I liked a duet written by this author and decided to dive deeper into her work but this book has me conflicted. The rating for this book grew exponentially from 1 star at the beginning to 4 starts in the end.
It went from me very much disliking the book to the point where I was so engrossed in what was happening. Apart from irritating Abel and awful torture scenes and depravity during the first 30% I was enjoying the emotional component (or rather its discovery) between Cain and Kirby. I'll pretend it's a Stockholm Syndrome why I started enjoying it in the second half of the book when I hated it at the beginning. I am usually pretty chill about the triggers but this book has some disturbing content which has no other purpose than a shocking factor.
All the characters were so unappealing that I just barely made it before dnfing. At first, I couldn't get into the story but kept going and then I simply wanted to know if (or rather how) Kirby will affect Cain or vice versa.
On the positive side, the investigation itself was pretty interesting to follow and some of the inner thoughts of different characters were funny. Around 30% when the stalking began it was sort of fascinating to be in Cain's head and his anticipation of their meeting was contagious. His musings about feelings were so engrossing.
This quote (if slightly changed) is the perfect description of my feelings toward this book:
- "How was it you could concurrently want nothing to do with someone and want them to promise you the world and never leave you?"
There is something about an emotionless psychopath who starts discovering all the feelings that always does it for me:
- "The memory of what we'd done all last night was enough to make my body shudder. She'd asked me if I could love. I honestly didn't know. It was like saying I would cry when I'd never shed a tear. Yet, the idea of having her in my life until my end warmed me in a new way, and I liked it."
- "I may not know if I can fall in love, but I can tell you that my life, whatever that looks like, is not complete without you in it."
- "It amazed me that the man that could easily take a life could also be so thoughtful and sweet. The house was always filled with purple flowers, he knew exactly how I liked my bath, brought me a muffin and coffee a day from Mode, and he never missed a dinner. I was starting to think that everyone needed a Cain in their life."
All of this made me give this book 4 stars instead of 1 as I originally thought would end up doing. Surprise-surprise.
I swore during first 40% of the book that I would not be reading Abel's book but at the end I was quite surprised how it turned out and may indeed consider reading it at some point. It's also not helping that there were some unanswered questions and I guess these are not interconnected standalones and this duet has to be read together.
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"I don't understand why you want me to kill these guys," Cain said as he looked through the folder I'd given him.
"Because these guys are the kind of guys I'm fine with you killing." He lifted a single brow at me, and I instantly wanted to kiss the look off his face.
"What is this? You want to turn me into Dexter?"
I smiled and then laughed. "Yes, I like that. Cain, you're the apex predator. Why not prove it? Random people are easy and mundane," I'd said, and his eyes flared at the challenge. "These guys are a challenge, more worth your time and exceptional skill. Besides, they are the type to think they are better than you, and wouldn't it be entertaining to prove that they're not?"
"You're sweet talking me, but it's working," he said."
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