The Risk (Mindf*ck Series, 1)
Rating: 4 Stars
"Sometimes people don't find justice. Sometimes they have to take it."
They took too much. Left too little. I had nothing to lose...until him. Lana: I didn't expect him. I didn't want to fall in love. But I can't let him go. Logan Bennett makes the world a safer place. He's brilliant. He's a hero. He locks away the sick and depraved. But while he's saving lives, I'm taking them. Collecting the debts that are owed to me. Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead. Now I'm taking from them. One name at a time. I've trained for too long. I've been patient. I can't stop now. Revenge is best served cold... They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red. Logan doesn't know how they hurt me. He doesn't know about the screams they ignored. He doesn't know how twisted that town really is. He just knows people are dying. He doesn't know he's in love with their killer. No one suspects a dead girl. And Logan doesn't suspect the girl in his bed. They're looking for a monster. Not a girl who loves red. Not a girl in love. I'm a faceless nightmare. At least until I tell them the story they've pretended never happened. But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?
So I went into this series with no idea what it was about simply because someone recommended it. I will admit it took a minute to adjust myself, because even though we don't have all the details, it's immediately clear that Lana was the victim of a terrible sexual assault. One that was supposed to have killed her, but she survived and now she's become the hunter. One by one she is getting revenge on those who wronged her. I adore morally gray female main characters because they always have such an intense strength buried inside them. And Lana does not disappoint. She is able to channel her anger and rage to get her revenge, but still also able to fall in love... even if that love presents a lot of complications for her task.
Lana is ferocious and reads people so well. She isn't afraid to let Logan and other's underestimate her. It helps to keep her secret hidden. And she cannot stop her task until it's complete, even if being with Logan gives her a sense of hope for the future. I have to say for this book to be so short... I felt so much anxiety and tension reading it just waiting for Lana to be found out by Logan. It is like an interesting mix between Dexter and Criminal Minds. And even though underlying the story is an intense trauma that I'm sure is going to break me when I read it... I have to continue the series... It's written so well that you can't stop because they author leaves you wanting more. She gives you just enough information that it's easy to side with Lana with like zero hesitation. The end is a cliffhanger... which made me want to immediately start book 2. Basically this series even from book one is addictive. I mean an adorable romance and a serial killer, whose getting justice for a terrible wrong... What's not to love.
