Rating: 1 star

I have never given a book one star before. Usually there is at least one redeeming factor that makes it two stars. But not this story, this is pure rubbish. Everything about this book screams trash bin – from poor writing and unlikable main characters to rape masquerading as BDSM, nothing works.

Another reviewer states that Keta Diablo likes non pc characters. If so, that’s fine. But this goes far beyond that. They are not merely non pc, the main character is reprehensible and the author seems unable to tell the difference.

Frank McGuire is a psychic ex cop who has been asked to help the police find a serial killer. Frank left the force after his partner died in his arms during an arrest. He distanced himself from everything that reminded him of his former life, including his partner’s family. Now, his partner’s widow calls Frank with a frantic request which is remarkable considering he had abandoned the family. Her son has gone missing and she wants Frank to find him. So far sounds harmless right?

Stop reading if you don’t want spoilers:

Spoiler Alert: But it turns out that both Frank and Rand (the boy ) are gay. Rand idolized Frank and Frank had sexual thoughts about the kid when he was underage. Once Frank finds the boy (now 19), he follows him back to his apartment, dons a black hood and rapes him to scare him into going home. I am sure that Keta Diablo would tell you that it is BDSM but it’s not. Its rape. And what’s worse is that when Rand at a later date ties up Frank and tries to threaten him (to get a little payback which he is due), Frank gets loose and rapes him again even as the boy pleads with him to stop, that he is hurting him. This is a man Rand worshiped as a kid. Later Frank only feels nominal guilt and really at this point, the reader doesn’t believe it. The man’s a pedophile and a sadist and the main character?

The psychic section of the novel is weak as well. Pick any D rated horror movie and they do a better job with the dead floating about with messages for the living than this does. More “flipping pages, flipping pages”. But the worst is yet to come. The serial killer ends up with Rand’s sister in his basement so Frank and Rand are obliged to rescue her. So it turns out that there are two killers operating together, and the main one is a transvestite who does the torturing and killing. Of course, it’s a Transvestite. Because that’s NEVER been done before. *shakes head* But the very worst of this book? That Rand moves in with the man who has raped him twice, saying that his mother approves. Boy loves man who rapes him, moves in with him. Does nobody have a problem with this? It would be different if they were writing about a character that had Stockholm syndrome but that is not the case here. Shades of Luke and Laura and General Hospital in the 80’s. It caused an uproar than. It should still do so now.

So like I said. No redeeming value. Definitely not worth the bytes it takes up on my computer so I am deleting it. I usually give an author at least 3 tries before I stop reading their books but may make the exception here. It would have to be a great recommendation before I pick up anything else from Keta Diablo. It says she has an “environmental lake” on her six acre property.j That should have warned me as lakes by their very nature are “environmental”. *shakes head* Clueless, she is absolutely clueless.

Don’t buy it, don’t read it. I’m done.

Cover:  The story makes this cover much worse.  Here is “smarmy guy” as Chris from Stumbling Over Chaos calls him.  Look him up in her Misadventure in Stock Photography. Given the content of the book, having a smirking naked guy on the cover is rubbish.  So rubbish on the cover, and rubbish inside. Perfect for each other.