Independently published, The Mindf*ck Series was an unexpected gem! S.T. Abby (coolest pen name) has written a collection of 5 novella’s that together make the full series. They are: The Risk / Sidetracked / Scarlet Angel / All The Lies / Paint it All Red
This series is has tropes like: Serial Killer X FBI Agent, SHE’s the morally grey one, revenge arc.
It is available on Kindle Unlimited.
The genre’s are adult, dark romance, mystery, thriller, contemporary.
Spice Rating: Explicit Open Door 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Overall Rating:
Synopsis: Goodreads (this links to the bind up of all 5 books, individual links are below)
They took too much.
Left too little.
I had nothing to lose…until him.
*****************
I didn’t expect him. I didn’t want to fall in love.
But I can’t let him go.
Logan Bennett makes the world a safer place.
He’s brilliant. He’s a hero. He locks away the sick and depraved.
But while he’s saving lives, I’m taking them. Collecting the debts that are owed to me.
Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead. They should have made sure I stayed dead. Now I’m taking from them. One name at a time. I’ve trained for too long. I’ve been patient. I can’t stop now.
Revenge is best served cold… They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red.
Logan doesn’t know how they hurt me. He doesn’t know about the screams they ignored. He doesn’t know how twisted that town really is. He just knows people are dying.
He doesn’t know he’s in love with their killer.
No one suspects a dead girl.
And Logan doesn’t suspect the girl in his bed.
They’re looking for a monster.
Not a girl who loves red. Not a girl in love.
I’m a faceless nightmare.
At least until I tell them the story they’ve pretended never happened.
But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?
Review:
I knew I had to read this series when one TikTok’er referred to The Mindf*ck Series as ‘for my Criminal Minds girlies’ and I was like, oo that’s me! So, I knew I had to get to it pretty quickly… But I hated the cover and so kept putting it off. Until I decided that I needed a fantasy break in my Kindle Unlimited month and bumped The Risk up on my to-read list… Then I ended up binging all five novella’s which was unexpected for sure! But here are my reviews for each of the books in this bind up:
The Risk by S.T. Abby (Goodreads)
I was immediately hooked by Lana’s character in The Risk. Not to mention, the inclusion of Logan’s POV while tackling multiple cases at once really had me feeling like I was watching an episode of Criminal Minds. I really enjoyed this and thought it was a cracking start to the series.
Sidetracked by S.T. Abby (Goodreads)
Well damn. The plot was plotting and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! We find out just a bit more in each book about what happened on that night 10 years prior and it is heart breaking. But I love seeing Lana get to do her thing. The Boogeyman threat is an interesting addition too!
Scarlet Angel by S.T. Abby (Goodreads)
By the end of Scarlet Angel I needed a break from this series. Things were DARK. Just as I mentioned before, each book reveals a little more about stuff that had happened before. Not to mention, the Boogeyman shit hits the fan. We get closer to some of Logan’s team in this one too which was great.
All the Lies by S.T. Abby (Goodreads)
Then we reached All the Lies… this was the best one by far. Things ramp up enough that you truly start to feel nothing but encouragement for Lana and her quest for revenge. I’m so glad she had Jake to help her, because he also deserves his revenge. This one had me feeling sick with tension – and the cliffhanger was by far the worst one yet. How silly I was to think that I wouldn’t end up binging this series. Bewarned this is a very dark series, but damn is it so bingeable…
Paint it all Red by S.T. Abby (Goodreads)
And finally, we reach the last of the series… And this one went off with a bang. We finally get to see all of Lana and Jake’s plans pull together. We get to understand just how fucking awful things were for Lana’s family. We get closure. And it’s heart breaking. But I loved it.
I didn’t love the epilogue as much as I loved the series, which did cause Paint it all Red to be dropped .5 stars. But still a damn good ending to a brilliant series.
I loved this series. And whilst yes, it is dark, and there are some gruesome graphic torture scenes throughout, I still think it was brilliantly bingeable. Just be warned it is definitely intended for mature audiences and as I said there is some graphic shit in this so please do your research and decide for yourself if you want to dive into this one.
Also I did just find out that the author, whose name is C.M. Owens passed away in 2021 which is so sad!! But I’m sure I will look into some of her other works (though I believe she did a lot under pen names too) because the Mindf*ck series was honestly brilliant.
“You showed me what living was like again. I’d forgotten.”
Reading With Tyler 
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