Haunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse, #1)

by H.D. Carlton

I sigh. “I told you already. She was murdered. And I think I know who did it, I just… well, I know nothing about him but his first name, and that he stalked her.”

His name is Ronaldo. Which is unforgivable btw. So telanovela coded.

What’s truly insane is the fact that I found this diary, and a stalker found me on the same night. I don’t want to think about what that means.

I love my career as a professional manipulator. I’m fortunate to do what I do.

Convinced this is HDC speaking and not Addie. Hate this

“Addie, stop! You’re being stupid.”

Alternative title for this book??

the entire living room. My mouth pops open, and the words on my tongue stutter and evaporate.

Wtf. How do you miss that??

know it in my bones.

everything is in her bones. The ice. The knowledge. Everything

Her house is twenty minutes away, and it’s a good thing I tailed her the entire time, or else I might have lost focus and drove without direction.

Wrong verb participle for drive here

Her house would be fairly empty if it weren’t for the furniture and the thousands of computers everywhere.

Her house would be empty if it weren't full of stuff

She’s mentioned before that she deals with the dark web and human trafficking. And that alone is enough to give someone night terrors.

Home girl is def affiliated with Z.

This room alone is worth millions with all the shit I have in here.

Have I memtioned I'm richer than God??

I roll my neck, cracking the muscles and

Hey friend. Muscles dont do that

gearing up for something that’s going to make the steak I just ate settle in my stomach like a wrecked ship in the ocean.

What does this mean

thousands of people out here dying every day.

Thousands of people dying every day? From human trafficking? Its more like 83 per day. You know how many people die every day from TB? A CURABLE illness? Over 4000. Your money is better spent taking down big pharma

Even with the low-quality video and dim lighting, I could identify them immediately. Senators Mark Williams, Brad Foreman, Jack Baird, and Robert Walker.

Q-ANON what

That helplessness grew as I explored the dark web and found thousands of videos of parents raping their own children. Alongside the millions of other videos of torture, cannibalism, and even necrophilia. A lot of those videos take place in red rooms, where buyers can direct exactly how they want the victim to be tortured, raped, and killed.

Did the author do ANY research on human trafficking before she wrote this?

Those videos drove me to create Z five years ago. Since I was a kid, I had a knack for computer science, and my skills have surpassed even the top hackers in government organizations.

They could never make me like you Zade. You're insufferable

I haven’t been able to sleep since then. Knowing sick people pay to view hundreds of thousands of women and children being subjected to those things.

Now we're into the six digits. No research at all

Now I’m going to make my way through the government, starting with the four politicians from the first video, and then making my way through the rest.

Nothing sexier than domestic terrorism disguised as righteous retribution

Two of my employees installed security systems throughout her house, unknowingly to keep their boss out. I basically invented these systems, so I’m more than capable of disarming them with a click of my phone.

CALLED IT

She became an inoperable brain tumor that plagues every waking moment of my life.

I would love being compared to a terminal illness. So sexy

I haven’t been able to stop watching

Not ANOTHER red flag

I may be the best, but technology has limitations.

Blames tech because he could never be responsible for failure of any kind

I don’t worry about her anger. A snake could bite Daya, and she’d immediately forgive it. She’s just playing hard to get right now.

Hate this

suppose it’s not the worst thing in the world to happen—my body is fabulous.

Wtf kind of take is this? People with hot bodies can still feel violated when their nudes are stolen or viewed without consent.

“I like you scared,” he whispers, sending shivers down my spine. “I like you begging and pleading. Crying out for God to save you.”

This is disturbing on a level I cannot even describe.

I am not a potato.

Stupid comments like this pull me out of the story completely. She’s being actively assaulted and is worried about not being a potato. So out of left field.

I lift my hands to scratch his face, maybe do a little eye-gouging, but instead, I just squeal.

I don’t understand how this transition occurs.

Some might call it fearlessness, but I just call it stupidity.

We know.

“I’ve already said I’m not going to kill you,” he responds, his tone dripping with impatience.

“God you’re so dumb - why would you think I would kill you after I said I wouldn’t? It’s not like I’m holding a gun to your chest or anything. Idiot”

Fucker is lucky I’m wearing my black lace set tonight.

Weird thing to put in a literal rape scene

And all I can do is just take it. Because that gun in his hand is keeping me pliant—just like he planned.

She is literally being sexually assaulted at gunpoint. This is not even dubious consent. This is rape

I want to cover my face because I know he’s feeling my body’s betrayal.

Not uncommon for SA survivors to have extreme guilt for being aroused during assault. It often prevents them from reporting rape.

“As much as I hate to say this to you, I’m no stranger to a woman’s pussy and what it feels like when it weeps for me.”

This is creepy. A very weird description - weeping has a negative connotation. Hate this

Keeping one finger hooked on my underwear, he points the gun in my face with the other. I recoil, pinching my eyes shut and letting loose a startled yelp. “Relax, I just want you to suck on it.”

Hate this

Pure terror washes over me, and it takes all of my strength to keep from full on sobbing.

You know, of all my sexual encounters, I have never felt terrified and afraid. Let’s not normalize this by putting it into a book marketed as romance. 0/10 stars

I open my mouth, but no answer comes out. My silence allows for me to hear his warning loud and clear. He cocks the gun.

Of all the wtf I just read, this is the absolute biggest WTF. Also idk how he’s gonna cock the gun when the slide is partially inside her. Author doesn’t know anything about firearms.

Is this what trauma does? Knowing you’ve been violated but your body chooses to go numb instead?

Yes. That is in fact what trauma does.

“What about lover boy? Anything else happen with him?”

The way I would be going to jail for assault if a friend said this to me about a stalker. wtf kind of thing is this to say.

Like when she pulls the covers back and pounds her tiny fist into the pillow to fluff it up.

This is uncomfortably infantilizing

I’m a dangerous man, and I kill people daily. Not only that, but I enjoy it, too.

We know. HDC you don’t have to keep reminding us. You’ve created the most morally black and unlikeable MMC in this book. I honestly don’t know why you wrote this.

I’ve never been in love with anything other than my job. I haven’t even bothered fucking a woman for over a year. I just don’t have time. They were always a quick fuck, and then I’d be off again, the release rarely easing any tension. After dealing with enough tears and desperate attempts to get me to stay with them, I grew tired of the hassle.

This shows that he doesn’t even see the women he sleeps with as people. The author tries to paint him as some kind of altruistic vigilante who has a heart for women and girls, but we get glimpses into how he really feels about them when he talks like this. A walking contradiction. Incompatible with the image the author is trying to create of a “morally grey” MMC. I would strongly argue he is morally black.

And now, I feel like a fifteen-year-old boy who just discovered what pussy feels like. Every time I set eyes on her, I’m ready to bust in my jeans just from looking at her.

Objectively disgusting and not at all endearing

When you make someone fall in love with the darkest parts of you, there’s nothing you can do that will scare them away.

You can’t love someone without agency. He is intentionally removing agency so he can have control and avoid vulnerability and the possibility of pain. What he will have with Adeline will never truly be love. It will always be a coerced, codependent relationship that is toxic to its core and destructive to them both.

The only real monster in this house is me.

Agreed. But it’s not as cool as you’re trying to make it sound.

I’ve tortured and killed many people, and that was… that was unlike anything I’ve ever heard.

OH MY GOD do you have to say that EVERY. OTHER. PAGE.

“Guards mean they have something to hide,” I say. “They’re of no concern to me.” It’s not cockiness, it’s just facts. My confidence in my skills is the only thing that keeps me alive.

You saying it isn’t cockiness doesn’t make it true. FFS 💀

“Fuck, Jay, you want me to mingle with a bunch of rapists? I can hack into their cameras.”

Zade… YOU ARE A RAPIST. You belong in their club. You are more like THEM than not. You have no moral high ground here.

but nothing is ever impossible for me.

I would argue that developing healthy coping skills and having a healthy, consensual sexual relationship with a woman is impossible for you.

By the time I’m done, I’ll dismantle the entire government.

I absolutely hate the constant Q-Anon references.

We picked a random drink off the menu for each other, and by the end of the night, we were both pretty toasted.

Addie needs AA and some intensive therapy.