Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, and it is a shame I thought so highly of this book, it’s a shame like that psychology class I took in high school my preparations were inadequate, and it’s a shame that against my better judgment, three stars. Noted I might not be a smart man, that class I took pretty much proved that, and with all the psychobabble I’ve heard I’m not qualified to talk about it, but Psychopath’s Prey by V. F. Mason come on.

Not a title I sought out, “Dark Erotica” reading group book of the month and this V. F, Mason’s work has shown me that maybe it is okay to skip one because honestly, I wish I had with Psychopath’s Prey. To be fair with all its flaws, I was ready to suggest it to a friend of mine and then what happened… Chapter Twenty-Five occurred, and those four stars drifted quickly to two and then maybe I thought I am unreasonable. When these things happen I always want to blame myself first, but when the rest of the story went on afterward I thought I was stupid, maybe I still am, maybe someone should explain it to me one day.

Okay, long story short; Ella, tragic past wants to feel better about it or go all avenging angel, and for a moment I was rooting for her until yeah for someone with her background maybe she is in the wrong line of work. The serial killer who I’ll name later is practically the same, horrific past and in the same line of work as Ella, hoping that such tragedies don’t occur with anyone else, other than parenting issues, I couldn’t get into either one of them. This story is one of those crime shows with some sex thrown in and considering I liked Chloe and Simone more than I loved Ella already I knew this was bad news all around.

Still, four stars because even though it was extremely predictable right up until the end, and that was a surprise and not a sexy one but an incredibly stupid one, why do I keep wanting to defend this book wondering if there is something I didn’t understand. Girl, FBI, Boy, Same, love and reasoning, I knew it would have a happily ever after but then one screwed up chapter gone.

There will be spoilers from here on out, an official warning but if you’re leaving three stars if you like predictability, the bad boy and good girl finding love and if you like family drama bloody, then it’s a decent read. Now Ella and Kierian, that’s right I said it, Kierian, I knew right away, and I was wishing and hoping it wasn’t Preston which is one of the things I’m taking so personally honestly.

I haven’t read “I See You” by Ker Dukey and D.H. Sidebottom in the longest time and I’ve read both of them individually because I won’t be rereading V. F. Mason hopefully, seeing as how Kierian is directly relatable to I See You. There was a twist here and there but not one of them enhanced the story more like, well okay then, I kept turning pages only because I wanted the whole motive. If Ella had become Kierian you would have another title “Whispers In The Dark” by LeTeisha Newton, I don’t blame V. F. Mason for having ideas along those lines but in the execution of said ideas…

Other characters were merely there to populate the world, and you can’t fault a guy for having thoughts about Chloe, Simone, and Ella, I got more of a kick out of my imagination than the goings on of the story. Ella and Kierian had some hot sex scenes, and the bloody scenes were gory enough but again tamed so that this could work on TV any night of the week. Preston, Preston, that is where I got lost, how I became infuriated, and the moment stars began being deducted, honestly what was the author thinking with that climax because I don’t understand in the slightest.

I’m a bit of a writer myself, and I know what it’s like to rush to an end and wanting a twist, but that wasn’t anything but noise to distract us from the ending we knew was coming anyway. I’ve been going back in the book looking for any clue and why even bother building Kierian up at all making him a criminal and then let’s have Preston to hate because of course Ella loves Kierian, and he needs to look less the monster now.

I’m not this book’s target demographic of course, get any straight guy to read these works, and you’ll question what all women are thinking, but I only suspect the author and myself, two stars if I stay mad, three stars by the work itself. There was plenty to like about the book if you’re looking for something that you’ve seen before, the characters are one in the same, and you might want to feel like the smartest person in the room for a little while.

As I said the sex is decent, the imagined sex is better; you can understand Ella and Kierian’s feelings though they are spelled out for you, and the intro to the characters is pretty impressive. Not that you know how or why but a happy ending is a happy ending and however you slice it, get it, Kierian is making the world a better place; I’d be all for such an avenger. There is a trace amount of mystery, that .1% but it’s enough to make you think isn’t this ironic rather than moronic for a few seconds and then okay where was the surprise?

I despise Chapter Twenty-Five for taking me out of the story and making me the idiot, math books make me feel stupid but this was a first in the erotic genre, and perhaps I’m not. I hate the fact that Preston is a killer, that it’s the quiet ones you have to watch, this is personal what the hell is wrong with being quiet it doesn’t make you a psychopath, this is the worst stereotype other than myself being black. We get everything on Ella and Kierian but yeah where is Preston’s story a few sentences and it doesn’t matter he’s gone quite quickly boom.

Did I relate to Preston, I don’t know enough about him to say, but he shouldn’t have even been a character for such a farce of an ending as this book is given, right out of the blue. For somebody that liked explaining nearly everything why am I left with this feeling of utter confusion and anger, but are is supposed to have you experience something and if that is something of Psychopath’s Prey well, Psychopath’s “Pray” For Better Books.