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Control Freak

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 · rating details · 75 ratings · 11 reviews

An erotic horror novel. A grisly murder in New York City's downtown meat packing district leads hardboiled crime writer Caitlin McCullough into the depths of a secret sadomasochistic underground. A perverse playground for the rich and twisted where anything goes and nothing is taboo. Here, Caitlin must risk everything to find not only the truth surrounding the murder, but...more

Paperback, 292 pages

Published September 30th 2002 by Babbage Press (first published 1998)

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May 11, 2011 BarkLessWagMore rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, horror, mystery

I bought this book when it was first published way back in the early 90’s, back when I was reading a lot of Poppy Z. Brite and Caitlin Kiernan, when I was young and free, with money to burn and too damn busy with other stuff to read what I was buying apparently. At the time, the three author’s had a website together (possibly called Pandora-something? It’s gone now) which is how I learned of this book whose premise begged me to read it. For some reason, it got pushed to the back of my now triple...more I bought this book when it was first published way back in the early 90’s, back when I was reading a lot of Poppy Z. Brite and Caitlin Kiernan, when I was young and free, with money to burn and too damn busy with other stuff to read what I was buying apparently. At the time, the three author’s had a website together (possibly called Pandora-something? It’s gone now) which is how I learned of this book whose premise begged me to read it. For some reason, it got pushed to the back of my now triple stacked bookshelf (yeah, I’ve got issues, I know) and there it stayed until my dog wiped out most of my bottom shelf. Unearthed after all these years, I saw it glaring at me all shiny and new, still in its protective cover. Shameful, really, but I’m sure someone here will understand. So what did I do? Stuck it back on the shelf where it still sits. I’m listening to it now because I stumbled across the unabridged audiobook release.

A young woman named Eva is found murdered and sexually mutilated. Caitlin McCullough is a beautiful young mystery writer who is intrigued by the case when she learns the details from her police officer boyfriend Mike Kiernan. Caitlin plans to write a book about the case. After doing a bit of sleuthing she discovers Eva was well known to the (then) underground world of hacker’s and SM clubs (remember this was written in the 90’s). After interviewing a few of the dead girls’ friends she’s led to the SM club Eva frequented and delves head first into a world of pain, control and sex that awakens her to a whole new world of sensation.

Caitlin is immediately drawn to the darkness of the SM scenes in the dungeon and her snooping leads to her becoming part of the lifestyle (more like a superstar). She’s clearly cut out to be a dominatrix and takes to it with a natural confidence that surprises her. The feelings of power, admiration and lust are intoxicating. She is surrounded by beautiful, young submissive waifs begging to get their asses reddened while horny men are more than willing to pay her good money for the pleasure of simply watching her get her boots licked cleaned. But the bigger draw comes in the form of a beautiful man who may or may not be mad and who remains the biggest suspect in the murder investigation.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not good at the “guessing the murderer” game and I was left guessing for quite a while though the reveal isn’t any huge surprise. This book is more of a look into the life of a “normal” young woman who finds and willingly embraces the darker edges of her nature and once awakened she just can’t turn back. As Caitlin is drawn deeper and deeper into the SM world, her old life and relationship inevitably fall to the wayside.

The characters were interesting and well-drawn but be warned this book doesn’t flinch from the darkness within its characters and they often act in ways that don’t exactly make them likable. This is a book mostly about obsession, power and giving in to desire at a rather huge cost. The narrator does a fine job with most of the characters and I could clearly distinguish one from the other. The only notable exception was the portrayal of one of Caitlin’s hacker friends whose voice was like bloodied nails on a chalkboard and completely cringe inducing (and damn if I can remember his name), fortunately (for me) he wasn’t a large part of the novel so that’s a minor nit in an overall decent performance.

Control Freak is dark, dreary, and seedy and I couldn’t put it down. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it ;)
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Jul 12, 2012 Bracken rated it 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars. It's a decent first novel that is more about the main character's sexual/psychological self discovery than the murder mystery that bookends the real story. Although the book has thriller aspirations (that pay off in spades in Faust's work for Hard Case Crime), the initial conventional storyline introduced here is quickly abandoned and left only hinted at for the lion's share of the novel. When that story picks back up again at the end, it moves quickly (and a little impro...more

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Oct 02, 2007 Seth rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: mystery fans who like or can handle bdsm content

Shelves: other-fiction

This is Faust's first book, but wasn't published until 10 years later, after other of her books. It definitely has the feel of a Christa Faust story, but it reads like a first book. The writing is often a little gimmicky and there are several plotlines that just vanish rather than resolve. But it's a good read and the main character's growth is quite well handled.

Control Freak is set in early 90's NYC. Our protagonist is Caitlin. She is a writer and when her cop boyfriend is assigned to a parti...more This is Faust's first book, but wasn't published until 10 years later, after other of her books. It definitely has the feel of a Christa Faust story, but it reads like a first book. The writing is often a little gimmicky and there are several plotlines that just vanish rather than resolve. But it's a good read and the main character's growth is quite well handled.

Control Freak is set in early 90's NYC. Our protagonist is Caitlin. She is a writer and when her cop boyfriend is assigned to a particularly gruesome murder she decides she might want to write a true-crime book on the case. With the unsuspecting aid of her boyfriend's information and the help of a hacker friend she stays ahead of the police in her investigation and traces the victim to a the BDSM scene in lower Manhatten. She goes to the clubs and discovers she has natural skill for, and unsuspected interest in, being dominant.

Since the early nineties, the US BDSM scene has mainstreamed quite a bit. Clubs and parties invite fetishwear and light bondage in even small cities across the US. It is important to remember that this was not the case in the book's timeframe. The clubs in the book are also more tolerant of certain unsafe behaviors that would raise eyebrows in much of even the fetish scene today. Fewer people then had been exposed to fetish play beyond the Betty Page movies and what Caitlin discovers is new and scary to her; presumably it was supposed to be new and scary to the reader as well.

Caitlin's love of the scene and talent for it draws her further in to the more underground--and dangerous--clubs where the victim was well-known, and she makes friends in the community who are all suspects in the case. Her involvement begins to scare her hacker friend and becomes trouble for her boyfriend, eventually leader to her complete separation from her old life.

The mystery story is good and doubles into itself as we discover multiple interrelated mysteries. Caitlin's descent into an artificial world is well-handled and will be familiar to many people who have lost months or years of their lives in any inbred subculture of druggies, sex addicts, activists, or other groups. It is also kept separate enough from her introspection about power play and sex that she and the reader are able to keep from tainting one with the other.

The resolution of the mysteries is interesting, although not completely unexpected, and leads to some oddly (but not badly) paced action scenes and nice layers of betrayal.

All in all, it's a good read.

Be warned: this is the first book to squick me in years. The event that affected me came very late in the book and didn't diminish my enjoyment of the scene, the chapter, or the story, but there are some harsh descriptions. I didn't find any of the BDSM scenes or the sex to be extreme or explicit; it's the detective story that has the potentially-disturbing parts.
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Feb 16, 2013 Jack rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

CONTROL FREAK is the first novel by Christa Faust, published in '98 by Masquerade Books. I don't know if it's horror or crime? Maybe a combination of both, and throw in a heavy dose of s&m! CONTROL FREAKS see's pulp novelist Caitlin go undercover in New Yorks S&M underworld to track down a killer. She becomes drawn in, and the sexual dominant insider her is unleashed and she finds herself part of the game... Great eye for detail, I think it would take a true dominant to write such a nove...more

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Nov 04, 2011 Steve Ledridge rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a great adventure into the the subculture with heavy integration of geekiness and technology. While I am not into the extremes of SM, I still found it entertaining. It is a bit dated so the Tech isn't current, but being tech savvy in that time it still makes sense to me.

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Feb 13, 2013 Les rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not my cup of tea. More of an exploration of the world of S&M than a murder mystery. By the time the who dun it thread is picked up near the end I almost lost interest in the book. The innocent girl discovering and exploring her budding sexuality and fascination with kink is an old tired genre.

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Jul 13, 2012 Elgalla rated it 4 of 5 stars

This one was recommended to me by a friend and I absolutely loved it! The plot, the characters and, mostly, Christa Faust's writing, were all great and highly enjoyable. This is a seriously weird crime novel, but it's worth all the way.

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May 18, 2012 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, new-york-city, horror

Faust's forward to this edition discusses some of the difficulty she had in getting this published (and how it was eventually picked up by a fly-by-night outfit that later folded), and I can see why this one didn't go mainstream at that time. Even now, the tone and violence level can be a bit hard to take at times. But I do really appreciate how Faust doesn't go for bow-tidy endings - she definitely subverts your expectations pretty well, even if the solution to the book's opening murder is some...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Katerina Anamorliou rated it 5 of 5 stars

nice written, nice pictures, weired characters....
i loved it.

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Nov 08, 2011 Brian rated it 2 of 5 stars

Interesting but dated first novel by Christa Faust of the New York BDSM scene.

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Nov 04, 2008 Ferlie added it

Shelves: read-in-2007

re-read

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May 16, 2013 Salien marked it as to-read

May 14, 2013 Jordan marked it as to-read

Shelves: horror-erotica

May 14, 2013 Maya marked it as to-read

Shelves: horror, sex

May 06, 2013 Carla added it

Apr 04, 2013 Matthew Fishgold rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mar 30, 2013 Roxanna marked it as to-read

Mar 29, 2013 Φειδίας Μπουρλάς marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: Μυθ-Ερωτικό

May 18, 2013 Hazi marked it as to-read

Mar 08, 2013 Amy Scissors marked it as to-read

Mar 05, 2013 Dinna Ken marked it as to-read

Mar 04, 2013 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Feb 26, 2013 Samantha Mills rated it 4 of 5 stars

Feb 03, 2013 Nihilio rated it 3 of 5 stars

Feb 03, 2013 Nicoleta Balopitou rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jan 15, 2013 Gem rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jan 13, 2013 Bastard marked it as to-read

Shelves: pulp-fiction

Jan 11, 2013 Gaz marked it as to-read

Dec 23, 2012 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: erotic-horror

Feb 24, 2013 Breezy *Lover of all things Alpha Male* rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

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About Christa Faust

Christa Faust is an American author who writes original novels, as well as novelizations and media tie-ins.

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