The Gentlemen's Club

Not 5! Definitely 5+! Hands down this book is in my top 3 for 2023 - thriller, suspense and erotica elements rolled together in a brilliant, twisted and original world building. It's very hard to not just create but balance so many plot lines that compliment and amplify each other's intensity.
The Gentleman's club is a the centerpiece in the main arc of the story - a playground for the rich, influential and corrupted figureheads and key players who want to advance in the city. A place where dark fantasies and deprived games define who is a hunter and who is just prey but while one can be at the top of the power exchange one day, it could slide into nothingness the next. The events in the cabin not only changed the bonds and the dynamics between the 4 friends in the first book, but actually triggered an avalanche in the second one. They weren't the lone players in the game of settling the scores and clearing out old grudges anymore. Chris' incredible ambition and Jay's out of control thirst for revenge opened the doors to even darker world that threatened to suck all 4 of them in without an emergency exit available.
Simply fascinating! I loved how all the these events were fitting so well together like domino pieces and falling down in an terrifying unstoppable domino effect. It was like every twist of the story brought out another twist and the tension was ramping up higher and higher. The feeling of fear and inevitability were so authentic because like in real life there wasn't anyone completely innocent or completely in the wrong. Every single one of them had made a questionable choice somewhere along the path and they were all tangled together in the web of their own decisions, mistakes and miscalculations. The HFN at the end is a promise that darkness is yet to fall, so I can't wait to see what happens next...