With a wedge at last driven between Mat and Dougie Carmichael, courtesy of Nikolai Petrovic’s expert manipulations, the brothers must each accept their new path Dougie, a perfect slave, sweet and obedient and loving. Mat, a tightly reined dog, snarling and snapping but never allowed to bite. Unfortunately, no transformation, however well planned, is without its growing pains. Mat’s leash is so tight it’s choking him. Dougie is tormented by a little voice inside his head — a fragment of his former self — that he cannot silence. And Nikolai’s most difficult tests for the brothers are still to come. The critical question isn’t whether they can pass those tests, but whether they even want to. Without each other to lean on and live for, a bleak future has become bleaker still. But Nikolai’s too good to let his slaves slip through his fingers — by death or by despair. A noose, a nighttime sky, a shared lover, an unexpected friend. A foreboding forest cabin. A lavish party with all the debauchery Nikolai’s clientele could want. It’s all coming in Season 3 of The Flesh Cartel. This collection - The Flesh Cartel #7: Homecoming - The Flesh Cartel #8: Loyalties - The Flesh Cartel #9: Trials and Errors - The Flesh Cartel #10: False Gods READER DISCRETION ADVISED Word 81,400; page 294
M/M erotic romance author, freelance writer and editor, sadist with a pesky conscience, shamelessly silly, proudly pervish. I'm a twitter addict (@rachelhaimowitz), and I blog every M/W/F at Fantasy Unbound. To learn all about my current and upcoming projects, please stop by my website. I love to hear from folks, so feel free to drop me a line anytime at metarachel (at) gmail (dot) com.
Transformation is season 3 of the depraved masterpiece, The Flesh Cartel, by Rachel Haimowitz & Heidi Belleau. Mat & Dougie are back, they are alive, shattered, on the verge of insanity and about to face the ultimate sin. Mat is faced with a choice, he can either play along to protect Dougie or he can continue to fight. The choice is his. Neither outcome is desired, but one is slightly less evil.
This book will test the limits of your sanity, your humanity, and completely shatter your moral compass. These brothers are put through pure and utter torment and the men who do it are extremely wicked, immoral, and worse than filth. They play their roles perfectly in taking two brothers and breaking them down, taking their souls apart bit by bit ...and then putting them back together to fit their cause.
A Twisted series that is written very well - please mind the warnings. If it can happen, this book goes there!
I love these books so much! They're so well written and disturbing, and the characters feel real. I don't have much to say that I haven't said for the first two books already, but I really, really love this series
The amazing thing about this serial is its ability to work its way so deep inside you that it consumes all your thoughts. I find myself thinking about these characters all hours of the day, wondering and worrying and theorizing about what is to come, and desperately hoping for everything to turn out ok. I don't want to say too much in reference to what happens because pretty much anything I say would be a spoiler. I will say that the prevailing thought in my head upon finishing this season was "Oh, fuck."
My one gripe about this season was that there was way too much Dougie and not nearly enough Mat.
Although it is difficult to read, I am so invested in these characters that I would not be able to stop even if I wanted to. A book that can accomplish that deserves no less than 5 stars in my opinion.
I think my main problem is Nikolai; I can't figure him out and what I can figure out, I don't like. I hate the fact that he took an intelligent, lively boy in his hands, turned him into someone afraid of his own shadow and is actually proud of himself. And Dougie... it pains me to see him thus; I obviously can't see any beauty in it because to me he's just broken.
Harsher than Season 2, Season 3 for me was made bearable only because of Mat, who still remains a fighter. I admire his strength, both mental and physical, his dedication to his brother, his dedication to his goal: Escape from this hell.
If I had to use only one word to describe this book, it would be INTENSE. I think it's the most powerful of the series so far. And I'm glad for the ending, because I don't think I can continue reading these books anymore, but now I'm leaving them on a positive note
What happens when your humanity is striped away until you a nothing but an empty shell of what you once were.
The psychological torture in this installment is worse than the beatings ever were. Douglas is striped of everything he once was. Mat is powerless to stop it. The struggle with whether or not to keep going with life is a real hard choice for Mat. I’m not sure how he does it. The pain and heartache you feel for him is just a lot to take.
I need to go to the next installment and hope it gets better for both of these characters.
It's been a few years now since I first read this series, so I'm going to do one overall series review because I can't remember what happens in which episode and don't want to misguide anyone.
Mild spoilers ahead, but not really anything you can't get from the blurbs, but read on at your own risk.
I'm a dark reader. Like, seriously dark. The darker, the better. And The Flesh Cartel pays out, with a vengeance. Mat and his brother Dougie are kidnapped out of their home by a group of brutes whose job it is to literally take pretty young things to be sold into sexual slavery. But it isn't just sexual slavery, it's a billion-dollar underground crime organization known as The Flesh Cartel who pedals in literal human bodies. They have trainers who break the pretty humans only to rebuild them into perfectly obedient slaves, willing to do anything their owners might ask of them and then some.
This series shows us everything. Leaving nothing out. We see the moment Mat and Dougie are taken all the way through to their (very, very eventual) rescue and even on after that. I believe this series is unique in that. Because we see every moment of psychological, physical, mental, and emotional torment and change, from day one, until they are distanced enough from their hell that a cobbled together future can almost be seen. Not the same perfect future they had before their ordeal, but a new version with its own positives (and, certainly, negatives).
If you like dark, and if you want to see a story that takes the reader on the full journey, then I highly recommend this whole series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
1) I am officially in love with Nikolai Petrovic, his manipulative and sinister ways !🖤😏
2) Mat is going to be the death of me...he is drowning me in that much heartache😭😭 I don't blame him for falling for some of Nikolai's games (like Roger) because he fights so well against his other mindfucks.
4) The baseball bat scene and the Dougie's coming out party scene.....holy shit were they the highlight of this season! They made my evil side shiver in delight.😏😈🖤🍷
3)This season had two parts for me....before and after, Dougie became Douglas. The before portion shattered my heart💔 The unspeakable horrors these two brothers had to go through....and they still relied solely on each other through it all and braved it. But the second portion,☠️ it made so much clash inside of my mind. Dougie elicited pity and hate from me. I pitied him mostly (he was truly and fully broken) , but I hate the very emotion of pity so I hated him more for making me pitying him (I am complicated ✋😆). I do wish though, that he would come face to face with his actions when/if he gets rescued and feel the tidal wave of guilt that's coming to him for doing all the stuff he did to Mat. Guilt trope is a fav of mine and I can't wait to see Dougie get overwhelmed by it.
I don’t really know if I’ll read more of this genre after, but at this point I just want to know what happens.
Still very well-written, characters excellent, but pretty hard to read. I don’t know if the next will be worse or better?
My only gripe is that a lot of time was spent on Dougie and relatively little by comparison on Mat. I find Mat a more compelling and interesting character. Maybe his time to shine will be in the next one.
Is the worst over? Or is it still coming? I am guessing the latter. Because whatever Nekolai has done, he keeps his stock in a prime shape, no damaged goods. New master doesn’t need to keep them whole and alive. My heart had broken a thousand times for the brothers. But some one please take me out of Dougies head, I can’t stand one more minute of his “love” and devotion for his master anymore.
Don't go into this expecting an HEA. Or anything even remotely close to a happy moment even. This is a psychosexual thriller/horror and it delivers in stunning fashion.
I keep paying $4.99 for each "season" to be repeatedly mentally and emotionally abused but if Mat can endure it so can I. The brilliance in the writing is that I'm aware both brothers were kidnapped and sold into slavery but each are on such different paths that it's easy to see one as much more of a victim. I am in a constant state of either being nauseated, sobbing, or anxious when my poor sweet Mat is on page. In contrast, Dougie makes me annoyed, disgusted, and sometimes full of wrath. After what happened to the brothers at the end of this season, I don't know how Mat will hold on to his sanity in season 4. Douglas is lucky he's in LaLaLand.
I hate to admit that I enjoy dark, f*cked up sh!t, but I do. And this whole series is exactly that. It's probably the most f*cked up thing I've ever read, but like a train wreck, I can't look away. However... if you and your heart can withstand the whole thing, the ending is pretty satisfying.
Can not believe what I am reading but its so intriguing I can't for the life of me stop reading this series... Transformation its called and they have certainly transformed...
Mat and Douglas live in a hell hole of depravity and submission ... will they ever remember who they were ! You can see and feel their pain and honestly this series is one of the best I have ever read....