Rating: 5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novella

Alexander LaFon’s life is not his own. His brother, Jeremiah, known as Miah, controls everything. Their mother abandoned them as infants and their father is always working. That leaves plenty of time for Miah to systematically torture Alexander. Inflicting unfathomable pain on Alexander is Miah’s sole and determined focus.

Alexander just wants the pain to stop. There are a few rare and brief moments where he thinks he can please Miah. Alexander should know better. When Miah takes it way further then Alexander can handle, Alexander runs. But Alexander belongs to Miah and Miah will never stop looking for him.

Psychopaths. Whether fictional or real, they are part of our culture. There are wildly successful and intriguing books, movies, and documentaries devoted to them. Tonlet takes two brothers, one who is a victim, one who is a psychopath, and swirls that together with brutality, torture, physical pain, psychological dependency, and animal cruelty to create the Brothers LaFon. The list of what is involved in this story certainly does not end there as that’s just the short list. This is clearly a dark story and Miah displays psychotic behavior without regret. His lack of guilt, lack of empathy, and lack of emotions are just a few of the qualities that could only begin to categorize him. He started torturing Alex at a young age. The torture, the seduction, the psychological training was determined and focused. Alex was his mission and Alex was his to do with as he pleased.

Groomed from a young age, Alex does as Miah demands. There is so much that can be studied and looked at with Alex as a victim. As much as Miah torments him and hurts him, there is still a part of him that wants to please Miah and wants Miah to love him. The author makes us fear for Alex as his choices are stripped from him time and again and Alex’s display of a conditioned victim becomes more evident.

In a short number of pages, the author amazingly packs in a complete and complex story. We are shown how Miah’s behavior began at an early age, as a lot of psychotic behavior begins, with animal torture. We are given glimpses into the brothers’ lives at several different stages that depict an ongoing cycle of horrific abuse. What is exceptionally clever is the balance of telling versus showing. We are shown just enough of Miah’s sadistic actions and then told of others. Seeing all of it in all of its gory detail would perhaps have gone too far. So woven into the story are elements of a true thriller without taking it too far on page. What remains extraordinary is that those glimpses will stay with you just as much as what is fully shown. The author then gives us just enough of Miah to crave more. For a character that has no conscience and no moral compass, there could be endless possibilities of what may come next.

Make no mistake, this book is not about redemption. Miah is not a redeemable character, nor is he intended to be. Even with Alex possibly craving his brother’s wicked touch again, even Alex cannot redeem him. Miah is unapologetic in his behavior and, in the dark of night, might just let slip that even he doesn’t understand his behavior himself.

This book is not just a thrill show. Tonlet blends the thrills with an outline of the relationship between the two brothers. There is not enough time here to dip deep into the characters’ psyches, but as this will be an ongoing series there is so much more to discover. Absolutely this is not the book for everyone. The author agrees and has posted very specific warnings and tags, so take a look and make an informed decision. Brothers LaFon…it’s sooo depraved…it’s sooo good…(it’s fictional) and I like it….a lot.