Review: MASTER OF PAIN by Wrath James White & Kristopher Rufty

Publisher Death's Head Press
Length 226 pages
Format ebook

Published 2019

Series standalone

My Review

Fifty Shades of Grey this is not. 

Master of Pain is a deadly mix of erotic, horror, and to a lesser extent crime fiction which focuses on the beauty in brutality, in-turn providing the reader a glimpse into the world of kink and the darker side of obsession and desire. 

There's a lot of blood; some spilled willingly, some, not so much, so reader beware, the content is not for the faint of heart.  

The book centers around a master who has a thing for murdering his submissives, but only once he's performed unspeakable acts of debauchery, debasing his victims (whilst they go to him willingly, once in the master's web, there's nothing consensual about what transpires) to shadows of their former self.  

The characters are well written and there's some decent backstory to help the reader develop a connection with them (be it master, or sub). Despite not reading erotic fiction, I lapped this one up and was pleasantly surprised by the quasi crime fiction and horror elements. 

My rating: 4.5/5 stars. Thanks to the Brian Keene podcast, The Horror Show for promoting this book, otherwise I would've never heard of it.