Tried to read 3/2023 but I'm just not loving all of the torture and murder.

First time listening to Alex Kydd narrate. I had to up the speed a little bit to compensate for his very slow delivery. ( )

I love Cara Dee...I own, I have read, and I have 5-star rated more than 30 of her books. This one I listed to on Hoopla and then have spent two and a half days struggling with what to say about it...and how to say it. The subject of this book...human trafficking...will never, nor should it ever be, an easy, "please let me read more", subject....no matter who writes about it. I finally decided on 3 stars...after all, it was Cara Dee, and it was a well written and the characters of Gray and Darius came across on paper as real human beings. A matter of fact they were so well portrayed that the reader literally felt the pain, grief, heartache, frustration, fear, hopelessness, and what seemed like thousands of other emotions that these young men...the prisoners of these monsters that called themselves human beings, felt from the moment of their capture to their transportation, to the auction on the island where they were sold for millions of dollars... to their ruthless "owners". I had to keep telling myself that "it's just a story" and it will all work out in the end. Yes...Darius had bought Gray, but he was a good guy...obviously the only one there who was...and he was different from the beginning...and, he had a plan. Gray also had a plan...but would it work? There was one scene that nearly caused me to stop listening...but then I had second thoughts. If the author had written something so well...so close to the very bone... that it could induce feelings in a reader that nearly or reduced them to tears...then that author had written a top-notch story. Because of that one scene and in spite of the books ending...I couldn't go any more than the 3 stars. PLEASE...BE AWARE...IF YOU HAVE ANY TYPE OF TRIGGERS...THIS IS NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO TACKLE. ( )

It was hard to put down, but also the evilness of the buyers seemed extreme even for people who actually buy other humans, and the suffering was extensive. I did like the main characters, but it was just a difficult setting for something to develop. Like trying to have a romantic plot line in a snuff film. So in the end it was a page turner, but not super enjoyable for all that. I will still try the next in the series. ( )

2.5 stars ( )