*

Now it's time for me to leave WTF land. I'd love to eat pancakes all day but I can't. Bye!



Not recommended for anyone I know. I highly doubt I'll be reading this author again.


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