Should I read it? I read Kol Anderson's "Prisoner" couple of years back and wasn't impressed with the story. At all. Especially with the editing. Whaddayaknow, he is an editor for somebody else now ... @.@
But - sure, I am a sucker for punishment. Adding this to "to-read" shelf. Hope it's not another mistake.

5* - 1* (due being a cliffhanger) = 4*

I dislike cliffhangers, with a more satisfying ending this would have been a full 5*.

~~~~ Spoilers ahead! ~~~~



This is a book about the dark side of sadomasochism. I'm not talking about what you commonly get there: a tale of atrocities heaped upon each other, usually emotionless as hell, some competition in who can recount the most horrific torture of 'em all. No. This book is about the hapless person having a paraphilia, the sadist who can't change his ways and SUFFERS because of it as much as his victim.

I get Jason all the way and back, I am absolutely sorry for him, and Khan did a magnificent job in bringing us up close to a sexual sadist who can't channel his needs into BDSM***, because that will simply not be enough to satisfy him. And by God he suffers, he falls in love with his victim, and instantly gets divided between his sexual self (Ty) and the rest of himself (Jason). He wants to rescue his beloved and at the same time he still wants to hurt him.

The story itself is truly horrific, unlike for example such similar themed stories as [b:Waiting in the Throes|15784986|Waiting in the Throes|Maddox Grey|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356092666s/15784986.jpg|21503114] which is in comparison as unreal as a comic strip or manga with its emotionless depiction of further-wider-higher of torture and its cardboard characters. Angel on the other hand delves deeply into the realistic emotions of real people, not shying away from showing us all the shades there are instead of just black and white. The two deaths, described in spare, elegant and cutting prose, are a hundred times more gruesome and making this story so much grittier in their matter-of-factness, than anything else I recently read attempting to do a realistic take.


***HERE in THIS story you get to see the difference between BDSM and sadomasochism! This difference is why I so often breathe fire and see red over people touting the acronym of BDSM when of rights they should stick to "sadomasochism" instead!
( )