Don’t …

April 21, 2013 by Pip

Title : Don’t …

Series : The Society of Masters

Author : Jack L. Pyke

Purchase Links : AMAZON ~ B&N ~ SMASHWORDS

Genre : M/M, Contemporary, BDSM

Length : 354 pages (e-book)

Published : December 12, 2012

Rating : ★★★★★

Blurb:

“…open me.” Three simple words that tease Jack, taking him dark places from his past. For Jack, BDSM is a way to resist his worst impulses. Yet the stranger calling himself The Unknown seeks to use that to seduce him. As Jack slips further down in the abyss, two men hold the power to save him. Will it be Gray, the Master who knows Jack’s every secret? Or Jan, the first man to give Jack a reason to hope? With deadly ghosts coming out to play, Jack may lose everything, even his life.

Review:

This is an incredibly difficult book to review! Did I love it? No, not all of it. Could I stop thinking about it? Oh Hell No! There were editing issues IMO … and yes, a review is obviously my opinion but I am not an editor so I feel weird calling them errors as such; certainly there were continuity glitches – scenes that didn’t seem to fit into the time scale – but none of that got in the way of making this one incredible reading journey! Sometimes the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, like “Special Forces” by Voinov, this book needs to be looked at as a whole reading experience. And let me tell you it was a white knuckle ride from start to finish!

There are so many OMG! and WTF! moments that I am struggling with what I can tell you in this review… I guess “Awesome!” doesn’t really fill the word count criteria – so I will attempt to tell you as much as I can without spoiling the journey. The book begins with Jack wanting to scratch an itch, and where better than on the good old internet – but with any chat room scenario you really do not know who is on the other end of the line…..

The world that we are in for this story is contemporary London, no fantasy (except of the kink kind 😉 ), no mythological beings, no technological wizardry – just bog standard London…. except for the MC. The Master’s Circle – although who’s to say something like that doesn’t exist? The MC comprises of 5 Doms, and they run a secret D/s organisation training both Doms and subs to the highest of standards, fullfilling the needs of a lucrative international market. The secrecy made me think of the Freemasons – except instead of a secret handshake I was thinking nipple twists 🙂 …. but enough about me! One of these Doms is Gray; and he is just an amazing character. You don’t meet him properly until you are quite a bit into the book, but the little mentions and glimpses into Jack’s history had me chomping at the bit for him to come into the story.

Then there is Jan. He is an absolute sweetheart, and whilst the quickness of his and Jack’s relationship had be cocking an eyebrow a bit – I still liked it. They just connected really quickly and when you learn a bit more about Jan’s past relationship it kind of fit. I think they were beautiful together.

Finally, the main character, Jack – and he is truly sublime. I have read some reviews where people didn’t warm to him straight away. I certainly did, and my feelings grew stronger as the story unfurled. He was a troubled teen. My God his poor parents really had a tough time. He is OCD/ODD and in his late teens he discovers unorthodox “coping techniques” that do help him; but must have been awful for loved ones to see the aftereffects. It is around this time that he meets Gray, and the two of them form a bond that is still strong some ten years on – which is where the book is now. Jack owns his own garage, runs a dojo and has some great people in his life. Steve at work is great, and Jack’s Dad is just lovely. A really good support network, when and if he needs them. The story has alternating POV’s which I always enjoy, although most of it is told through Jack.

I don’t really like m/m/m – I can count on one hand the books that have “sold” that storyline to me – in fact I can count it on two fingers: “Dark Horse”, and now “Don’t …” Maybe it is because I don’t see this as being a true menage, but more as a need for that anchor in your life? Argh! I don’t want to spoil it – but I do know that people want to know these tags, so I would say that there is some m/m/m in the book but it is definitely not the main theme. What was a main theme was the OCD/ODD and I honestly don’t know enough about these conditions to know if the book was accurate – it felt honest and the story flowed naturally so I definitely went with what I read.

So, ultimately, even though there were things in the book that I didn’t totally “get” I still feel that it deserves a full KAPOW! because it did what a great book should do – it hooked me! This is the first book by the author – what a way to start and I know I will be grabbing the sequel as soon as I can. Go. Buy the book! …. or should I say Don’t…. buy the book.

Rated 5 stars by Barb