By Lydia Kealy
*This review contains spoilers for those who haven’t read the books yet*
I was really excited to read the Mindf*ck series after seeing a raving review about it on Instagram, but I must confess, this series did not live up to expectations…
I took a step outside of my ‘comfort’ zone with this one, for someone who is an avid dark fantasy and dark romance reader, I rarely read anything in the crime genre, but I was pleasantly surprised and was hooked with the first two books. The fast-paced, quickly budding romance, as well as the mystery surrounding the background of the main character and who the original killer was, really drew me in and I didn’t want to stop reading – I needed to know how it was going to end and who the original murderer was!
The first two books had a good balance between keeping the pace moving with the plot and giving us enough ‘background/historical’ information to build the context around the characters, but this gradually degenerated between books 3-5.
At times, I found the details around why Lana was killing each time very confusing, and what each perpetrator had specifically done to warrant the torture she inflicted on them. Whilst I appreciate that the author was trying to keep the ‘big reveal’ for the end of the book, they didn’t quite give us enough clarity in the run-up as the plot was developing. I also found the plot twist of Hadley being corralled into Lana’s master plan unconvincing – it felt like it came out of nowhere and I just don’t think it fit with the character development that had come previously in the series.
Whilst I appreciate a spicey romance, I would also say that moments between Lana and Logan were very physically centered, and I feel like the author missed out on opportunities to build their relationship on an intimate and emotional level (Which would very much be needed for the end of the book where Logan decides he can’t live without her and would sacrifice his career for her). I think these more emotional scenes were needed so it didn’t feel like the characters were doing a complete 180 at the end of the book, where Logan and his team sympathise with the killer (Lana) and Logan finds himself willing to kill for her.
I think the ending is what was most disappointing to me. To have the original killer be who it was felt so random, and it came completely out of left field (for all the wrong reasons). There was no casual hint dropping throughout the series to signpost us to the original killer, we didn’t have much of a ‘relationship’ with the character, and how it was written was also confusing. The series had so much potential, and the ending really let me down.
Despite all of this, I would say I did enjoy reading the series – I couldn’t put it down at any point because I needed to find out how it was going to end, the author did something right there.