Journey To The Dark Side by Marty Rayne

 

Journey To The Dark Side is a fun little short story about a male FBI agent and what I think is likely a city or county female detective, chosen for this role because she has experience with the world of BDSM, and the serial killer is targeting male submissives. The FBI agent who is chosen for the role of submissive is selected because he has the body, the profile, that the serial killer seems to be attracted to. He has no experience with the lifestyle, and is certainly not a submissive.

He's got five hours to learn how to be a submissive before his first public appearance.

Here's the blurb:

Serial killer Dante is targeting submissive males who frequent a fetish club, The Dark Side. Detective Monica Street is determined to end the killer's reign on the community and needs help. Enter sexy FBI Agent Jared Keller, who has the looks and ability Monica is looking for. And what's the best way to catch this killer? Draw him out by playing in the world of domination and submission. Only alpha-male Jared gets more than he bargains for as he is engulfed by Mistress Monica, whippings, and the trappings of a psychotic serial killer.

I liked that the author took the time to make the scenario believable. The reason this particular FBI agent was chosen, the personal connections that allowed for the FBI to be called into the case, the reason Monica was so familiar and had such skill with the lifestyle and yet was not a Domme. Sometimes I feel like an author has the idea for the scenes they want, but they can't figure out how to make the setup work for the scene. I didn't feel that with this story, Marty Rayne made the set up work for the story line.

BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline: We are told that punishment spankings happen when they are in the club, but we aren't given descriptions of them. 0 of 3
• Dominance and Submission: All D/s is done for the purpose of appearing undercover in a BDSM club. 0 of 3
• Sadism and Masochism: None. Other than what the Serial Killer does, and that's not BDSM, it's just sick. 0 of 3 
• Extra Point: I'm going to give it the point, because the story happens in a BDSM club, and there is a lot of lifestyle stuff going on around them. And because Jared has to deal with the collar and leash, even if it is only for show.

As for the writing elements -- the plot was interesting and fairly involved for such a short story, pacing was fine, prose and dialogue were fine, character development was well done.

• Book Rating: Journey to the Dark Side: 9 of 10
• BDSM Intensity Level: 1 of 10
• Heat Level: 2 of 5

Journey To The Dark Side takes place in the world of BDSM, but it isn't really about BDSM. It's about catching a serial killer who is targeting submissives. It's still a nice romance, was well written, and was an enjoyable read.

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