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Sex Clubs and Sinister Secrets

Author: John Everson

Rae is insatiable, going from one underground sex club to the next, dragging her husband Mark with her. Mark is not really interested in the life, but Rae craves it. To keep Rae, he must go along with it. He’s not enough for her, and he certainly cannot fulfill her darkest desires, those that involve whips, chains, pain, and blood.

Rae has finally finagled the couple an invitation to the legendary NightWhere, the pinnacle of BDSM sex clubs, where a ball gag is a pretty common accessory. It’s invite-only, and each night it appears in a new, unknown place. For those who continue to return, it’s a dark transformation, one with no boundaries, no rules, and an ultimate end in the howling darkness of the flesh fields. Mark isn’t invited anymore, but Rae is transcending, leaving behind her mundane world for another place where rules are a thing of yesterday and pain and death rule.

Desperate to save his wife’s soul, Mark teams up with a mysterious stranger, only to fully learn what Rae is becoming and what the club is truly about.

I ran into NightWhere through one of my GoodRead’s horror book clubs and decided to give it a try. I never liked Hellraiser. The combination of sex and murder, flesh rending, and all the stuff the Cenobites stood for is neither appealing nor does it make any sense to me. And, true to the write-ups, NightWhere is evocative of Hellraiser with a little Ed Lee splatterpunk thrown in for good measure. It’s at turns disgusting and depraved, but never erotic or appealing.

Most of the novel focuses on Rae’s descent. There are no likable characters here. Rae is interested in her own passion to the exclusion of all morality and all boundaries. Killing people is not only ok, it’s a fantasy. Bathing in entrails while reaching orgasmic heights with demon-like Watchers is Rae’s jam, and she feels no quandaries as she moves into this realm. She never pauses to wonder what she is becoming or even have a moment of doubt. She is static, one-dimensional, uncomplicated, and unconcerned.

Mark is the chump on the side, loving his wife and willing to literally go through hell to rescue her. What causes this deep connection, however, is completely off the page. We never understand why Mark loves Rae so much. There is no chemistry between them and no redeeming features in Rae. She doesn’t care about other people, and regardless of your stance on swinging/polyamory/what have you, Rae neither inspires trust, nor love, nor any level of human closeness. She’s cold, a caricature of evil.

The story is mostly encapsulated by vignettes of sex and murder. Let’s be clear, this is NOT Rihanna’s “chains and whips excite me” stuff. This is flat out murder and torture. I’m talking about Evil Dead like showers of blood, eviscerations, beatings, entrails, and agonizing murders. If you find any of this erotic in the least, you obviously need help. And this is all the book is about. It’s disturbing, and not in the good horror book way.

The conclusion is slightly interesting. We finally get an answer on what NightWhere is (it’s pretty obvious), who/what Mark’s mysterious stranger is (a bit of a surprise), and what is in the final room of NightWhere. It’s a little bit clever, but not enough to support the pure torture porn. In the end, I regretted reading this book. Not recommended. Avoid at all costs.

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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