Murderer and rapist Crimson has had Kyle a prisoner for 7 months and his brother, Gene, a police officer, is determined to find the killer before his brother is found dead like so many others.

Well, this is 'trigger warning the book.' It is NOT an easy read. There are graphic depictions of torture, rape, child abuse, trauma... But I can't slam the book or lower my rating because of that. Crimson is a damaged, sadistic monster and I don't get the feeling I was supposed to be titillated by his actions. The entire time I was reading, I was hooked on how or if Crimson was ever going to be caught and if his victims would be saved. In that, I have to say this book succeeded. I may have predicted certain plot points right away but overall; if you can't take the mature content or it is triggering for you, don't read this. You will not be happy. As for me, I give it a 3.8 for the thriller elements that kept me going.

This is NOT a romance. This is a horror story. I knew this going in, and I was still pretty horrified while reading.

Birthday Presents is dark. It contains rape, torture, and death. The villain is seriously disturbed. There are explicit scenes that are difficult to read. This book is not for the faint-hearted.

The plot is fairly straight-forward, and we know from the get-go who the villain is. Spending time in Crimson's mind made me want to bleach my brain to get the disturbing images gone - he's vile and insane. He's a hunter, he is a murderer, and he has no conscience. He lives for the hunt, for the kill, for the depravity of his actions.

There's an attempt at making the reader sympathize with the villain, though that didn't work with me - I am firmly in the camp of not believing that a rough and abusive upbringing excuses the actions of our villain.

I appreciated that the author gave the victims strength and allowed them to be more than just simpering damsels in distress. They fight for their survival, they do what they must to live.

There's a bit of a mystery as to who's helping the villain, though I wasn't completely shocked to find out who the mystery person was - there were sufficient hints along the way. Still, that was a well-done plot point that kept me at the edge of my seat.

I hope that Tracey and Kyle get the psychological help they both need after living through these horrors, but I felt confident that they will both get through this. As for the little bit of romance we get toward the end, between Gene and his co-worker - that development came a little out of left field for me, and I didn't quite buy the long-time pining that's insinuated here.

The writing was inconsistent in some instances, and I had to reread a few passages to understand what the author was trying to tell me. I also thought that the characterizations were uneven, and in some moments, the characters' actions didn't make sense to me. YMMV.

I made a mistake requesting this book from NetGalley. This is TOTALLY not in my wheelhouse - too much torture porn and very disturbing, IMHO. Just to reiterate, this book is NOT for me; the error is on my part. not the author's.

Picked this up in error and won’t be reading it - sorry. I didn’t realise it was a lgbitqa book and thought it was just a mystery thriller (I’m sure when I selected it that it was just under the mystery thriller section)

A great book if you're into a sick, twisted read. I'm not. Terrible book to read. Not enjoyable at all.