The Risk
Ratings158
Average rating4
100++ pages per book?
I'm in.
A vengeful female serial killer.
Oh yeah, I'm definitely in.
A vengeful female serial killer smittened with an FBI profiler chasing down serial killers?
Baby, say no more. I'm all the way in.
This was a quick, decent read. TBH, I don't really feel that it's right to review each book separately. The books are like serial novellas. Not much is resolved by the end of this book. It doesn't stand on its own but very much feels like the first 100 pages of setup in a longer book.
Since it's so quick to read and the book ends on a cliffhanger, I started the next book instantly. Lana is a great FMC - strong, sarcastic, badass, but with lots of trauma & layers. Logan is a nice guy, he doesn't stand out much but ticks the box. I don't find their romance particularly developed, but their relationship feels much more like a means to an end in furthering the thriller/mystery plot.
I've seen this series recommended so much over this past year, so I have high hopes and I do have to say, so far so good!
The basic premise is that Lana, a serial killer and Logan, an FBI agent fall in love and he's assigned to her case.
This was a very quick read, I believe it only had 132 pages in it but it was a great start to the series!
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The rest of the review is for myself if I need to refer back to a previous book. It will have spoilers, so proceed with caution.
Our fmc is Lana and she's a serial killer...kind of. She's not a horrible person, just someone who horrible stuff happened to and she wants revenge. We don't get the whole story about what happened to her in this book but what we do know is that a group of guys from her hometown took her and her brother...hostage?? They raped and probably beat her, and they killed her brother. (I believe they did this because the brother was gay and this was a verrrrrrry conservative town.) Anywho, so these guys leave her for dead and they are all under the assumption that she died. She miraculously lives and gets a ton of plastic surgery done to fix what was broken. She doesn't look like herself anymore. She swaps identities with a rich heiress who got killed in a car wreck and was completely unrecognizable. She then changes her/rich heiress name to Lana and begins to plan for revenge. She kills each guy in the group one by one. She tortures them, chops off their fingers, carves them up with dull knives, slices meat off their chest and lastly, cuts off their willies. (Ouch.)Agent Logan Bennett is a profiler for the FBI and he is very good at his job. He is tall, dark and handsome but has a hard time committing to anyone because of his job. He's seen some shit, but instead of being a grump like I would have expected, he's giving me golden retriever vibes. Logan and Lana meet at a coffee shop when another FBI agent tries and fails to hit on her first. They start texting and calling each other all the time and then they start meeting up when they can. I'm loving their relationship so far. I'm also loving the relationship she has with Jake, her best friend/business partner. This book left on a bit of a cliffhanger because Logan's ex-gf/coworker found out that Lana is NOT who she says she is.
The title and cover art of this book does it zero justice!! I almost didn't read it because of them but a friend recommended it so I powered through and actually really enjoyed it! It's also more on the thriller/ mystery side than romance side to me which I enjoyed (but wasn't anticipating because of the trash cover).
I've never read a short book series like this but I have to say I'm pretty invested. This was a short read and took off pretty quickly making it a super engaging and easy read. Starting the next book as soon as I finish this review to see where this goes!
Contains spoilers
💬: “Einstein said, “The weak revenge. The strong forgive. The intelligent ignore.”
F*ck that. Einstein wasn’t always right."
Abby, S.T.. The Risk (Mindf*ck Series #1) (p. 6). Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: romance, dark, thriller, mystery, crime, novella
📚Page Count: 132
🎧Audiobook Length: 03h 28min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
TW - <spoiler>Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Violence, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Sexual violence, Torture, Confinement, Grief, Rape, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder</spoiler>
The Risk is the first novella in The Mindf*ck Series by S. T. Abby. The Risk is about Lana, a victim of sex trafficking, who decides to get revenge on the men who harmed her and left her for dead. To make things complicated, Lana has started dating Logan who happens to be an FBI agent. Will Lana be able to finish her revenge mission or will she get caught by her new boyfriend, the FBI agent?
I think overall this story was entertaining, I'm not a fan of how short it is and how it ends on a cliff hanger. The novella ends at just over 130 pages and that's why it ended on a cliff hanger. I think the story is good for what it is so far, I can feel the thriller element in the book. I do like how the story is literally a mix of the shows "Criminal Minds" and "Dexter" and that mix itself is interesting.
There were a few spicy scenes, they were just okay. I feel like because there's multiple murders going around and there's gore in the book that sex wouldn't really fit and I maintain that idea. This is my first dark romance and I just can't get into the spicy scenes when someone was graphically murdered a few pages beforehand. I'm giving it two chilies 🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies
Overall, this novella was interesting. I'm giving this 4 stars out of 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5
I listened to this audiobook for free on [HooplaDigital.com]
3.75 stars.
Good erotic romantic thriller. It wastes no time in getting to the plot and keeps you entertained for the most part. The reason I may not giving this book a higher rating is because of its short length. It feels like when the plot gets interesting, the author decided to end the book.
It was a fun ride, not my usual cup of tea but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I like how morally grey Lana is, it gave me food for thought and I loved discussing it with my boyfriend.
4.5 Stars
oh wow. oh wow. this was good. like surprisingly good. the only reason i'm not giving this book a five star rating is because of how short this is. but oh my god. insanely good story and so well written.
no thoughts just ✨lana myers✨
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“Revenge is a dish best served cold... Now that I agree with. It means they forget you're coming for them, and their screams sound so much prettier when the time finally comes.”
don't judge this book by it's cover y'all (what is that atrocity
I read The Risk last year but I decided to reread it before continuing on in the series this year just so things were fresh in my mind when jumping into the second book. Destiny and I had planned to buddy read the entire series as part of our 29 in 29 challenge we are attempting this month but after reading the first book she decided to DNF the series but I continued on with them.
This is a 5 book series and each of the books are less than 200 pages and can easily be read in one sitting. I was instantly hooked after reading book one and very intrigued by the premise. I don't think I've ever read a book where there is a romance between and FBI agent and a serial killer. I really needed to know how this could possibly work out.
From the first book you can tell that something happened to Lana when she was younger. We don't know the full extent but we get a good idea of what it was. It isn't until the 4th and 5th book where we find out the true extent of everything that happened. The author doesn't hold back on the details about what happened so please if you are someone who is easily triggered look into the triggers of this series before picking it up.
As I mentioned this is a romance between an FBI agent and a serial killer. Obviously Logan isn't aware that Lana is the killer he's been looking for. The romance is very insta love. Logan didn't start bothering me until the second book and from there on he did something in each of the books that annoyed me and pissed me off. I was most intrigued by finding out how a romance between a serial killer and an FBI agent could work and lets just say by the end I wasn't disappointed.
You definitely have to suspend disbelief while reading these books but it made for a fun read. Each book ends on a cliffhanger which was so frustrating for someone who hates cliffhangers. The final book was actually my favorite of all 5 books but as a whole the series get a 4 star rating from me.
THAT CLIFFHANGERRRR i'm so anxious to know what's going to happen next, i don't even think i'm processing this.
Super leuk! Een cliffhanger op het einde, zodat je eigenlijk gelijk deel 2 wil lezen
This is extremely readable.
There isn't much development, the book is really really short, and things between Logan and Lana happen pretty fast, but they do have chemistry and they're the kind of sweet and healthy couple we would love to see more in media.
I'm in for the ride, I'm finishing the series.
rating - 4 / 5 should i be concerned that i liked this as much as I did?
LANA MYERS is one hell of a fmc. genuinely obsessed. The books itself are super fast paced and short, so that's fun.
I'm curious to see how this goes down; specifically with Logan finding out she's the serial killer he's after. Love the setting, the backstory and the dual pov. The writing is not spectacular but works for the plot and is to the point. The einstein/confucious quotes are a fun touch. Overall, a pretty great first book.
“i'm just a typical american women, or is it a typical american psycho?”
the ending, SHIT
Finished it! I can definitely see the appeal. The book is a thriller more than romance/erotica (covers can be deceiving...even though there is smut, so be warned!). It sort of reminds me of “How to Kill Men and Get away with it” that I read earlier this month. If I can point out any flaws, it is definitely the romance bit - only because the way it begins isn't believable for me and doesn't match the MC's personality (people with trust issues don't really just fall in love at first sight while barely knowing the other person...but I digress). I'm gonna read the next one because this one ended on a cliffhanger (another thing that makes no sense bc the book is like a 100 pages...the whole series could probably have been just 1 or 2 books), so we will see how that goes. Still it's a 3.5⭐ read for me!
PSA: please check content warnings if you have any triggers, because the story gets quite graphic.
Those 132 pages really pulled you in.
Made me want to know the back story.
Its a really interesting story with lots of spice.