Customer Reviews

Obsession - Girl Abducted: Formerly The Stalker - Revised and Expanded

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've read Claire Thompson before. I've even reviewed it. I actually read this as an ebook first. She's changed the title (Stalker) and expanded it. It's a much more satisfying read, though it was excellent the first time around. I have to admit, I'm not a big romance reader, so I don't read everything Thompson writes. But I LOVE her non-consensual BDSM stuff. This guy is obsessed with this movie star. He stalks her, kidnaps her and proceeds to try to turn her into his perfect, submissive sex slave. The action is intense and sometimes even brutal. But the weird thing, he actually loves her. And that love starts messing him up. He finds it isn't enough just to control her. He wants her to love him back. I like the way the author really explored both characters - what affected and motivated each of them. It wasn't a one-way story from the abductor's point of view. Her prose is beautiful, erotic and compelling and the scenes are hot, hot, hot, hot. Another scorcher by the Mistress of BDSM. Definitely a keeper.

Despite this being a rather brutal tale of abduction and rape, there is a surprising amount of heart. The villain of this piece, or the hero depending on your view, desires Emily and has an intense need to dominate and own her. He has played the game before, gone to a few bdsm clubs, but there has always been something missing. Passion. He sees Emily, an actress, on the big screen and knows she's the one. He kidnaps her and subjects her to all sorts of sadistic, kinky tortures, both physically and emotionally. He delights in breaking her down and he also finds equal pleasure in taking care of her after one of his sessions. He keeps Emily on her toes (literally) with his ever changing, potentially vicious moods and demands much more of her then her body and instant obedience. He wants her love. While one might argue that such a thing would be impossible, Emily finds herself leaning towards him, wanting him and yes, even desiring him. Even after he beats her to the point of unconsciousness, she awakes and gifts him with a smile. True, it's a small smile, but it's a start and it's all Mark needs. He isolates her, makes her dependent on him for everything, insulates her in his world, surrounds her. Despite all this though, he can never be sure if it's what Emily truly wants or if it's just the fear and the chains keeping her with him. The only way he can test her is to let her go and see if his love slave returns to him.

While this fantastic story might not be for everyone, I really enjoyed it. Claire Thompson pushes the envelope as to how far we as readers can go, and how dark our desires run. It's an excellent, well articulated story, and not for the faint of heart!!

*spoilers*
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There are scenes of abduction, bondage, gunplay, forced shaving, candle play, flogging, caning, piercing, branding, urination scenes, one latex scene, rape (both oral, anal and vaginal) and one forced enema scenes plus others.

Not for the faint of heart, yet well written and quite erotic. I won't go into the plot as it's given in a previous review. This book did walk a fine line for me with Mark being quite sadistic emotionally towards Emily. I found that harder to deal with than the fairly brutal physical torments he devises for the poor girl. I relished the fact that his emotional cruelty finally backfires on him towards the end.

I did wish Emily had had a bit more fight in her. She did seem to give in fairly quickly. I also couldn't help but wonder how she would hold up under such constant abuse or whether over time the "love" would outweigh the domination. One likes to think so.

The book is fast paced and very explicit in the bdsm, but elevated above a lot of other bdsm books by getting into the minds of Mark and Emily and how their motivations change over time.

I was unaware as to what to expect regarding this particular book but I certainly was not expecting torture that only a nazi holocaust warden would not hesitatte to administer.

Mark, a severe mental case in my opinion, abducts a young actress who has become his obsession, takes her to his isolated home where he proceeds to "train" her in the worst possible sadistic manner. I will reveal some means of toeture so the prospective reader can decide whether he/she can stomach the book. I have to admit that I stopped reading it as I kept wincing through the nightmarish ordeal the girl had to undergo . There were instances when I felt like retching, so disturbing was the read. Mark the psychopath, brutally whips (using a variety of floggers for his delectation) beats, slaps, starves, rapes and even pees in this girl's mouth, to name just a few of the means he employs to break her spirit. At about this point in the book I gave up as I realized the worst was yet to come and truly I couldn't bear it. The utter degradation and humiliation this girl was forced to endure was disturbing. Her name escapes me as our sadistic hero calls her by four letter word expletives. I know that this is a means used in order to break down the personality and then rebuild it as desired but this is probably done in the dungeons of the secret service, and I doubt whether "love" is an issue there. Yes, indeed, our machiavellian hero quotes love as his motive for his actions; a twisted notion of love, one to match his derranged mind.

I am aware that these books are to be taken with a grain of salt, that they cater to women's fantasies and so on, but this story must be every woman's nightmare. I could not see anything erotic in the story as the girl was unconsenting and even though it seems that she does eventually become dependent on her lord and master , it's just that; dependence as in conditioning like Pavlov's dogs. She has no free will after the relentless breaking of her spirit. She can no longer function without her master's voice and whip. How romantically SICK.

This book details the abduction of a woman and the subsequent "breaking" by her captor. The book has many graphical scenes of hardcore kinks and fetishes that are not in any way for the faint of heart...torture, bathroom scenes, degradation, humiliation, needles, food and sensory depravation..this is not your momma's Harlequin romance that is for sure. The book is well written from a grammatical stand point, and very graphically descriptive, almost detrimentally so. Not a book for eveyone, unless you like your sex with a whole heaping dose of pain and violense.

Sometimes it's easy to get into a rut when your reading...but not with this book! First off, this is not for the faint of heart as far as content. I truly believed that Mark loved Emily, but took instead of offered because of who she was, or moreover, what he wasn't. It was amazing to watch Emily's state of mind change towards Mark, even when he tortured her with beatings to only bring her to a state of euphoric lust after each one. We've all wanted something that we couldn't have and Mark took that a step...well, a BUNCH of steps further. I almost felt the sting of his whippings on my own skin, her cries of confusion in my mind, and an odd feeling of want. In the end, Mark let her go, knowing that he never really gave Emily a choice and that he wasn't really giving her what she needed. As crazy as it sounds, submission amounted to nothing unless she loved him. The end surprised but didn't surprise me. Bravo, that's all I can say!

I liked some parts of this book, no romance, the beating was horrible, he says ," he loves her", but i don't see any love.

Although there were scenes that were more disturbing than arousing, I did enjoy this story for what it was and for everything it did not pretend to be. This is a very hard, non-PC take on bdsm erotica. It's uncompromising, never hiding what it is, never apologizing for what it presents, and never pulling any punches to the reader. If you, as a reader, go into this story expecting gentle, safe, consensual bdsm, you'll be shocked. I wasn't expecting any of that, and I was still shocked by this 'hero' and this story. Having said that, I really love to be shocked, unsettled and even disturbed by a book/author that puts it right in my face, daring me to enjoy it in some twisted, dark corner of my mind.

This is not a romance, and Mark is not a hero. He is not a man to bring you flowers and sweep you off your feet. He, instead, kidnaps you, coerces you to submit, forces you to surrender, and breaks your will and your mind. Mark is completely obsessed with Emily, even going as far as taking two years to plan her abduction. Now that takes a certain fixated personality, totally obsessive and possessive. Mark is single-mindedly focused on his one true desire: having Emily under his control in every way.

I cannot argue that Mark is cruel, mocking, brutal and even sadistic. I've read a few hardcore bdsm books, but Mark did a few things I've never read before. It was fascinating and altogether disturbing to be inside his head, so unbalanced, equating abuse with love. In Mark's mind, Emily will welcome these harsh attentions, seeing them for what they are, as sincere love and devotion dominated by humiliation and degradation. What girl wouldn't get that? And the sad thing, even titillating and engrossing, is that Emily does begin to see it.

Call it Stockholm syndrome, blame it on a need to survive, on a desire to appease and to escape punishment, but Emily does begin to find pleasure in Mark's severe discipline. His cruelty becomes her way of life. About halfway through the story, the author allows us to see Emily's POV, and I was very glad this happened, as I really like to see capture erotica from both points of view, if possible, especially a story as hard as this one. I needed to see into Emily's inner thoughts, what she was feeling, and how she was reconciling this new-found desire for her captor and master.

Although Emily is Mark's ideal, his ultimate submissive, the one woman he must have even if he must abduct her, Mark still wanted to break her down and build her up again. For all that ideal perfection, Emily wasn't all that he wanted her to be. Mark wanted Emily to want him, to need him physically, yes, but also to love him; however, you cannot force someone to love you. You can force them to hate you, to resent you, to fear you, but never love you. And this was something Mark, even in his unhinged mind, came to realize.

At first, I was a little disappointed with the ending of this story, but as I thought about it, I think it ended just the way it needed to end. I won't say more about that, but it will leave the reader with more to consider, more to wonder about. This whole story will leave you with something to think about. You most likely will be disturbed by it, provoked by it, and even aroused by it. It's brutally hard and will smack you right in the face. It's dark, twisted, and confusing in the emotions it will force on you.

If you're looking for hard, severe bdsm erotica with capture/kidnapping/abduction theme, you'll like this story, I think, for what it is. If you're looking for a gentle Dom, a hero who is easily understandable and lovable, you won't find that man here in this story. You also won't find a easily understandable heroine. Just be prepared to be provoked and disturbed by this read. It will take you places where boundaries are blurred, if not completely erased.

-- spoilers/warnings --

This story contains forced sex/rape, rough sex, caning, caging, flogging, beating/slapping, branding, piercing, withholding food/water, bondage, wax play, enema, and urination as a form of humiliation.

Emily was taken from her life as a well known actress by Mark, who had been obsessed with her for years. He initiated her into his hardcore BDSM lifestyle until Emily lost her identity as a human being and became a vessel for his sexual use/abuse. He alternated harsh punishment with tender moments. After he broke her and reshaped her thinking, she would submit to his will and ask permission for everything. What Mark couldn't have from Emily, and that which he craved the most, was her love. He admits to her that he loves her and she is left with the confusion of the pain/pleasure association, challenging her beliefs about love, from a new perspective.

I was unhappy with the ending. He couldn't live with himself and not knowing if she only submitted because of her fear of the consequences. He offers her her life back and sets her free, giving her money and a bus ticket to start over. This left the reader with the obvious question. How does a girl who only knew to submit to her captive come back into the real world and know how to behave? She was broken by this man. She now believes her entire life was meant to please and serve him. The book ends with her calling him after realizing that she needs him as much as he needs her. I would have preferred that the author explored Emily and Mark's reuniting and was left feeling empty.

Not a bad choice. However, I am finding out that Claire Thompson is more into describing the actions in the book but has no interest in building a story. The endings are horrible, usually 1 page and no concrete resolution. Like... and she dies. The end (though this is not how this book ends) but just the same. The story just ends.


So if you are looking for a book with a story line, choose something else, like Anne Rice.