REVIEW: 'Stealing Innocents' by Cari Waites

Title: Stealing Innocents

Author: Cari Waites aka Lisa Henry

Published: January 11, 2016

Publisher: Anglerfish Press an Imprint of Riptide Publishing

Cover Artist: L.C. Chase

Genre: Dark Erotic Romance

Length: 273 Pages

Tags: Gay; M/M; Anthology; May/December; Angst: Heavy; BDSM; First Time; Daddy Kink; Mental Illness; Suspense; Thriller; CW: Dub-Con; CW: Emotional Abuse; CW: Violence - Explicit; CW: Kink _ Heavy; CW: Child Abuse; CW: Taboo; CW: Substance Abuse; CW: Sexual Slavery; CW: Sexual Assault; CW: Sexual Abuse; CW: Self-Harm; CW: Rape; CW: Pseudo-Incest; CW: Forced Seduction; CW: Abduction; CW: Kidnapping

BLURB:

Those who dare to scratch the surface of ordinary, everyday life may be horrified to find a sick underbelly beneath—a nightmare world populated by villains and victims, predators and prey, where the rules of society no longer apply.

Where you’ll find people like Danny, the boy who sells himself to pay for his father’s gambling debts and ends up in a situation more twisted than he ever imagined. Or Troy, the cop whose obsession with saving a brutalized human trafficking victim turns deadly. Or Drew, the mental patient who begins to suspect his nightly delusions of abuse by his doctor are actually real. Or David, the cuckolded husband who decides the best way to get revenge is to seduce his wife’s barely legal son.

Stealing Innocents is an exploration of our darkest human impulses, where sex is power, love is horror, and there’s no such thing as a happy ending.

This collection contains three edited second editions stories that were previously individually published, plus one all-new story, by Lisa Henry writing as Cari Waites.

4 HEART READ

REVIEW:

Stealing Innocents by Cari Waites, aka Lisa Henry, is a collection of deeply dark, sordid tales. Tales of villains and predators acting on their darkest impulses.

Horrific tales of sex as power!

Let me just start by saying that I am always one to test my limits when I read; the darker and more sordid, the better. I have run the gamut from incest to rape. So hear me when I say – heed the author/publisher warnings on this book! They are not teasing you in any way; these shorts are not for the faint of heart.

From the book bio to the very first fable, which takes up half of the book, the stage is set for some totally twisted stories.

Stories covering age regression, an encounter that comes dangerously close to incest, a predatory therapist, and a sex trafficker. Each one providing you with no happy ending. Pun intended!

With all these warnings there should be absolutely no reason for a negative review of Stealing Innocents due to its subject matter. If you take the leap to read this book you should be doing so with the knowledge it will take you out of your comfort and social norms.

Should you decide to take an open, honest look at Stealing Innocents you are going to get Waites' fantastic, diabolical tales with a twist/spin at the end of each one making you wonder “what the hell just happened”?

Take for instance the first tale: Gamble Everything

As I read, what I felt was daddy kink, I kept wondering to myself what made Archer do this to this kid. What made him target Danny when he saw him at sixteen, but not act upon his impulse until Danny was eighteen?

At the very end I found out why the author held that detail back, didn’t say it up-front…..because the mind fuck that is the finale is the why indeed!

In fact I reveled in Archer’s audacity, while at the same time, being sickened by it.

Then there is: Crazy

Psych ward patient, Drew, can’t tell if he really is crazy or if the drugs are making him crazy. Is where Dr. Harrow takes him at night, and what he does to him, reality?

Just when I thought Drew had proof, Waites wielded her magic and made me wonder if it was just Drew’s schizophrenic hallucinations? What is the true reality, and what is delusional?

After that: First And Only

For me, David is a stepfather who has his priorities entirely out of line, using his wife’s son, Sage, as revenge for her betrayal.

What David doesn’t bargain for is developing feelings for Sage.

But when Sage ends up being just like his mother, in David’s eyes, David ultimately ends up being the one played – again.

And lastly, the most powerful tale: Falling Angels

This one for me was really, for lack of a better word, excruciating. It is a blunt look at what sex trafficking can do, to all those impacted. The victim and those obsessed with searching for them.

What is done to Arkady, physically as well as mentally; and where it leads him and the investigator, Troy, is tragic – on so many levels.

Yet, for as hard as this story was - I’m gonna be honest here, at times I wondered how much more I could take - it was some talented writing on Waites' part. She was able to rip so many warring emotions out of me, in an incredibly short read.

Cari Waites did a fantastic job at compelling me to try to understand the mindset of each of these characters, while at the same time pushing my personal boundaries farther than I thought I could go. If I had anything negative to say, it would be that at times, I found myself wanting just a little bit more backstory.

If you’re looking for a break from the happily ever after, and can take dark, raw, and gritty, Stealing Innocents may just be the book for you. But be prepared to question how far you thought you could really go. Be prepared to re-think everything you thought you knew about each of these stories. But most of all, be prepared for Waites' wicked talent that will totally suck you in, to the point you MUST finish each and every tale – even when you think you have reached your absolute limit.

Stealing Innocents originally reviewed by Kimmers in connection with now exited QUEERcentric Books blog. Book was provided free of charge to QCB, by Anglerfish Press, in exchange for our fair and honest opinion.

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Cari Waites aka Lisa Henry

I like to tell stories, mostly with hot guys and happily ever afters. But they've gotta work for it! No free lunches on my watch. I live in tropical North Queensland, Australia. I don't know why, because I hate the heat, but I suspect I'm too lazy to move. I spend half my time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting my escape. I attended university at sixteen, not because I was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. I studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly. I share my house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how I imagined life as a grown-up.