I feel like this was the perfect pairing on Valentine’s Day! Would have been even better if I remembered to share it here ON Valentine’s Day, but I did on Instagram, so that counts.
TOXIC LOVE – Kristopher Triana (Released January 1st, 2019)
I’m a big fan of Triana’s – so you can see all of my reviews of his books here!
Book Description:
This book contains hazardous material. Handle with extreme caution. Exposure to its contents can cause severe damage to one’s health.
When you’re forty-five, getting divorced, and disillusioned from years of soul-sucking work in corporate America, there isn’t much to look forward to. With his personal life just as deep in the dumps as his professional life, Mike Ashbrook figures a janitorial job would be somehow fitting, but what he finds is a different kind of clean-up service.
Now Mike is wrist-deep in human waste. As a crime-scene cleaner, when the police are done, his job is just beginning. His biggest problem now, besides wiping up blood, guts, and other nastiness, is his new co-worker, Sage. She’s young, beautiful, and the only other employee who doesn’t quit after a week. She may also be totally insane. Sage is not just an enigma–she’s toxic.
Toxic Love is a darkly comic and erotic nightmare from the master of blood-soaked horror, Kristopher Triana. Throughout this tale of perversion, gore, necrophilia and even some mobsters, Triana pens powerful characters who will move you just as deeply as they’ll repulse you.
My Thoughts: 5/5 stars
Mike is a crime scene cleaner. He’s the guy that comes in after the cops are finished with their jobs and investigation on scene. Blood, bits, and gore are the norm for him, and most assistants don’t last the week, that is, until Sage is assigned to work with him. She seems to enjoy the job – like REALLY gets pleasure from this kind of work. Everyone has a kink, and hers seem to have Mike questioning the boundaries of his morals.
Now, normally, I’d just say there’s obviously a lot of gore and blood because this IS extreme horror, but there’s another layer to this. Necrophilia, incest, bloody and depraved sexual encounters, graphic and visceral violence, and plenty more to keep your stomach turning. It’s amazing the effect a beautiful younger woman can have on a middle-aged, recently separated man. Sage is a wild character. The things she does, what she pushes Mike to do, and she truly is the embodiment of toxic.
Plenty to have you cringing, and you find yourself right there with Mike as he comes to terms with the choices he makes by involving himself with Sage’s depravity. I liked being solely from his POV, although I think Sage would have been a mind we may not have survived. It always makes you wonder, “What’s wrong with me?” When say you enjoy books like this. But here we are with another win from Triana!
Jessicamap Reviews 