ARC Review: The Flesh Cartel #1: Capture by Heidi Belleau and Rachel Haimowitz

The Flesh Cartel #1: Capture

by Heidi Belleau and Rachel Haimowitz

Wow....just wow!! Well I did it - I read and made it through my first Rachel Haimowitz book. I had been told that her characters endure a lot and that her stories are filled with God-awful events (and this story was no exception), but I challenged myself to do it, I did it, and I survived...just barely.

The Flesh Cartel is one amongst the beginning of the newly-revived serial books. Like a television series, the stories can be likened to episodes that are published to the reader in short story form, and with greater frequency than we are used to between regular series book releases. The Flesh Cartel #1: Capture is the first installment in this psychosexual thriller, and the title is exactly what it says it is: the Capture. This series is about black market human trafficking, and we see first-hand the ugly side of the inhumane lengths that people will go to to capture what will be a most lucrative prize for the trade.

Dougie and Mat Carmichael are orphaned brothers, living together but working toward making a living in order to help the other. Dougie is in the process of getting his Ph.D. in psychology, and Mat supports him as an MMA fighter. Before long, they find themselves being beaten, tortured, and violated in the worst possible ways. Dougie apparently is regarded as a highly lucrative prize in the Flesh Cartel, and while he is being captured, Mat comes home and tries to fight off the kidnapping abusers, but he is outnumbered and captured as well.

This story takes the reader through their capture, their delivery, and what appears to be their preparation to be sold. As the warning on the book blurb indicates (see below), these brothers endure the worst of the worst, and really, the unimaginable. This book is NOT for the faint-of-heart, and so far, there is nothing happy-go-lucky about this story. I am a person who loves my romance and my HEA's, but I have heard so many good things about Belleau and Haimowitz's books that I knew I had to just try this one. And the fact that this is being released as a serial was intriguing to me as well, so I thought I would give this new format a shot. While this book is not for everyone, I am glad I read it. The writing is excellent, and together, the team of Belleau and Hamimowitz made me feel. I felt sadness, anger, repulsion, shock, shame, and disgust, to name a few. But their writing made me feel that, and I felt those emotions strongly. And even though I know the road ahead for each of these guys will probably be full of more of the same, I look forward to reading future installments, seeing them through, and rooting for them to come out on top at the end (along with getting a good healthy dose of revenge on all of the people who have had a hand in their torture along the way). ;)

(Publisher's note: This title contains material some may find objectionable or trigger-inducing, including explicit violence, non-consent, and forced incest.)

*ARC provided by the publisher.

While there is sex in this book, none of the sex in this story was consensual or toe curling