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Psychomaniak: Dark M/M Thriller psychologique

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Adulte 18+
Dark Romance M/M Thriller Psychologique
Plongez dans les abysses de ce huis clos psychologique, violent, dérangeant sans garantie d’en ressortir indemne.

Quand Ethan, détective privé, accepte la mission de retrouver un jeune étudiant disparu depuis neuf mois, il ne se doute pas un seul instant que son enquête va le mener tout droit en enfer.
Mais quand il atterrit dans la cave d’un psychopathe détraqué sexuel habitué à découper des jeunes hommes, son monde s’écroule, et il comprend que sa vie ne tient plus qu’à un nom : Nordhal, son tortionnaire.
Séquestré, brutalisé, violé, Ethan touche le fond petit à petit. Et quand on touche le fond, on fait parfois de terribles découvertes.

Avertissement :
Le roman contient des scènes explicites de violences physiques, psychologiques et sexuelles qui peuvent heurter la sensibilité ou choquer la morale. Il ne fait en aucun cas l'apologie du crime.
Si vous recherchez une romance classique, passez votre chemin.
Si l’homoérotisme vous rebute, passez votre chemin.
Mais si les méandres du cerveau humain, la psychologie tortueuse poussée à l’extrême, les déviances, vous fascinent, foncez, ce livre est fait pour vous.

231 pages, Paperback

Published May 14, 2023

31 people are currently reading
82 people want to read

About the author

Alice Melmoth

10 books11 followers
Passionnée par la beauté et les turpitudes de la nature humaine, ses imperfections et ses contradictions, Alice Melmoth se plait à explorer les abysses de l'âme.

Allergique aux histoires trop polies, elle affectionne les thèmes dérangeants comme la violence, les rapports non-consentis, les abus sexuels, la domination/soumission, le syndrome de Stockholm, le culte de l'HOMME-objet et bien plus encore. Et surtout, dans son univers, teinté de mysticité et de réflexions existentielles, ce sont toujours les femmes qui mènent la danse. Exit les bad boys ténébreux, aux orties les héroïnes innocentes, osez sortir des sentiers battus. Alice réinvente la Dark à son image.

Indifférente à la bienséance, elle met en scène dans ses Dark Romances érotiques à contre-courant, des personnages complexes, monstrueux et... profondément humains, à travers leurs émotions et leurs actions.

Mais peut-être les monstres ne sont pas ceux que l'on croit. Peut-être un monstre se cache-t-il en chacun de nous.


Fascinated by the beauty and turpitude of human nature, its imperfections and contradictions, Alice Melmoth delights in exploring the abyss of the soul.

Allergic to overly polite stories, she has a fondness for disturbing themes such as violence, non-consensual sex, sexual abuses, dominance/submission, toy boys, Stockholm syndrome and much more. And above all, in her universe tinged with mysticism and existential reflections, women always call the tune. Kiss goodbye to dark and brooding bad boys, gone are innocent, virgin heroines — dare to think outside the box. Alice reinvents dark romance her way.

Indifferent to propriety, she stages in her erotic Dark Romances, complex, monstrous and... deeply human characters, through their emotions and deeds.

But perhaps monsters are not the ones we think. Perhaps a monster is lurking within each of us.

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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Dani.
1,726 reviews353 followers
November 23, 2025
Definitely interesting...

I do think a native English speaker should have translated though because there is some problematic language, plus there are minor parts that don't make sense, way too many exclamation points and it just felt very obviously translated?!

That said, I was actually quite attached to Nordhal and Ethan in the end... I didn't see that ending coming but I'm mostly happy with it. I think the Stockholm Syndrome aspect was done pretty well too.

I actually could have gone way darker for this book too, but I think I've become pretty desensitised and maybe other people find this story really dark?! It was kinda tame for me 😂

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HRCYED2: Translation
Profile Image for Kochka94.
1,223 reviews10 followers
Read
February 16, 2024
Ethan, détective privé, est le dernier espoir des parents d'un étudiant disparu neuf mois plus tôt. Et il tient une piste... il ne s'attendait pas à se retrouver propulsé dans l'escalier de la cave.

Et son calvaire commence dès son réveil, à la merci d'un psychopathe des plus terrifiants.

Difficile de parler de ce roman qui m'a à la fois captivée et glacée. Ici, va se nouer une relation plutôt malsaine, qui démarre on ne sait trop d'où, mais qui ne peut à aucun moment, à mon sens, être qualifiée de romance. Ce roman n'est pas à mettre entre toutes les mains, c'est sombre, c'est brutal, c'est sanglant, c'est une bataille de chaque instant, un huis-clos qui commence dans la cave pour évoluer peu à peu vers quelque chose que j'ai encore du mal à qualifier.

Le roman en tous les cas est plutôt bien écrit, quelques coquilles ne gênent pas la lecture, et le choix de l'auteur à la fin est plutôt culotté, mais finalement, c'est assez logique en définitive.

Bref, un roman perturbant, parce que je n'irais pas jusqu'à dire que je me suis attachée aux deux hommes mais... je n'ai pas réussi à détester Nordhal, ce qui me laisse vraiment perplexe.

Une chose est sûre en tous les cas, je m'en rappellerais. Mais attention, âmes sensibles s'abstenir.
Profile Image for Erin Bullis.
37 reviews2 followers
October 20, 2025
What in the what?

I honestly started this book because of the irrelevant review in the synopsis of the book. I said that's a weird thing to put in the summary. I kept thinking there's no way out. There's no hope. Prepare to be muckducked. However the twists and turns left me gasping for air. Left me needing more. I love a story I can't figure out.
Profile Image for Sofy_mlle.
341 reviews8 followers
February 18, 2024
Ho...le mot dark à toute sa place.

Ce livre est dérangeant au possible.
Et pourtant, je crois que j'en aurai voulu plus.

Les personnages sont bien travaillés, la trame aussi, même si la fin me semble rapide.

Ça faisait longtemps que je n'avais pas lu un livre, qui remettais en cause ma propre santé mentale pour apprécier ce genre de bouquin!!
6 reviews
February 4, 2026
Pretty good book, but the translation sounds off in English. Once you get past that, definitely worth a read if you like dark MM. Multiple triggers possible, but no trigger warnings given in the book. Unsure if they're available elsewhere.
3 reviews
September 23, 2024
un petit message pour dire j'ai adoré cette dark romance merci . La seule chose qui m'a manqué c'est le point de vue du côté du tueur mais cela ne gêne pas ! Certains commentaires parlent d'un syndrome de Stockholm. Mais personnellement je n'ai pas du tout vu les choses de cette manière au début du livre nous avons un Ethan fragile brisé et perdu. À la fin du livre nous avons un homme vivant reconstruit et heureux. L'amour n'est pas noir ou blanc et il peut arriver par bien des routes différentes. Certe la route emprunté au début du livre ne laisser en aucun cas envisager de l'amour mais souvent les chemins les plus sombres et les plus difficilent mènent aux plus beaux paysages.. Une relation construit dans la peur et la douleur qui n'en sera que plus solide et plus belle.. Et tout le parcours est bien expliqué chaque sentiment chaque émotion tout est complexe et magnifiquement expliqué pour comprendre le cœur de Ethan. Je recommande ! Bien évidemment je ne le conseille pas avant un certain âge
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
57 reviews
October 18, 2024
Delightfully Dark

Okay, this was a great thriller and an interesting look into the mind of a killer and his victim. If you like dark and twisted books, this is a good one. If M/M bothers you, skip this. There's a slew of trigger warnings - heed them and prioritize your mental health. All that said, it really was a well written (slightly twisted) book. A couple of things:

First, the review that says it's a brothers situation is totally wrong. Second, it's only really a romance if you consider Stockholm Syndrome romance. Third, it's a French book, translated into English - it's not AI or not translated and reads well. There's a different writing style than an American author, but it's well done (and there are helpful footnote links on a lot of those things). There are a couple of formatting differences, but they're not errors, just not standard (like italic usage). Finally, this is a DARK book, full of twists and turns, some jumping back and forth in time, but worth the read.
1 review
December 1, 2025
Okay, personally I enjoyed this book enough to read it in one night. That doesn’t mean it was an amazing book that made me want to keep reading and was fully with amazing plot twists of some sort. I just enjoyed the dynamic between Hassani and Ethan.

I fear this book lacked a bit much of show and tell. It was good, but could be better. It sometimes felt as if Ethan was trauma dumping me or spoon feeding me information. Or maybe I’m just mad sometimes the stuff he said make go “uhhh”, this is kind of personal as I could be considered a pet-peeve.

Secondly, Hassani, I liked Hassani, (obviously not the part that he’s a rapist and a psycho), but I did find his character interesting, the way he could be portrayed as a normal person, made me doubt humanity in a way. He is perceived as charming, smart, rich, and handsome, definitely not the guy you’d think is a serial killer.

Thirdly, their dynamic, I really would’ve loved if we say a pov of him, or his thoughts on Ethan and why him. We never got to know why he chose Ethan out of all his past victims. Maybe because he was hard to get (meaning he was straight, not gay, and he wasn’t charmed by Hassani), or because he just felt a connection. We’ll never know for sure. I did however loved the way Ethan spoke about Hassani’s eyes. Like it was fascinating. I liked to see how their relationship progressed from strangers to closer.

Finally, I’d like to discuss the ending, without spoilers. I found myself on a chokehold during the ending a lot. I kept wondering what was doing to happen. Was justice going to serve Hassani for his atrocious murderes and raping, and torture, or was he going to get away? I won’t dive much into the ending, but it did leave me curious. Although, I admit I wouldn’t know much personally on Stockholm Syndrome, this didn’t feel like a deep dive into it, we did see the changes between them. But, the ending somewhat left me with sour taste in my mouth, I wanted a deeper dive into the Stockholm Syndrome.

This novel was fine as a light read, which was honestly the biggest plot twist in the whole novel, considering it is a novel about a man who gets kidnapped and raped over and over graphically, and later depends on his abuser. I just think it could’ve worked more on Hassani’s character, because I didn’t find him menacing enough, I mean sure he had his twisted ways. But, I would’ve like to pause and say “woah, this man is twisted in the head”, it didn’t necessarily has to be, for him to do more harm to Ethan, just the way he was described at least at the start of the novel and later finding more humanity in him. This would’ve also been more interesting since it’s Ethan pov and it would show for Ethan’s mindset on Hassani changes. This might be controversial and I promise I’m not an emotional detached individual, but I never felt pity for Ethan. Morally, yes, poor him, rough childhood, rougher adulthood, but the changes between his past and the story made me frustrated, his past was interesting, especially with his older brother Liam. Throughout the novel he doesn’t like talking about it until the very end, I think instead of many flashbacks as the story had a few foreshadowing moments, or symbolic elements that would matter on later. The novel had some of those, I would’ve enjoyed it if it had a bit more. In conclusion, I seriously would’ve loved if the novel took some elements of the story further.
88 reviews
February 18, 2024
Un livre marquant, que je garderai en mémoire longtemps je pense (pourtant lu d'une traite tant les pages se tournent toutes seules)
Comme annoncé dans la synopsis, ne pas mettre entre toutes les mains, car certaines scènes sont violentes psychologiquement, Et pourtant, bizarrement, c'est la psychologie développée et décortiquée par l'auteure qui m'a le plus fascinée. Car dés le départ c'est très clair, et l'auteure n'en fait pas mystère, elle le précise bien, ce n'est pas une romance. Mais bien un thriller psychologique, mature et dérangeant. Un roman noir comme sa couverture.
Personnellement, je me suis attachée aux 2 hommes, ténébreux, et malgré tout humains. J'ai beaucoup apprécié les retours en arrière qui suscitent le suspens, j'avais envie de savoir.
Certaines scènes sont très difficiles et pourtant indispensable à l'évolution du scénario, à l'explication de l'inexplicable. Le cheminement qui me laisse perplexe sur ma propre moralité.
La scène qui m'a beaucoup marquée et lorsqu'ils "font l'amour" debout dans la douche, une scène puissante, très émouvante.
Et puis alors cette fin... Il fallait oser. Mais pour avoir lu plusieurs titres de cette auteure, je m'attendais à un épilogue explosif. Sa marque de fabrique en quelque sorte.
Si vous aimez les livres qui retournent les tripes, je conseille.
Profile Image for MandaNats.
15 reviews
October 22, 2025
Dark, twisty and depraved

Ok, so this is a dark book. So if that's your jive this may be a book for you, just check the trigger warnings first. Also it's a M/M if that isn't for you skip this one.

The book is from the view of the victim, Ethan, his story jumps around from the now to past moments. Some help with the story, some I feel do not. Underpinning all the things (no spoilers here) the book reps Stockholm Syndrome (and Ethan's victim conditioning). Underpinning all this I feel this is a romance book at it's core, just a super dark one.

Ethan goes through a lot and it's a journey. If you were expecting ups through the book that's not here. Ethan's captor is frankly cold, terrifying and brutal, realising the link between, childhood trauma to adult reasoning and actions. Also the fact the captor knows what he his and relishes it.

And if you are "thinking" whilst reading this book, you should be able to pick/guess what I think people are calling the 'twists'.

If you are willing to challenge your reading limits and truly think about the dark in the world, this book is for you.
Profile Image for Anita Hickman.
633 reviews15 followers
November 24, 2025
Think again

Although I have never read anything by this author I might again.
For those of you that think this is well for lack of a better word .... incest. It is not.

Spoiler
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They were running from the law so to speak got into a wreck.. The character who was the abuser ended up almost dying. So Ethan, the one he had captured for months ended up taking care of the Abuser. Only to call him by his brothers name so they wouldn't be caught.


The ending was the best part because it yet another case of Stockholm syndrome. I did like the couple of twists in this book. All in all it wasn't to bad.
Profile Image for Sasha.
261 reviews
January 6, 2026
Dark, twisted, major loop

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the complexity of each character. Ethan had his own trauma and ending up captive by Nordhal made so much come up. Nordhal was his own dark person. But for some reason they worked well. To me it was deeper then Stockholm syndrome, it was like a certified psychopath met one who had a sordid past. Great read.
1 review
October 28, 2025
This book was such a wild experience! I think that I may need therapy because I thought that it was a spectacular read. I would highly recommend as long as you don’t have any triggers.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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