Review: Be Prepared to Experience Psychological Manipulation...Amazing Writing!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 24, 2014
~ ~ ~Warning per author/publisher: This is extreme psychological reconditioning, the deconstruction of someone's mind. Please be aware that there is extreme non-con in there. There is also kidnap and captivity, with violence. Antidote is extreme dark erotic romance, and will have triggers that will upset on multiple levels.My Review:MIND. FreakINGLY. BRILLIANT.IF you want to know what psychological manipulation feels like, read Antidote. If you don't. Don't.This is not a stand-alone. You must read Don't..., first. Then read it again before you start this one. I should have. I struggled to remember pertinent information, but either Jack L. Pyke did her job of implanting information into my brain when I read Don't, or she did her job of extracting what I had buried and then forced me to remember. Then she tied it all together, expanded on it, ripped it apart and created a brand new beginning.THE CHARACTERS"I can't climb in to my head and order thoughts as easily as I do my sock drawer..."Jack Harrison - We talk about broken, f'ed up characters all the time. Jack trumps them all."Jan got you like that, and I f'ing loved how even Gray was nearly caught in his gentle trap."Jan Richard- Vanilla, intelligent, "normal". His nightmare became mine. Not only does he ground this story, but he lets us see."Part of me swore that the search for that quiet was what drove Gray, because the moment Jack quietened, so did he."Gray Raoul - Complex. Dangerous. Powerful. His deeply hidden compassion almost did me in.THE STORY"There was a brush of his nose along Gray's jaw for the second time now, and the need to find out the what and why behind it nearly killed me."I don't even think I can tell you anything. I'm short changing this fascinating piece of work by not expounding here, but I fear there is nothing that I can say to do it justice. Not to mention that I'd give something away.In generalities the book starts on a high. Things are good and this is where it must start, at a pinnacle, both because it has to give you that high to cling on to and also because it makes the depths of despair that much more poignant. There is no light at the bottom, but there is memory of it.I will just say, IF you're up for it, read this.THE WRITINGThe brilliance of this work comes from the way the author was able to keep me off kilter and grounded all at once. I was flailing, but for reasons. I couldn't put the book down. At the same time, I had to take breaks to digest, adjust, and breathe. The intensity caused me to experience real life physical reactions; racing heart rate, tears, depression, and anger. It takes a lot, any more, for me to reach that level of response to writing. It was more than just the nature of the story, it was the writing that gripped me so hard.Ms. Pyke is building something here. This book took a wild deviation from where I thought this series would go. Not in the nature of the events, but in the nature of where I thought the main players would go. This opens entirely new paths.I was struck at the end by the way the author's writing changed to fit the moment. It became lyrical only when it was necessary and it may have saved me. I read the last two pages over and over and over again.~ ~ ~I would like to thank Jack L. Pyke and Forbidden Fiction for providing me with an ARC/Review Copy in exchange for my honest review.~ ~ ~