Review: The Flesh Cartel #2: Auction by Heidi Belleau and Rachel Haimowitz

“Tortuous, transfixing, and yet engrossing.”  ~Under the Covers

This second episode of The Flesh Cartel, Auction, is as tortuous, transfixing, and yet engrossing, as the first.  At the outset, we again see Nikolai, a buyer in the human trafficking world, searching for the perfect specimen for his client.  Prior to going to an auction, he conducts his research and watches the videos made of Mat and Dougie during their introduction into this disturbing world.  While Dougie was actually the prize that Madame had sought, it is Mat with whom Nikolai is interested.  We discover that Nikolai’s client seemingly has dark and disturbing proclivities, and Mat, the fighter that he is, would fulfill his client’s needs perfectly.  The catch – he is to be sold with his brother only.  Not what Nikolai wants, but he watches Dougie’s video next as a result.  Coincidentally, while Dougie is not a match for Nikolai’s client, it seems that Nikolai is taken with Dougie for himself.

In the Auction, Mat and Dougie are both degraded, assaulted, beaten, raped, and tortured some more.  Just when you don’t think that it can get any worse, Haimowitz and Belleau pull out all the stops, and it does.  But like the proverbial train wreck, one can’t look away, or stop reading, as the case may be.  While these brothers, who continue to live through everything they endure just for the sake of the other, are separated, they are placed in cells next to each other and are able to hear the torture of their loved one.  The strength of both men, however different it may be for each, is astonishing to say the least.  There is a love and bond there that precedes all else.  And it is with that love and devotion for each other as brothers that they continue to survive.  Sadly, Madame, the guards, and all involved in the Flesh Cartel understand that and continue to use it unflaggingly against them.

After days of endless torture, Mat and Dougie are taken and prepared for the auction.  Once I got to this part, I *almost* sighed a deep breath of relief.  I figured, okay, here’s the auction, they’ve been “cleaned” up as much as they can be, they’ll be put up on a block to be seen, they’ll be bid on, and then they’ll be whisked away onto the next chapter of their so-called life.  HA!  Boy, was I so wrong.  Of course, with the brutality and torture that these men have endured throughout their capture and captivity, I should have known better to think that anything would be so easy.  Much like the rest of the episode, it is so very sad to watch the scene unfold.  Yet, again, I couldn’t stop.  These brothers are put through so very much, and my heart hurts every step of the way, but Haimowitz and Belleau write so well and tell a story so captivating, that I can’t put it down, and I continue to look forward to more in hopes that at the end of it all, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel for Mat and Dougie.

*Review copy provided by publisher

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