Evac

Tragedy strikes in many ways. Healing in countless ways more compelling that just surviving. This story of a soldier and his struggles becoming human again after war is compelling. A big of sex, and a good example of the many ways we each try to destroy ourselves when we are lost...each only looking for a handhold to grab and be safe. Hope to see more like this.

SPOILERS AHEAD I was disappointed with the direction that the book had taken. The beginning had so much promise and grabbed my attention immediately, but by chapter 22 I just started to skim the last few chapters. I didn't care for the fact that it took until chapter 27 just to introduce the love interest. The relationship progressed to fast for my liking because it only has 33 chapters. Also I felt like the character of Benji's psychiatrist David had a lot of chemistry with him and would have liked to see these two interact more, but when Benji got discharged from the hospital and sent back to the states, David just disappeared. He later on shows up in chapter 30 again and I felt like his absence was just an after thought to the author; who said that he didn't have a phone # from Benji or a current address from the VA hospital. Also I have no problem with BDSM scenes, but I felt like for this story the author didn't have to have so many scenes with it involved. The author could have just said that Benji went to the club and even showed the start of the scene, but I didn't feel the need to have pages devoted to talking about what was done to the main character. I know this just might be me but I also didn't like the fact that I didn't seem to have a since of time or age in the book of the characters other than the fact Nick was 19. The character of Rusty was a year or more older and Benji was somewhere maybe 24 or older. I bring this up because Benji felt older to me in his mind more like 30's than 20's, but it says he didn't go to college, so I'm assuming he went to the army at 18 and he served 6 years, so I found it a little ridiculous when Benji was at the church but seemed innocent or ignorant of the fact that people were against homosexuals and even disgusted. It seems more of what a teen or younger person would feel. Not really having a time line of how much time passed is what made me feel the relationship went to fast with Nick and Benji because I felt that he got over blade to fast; last I remember he was in California for only 4 months. To me what would've made this book good was if he focused on Benji getting through his PTSD with David and the romantic part of the book being through flashbacks of Benji and Blade and how they met including his whole unit because to me hearing about them kind of got me choked up. Also trying to fix things with his family because the hostility between Rusty and Benji just didn't feel like it was explained enough. Then the book could have ended where a year or two later he was finally ready to move on.

I received this book from Inked Rainbow Reads in exchange for an honest review. This is a gritty, unflinching look at the impact of war on those who fight. Benji leaves the army after a horrific incident. Once his body heals, he is left to his own devices and PTSD consumes him. Through Benji, Michael Murphy explores the transition from military civilian life and honestly evaluates the military’s approach to the men who leave with sound bodies but fragile minds. I’m not entirely sure why this is advertised as a m/m BDSM story. Benji could be any soldier. His sexuality seems somewhat irrelevant to his experiences for much of the book. BDSM is only introduced as a broken Benji looks for ways to punish himself. It isn’t healthy for him and the scenes he participates in are neither erotic or safe. This is not an easy book. It is a terrible, uncomfortably real, look at a man who has served his country, lost everything and finds himself unable to cope with civilian life. Michael Murphy’s writing style took me a while to get used to. I loved the dialogue and banter between Benji and David at the start. It was a challenging task to write a story where most of the action only takes place in the main character’s mind. During some of the longer passages where Benji is isolated and inactive, the prose starts to feel clunky and repetitive. While this is an important book it is far removed from the typical m/m romance or BDSM erotica it seems to have been marketed as. ~Sarah

What an amazing well written book. Very sad but well worth the read.

Tragedy strikes in many ways. Healing in countless ways more compelling that just surviving. This story of a soldier and his struggles becoming human again after war is compelling. A big of sex, and a good example of the many ways we each try to destroy ourselves when we are lost...each only looking for a handhold to grab and be safe. Hope to see more like this.

SPOILERS AHEAD I was disappointed with the direction that the book had taken. The beginning had so much promise and grabbed my attention immediately, but by chapter 22 I just started to skim the last few chapters. I didn't care for the fact that it took until chapter 27 just to introduce the love interest. The relationship progressed to fast for my liking because it only has 33 chapters. Also I felt like the character of Benji's psychiatrist David had a lot of chemistry with him and would have liked to see these two interact more, but when Benji got discharged from the hospital and sent back to the states, David just disappeared. He later on shows up in chapter 30 again and I felt like his absence was just an after thought to the author; who said that he didn't have a phone # from Benji or a current address from the VA hospital. Also I have no problem with BDSM scenes, but I felt like for this story the author didn't have to have so many scenes with it involved. The author could have just said that Benji went to the club and even showed the start of the scene, but I didn't feel the need to have pages devoted to talking about what was done to the main character. I know this just might be me but I also didn't like the fact that I didn't seem to have a since of time or age in the book of the characters other than the fact Nick was 19. The character of Rusty was a year or more older and Benji was somewhere maybe 24 or older. I bring this up because Benji felt older to me in his mind more like 30's than 20's, but it says he didn't go to college, so I'm assuming he went to the army at 18 and he served 6 years, so I found it a little ridiculous when Benji was at the church but seemed innocent or ignorant of the fact that people were against homosexuals and even disgusted. It seems more of what a teen or younger person would feel. Not really having a time line of how much time passed is what made me feel the relationship went to fast with Nick and Benji because I felt that he got over blade to fast; last I remember he was in California for only 4 months. To me what would've made this book good was if he focused on Benji getting through his PTSD with David and the romantic part of the book being through flashbacks of Benji and Blade and how they met including his whole unit because to me hearing about them kind of got me choked up. Also trying to fix things with his family because the hostility between Rusty and Benji just didn't feel like it was explained enough. Then the book could have ended where a year or two later he was finally ready to move on.

I received this book from Inked Rainbow Reads in exchange for an honest review. This is a gritty, unflinching look at the impact of war on those who fight. Benji leaves the army after a horrific incident. Once his body heals, he is left to his own devices and PTSD consumes him. Through Benji, Michael Murphy explores the transition from military civilian life and honestly evaluates the military’s approach to the men who leave with sound bodies but fragile minds. I’m not entirely sure why this is advertised as a m/m BDSM story. Benji could be any soldier. His sexuality seems somewhat irrelevant to his experiences for much of the book. BDSM is only introduced as a broken Benji looks for ways to punish himself. It isn’t healthy for him and the scenes he participates in are neither erotic or safe. This is not an easy book. It is a terrible, uncomfortably real, look at a man who has served his country, lost everything and finds himself unable to cope with civilian life. Michael Murphy’s writing style took me a while to get used to. I loved the dialogue and banter between Benji and David at the start. It was a challenging task to write a story where most of the action only takes place in the main character’s mind. During some of the longer passages where Benji is isolated and inactive, the prose starts to feel clunky and repetitive. While this is an important book it is far removed from the typical m/m romance or BDSM erotica it seems to have been marketed as. ~Sarah

What an amazing well written book. Very sad but well worth the read.