“I hate being wrong.
 I hate it all the more for how rarely it happens.
 My anger flares at the girl.
 This is her fault. Her fault for defying the fate rushing toward her” 
 important trigger warnings: 
-murder 
-detailed murder 
-abduction 
-sexual assault 
-sexual harassment 
-neglectful parents 
-abuse (from parents) 
-STALKING!!!! (that’s a big ass part of the book)
-invasion of privacy(also a big part of the story) 
-trauma and nobody is going to therapy

He’s a 10 but he’s a serial killer stalker.

⚠️Significant content warnings⚠️

Mixed feelings about this book but on the whole I really enjoyed it. This is a dual POV book where each chapter alternates between Mara Eldritch, a 26 year old junior artist trying desperately to make ends meet in San Francisco, and Cole Blackwell, a (maybe 30 year old), wealthy, famously renowned artist, who also happens to be a serial killer.

Cole has a rival artist named Alastor Shaw whom he competes with within the art world, for recognition, awards, praise etc. Oh and Shaw also just so happens to be a serial killer too!
The difference between Cole and Shaw is made obvious to the reader. Shaw is more impulsive, more gruesome, more aggressive with his victims and leaves remains behind. Cole is more meticulous, more refined, more secretive and gives nothing away.
It was really interesting, and also chilling, to read a book through the perspective of a sociopath, Cole’s thought processes, his coldness towards everything, his lack of empathy.

The book starts at an art show where both Cole and Shaw are showcasing work, jumping straight in with Cole thinking about Shaw’s most recent murder making the headlines.
Cole notices Mara for the first time when someone spills red wine on her white dress but she takes herself to the bathroom, tie dyes the rest of the garment with more wine and manages to turn the spillage into something beautiful. Shaw notices Cole looking at her and naturally decides to kidnap her and “gift” her to Cole, bound and bleeding, leaving her dying and vulnerable not far from the cave where Cole disposes of his victims. (Yeah I know, pretty fucked up.) After Cole is done with his kill of the night he comes across Mara in his path. He knows it’s Shaw messing with him, offering the girl from the art show for him to kill. Cole has never killed a woman before and disturbingly he just stares at Mara for a while before simply stepping over her and walking away, leaving her to bleed out. But Mara is stronger than either Cole or Shaw thought because she uses her survival instincts to get out of the situation, find her way to a road and she somehow survives, albeit with some deep scars.

Thus ensues Cole’s obsession with Mara. He stalks her, breaks into her property, man handles her things. Rents the place next door so he can watch through her window. He sets it up so that Mara is offered studio space at his studio, something she’s elated about because she’s in desperate need of art space. But when they meet she recognises his face as the man who stood over her watching her die in the woods and then walked away. But Mara’s probably a little bit fucked up as well. I mean case and point she very easily returned to normal after said kidnapping. Whereas if that had been me I think I’d be a broken woman for a very long time. She’s had a traumatic childhood and every instinct which tells her to run and be afraid of Cole Blackwell, she ignores, obviously. She’s stubborn and we are rewarded with a tense back and forth between Mara and Cole, each trying to get under the other’s skin.

Ultimately they find themselves attracted to each other and Cole is confused about what’s happening when he starts experiencing jealousy whenever Mara has ‘interactions’ shall we say with other guys. What begins to unfold is some rare tender moments between them as well as a deep lust and Cole’s overprotective need to keep her safe from Shaw. There’s no fully fledged love yet but this book is part of a duet and I suspect their ‘relationship’ will develop in the second book, likely with Mara ending up a little murderous herself, and tbh I’m here for it.

There’s honestly a lot to love about this book. It’s fascinating and sometimes incredibly hot (yeah I probably need a therapist, whatever). But there’s also some scenes I could do without because they’re so dyer and so graphic (but hey this is a book about serial killers so what did I expect) and I’m also not in love with some of the smut either, sorry not sorry.
But overall yes a good read.

Satisfactory ending? Yes, a cliffhanger, onto book 2.

Dark, so so so dark. I think the relationship between the love interests has been developed very well.  What the story really lacks is the background to build the relationship between the two duelling San Francisco serial killers.  As much as the leading man rejects the other San Fran serial killer their story is as central to the plot as the smutty romance, and that aspect of this story is seriously underdeveloped. I am desperately hoping the second book builds both that story and the romance.