Review: Yes there is 'degrading sexual content' which must be acceptable within context of this series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 7, 2013
It is my belief that writing within the horror genre is one of the most difficult forms of script to get correct.Why?In fantasy and similar genres, the writer can choose to ignore all rules resembling our own reality and rely strictly on the expansiveness of their imagination.  Whereas a writer presenting a horror story around a believable serial murdering sociopath/psychopath character, the characteristics of and the motivations of the characters not to mention the circumstances surrounding the characters MUST be believable and unbelievable simultaneously.The audience (reader) must be able to draw correlations to the real world, real people, real suspicions, real fears, possibly real experiences then using morbid imagination, transcend above all of that to such a horrific level that it invokes feelings within the reader...fear, revulsion, shock, dismay, physical illness, etc.  The audience/ reader must be able to insert themselves either in the victims psyche or in the killers' to experience what we know if the most frightening reality -- that this level of monstrous depravity truly does exist in our world.I started reading Lustmord volume 3 of this series *(see review of volume 3).  Once I completed that, I realized I really needed to get the back-story of all the characters to commit myself to the characters and their world so I reversed and read volume 1 then volume 2. I am glad I did read a bit out of order and here is why.I thought volume 1 was slower through 55% of the book before things really started to pick up intensity.  There was a large section where the author spent, I felt, far too much time detailing the girls' dancing in the strip club and the male audience reaction to it. Granted this is a male writing this series but in writing novels, a writer must keep conscious of alienating about fifty percent of his potential audience and losing sales and readers over it.  I as a female got very bored and had to skim over it as I know what goes on in strip clubs and it is not slightly interesting- it was just too expository in descriptiveness and length.  I completely understood why he did it-- to make the audience understand how valued and desired these victims are to not only the perverse desires of his serial sociopath but to the male audience in general.There is a complaint regarding the "degrading sexual content" of the book.  Firstly, the author explicitly warns readers about the impending offensive material.  Secondly, the mode of narrative is mainly in first person through the protagonist as well as a story-within-story.  This is an insight into the mind of the protagonist: the demented psyche of the killer sees and relates to not only the world and people around him, but also to his inner self.  I feel the author did an excellent job in use of phrases and text (however offensive) in portraying the views of the protagonist towards his world, women, his victims, his circumstances and himself. In doing so, he enabled the realistic essence of the female degradation, deep-seated self-loathing, insecurity, sexual impotency, etc. to bleed through every pore of his protagonist. Without delving into this type of 'degrading sexual content and language' the author could not have written this story...it has to be accepted and justified by the reader in context of the story or this series is not for you.I felt that like vol. 3, volume 1 had great character development and plot structure overall.  I do like this series because it stays true to the believability then takes imagination to take it to an unbelievable level of depravity.