Without a Net

Title: Without a Net
Author: Lyn Gala
Publisher: Loose-ID
Release Date: August 24, 2015
Genre(s): BDSM/Fetish/Futuristic/Police
Page Count: 226
Reviewed by: Gigi
Heat Level: 5 flames out of 5
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Oliver Robertson has been assigned to go undercover in one of the shade clubs that litter the seedier parts of town. He has never engaged in the sort of edge play found in those places, preferring the BDSM in the more mainstream control clubs. However, to find the criminals behind a series of kidnappings, he must go in undercover as a shade sub. The mission becomes more complicated when his captain asks him to collect evidence against a lieutenant who might be a dirty cop.

The case quickly gets out of hand, and Ollie finds himself caught between wanting to do his job and not knowing who to trust. That confusion grows worse when a number of sexy and dominant men challenge his assumption that he prefers safe, contractually negotiated sex. It turns out he has more of a wild side than he expected, and given that he’s surrounded by dangerous men, and he cant distinguish the good guys from the bad, that’s terrifying.

When Ollie gives his trust to Travis Goode, a dominant who appears to be a federal agent, he might be making the connection of a lifetime or dooming himself forever.

WARNING

Contains dark BDSM elements

OK, are you ready for this gigantic mind-fuck?

It’s several decades in the future and BDSM clubs have graduated from your standard safe/sane/consensual control types to what are called shade clubs. There are no safe words in shade clubs. There is no one monitoring play to make sure things stay safe, sane and consensual. It’s anything goes and only the riskiest of risk takers need apply. They are legal, but you leave your training wheels at the door. Edge play is the standard.

Police officer Oliver Robertson, who is a regular in the BDSM lifestyle and frequents control clubs as a submissive, has been assigned to go undercover at a shade club as a shade sub. He applies for a job at the Happy Whip club and is given the shake-down by the staff to judge just how much he can handle. He passes and takes a job as a waiter. And here is where the mind fucking starts.

Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Who are the Doms and who are the subs? Who else is undercover? Meanwhile, Ollie is being trained as a shade sub and is quickly losing his sense of self and develops Stockholm syndrome. Yikes! I was starting to get pretty uncomfortable with the dubious consent and torture and then Lyn Gala pulls the rug out from under my feet and… HOLY SHIT! Mind fuck much?

Lyn Gala explains a bit about how this book took shape on here blog. Click here to read the entire post, an excerpt is quoted below.

This time my mother got cancer less than a year out of the hospital after a series of strokes that nearly killed her. So I wrote the first two 10K stories of a Hercules series where his 12 labors basically become a long series of abuse and dub-con. Yeah, I don’t know that those stories will every go past my flist.

And I wrote Without a Net. Does Ollie come through in the end? Hey, this is me. I do get to the happy or at least happier ending. However, this is dark and abusive and grim. Ollie is a tough sub, a cop who can endure anything if he has that glimmer of hope that he might get to shoot someone in the head on the other side. However, some readers are going to hate how much he goes through before he gets a chance.

This is hard core BDSM on steroids. There are no hearts and flowers. No romance. No sweet-nothings. Officer Robertson is put through the physical and emotional wringer. But I can guarantee you, if the rough stuff is your bag, you are going to devour this book. It is scary and thrilling and titillating and seriously fucked up. I loved it!

And the best part? After witnessing Ollie go through hell, Ms. Gala gives us a HEA worth singing about.