Synopsis:
They took too much. Left too little. I had nothing to lose…until him.
~Lana~
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?
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Mystery-Thriller
Tropes:
- Murder
- Manipulation
- Revenge
The Mindf*ck Series by S.T Abby, is a series that’s been on my Tbr list for ages, but it’s just a series I’ve always pushed aside, despite it being quite popular in the book world.
I picked it out of my TBR jar this month and was apprehensive about finally getting round to reading it, but the length of each book made me decide to go ahead and read it. The premise of the story also interested me; the whole murderer sleeping with a profiler whose job it is to catch murderers premise. I was interested to see how it played out and whether the main character was manipulating him for her own benefit.
The series is split into five books, each range within the 100 pages length and were written by an author who went under many pen names. In the case of the Mindf*ck Series, it’s written by S.T Abby, which is an interesting and fun pen name as it sounds and spells out stabby, which is ironic considering the premise of the series.
Before starting this series, I was aware that the author had sadly died due to an accident a few years ago, so reading these stories feel slightly heavy, knowing that the author is no longer alive.
The Risk:
The Risk is the first book in the series and sets the scene for the subsequent books. Across the series, we follow Lana Myers in her quest to carry out brutal killings for all the men who done her wrong in her previous life – the reason for her motive isn’t revealed until later on. However, during this book, it is hinted that she’s seeking revenge to avenge her parents and brother, Marcus who seemingly died following the actions of a group of people.
We first meet Lana in a coffee shop, where she’s preparing for her next kill, reviewing surveillance footage of her next victims movements. At the coffee shop, she meets Logan Bennett after his work partner Craig attempts to flirt with her, only Lana isn’t interested in the slightest. When leaving, she discovers that her coffee has been paid for by the mysterious man who was sitting with the man who attempted and failed to get her number, as a thank you for his enjoyment of Lana turning down his partner. After discovering this, Lana embarks on a conversation with him as she doesn’t want to owe anyone anything – only as the pair converse, they discover each other had been profiling the other, leading to an exchange of numbers. When Lana’s handed Logan’s business card, it is only then that she discovers Logan’s an FBI agent.
Following their first meeting, the pair begin navigating getting to know one another through text, due to Lana’s busy murder schedule which she hides as her buy and sell business that has her travelling to different countries and due to Logan’s equally busy schedule of catching murderers.
In between Lana and Logan getting to know one another, Lana continues murdering the men who are responsible for her pain, with the help of her best friend Jake. The pair had spent years developing a plan that would allow them to avenge the deaths of Lana’s brother Marcus, who Jake was also in love with, along with her father Robert, who was wrongly accused. Due to them creating a well developed plan, Lana has had her apartment converted into a lair, that is suitable for killing, which she has to hide from Logan who’s unsuspecting of her crimes.
As the pair begin developing feelings for one another, they quickly develop a relationship that goes beyond sexual – leading to Logan to disclose classified information to Lana. After hearing the information on other murder cases, Lana helps Logan on a lead for a murderer who has been raping and killing women and goes by the name of ‘The Bogeyman’. With Lana’s insight, Logan is able to track down and identify the suspect, but before an arrest can be made, the bogeyman is tipped off, resulting in them to get away. Jake is wary and angry at Lana for risking being caught before their plan can be completed, due to her being involved with someone who has the skills to find her out.
Lana is met with a close call when she’s unexpectedly visited by Logan, when she was in the process of showering off the recent murder she’d committed.
As we read more about Lana, we learn that she’s using a fake identity as she was killed by a group of men who also killed her brother and father. Only they don’t know she’s still alive, so she’s able to quietly and unexpectedly seek revenge. It is revealed that Lana stole the identity of a rich girl called Kennedy Carlyle, who died in a car accident, after she got behind the wheel whilst high. After stealing her identity, Jake worked hard to rename Kennedy Carlyle as Lana Myers, destroying any previous evidence to avoid Lana from being found.
This part of the series ends with Lana being visited by Logan’s detective work colleague, Hadley, who is demanding answers as to why she has the identity of a dead girl.
Sidetracked:
Sidetracked follows directly on from The Risk, where Lana is confronted by Hadley, who asks a series of questions about Lana’s stolen identity, in her attempt of catching her out on a lie. During this conversation, Lana reveals more about her history, whilst also not giving away too much that would lead Hadley to discover Lana’s past, before she’s ready.
Lana reveals to Hadley that she hadn’t stolen the identity of Kennedy Carlyle, but when Hadley pushes on the fact they look nothing alike, Lana reveals the scars from a car accident that were actually from a boy named Kyle, who left her and her brother for dead.
We discover that Lana stole the identity of Kennedy with the help of Jake, after the brutal night that resulted in the death of her brother. Lana used the inheritance from Kennedy’s parents to find information on the men who scarred her, whilst using it to repair the damage they caused to her face. During this, Lana reveals that she was previously Victoria Evans, but took the identity of Kennedy Carlyle, who was involved in a car accident the night her and her brother drove to the hospital. During Kennedy’s accident, her injuries were ruled fatal, resulting her to not survive. Jake switched the identities of Victoria and Kennedy, following Marcus’ death – a bid to make the town they escaped from believe that they both died that night, out of fear Lana would be hunted. Lana reveals to Hadley that despite her “injuries” being ruled fatal, she miraculously survived – a lie she told Hadley to prevent her from learning the truth. After this, she revealed to Hadley that after the accident she underwent facial reconstruction due to the “car accident” and then changed her name to Lana Myers to escape her previous life to start fresh.
Logan’s team are involved in a car accident after investigating a lead on the whereabouts of the boogeyman, only the accident was caused by the boogeyman himself.
After hearing of the accident, Lana becomes worried about Logan, as she’s not told who was hurt. When she arrives at the hospital, Logan becomes worried and paranoid that the boogeyman is watching his every step, fearing that Lana could be made a target. The boogeyman had left a body of a woman in public, carved with the start of a message that was intended for Logan, as it had his name included. This was retaliation from the boogeyman after Logan had named and showcased the boogeyman’s identity. This had resulted in Logan to put Lana under police protection in fear the boogeyman would go after Lana. After Logan’s reaction to her worried arrival, Lana becomes enraged, resulting in her to go off and murder Hadley’s step father.
After Hadley’s grilling, Lana requested Jake to look into her history, where they discovered that Hadley had a history of being abused by her step father, who is a social worker, but after not being believed by her mother, she was subsequently diagnosed as bipolar. Not feeling safe, Hadley fled from her childhood home. Lana seeks revenge on Hadley’s step father, in an attempt to divert the FBI away from her own murders as they were starting to get close.
When carrying out the murder on Hadley’s step father, Lana discovers a young girl called Laury, which he had kidnapped. After killing the stepfather, Lana takes Laury to a lady called Lindy, who had previously helped Lana in her old life. Lindy is left shocked to see Lana alive as she believed Lana had died all those years ago.
Hadley’s stepfather’s body is found all too quickly, and the police begin investigating, where they end up linking the murder to Lana’s murders, who they’ve named as ‘The unsub’ following their unknown to the murderers real identity. Lindy is brought into questioning, after she discloses that she found Laury who had been kidnapped by the man they found. Only Lindy carefully avoids bringing Lana into the questioning, due to Lana not wanting to be linked. Lindy is asked about her previous life in a town called Delaney Grove, as there is a link to the killings, due to her previously living in the town.
Logan’s team become suspicious into how Lindy ended up with the girl who was kidnapped, leading them to realise that the unsub is going after bad people and trusted her with the young girl.
Logan and Lana makeup, but Logan is called into the station to investigate Hadley’s step father’s death, as Hadley is made a suspect.
After being at the station, Lana returns home but is left suspicious when she hears music playing in her home, when she didn’t play it.
When she enters her home, she’s blindsided when she’s met with the boogeyman himself.
Scarlet Angel:
Whilst Lana is at the police station waiting for Logan to finish up his meeting about Hadley’s step fathers murder, Hadley decides to visit Lana’s home after being suspicious of how Laury acted when she saw Lana.
When she arrives at Lana’s home, Hadley goes to inspect a door she finds locked. After unpicking the lock, she enters only to find an empty room with only two bookshelf’s. As she turns to leave, she is attacked by the boogeyman, who has been hiding in the dark in anticipation for Lana’s return. When he finds Hadley, he ties her up and puts her in the wardrobe, ready for her to watch the attack on Lana.
After arriving home, Lana is suddenly attacked by the boogeyman, who she’d been hoping would pay her a visit. Lana and the boogeyman battle for their lives, with the boogeyman being surprised at Lana’s strength and reflexes. Whilst Lana is winning the battle, she confesses to the boogeyman that she’s the unsub who’s been murdering men, unknowing Hadley is watching in the wardrobe. Lana finally seeks her revenge on the boogeyman, making him fear the very thing he was killing and ends up stabbing him with his own knife. Hadley battles between turning Lana in for her confessions, but decides against it after hearing her confession to the boogeyman about how much she cares for Logan.
Whilst Lana is observing her home, she spots a cell signal blocker, which leads her to begin practicing her shocked reaction that a normal girl would display in her current situation, ready for when the police eventually arrive.
At the station, Logan is visited by the girl that the boogeyman had kidnapped, who reveals the last part of his message that he’d gradually been leaving. The total message reads out “Logan Bennett you can’t keep her safe”, leading Logan and his team to realise that the boogeyman meant he couldn’t keep Lana safe and therefore was targeting her.
Police eventually arrive at Lana’s home and see the scene of the boogeyman’s murder. As they are looking around, they hear a struggle coming from the wardrobe, where it bursts open to reveal Hadley, which shocks Lana more than the murder itself, as she realises that Hadley had heard all the things she’d said confessing to being the unsub. Lana begins fearing Hadley will turn her in, but is further shocked when Hadley supports Lana’s statement of acting in self defence and that she got lucky.
After Logan arrives, the whole team including Lana go to a hotel, where Logan blames himself for Lana being in an endangered position. This leads them to become even closer and stronger in their relationship.
Lana decides to visit Hadley to find out her motives as to why she didn’t turn Lana in when she had the opportunity. This leads Hadley to demand the truth about why Lana is doing what she is doing. As a result of this, Lana has to reveal the truth to Hadley about why she is killing the men she’s targeting, but not without revealing the whole truth, as she intended to leave something for the team to discover.
Logan’s department continue to investigate the murders the unsub committed and realise what they all have in common. They realise that they all grew up in a small town called Delaney Grove. Whilst investigating the town further, they discover a crime that was committed over ten years ago which was overlooked and failed to be reported on. The team discover that a man named Robert Evans was convicted of a rape and murder crime against the deputies daughter and several other women, and was subsequently arrested before he committed suicide, due to evidence they found at the scene. They further discover that his children, Victoria and Marcus Evans were brutally assaulted and killed due to their father’s imprisonment and as an act of revenge. This leads the team to link the recent murders to the town and determine that the murderer is seeking out revenge on behalf of the family who were innocently convicted and then murdered.
Logan and his team decide to visit Delaney Grove to investigate the crime from ten years ago, with the participation of Lana, as Logan is still fearing for her safety. Before leaving, Lana commits a spur of the moment murder, as she’s behind on her schedule due to her being on police watch from the boogeyman. To deter the police further, she sets his house on fire.
As Logan, Lana and the team arrive in town, Jake begins the next stage in their plan, where they intend to torment the town for their ignorance to the events that happened ten years ago. When in town, Logan and his team realise the eerie atmosphere of the small town and begin putting up flyers that reveal the truth to the residents, who had previously been controlled and dictated by their local police department. Logan and his team are given a cold welcome and are quickly encouraged to leave, as the police department fears the FBI digging up the lies they buried ten years ago.
Logan and his team start looking for answers, where they start with a lady called Diana, who has information about Victoria and her brother Marcus, relating to the events that took their lives.
All the Lies:
Diana begins explaining the events leading up to Victoria and Marcus’s death to Logan and Leonard, including their father’s unfair trial and their subsequent deaths.
Diana wastes no time in telling Logan and Leonard about the brutal events that happened over ten years ago, which the town continue to fail to acknowledge. The explanation of the events leave Logan and his partner nauseated at what happened to the Evans family, leading to the deaths of Robert, Victoria and Marcus. Diana goes into detail about how the police sheriffs daughter Rebecca Cannon was found brutally murdered in the middle of town, after being raped and beaten for hours, which led them to the arrest of Robert (Victoria’s – Lana’s) father, without any evidence that suggested he was capable of the crime. Robert was painted to be a caring single father, who was always at home with his children, following the death of their mother Jasmine due to a car accident involving Kennedy Carlyle’s parents.
Following the accusations, the town quickly turned against Victoria and Marcus, who believed Robert was capable of the brutality. In a bid for revenge, the sheriff sent his psychopathic son Kyle, after his ex girlfriend and her brother, as revenge for the crime committed on his sister and father’s daughter.
Diana reveals how Kyle, along with several other young boys spent hours torturing, beating and raping Victoria and Marcus, where they made the crime take place in the centre of town. The sheriff had made a mandatory announcement on the residents’ televisions, that they were to not leave their homes or contact the police, following a mandatory curfew and those caught breaking it, would face consequences. Victoria was taken turns of by all the boys, whilst Marcus was as well. They gave Marcus the ultimatum of either raping his sister or having his genitals chopped off, so when Marcus refused, he was left injured.
Following this attack, the pair were left for dead in town for hours. Only Marcus managed to find strength, determined to save his sister, so he drove hours away from Delaney Grove to save his sister, before dying himself from blood loss. Victoria was reported to have died, only she survived and Jake helped her take on the identity of Kennedy Carlyle, before changing it to Lana Myers.
Diana further reveals how the sheriff owns all of the hospitals and shops within their jurisdiction, dictating what they can and can’t do, which was the reason for Marcus driving so far away.
After hearing the events that ended Victoria and Marcus’ life, Logan and his partner leave Diana’s home with more information into the unsub’s murder intentions. Lana becomes notified of their visit due to the surveillance her and Jake set up and realise that Diana will likely be visited by the police department, before being killed for her confession.
Lana goes to visit Diana to protect her, but in doing so, reveals her true identity, leaving Diana shocked. Whilst discussing her identity with Diana, she watches the camera expecting their arrival to Diana’s. Only Lana hears that they have blocked off roads Logan is driving on, leading Lana to realise they have the intention of killing him instead, due to him getting closer to the truth. This prompts Lana to rush back to Logan’s cabin to save him, whilst risking her identity.
Lana arrives after Logan is knocked unconscious and ends up killing the police sheriffs partner to protect Logan, whilst he hasily watches the event unfold. At the hospital, Logan changes his theory of the unsub being a man and places his theory on it being a woman, following his observation of Lana carrying out the attack and hearing a feminine laugh.
As Logan’s team continue to investigate the town and discover more, Lana continues tormenting the town as punishment for their silence. The sheriffs son Kyle, is put under police protection after fearing he will be killed next.
Logan and Leonard go to visit Jake’s father, Christopher, who was Robert’s lawyer and friend, during the trial. Christopher provides them with more information into the events from during the time period, whilst providing them with footage of the trial. He reveals that Robert’s suicide was fabricated and that he was killed by eating nails, which caused him to bleed out, as the police department wanted the suicide to make it look like he was guilty.
Logan’s partner, Leonard becomes suspicious of Lana, questioning Logan on how well he knows her. The team continue to investigate the town and the events that have lead to the unsub’s slaughter.
The town host their annual fun house event, which Kyle annually goes to and continues to, despite his home arrest. Lana dresses up as Michael myers and hides in the fun house, intending to kill Kyle. Lana starts with the police officers who protected him all those years ago and who are continuing to protect him now, before knocking Kyle out and taking him to another location. At the safe house, Lana tortures Kyle and kills him, before bringing his skinless body back to town and hanging him in the church for everyone to see. Whilst Lana is away, she tells Logan that she’s been contacted about a break in at her home, which is why she had to leave, only it was Jake fabricating a break in, to allow a reason for Lana leaving town.
During conversation, Leonard reveals his suspicions about Lana, resulting in him to put the pieces together. Leonard reveals that when looking further into Jake, he discovered that Jake is a silent partner in Lana’s buy and sell trading business. When Leonard visited the hospital for information on Victoria, he was handed Kennedy’s file. Leonard further discovered that Kennedy Carlyle was the daughter of the couple that crashed into and killed Jasmine Evans (Victoria – Lana’s mother). Leonard the reveals that on the night Victoria and Marcus arrived at the hospital, Kennedy also arrived following her car crash. Kennedy had left after a massive surgery with Jake Denver’s, under a new identity, revealed to be Lana Myers. Unbelieving at first, Logan begins to piece together the events that have happened, including Hadley’s step father being killed and the fact that Lana was able to kill the boogeyman.
Logan visits Lana back at their cabin and angrily sleeps with her, resulting in Lana to realise what Logan has discovered without the exchanging of words. Only Logan later reveals that he can’t believe he was sleeping with a killer and ended up falling in love with her.
Logan handcuffs her to the bed whilst she’s naked, before leaving.
Paint It All Red:
After discovering Lana is the unsub, Logan goes to confront Hadley for her involvement in failing to inform him about Lana. Whilst Logan is out of the cabin, Lana escapes from the handcuffs and packs her belongings, before leaving.
Hadley reveals to Logan what she discovered about Lana’s past life as Victoria, before he leaves to visit Jacob to find out where she is. Before finding Jacob, Logan looks over autopsy and police records to find more answers. When looking, he shockingly discovers for himself that Lana isn’t pretending to be Kennedy, she’s actually Victoria who survived the night of her recorded death. Logan is able to make this discovery by comparing the autopsy records of Kennedy to his memory of Lana’s body. This leaves Logan feeling regretful for the actions he carried out on Lana after finding out she was the unsub, as he believed Lana was manipulating him and pretending to be Kennedy.
After his discovery, Logan goes to visit Jacob, who reveals more of Lana’s tragic past, whilst making Logan feel guilty for his actions that lead Lana to leave. Jacob reveals that Kennedy was a drug addict and that Logan gave Lana hope which she had lost due to her past – he further expresses how he was concerned Lana would deliberately die after completing all the murders, as she believed she had nothing to live for, until she met Logan.
Following his visit to Jacob, Logan returns to the cabin, only he arrives to find Lana gone, making him regret his decision. Logan’s reaction encouraged her to go through to the endgame of her plan, deciding to take out everyone who did her and her family wrong. This includes the police department who turned a blind eye. Lana takes revenge on a man named Murdock, before visiting his family after fearing they’d be targeted. Whilst at Murdock home, two men attempt to kill his wife Cheyenne and their child. After revealing her identity, Lana kills the two men, leaving before Logan’s and his team arrive – only as she plans to leave out the back door, Logan enters, resulting in her to hide in a cupboard as she’s unable to escape without coming face to face with him.
As Lana starts through the woods, she feels as though she’s being followed by someone, which it turns out to be Logan. During this interaction, Lana and Logan make up, with Logan clearing up his original assumptions.
Logan is visited by a man named Dev, one of the boys included in Marcus and Victoria’s attack, where he provides details on Kyle’s mother, Jane. He reveals that she was blackmailed and forced to stay in town by the sheriff as a result of her hiding his son. The sheriff discovered that Robert was the only person who was kind to Jane, which lead to a sexual relationship. After being treated by Kyle’s father, following his daughter’s death, Jane uses Robert’s condom and helps plant it at the scenes of the crime, framing him for the crime he didn’t commit. Dev states that he heard Kyle revealing to Victoria how his mother was the one to bring her father down as she had given the used condom after her life was threatened.
The sherif believed Robert was responsible for his daughter’s murder due to her daughter being involved in an altercation with Victoria, after Rebecca was heard bad mouthing Victoria’s dead mother. This resulted in a fight between the pair, where Victoria grabbed Rebecca’s hair and slammed her face into a locker, breaking her nose. At the time, the sherif attempted to go after Victoria but her father stopped him due to him having dirt on him, making him back off. These events lead the sherif to believe that Robert was responsible for Rebecca’s death.
Lana and Jake begin forcing the residents of Delaney Grove out of town, stating that if they don’t leave there will be consequences. Logan and his team are forced out of town, due to his meddling in a past case, which the small town police don’t want dragged up.
Lana and Jake stay behind to complete the final stage of their plan of terrorising the residents to force them out, by interrupting their tv with personalised messages, blowing up graveyards and painting eerie messages from the dead. Following this, the residents fled the town, despite the police department insisting they stay.
Lana makes a visit to Kyle’s father, where she kills him for his insistence that her father was guilty and for him sending Kyle onto her and her brother. After this, Lana goes after the rest of the department, whilst Jake sets fire to the town. The fire slowly starts to close in on the police department where Lana battles several police officers. Logan and Hadley hack Jake’s surveillance and begin watching the events unfold. They watch as Lana struggles to battle the officers, before being injured from a gun in her attempt to kill them all. Jake pleads for Lana to leave whilst she can as the fire is quickly approaching their location.
Logan is left devastated after believing Lana didn’t make it out of the fire. The story moves forward three months, where Logan is returning to work following a breakdown. Leonard provides Logan with information of a recent kill where a man on Lana’s hit list was castrated. This gives Logan a sign that she and Jake made it out alive.
After reviewing evidence, Logan makes a visit to Jake’s dad, Christopher who is gravely ill following an unknown illness that is taking over his body and subsequently killing him. Logan reveals to Christopher that he knows he was the original killer, after discovering that the murders took place on the anniversary that Robert and Jasmine got together. Logan had discovered that Christopher and Jasmine had previously dated, before she left him for Robert, leaving Christopher to loath Robert and pretend to be his friend. In revenge, Robert decided to kill those with similarities to Jasmine.
In short, Rebecca, Kyle’s sister was killed by Jake’s father Christopher due to her resemblance to his ex girlfriend Jasmine who had left him for Robert. Kyle’s father had believed it was Robert who murdered his daughter, due to a previous incident where he was blackmailed. The sheriff then used his ex wife Jane to gather evidence of Robert to plant at the crime scene to frame him, following a threat to Jane’s life. The sheriff then sent his son Kyle and his friends after Victoria and Marcus as punishment for what he framed their father for.
Wow! That was a lot to unpack! I decided since these books were under 200 pages, that I would read a book a day, which I found slightly difficult at times because I was too tired to read, but I still preserved through it.
Breakdown of my thoughts for each book:
The Risk – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The story wasted no time in getting into the story, which I really liked. Sometimes authors can spend too much time setting up the scene, when it just isn’t necessary. I liked how it just got straight into Lana planning a murder because it instantly had my attention on what events were going to unfold in the first book.
I liked how we gradually learned more and more about Lana’s history in little sprinkles, as opposed to everything being revealed at once. This definitely kept me on my toes and interested because I was motivated to learn about why Lana was seeking revenge on what I thought were innocent men.
I also noted on my book journal that it was ironic that the FBI team constantly referred to Lana’s murders as being committed by a ‘he’.
I will say for the first book, I was slightly confused during the first book of the overlap of murders between Lana and the boogeyman, but as I read further into the series, I was able to understand and separate them. I think it was partially due to it being a new series with lots of different characters and names that I just wasn’t familiar with.
After reading the first book, I was motivated to continue the series, especially since it ended on a cliffhanger. When I’d finished this book, I did feel slightly medium towards it – I wasn’t eager/ecstatic to read the next one, but I also wasn’t not keen to read it. I think I had a big expectation of the series and I was putting that onto absolutely loving the first book and for it to be an instant 5⭐️, when it was really an unfair expectation considering the book was under 150 pages.
Sidetracked – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Again, the series wasted no time detailing events we’d already visited. Following on from the cliffhanger of the first book, Sidetracked continued exactly from where The Risk had ended, which I like because I don’t want to read something I’ve just read. This was a theme throughout the rest of the series, each new book picked up from where the previous book had ended – 99% of the time being on a cliffhanger.
Even though I was only onto the second book of the series, I’d noted that this was my favourite book of the series (so far) and I think that’s because the first book was very much setting up the story – despite its fast pace, whereas book 2 had a little bit more depth. I was able to see more of Lana’s personality, which I do think was the main reason for this being my most enjoyed book out of the two so far. As I read more about Lana from her POV, I learned that she has a funny personality and approaches conversations with a lot of wittiness – I found myself highlighting many of her one liners.
I have to say, I was confused about Lana’s past when it was first explained and I think that’s because it was given in small doses, so at the time of reading and recording my thoughts of this book, I only had little information. I now since understand her history. I think I was confused because she was mentioned to have been three different people – Victoria, Kennedy and then Lana. What confused me was all the different names and me being me, not keeping track so I didn’t know if they were her or a completely different character.
In relation to the last point, I found it hard to keep track of the different people she’d murdered and who they were to her. I’m normally bad with names anyway, if there’s more than 4 to keep track of. I think it would’ve been beneficial to have a list of names within the book that we could see crossed off after each killing and for Lana to explain why they were murdered, after she’d done it. I guess that wasn’t included because it would’ve revealed everything too soon and take away from the big reveal of her history.
Sidetracked kept me on my toes throughout because I thought I knew when the boogeyman would attack, but I fell for the trap that the author had set which made you anticipate it being that point of the story, when it was actually later on.
Again, the story finished on a cliff hanger – the boogeyman attacking Lana, which made me want to continue.
Scarlet Angel – ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
After reading this book, I still found sidetracked to be my favourite of the three – despite still enjoying book 3.
I got more of an insight into Lana’s past life, which I’ve mentioned that I enjoyed slowly learning about. I think because of the detail of the events that happened to Lana, it made sense to slowly sprinkle it in throughout the series, as opposed to bombarding the reader with everything at once, which would confuse them – either way, I still got slightly confused. Still continuing with side characters, I remained in struggle to keep on track of additional names such as the murder victims, which in later books turned into me struggling with the members of the police department. For the life of me I couldn’t remember what Kyle’s father was called or who Johnston was (I never mentioned him in my recap because I didn’t know who he was or who he was linked to in the book – aside from Lana).
As Hadley became aware of Lana’s history and identity of being the unsub murderer, they developed a fun friendship with one another, which I enjoyed reading about. I liked how their relationship was filled with banter, you could just see that they would eventually develop a very close bond. I have to say, at this point, I wasn’t convinced I believed Hadley’s motives of keeping Lana’s secret, but she did in the end.
This book got me excited to read the following books in the series and even had me beginning to wonder when Logan would find out about Lana. I did have a feeling that it would be the fourth book because it made sense to leave the final book as the ending.
All The Lies – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book really had me interested because it was finally the point in the series where I learned everything about Lana’s history and how she was originally Victoria. It allowed the pieces to come together and clear my confusion that had arisen from the previous books.
Hearing about Lana’s history had my chest feeling very heavy at the thought of what she went through when she was last in her hometown. The way it was detailed was very graphic, but painted a real picture that made me feel absolutely devastated for her. I can’t think of the exact word to describe how I felt, but I just felt for Lana. Her story unlocked the special part of my heart that’s reserved only for book characters that stay with me and make me feel for them. After hearing about her history, I understood her anger more and began rooting for her to see the out the end of her plan. I genuinely felt sympathy for Lana and the events that happened to her family which resulted in her seeking revenge, but I didn’t cry for her – I just felt my heartbreak for her. I was definitely rooting for Lana after hearing about her tragic and brutal past. At the start, I was questioning what her motives could’ve possible been, but I never guessed they would be what they were.
I had a feeling after finishing the previous book that book four would be the book Logan discovered the truth about Lana. Although, I expected it to play out differently to how it did. I was expecting Logan to catch Lana in the act and be shell shocked when he discovered it was her all along, whilst she was mid murder. I did think if this had of happened that Logan would’ve been the one to arrest her. I did also think that he might not have found out until after all her murders were committed. With that being said, I wasn’t expecting Leonard to be the one to be suspicious of Lana. I also had to double back and refresh who Leonard was – still didn’t understand, but I let it slide.
I wasn’t expecting Logan to have the reaction he did and I also didn’t anticipate him having his own theory on her. I just thought he’d discover her accidentally, so he wasn’t able to form a theory. After Logan’s reaction to finding out, I was hoping that Lana would continue to seek her own justice.
Paint It All Red – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Before reaching the final book, I noticed references made throughout books 3/4 that Lana would ‘Paint it all red’.
Finishing this book had me shocked at how much I enjoyed it. I was anticipating that it would’ve been another book that was overhyped, but I surprisingly enjoyed it. I think if I had of read it sooner and before other books, I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more.
I wasn’t expecting to well up at this style of book, but the thought of Lana dying had my eyes welling up with tears and my heart hurting. I was surprised because at the start, I didn’t think I would side with Lana and justify her actions, but I did. In the end, I just wanted her to find her own justice and live the future she deserved to heal her younger self. The relief I felt when she ended up not being dead! It really had me thinking “surely the author didn’t kill her”.
Hadley and Lana’s relationship quickly turned into my favourite, I just knew that the sharing of Lana’s secret would’ve brought them closer together in a bickering and banter friendship.
I wasn’t expecting the original murderer to be Jake’s father – this was something that I struggled to understand, as I wasn’t aware of his connection to Lana’s mother. I have to say though, THANK GOD they included Christopher’s last name in the reveal because I wouldn’t have remembered who he was, which would’ve made the reveal anticlimactic. I only recognised his name because of the mention of Jake’s surname being the same. I’m not sure how to feel about the reveal of the original murderer, I don’t think anyone else would’ve disappointed me because either way it involved people from Lana’s past who weren’t mentioned in the earlier books, so it wouldn’t have been shocking. I did think at one point that it would’ve been shocking if the original killer was Jake.
I was confused at why Jake’s father choose to murder Kyle’s sister, but I think that was to deliberately frame Robert due to seeking revenge for him ‘stealing’ Jasmine and also because he knew the sheriff would’ve sought his revenge when he thought it was Robert. I was further confused at who Olivia was? She was mentioned at the end of the series as being the person responsible for poisoning Jake’s father, when Jake and Lana found out it was him, but I was confused at what her motives were for helping. It was mentioned loosely that Olivia was Jasmine’s sister, so she was seeking revenge for her niece and nephew? I’m not sure.
I thought that at the end of the series, Lana would’ve became a profiler for the FBI as she was good at reading people and identifying their motives. I didn’t expect Logan to kill someone and present Lana with annual people who she would kill, to fulfil her murder need.
Overall, I think the Mindf*ck series was a well thought out story and it made me wonder how people are capable of coming up with stories of such, but I have no complaints because it makes for great entertainment for myself.
The covers of each book were also very deceiving because even though there’s a good bit of sex in the book, it’s not the main premise of the story. I think the covers take away from what the story is actually about.
I would’ve really liked to have seen The Mindf*ck books turned into a Tv series with each book being either an episode or a season. Unfortunately, I don’t think that would ever happen due to the authors untimely death and therefore no one having permission to adapt her work. It’s a shame, because it would been soo good to watch.
The Mindf*ck series was definitely a page turner type book that made me want to devour the next so that I would understand and know the whole story.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Georgia
♥
