His Game: The First Time

by Tirzah M.M. Hawkins

Rachel's your average teenage girl, fresh out of high school, excited about the secret trip her boyfriend surprised her with. She's been waiting forever for him to pop the question. However, John isn't your average teenage boy. And his idea of a fun trip is far from a proposal. John's growing into his tastes. Tastes for things unmentionable in polite society. Read this coming-of-age story about how a violent artist got his start.
Each book in the His Game series is a standalone story and can be read in any order.

Genres: Horror

43 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 17, 2023

Reviews

[Brendon Lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first story by this author and it was pretty good. We follow John a young man who is shown the dark web by his best friend. They watch a woman be horrifically killed on video and it sparks something in him. John has found his lifes calling. It awakens his darkest desires.

Skip forward a few months and with a new camera he is ready to create his own snuff video with the perfect victim his loving girlfriend.

This is extreme horror and entirely focuses on torture, rape and murder. Its particularly heartbreaking knowing how sweet his girlfriend is and how much she truly loved him whilst he subjects her to heinous acts.

It's short running at 36 pages and is part of a series I am led to believe. Fans of extreme horror should enjoy this but it doesnt reinvent the wheel but is still a brutal read. 3.5 stars to 4 for goodreads.

[Jerry · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a story that didn’t need to be written. A guy is lured into the dark web by a friend and watches snuff films that excite and escalate into action in his real life – this is not fodder for a book in my opinion.

The violence and graphic torture depicted was horrible and I wish the author would find a better use for her writing talent because she does have that skill. This is full on moral sickness that passes for acceptable in today’s society.

[Mickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short read, but a lot packed in. Wasn't sure what to expect but ended up really enjoying it and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

[thisBandherbooks ✨☀️🌻Buffy🌻☀️✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this short story in exchange for my honest review.
She said must be trigger free and she wasn’t joking. My triggers have triggers but the plot made me push myself and read it. I actually really liked this. It was kinda like an episode of criminal minds but from the un subs pov. I’m going to continue the series as this is a standalone prequel.

[Heather Duvall · Rating 1 out of 5]

i do not hand out 1 stars lightly, i truly don’t. This book was
disgusting, gruesome, and the exact opposite of
how someone like this should be perceived. Some things do not need to be written, and this was one. no trigger warnings will ever be enough to explain what happened in these pages.

[Rowena Robinson]

You ever read something and think “this didn’t needed to be written”

Well this is one of those stories.. doesn’t even get a star rating

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Ark Read This In Exchange For An Honest Review.

I went in completely blind when it came to this book. It was an enjoyable short read.

What I enjoyed: I really love this concept of seeing through the eyes of someone who gets off on watching, filming, and distributing snuff films on the dark web.

What i felt meh about: Personally, I would have liked a bit more detail when it came to the torture, violence, and gore.. Rachel, meeting her end, felt a bit rushed and anti-climactic, and it fell a bit flat, in my opinion. I found John and his friend to be a bit bland, and I honestly didn't care much for either of them.

it wasn't bad. The writing felt a bit juvenile at times, but I think that's due to the character.

Overall it's 4/5 stars from me!

What would of made this a fiver if there was more depravity.

[Bryce Morrison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disgusting, degenerate trash.

[AShlee Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great short read! I can’t wait to read more about John and how his mind works!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick, dark read. Don’t let the shortness of it fool you though; it still packs quite a punch.

I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.

Thank you to Tirzah M. M. Hawkins and BookSirens for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

[₊⋆ Nyxia ☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

short & terrifying

Oof check triggers. This is dark dark.
The dark web has always terrified me.
The writing was great. Being in the mind of this person, was brutal wow.

If you like horror, read this.

[Eunece Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

It wasn’t as sick and twisted as I thought it would be. It’s a switch of POV from the author’s series of ‘His Game’ but from the eyes of John, how he started and became the person that takes joy upon inflicting pain to others.

There are a lot of trigger warnings, and the writing is a little graphic, but not to an exaggerate extent. It is a super quick read, less than 50 pages, just to give you a quick glance into the mind of a killer. There are some errors here and there, incomplete sentences, but nothing too big to affect the comprehension of the general story.
It has a little bit of telling in parts where the author could have been more descriptive and show the reader what was happening.

I would recommend it to a strong minded person or a diehard fan of horror and crime novels.

Plot - ★★★☆☆
Characters - ★★★★☆
Style: - ★★★★★
Gore - ★★★★☆
Overall -★★★★☆

“My soul belongs to a creative person. A unique one. A being who needs to operate outside the limits of polite society and produce a rare form of art that only a few kindred spirits will appreciate.”

[Jordan Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a standalone short story that is a prequel to one of her more popular series.
The author isn’t playing when she wanted people to read who don’t have trigger warnings.
bl00d
de@th
vi0lence
kidn@pping
@ssault
t0rture
Cr!me story
coming of age
h0rr0r
short story
suspense
thriller
su!c!de

“My favorite form of art is evoking strong emotions in my reader. Happy, sad, love, anger, disgust, horror. I want to capture only the most vivid colors of the rainbow. “ GIRL THAT RAINBOW IS BRIGHT!!
Can I just say too in this short story she has Author’s notes after some of the chapters, checking in seeing that we are still reading. It just made me giggle, like trust me girl like some people question what you write about, I question what I read about.
The writing did exactly what the Author wanted it too, I could feel Rachel’s anguish, confusion, fear, sadness, and anger. I also got the sick sense of being inside of John’s mind. He is only a teenager and is having these impulsive and dark thoughts, I can’t wait to see where his game goes.

[JJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** NO SPOILERS ***

This is the second work I've read by this author. The first was Spidersight, which I found next to impossible to put down. A great read for me. Major credits to Tirzah Hawkins for the unique plot, the way she told it and the effect it had on me.

This story was entirely different. It is a short read. The book is thirty six pages. The story only took twenty nine of them. In the author's notes, she said:

"My favorite form of art is evoking strong emotions in my reader. Happy, sad, love, anger, disgust, horror. I want to capture only the most vivid colors of the rainbow."

This is not the kind of book the typical reader will "enjoy." I suspect that many if not most (all?) of readers of the types of stories she writes and others like her also do might not qualify as typical readers. So I'll add that caveat. But credit given where credit is due, she absolutely succeeded at what she aspired to do. In spades.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

*** NO SPOILERS ***

[Alisha Copas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story is not for the faint of heart. Really interesting read. I’ve read a few of this authors other books so I was very excited to read this one. The first book I read by this author was Spidersight it was very interesting and different from most books I’ve read so I was very excited to read her next book I saw she was publishing which was My Morning Pages. It was so different from the first book I had read by this author and definitely seemed like she was trying to broaden her audience. This book is closer to the Spidersight book but is definitely a darker story. It’s from the killers point of view and follows his first kill. Would definitely look up book triggers and reviews for this book before diving in if you have triggers or don’t like dark stories. Would recommend reading this around Halloween or if you’re just in a mood for a good short story. Hope the author expands on this story.

[Cassaundra Issabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh. My. 😳 😱🫠
“His Game: The First Time" left me reeling, and questioning my life choices. What began as a quick read, a book I could breeze through turned into a savage and startling story. Birth is a savage process, and his “birth” is no different. I found myself shooketh. So much so that I had to do some serious introspection on why I loved the book.
Ms. Hawkins is a phenomenal writer who delivered a great prequel that left me stunned, and wanting more. I am excited to read the next book. Man, I choose the darkest of the dark every time, and I am never disappointed. 🖤🖤🖤

Warning: This book is NOT for everyone, it is pretty darn dark. Please read responsibly.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Katrina Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was intense! I expected that from her, as I read one of the other His Game stories, but I forgot how crazy and disturbing her stories get. It is the story of the first kill of John and is from his point of view. He starts with talking about how his friend found a snuff video on the dark web and it was not just the bondage they had been looking at. It was torture and at the end they watched the poor woman die. This ‘inspired’ him to do his own video to make money on the dark web. He eventually does this with his girlfriend, Rachael, and it is graphic and gruesome. This is really like a book version of a slasher flick, and hits those same terror factor. Overall a crazy amount of drama and story in a small package, a great Halloween read or for a bite of something different and crazy between other stories.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Mikayela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was something else, man. I love the sick and depraved, and this one delivered. It was short and simple, intense, straight to the point, and we got everything we needed to know without it feeling rushed.

John is fucking crazy. Absolute psychotic behavior. Padded room level of crazy. Read at your own risk, but damn, am I glad I took it. I like reading stories that will test how far the rabbit hole I can go. It was so eery how his inner monologue was vastly different than how he would speak to his victim. He was casual about it, yet so passionate. It was a show he felt destined to perform and share with a world he knew would appreciate his passion for creating what he called art.

It was dark. It was as disturbing as it was meant to be, and I loved it. Happy reading!

[Book Girly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book was not for me personally, it was ALOT. I don't enjoy reading books like this, so its understandable. I saw the trigger warnings, but i didn't expect or I was not prepared for what was in this book. So it was really unexpected for me, it was also a bit distrubing for me to read. But we all have our preferences. If you like gore kind of reading and stuff similar to that, then this book is for you. One thing i will say though. This author really aims at evoking different emotions from its readers and it works.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

The author is incredibly skilled and a fantastic storyteller. This just wasn't the story for me. There were things that were glaringly obvious that weren't considered in “covering his tracks” that were pretty simple. I may be interested in reading other stories by the author but I won't be reading anymore snuff porn which is what this was as opposed to what I consider an actual horror story. However, to answer their questions about if they could tell you who the bad guy is and have you keep reading? Yes. They could. It's something I value in a storyteller and they did it well.

[Samantha Steipp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book was very disturbing, as it was written to be. I had a hard time getting through it. If you like gore then this book is for you. However, TW for murder and sexual content. Props to the author because it was truly made to be realistic. I don't know if there is anything the author could have done for me to give this 5 starts. It was not a comfortable read for me. I was anticipating thriller and even murder, I wasn't anticipating this though. I was no where near prepared for the contents of this book.

[Heather Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was shocked. I started reading the book without reading any warnings. I usually do read warnings just so I know what I am getting into, but for some reason I didn’t. I can read anything I just was not expecting some of the details and what the book was actually about. I did think it was a good book. The only reason why I didn’t give it five stars was because I had wanted more information on the main character. Beginning and end. The only suggestion to readers is to read warnings. Some details may be to graphic for some people

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!! This was crazy and I loved every deliciously pitch-black, violent and gory moment of it. It was a quick story with loads of mind-blowing intensity and brutality that will have your jaw dropping.

This story will evoke some very strong emotions from you while reading and if you happen to have any triggers – this is not the one for you.

But if your like me (a horror loving woman), then you don’t want to miss out on this little morsal of deliciousness that will feed your little black heart!!!

[B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was just okay. With more plotting, additional detail, and elongation of the story, this one could be pretty good, but it's really bare bones right now. Definitely at a draft level as opposed to a fully published one. Given that the second "novella" in this series doesn't even top out at 100 pages - aka short story, I'm not going to continue as it's likely to have the same issues as this one did. If Hawkins ever decides to finish the stories and make them full length books, I may be willing to pick them back up and continue, but until then, it was worth the "free" I paid for it.

[Kristen Arndt · Rating 5 out of 5]

John (Jake) is a sick dude! And he's just a teenager at this point! He gets on the dark side of the internet and watches something that really tickles his fancy, then decides he must do the same. Who better to start with than his girlfriend?

I mistakenly read His Game: The Woods first, so I already knew some things about him, but I see now why he is the way he is. Ugh, sick, creepy guy. I need to read the other installments in this series.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kelly Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must say, this was a wild ride! I normally read dark romance and don’t have many triggers, but this was definitely dark and twisted!! It definitely kept me engaged, and was curious to see what was going to happen next. I wish there was some spice sprinkled in to add some depth to their relationship and “connection” and deff would have liked to see how his game progressed with her! Overall, an enjoyable short read! Thank you to Booksirens for ARC opportunity!!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Let me start by saying there should be a trigger warning for vulgar language and sexual content. Take note of the other trigger warnings, as they did not exaggerate.

Having said that, and despite that, this book was short, but actually really good.

Scary violent and depraved.

Liked the way it developed and have a good setting to the first book in the series.

[Joan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank You Tirzah M.M. Hawkins and BookSirens

This was the first short story by this author I have read. This story was a 3.5 that I rounded up to a 4 star.

The short story is in the POV of the Main character. After hanging with his friend the night before. The main character surprises his girlfriend with a trip out to the woods. His Girlfriend is totally taken by surprise.

Crime Thriller
Twizted

[Vera Rodrigues · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book by the author that I have read, and it has already won me over. The theme is super current and is undoubtedly a lively criticism of the current society in which we live. It clearly shows the intricacies of the dark web and the impact it has on the characters' lives. I highly recommend it, and I will read the other books that the author has already published, as I really liked the way he writes.

[Crystal Lobetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't read this book without reading the trigger warnings otherwise you might not like the book. John is a psychopath, a narcissist and a budding serial killer andbthis book is entirely from his pov. Now it is a well written short horror story that I wished was longer because it was such a unique well written book. What an imagination and talent she has. I can't wait to read more from her.I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.