REVIEW: 'Breakdown' by Jack L. Pyke
5 HEART READ
Title: Breakdown
Series: Don't...Book 3
Author: Jack L. Pyke
Published: Aug. 19, 2014
Cover Artist: D.M. Atkins
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Dark Erotic Romance
Length: 271 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; M/M/M; Menage; BDSM; D/s; Mental Illness; Suspense; Psychological Thriller; Society of Masters; Heavy Angst; CW: Torture: CW: Sexual Abuse; CW: Forced Seduction; CW: Abduction; CW: Non-Con; CW: Explicit Violence
BLURB:
The evidence is there in his hands: the DVD and notepad convincing Jack that Gray is responsible for his kidnapping and torture, tearing Jack and Jan brutally apart. But with Jack trapped in his own mind, lost to blackouts and self-harming, getting away from Gray must take a back seat to getting away from himself.
While locked away in a secret facility run by the Masters’ Circle, a new beast is unearthed from the depths of Jack’s tormented past. Martin only comes out to play when Jack needs to hide, a psychopath as capable of ruining Jack’s life as he is of defending him. Martin is the repository for Jack’s most horrifying memories, protecting him from the bloody tasks Jack can’t handle. Martin’s purpose is to drive everyone Jack fears – or loves – away, before they get the chance to hurt Jack again.
Now Jack hurts more than he ever has before, Martin is back, and Jack has to figure out what Martin knows that Jack forgot, before it’s too late.
In Breakdown, the third installment in her Don’t…. series, Jack L. Pyke superbly takes confused Jack, and her readers, on a gripping walk through his past and then brings him full circle to the present, leaving nothing to question of who Jack truly is.
If you haven’t read the first two books in this series, Don’t.... and Antidote, (click titles for my reviews), you are most assuredly going to miss what Breakdown is all about. This is Jack’s story - plain and simple. You think you loved him before. Just. Wait!
Jack is one book boyfriend you are going to want to reach through the pages to grab onto and hold.
As a whole, Breakdown addresses the casualties of Jack’s mental illnesses, especially his Identity Disorder. The confusion to himself and the hurt to those around him. But it is more than that. It is a story of how full understanding of Jack and unbending love can breed hope.
The pages open up with Jack being led away from Gray’s manor after the explosive altercation between him, Jan and Gray at the end of Antidote. As his father, Jan and Doc Halliday walk him out, you can feel Jack’s confusion and you ache for what you know in your heart is about to occur.
Breakdown is right! Through Jack’s thoughts you see he is no longer conscious of his actions and he can not determine if his thoughts are even his own. It devastates your soul to see Jan have to do this to Jack and, at the same time, for Jan to have to endure what you know is to come.
As Jack begins therapy, through flashbacks and moments of absence, he begins to recall his past with his mother, with Cutter, his and Jan’s abduction, his beginning with Gray; and through these moments he finally meets Martin for the first time.
Martin. Oh boy, get ready for that thrill ride. And I do mean thrill ride!
Subconsciously Jack has known things. Known things no one person should ever have to remember. Things his mother did, hurt Cutter inflicted on Jack and others and unimaginable things Jack himself did. Things he could not deal with on a conscious level, Martin did, and not always in a safe or sane way.
What makes Breakdown so intense is that every single scene, every single moment, every single description is in such detail you feel as if you are there - experiencing it all. Every step Pyke takes you is one step closer to the edge. And when you discover what Jack, what Martin saw and did, what happened under Cutter’s influence, what his mother tried to control; you understand the necessity, the protection Martin has been for Jack.
In typical Pyke fashion the lead up, setting the stage, is 50% of the book and when it hits its crescendo, the descent into understanding is fantastic.
The fact that you learn so much of Jack’s past, and how deep a grave he has dug himself (without him even knowing he has) by the time he meets Gray, makes his recall of their first meeting even more f-ing intense. When Gray comes on the scene he is in your face - pure, dominant Gray - and sooooo needed. Damn, does Jack need Gray! Learning all this history, while in the back of your mind you know where Gray was able to take Jack in the future - yeah, raw, powerful human need. The need for direction, comfort and safety.
Breakdown is the answer to so many secrets in the Don’t…. series and Pyke has a beautiful way of telling these secrets. When you learn where Jack’s intimate nudge to Gray’s neck/chin came from, asking for acceptance….it is passionate brilliance! Breakdown is Jack’s history of hurt, his world of confusion, his knowing of desire, and his discovery of true, compassionate love. His awareness that Gray is, and always has been, his casual. It’s his discovery that Jan is his assurance, his constant. It’s his uncovering of self and what he must do in order to have both these men in his life and keep them for his future.
I was given a copy of Breakdown by the author, at no charge, in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.
Contact: E-mail
Jack blames her dark writing influences on living close to one of England’s finest forests. Having grown up hearing a history of kidnappings, murders, strange sightings, and sexual exploits her neck of the woods is renowned for, Jack takes that into her writing, having also learned that human coping strategies for intense situations can sometimes make the best of people have disastrously bad moments. Redeeming those flaws is Jack’s drive, and if that drive just happens to lead to sexual tension between two or more guys in a D/s relationship, Jack’s the first to let nature take its course.
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