Violated M/M Fiction
Dreamspinner Press
August 7, 2015
256
Derek Sawyer thinks he has it all—a high-salaried position, a boyfriend, a dog, even a new cabin on the lake—until a business trip with his manager and best friend, Victor, shatters his world.
One night of drunken horsing around in their hotel room leads to the most intensely personal violation Derek has ever endured. As if the humiliation of working under his attacker every day isn’t enough, Victor reports Derek for sexual harassment. Now he’s without a job, without a boyfriend, and the mortgage on the cabin is due.
Officer Russ Thomas has worked with rape victims before, and it doesn’t take him long to sort out the truth in Derek’s tale. With his support, Derek finally reports the crime, months after it happened. But restraining orders and lawyers further Victor’s anger toward him, and even though a relationship develops between Derek and the policeman, Russ can’t be there to protect him all the time.
Review by Gloria Lakritz
Sr Reviewer for The Paranormal Romance Guild
This is a tough read and a tough subject all around. Our Guild guidelines for review mention not reviewing rape situations; but it was not the rape itself but the aftermath and I felt in this author’s Bold Telling…. This book needed to be reviewed.
Derek Sawyer is in a committed relationship, engaged, holding an excellent job and now the couple’s new purchase of a summer cabin. Life was good. Derik worked with Victor, a longtime friend of over 20 years who is straight and his manager. Their friendship still saw them having lunch together and a follow up to the gym daily.
A business trip out of town has Victor asking Derek to accompany him for his expertise for an overnight. The trip did not end well and the reader is a voyeur to an attack that left Derek Sawyer undone. I have no words. Jamie Fessenden, you have written one of the most shocking, and sensitive story I have ever read. Truly a masterpiece of writing, getting into the mind and psyche of a gay man who has lost everything including himself.
Mr. Fessenden, The scene that you write: Derek who has lost his fiancé, his job and his mind …comes back to the cabin and finds EVERYTHING he owns dumped in the mud on his driveway….Sitting in the mud on his knees…..I shudder….it was so emotional ….I couldn’t breathe….and still catch mine writing this.
The story is a path and the reader has heart as we watch a progression of healing. The entry of his new neighbor Russ, who is a police officer are our eyes, as he watches Derek feeling his isolation and fear. He slowly helps Derek overcome the helplessness he feels about himself and maybe can fight back now when he felt he didn’t before. After all, ‘how can a strong man like me have been violated and not fought back?’
I will say this again, this book is truly exceptional piece of writing…..10 stars if I could!!!
