Blinking Witness

by Lesley A. Camphouse

Saved from the streets, Kait now works the camera in a so-called Red Room. To most people, such rooms are an urban myth online, for Kait, it's her daily job.

Spaces designed for torture and murder to be livestreamed on the Dark Web for those willing to pay.

Then she's assigned to stay with a subject for five days, to record their misery and deterioration... or perhaps it starts her own...

82 pages, Paperback

Expected publication February 14, 2026

About the author

Lesley lives secluded in the Netherlands with her husband and five cats. She enjoys writing Extreme Horror, Splatterpunk, and Dark Romantasy.

Besides writing, she likes to read, and those exact categories are the ones she devours.

She's also a hoarder of trinkets and cool things and collects a lot of stuff, from oddities and curiosities to manga, comics, and figurines.

Reviews

[Ashley Hana · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was my bad for expecting this to be less fucked up due to it being erotica too. But nope! Absolutely fucking depraved. All stops out. Kait absolutely loses it in her fucked up desires and spirals further and further until there's no point of return.

[BookSplatterBritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy crazy! This story was completely insane. So much blood and sex. This girl definitely needed a therapist ha! It was gory, sexual, and just insane and it was awesome!

[Madame Strange · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Blinking Witness” - Just when you thought you’ve “seen” it all.

★★★★★

Getting to read Lesley’s stories is always a pleasure, getting to BETA read is a privilege I am incredibly grateful for.

If you are familiar with Lesley’s work you know what to expect. And once again she manages to give us dark, depraved, unhinged, twisty, smutty and manages to create something humane and monstrous. This story doesn’t shy away from the darkest corners of human mind and dark web. Get ready to sink your teeth into this one, you know you want to even if it’ll cost you your sanity.

[Dani-Lynn Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓮
🌶️🌶️ - 𝓼𝓹𝓲𝓬𝓮
🔥🔥🔥🔥 - 𝓹𝓵𝓸𝓽
🩸🩸🩸🩸 - 𝓰𝓸𝓻𝓮

🖤 𝓶𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼🖤
Kait & Manny

🖤 𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓼🖤
📕violence against women/men
📕disregard for human life
📕misogyny
📕blood play
📕graphic violence & gore

🖤 𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀🖤
What’s better than another brutal story centered around red rooms? One that develops around a female who holds the camera. You think they’re the most sane in the room, until you discover their true morbid intuitions. Blinking Witness grabs you by the heartstrings and pulls them out from your flesh slowly so you can feel every excruciating moment it has to offer. If you’ve ready anything by Camphouse, you know it’s going to be full of unappetizing and grotesque imagery that literally places you in the room with Kait.

*spoilers*

Kait has never had it easy in life. Even being warned, her ignorance causes her to marry her own boss. And after she comes home early to find him sleeping with another woman, he still blames her and forces her to leave with nothing. Even forcing her to sign divorce papers immediately before proceeding with what she walked in on.

While living homeless under a bridge, Manny, a friend, comes to her aid. He offers her a hole in the wall which she sees as better than being outside but it comes with a catch. She must work for him in order to pay off her debts. Without thinking, she accepts the offer and discovers a cruel world hidden from view that she has become part of.

See, Manny works in some building that hosts Red Rooms, where Sera, her crush and dominatrix, tortured men on camera while she has to hold the camera. At first, the sounds and sights of such atrocious acts makes her feel weak until she’s forced to stay five days in hell so that Manny can serve his revenge.

So much more happens and you will never guess the ending that ends perfectly where you sit there satisfied but also wanting more. Camphouse stories will do that to you as well as make you churn as you read the brutality on each page. The horrendous acts Manny does to the downward spiral Kait falls in that becomes her downfall. A great splatter-fied entrance into 2026.

[Morgen Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disgusting and delicious! Lesley never fails to make a page turner that I have to read in one sitting while simultaneously making face after face.
A hard hitting truth of the depths people are willing to go to save themselves and how darkness lives in everyone, just sometimes needs the right push to be released!

[kellyjo walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could easily be turned into a horror movie!!

[Abby Bean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book! Feminine rage? Sleep token? Smut AND gore??! What more could a girl ask for!! If any of that sounds like your cup of tea I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this book.

[Addison Houser · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting to say the least lol fast paced and super dark/gross but also kinda hot? im alittle sad at the ending but really it couldnt of ended any other way

[Honey Dy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it getting hot in here or what???

Not usually a fan of SMUT, this is the kind of SMUT I'll be happy to read over and over again, especially if its written by my good friend Lesley Camphouse!

Its juicy, unhinged and creeps up on you when you least expect it...its EXTREME HORROR SMUT!

Lesley needs her own category cos there is no corner left unturned nor topic too taboo to write about...mixing 💦💦💦with🩸🩸🩸

This is the kind if kinky shit i would recommend to girls AND boys on valentines day...so...💔🔥

Whether you’re single, coupled up, or deep in an “it’s complicated” situationship, Blinking Witness is here to ruin your peace in the best possible way.

At just 80-something pages, this novella goes HARD from page one and never lets up.

If you're a fan of Lesley's work, you'll know that there's NO FILTER. NO ROOM TO BREATHE. Just relentless, gut-punch storytelling.

We’re talking body horror, gore, pain, rage, with themes of sexual assault, and a kind of lust that feels wrong to witness.

You'll feel uncomfortable,yet slightly turned on? But you'll be addicted right from page one.

For such a short read the character development is quite strong.

The pacing is on point, and the violence is brutal without being pointless.

This is erotic horror like you've never experienced before. Lesley knew what she was doing and isn’t afraid to drag you into the darkest corners of the human psyche making you watch, but also daring you to look away.

❤️ Blinking Witness drops February 14th, making it a perfectly deranged read for Valentine’s Day.

[Rebecca Woodall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this ebook from the lovely author as an arc.

Only a short read but wow what a story. Kait has such a hard time from start to finish with what she goes through no wonder she finally snaps. This book is so dark, gruesome but it's also quite sad and you do honestly feel for her. Lesley's story telling is amazing you can really feel for the main character I highly recommend any of her books ☺️

[Breanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story escalated so fast! Follow Kait as her Psyche breaks working the cameras in a Red Room. It's violent, spicy, and absolutely unhinged in the best way. The tension keeps building until it feels impossible to look away, even when things get brutal.

[Jojobean_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, like every book that Lesley has written, was dark, depraved and entirely f**ked up.
It doesn't hold back and it definitely doesn't leave anything behind.
There is nothing this woman touches that doesnt turn to gold and I will not be told otherwise!!!!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kaitlin a wife that has been divorced and homeless. gets recruited to film snuff films. wow just fucking wow. I love love loved this so much

[Allison | crazypageturner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kait has lost everything and finds herself on the streets. Soon, a man offers her a roof over her head in a horrible rundown building, but it’s a roof nonetheless. He also offers her a job working a video camera. The job seems simple enough, the terms are non-negotiable and Kait doesn’t have much room to refuse since she’s at rock bottom. And so begins her life as a snuff film camera operator.

~MY THOUGHTS~

You hear about snuff videos in splatterpunk books a lot. It’s a common taboo subject. But hearing from the mind of the video operator of those films is not common making this novella very original and captivating. And then that ending! My goodness!

Kait was once abhorred by the things she witnessed at work and soon becomes numb to it all. Another day, another victim. All captured on film and sold to some pervert. As long as she gets paid, she doesn’t care. I think blocking it all out and putting up walls is a defense mechanism a lot of people can relate to or at least find believable. She was broken and just barely holding it together.

I LOVE that a dark side is unleashed. I love unhinged characters that are out of left field. She seriously loses herself and becomes a mad woman. Whether created from her environment or secretly always there, who knows. Freaking crazy.

It’s dark. It’s gruesome. It’s disturbing And of course, bloody. It’s entertaining as all hell too which is what I come to expect from anything Lesley writes. Great novella that I recommend to all splatter and extreme horror fans.

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve just finished this twisted little descent into erotic horror, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. This story didn’t just take a turn it wrecked into a place I wasn’t prepared for. What started as curiosity became a full‑on plunge into something dark, and deeply unsettling.  And the female main character? She’s a full‑blown psychopath wrapped in charm, danger, and a kind of magnetic chaos that makes you want to run and keep reading at the same time. Watching her unravel or maybe reveal who she truly was felt like standing too close to a fire you know will burn you. This was my first read by this author, and she didn’t just deliver she dragged me through a story that was sharp, disturbing, and impossible to shake off. I closed the book feeling rattled, impressed, and a little haunted.

[Julie Hiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blinking Witness is an absolutely brilliant work of Erotic Extreme Horror!

I am thrilled that I was able to get a copy of this. I crushed it within 24 hours, and it left me tingling from head to toe.

Kait is a young woman in a desperate situation. From the moment we meet her, we are enchanted by her. She's complex, tough yet vulnerable, and has one hell of a story to tell about how she became a camera woman in a red room.

As Kait follows the only path she can, deep emotions mixed with trauma take her in a new direction. An unhinged, yet liberating one.

This book will have it's violent, lustful, dark and delicious claws in you the moment you read the opening paragraph.

I'm left with a deep desire to explore Lesley's entire repertoire.

[The.ghost_reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75/5 rounding up
To most people, Red rooms are urban myths. The online rooms designed for torture and murder are live streamed on the dark web and sold to the highest bidder, but to Kait these rooms are just part of her normal day. See Kait was rescued from the streets and put in charge of running the camera in a so- called Red room. She’s seen it all and can’t complain about the job too much when she has a roof over her head and food in her stomach. That is until she’s tasked to stay with a subject for 5 days in the red room, recording their deterioration and as the days pass this may be Kait’s own downfall…
Camphouse has done it again. Her stories are always depraved, gory and fun and this one is no different. If you’re looking for a short horror erotic book that may make you question your sanity, but will have you enjoying the ride, then look no further because this is the one for you.
I loved the premise that everyone has a point of no return, and I highly enjoyed reading about Kait’s descent into madness once her buttons had been pressed for the last time. Getting to read Kati’s downward spiral was both gruesome and entertaining and had me turning the pages with a quickness. I love Camphouse’s writing because she doesn’t hold anything back and it’s straight to the point. Camphouse isn’t afraid to push human boundaries, and this story is no different, the human brutality throughout the read is written so well and will have you finishing this one in a single sitting.
The only thing I wish Camphouse has done differently was continue. I wanted MORE. The story was perfect and I just wasn’t ready to leave this messed up little world yet and it ended way too soon. Fingers crossed that maybe Camphouse will take pity on us mere mortals and write more from this universe, would love to see a Manny story blossom. I would also maybe love to see Kait’s ex-husband get what’s coming to him…
If you’re looking for a dark, deranged story featuring gore, body horror, rage and themes of sexual assault mixed with a sort of lust that makes you wonder if you should continue witnessing, then you’ve found the perfect read. As always, check trigger warnings.

[Rachel Meechan · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨ARC review✨
OMG this is definitely dark, disgusting and delicious, but like always the writing is soo good!! Lesley never fails to make a page turner where I’m making face after face reactions to the story. It’s not only erotic horror, Kait our main character has been dealt a bad set of cards in her life and finally reaches her limit.

A hard hitting truth on the depths people are willing to go to save themselves and that darkness lives in all of us, it just needs the right push to be released. Only Lesley can write characters like Kait, full on feminine rage.

Was blessed by Lesley with an ARC for this book! Blinking Witness is released Valentines Day ❤️

[Nicole Rubbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kait is homeless and out of options when Manny rescues her from the streets. He gives her shelter, food and a job.
The job has her behind a camera in an abandoned slaughterhouse for snuff films.
She accepts this as a better option to living in the street. When she is told she has to stay at the filming location for a 5 day shoot she unveils a part of herself she didn’t know existed.
Erotic. grotesque and graphic this story cuts deep.

[Thebatandthebook . . · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was blessed with an ARC from the author!!

This was my second erotic horror i have read in my lifetime. I know *gasp*!!

But let me tell you it was beyond worth a read. This book could easily be made into a horror movie that most would obsess over.

To top it of it makes you want to cradle and protect the main character so much and than 💥 you end up actually fearing her a little instead.

it's unhinged in all the gory good ways.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who’s still new to extreme horror, I wasn’t sure what to expect—but Lesley has completely won me over.

The writing is sharp, immersive, and knows exactly when to push boundaries. This book was so much fun to read and delivered shock in the best possible way. Dark, intense, and wildly entertaining.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

2026 …. Year of the eyeball? Well this is the 3rd book this year (it’s January) that has had something eyeball related in it. This book is short definitely not sweet . It’s sick and twisted I absolutely loved it. It is my first book by this author and I plan on reading more by them.

[Chloe miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

What the hell… this was a wild ride- first you feel sorry for the main character, and then you don’t 😂 This was my first ever arc and it was great, well written, short and snappy. I’m 100% going to read more from this author!

[Rachal Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh my, this is a good one, twisted, depraved, and full of rage

[Bookaholic__Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTC

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be an excellent horror movie!!

[Daniel Vessey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to Lesley for the Arc of this book!

I remember being instantly hooked when I first started reading Lesley's books and it makes me so happy to say that the queen of extreme horror continues to be on top form with this story!!

A story filled to the brim with equal amounts of passion, rage, gore and stomach churning descriptions of violence all packed into a neat 82 pages. Red Rooms may still be considered a myth by large portions of the internet but witnessing Kait's journey throughout this story might be enough to make one reconsider.

[Simeon Elkjær · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arc review of: Blinking witness by Lesley A. Camphouse.
Not only a slump buster, but an excellent take on life behind the Camera..

Lesley was a doll and offered me 1x Arc copy.
And i don't think she knew i was in the slump of s lifetime and i didn't know she was offering me a Masterpiece!

Books is brutally delightful, Trigger'ingly playful..
It shines a projectiled beam, on just how far humans will go, under the "right" circumstances.
Its a story of second chances, lost love, vengeance and knowing when to call it quits.
(Sprayed in with Splatterpunk No 5).

- For someone that ditests descriptive bloat/useless information and redundancies, this book was perfect.
+ just enough descriptors for your mind to automatically fill inn the rest.
Was no redundant info given, everything told was told for a meaningfull purpose,

- The setting is creative, Immersive and bloody Captive-ating.
- This take on the Entertainment world, is new to me and oh so addicting...
I hope there will be more, or readers will be inspired to write more along these lines.

I am a semi-fast reader with dyslexia on a good day.
This book.... I read like Stan lee had given me Supermans reading abilites..
Pages flew by and i think i had every emotion and facial-expression under the sun, while reading it.
(Except boredom. As i LOVED it)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟
I tend to rate books 1-5 stars and as the only negatives i can say is "short" and "left me wanting more.. This book for me is scratching the 6th star on a scale of 1-5..

I will 1000% Read more of her stuff!

Do yourself a favour, dont tbr this book for "sometime", add it to your "next read" Instead.

Les Ley Thank you, So much for gifting me experience of this book and a look into your mind.

[Ashley Rudd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was amazing, insanely engaging, and so fast-paced that I couldn’t put it down. I was literally squirming, kicking my feet, and trying to figure out how to keep reading with my eyes half-covered because the tension had me on edge the whole time (yes, I failed 😂). The erotica elements are well written and add a deliciously twisted layer of spice that heightens the suspense instead of distracting from it. The story moves quickly, never lets up, and had me muttering “oh no” every few pages in the best way possible. If you love dark tension, sharp pacing, and spice that feels unhinged in all the right ways, this one delivers.

[Tracey Wray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fucking BRUTAL 🖤
From the first page, right to the last...

Manny offers Kait a job and a home when he finds her in a bad way on the streets.
When things seem too good to be true, they usually are....
Thrown into a world of torture, and the dark web, she finds herself spiralling...
Sexual depravity, deviant urges, and madness are waiting to claim her...

Lots of trigger warnings here, what an absolute BELTER of a book, absolutely loved it!!! 🖤🔪🖤
💋OUT 14TH FEBRUARY💋