Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: Lee McCormick, R.S. McKenzie

Genre: Gay Erotic Romance & Suspense

Tags: Contemporary, Cam Boy/Sex Work, Dark, Romance, Serial Killer, Series, Violence, Virgin

Length: 296 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon

TW from Authors: Murder/Violence/Torture, physical assault on MC (on page), mentions of dementia, stalking, blood play, on page panic attacks, threatening/internet stalking

Blurb –

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴꜱ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴀ ꜱᴇʀɪᴀʟ ᴋɪʟʟᴇʀ ᴅᴇᴄɪᴅᴇꜱ ᴀ ᴄᴀᴍʙᴏʏ ɪꜱ ʜɪꜱ?

RENAN

My life has become a nightmare. A stalker intent on having me permeates my waking moments. Gifts and threatening messages greet me at every turn. Every cam session is filled with the fear of them watching me in my most intimate moments. One day, my stalker takes it a step further than words and attacks me in my home. Just when I think I won’t make it, a stranger with a blue-green stare saves me from my fate.

NORTH

I wanted him before I knew his name, and he’s belonged to me since the first time I touched him. When a crazed fan attacks him, there’s only one solution. I move in with Ranen to keep him safe. Now I need to navigate finding his stalker while keeping my murderous habits in check. All I want is Ranen. I just have to figure out how to make him mine.

~~~
Always Watching is a dark MM romance featuring a psychopath who will stop at nothing to keep his camboy safe from any danger that comes his way… By any means necessary.

Review –

If you’ve read any of my recent reviews you know that I’ve stepped away from what I normally read. To be honest, I was getting bored. I kind of felt like I was reading the same stories over and over. I’ll get back to the sappy and sweet stuff soon. I just need something different for now.

Always Watching is definitely different.

Renan, 22, is a pretty successful camboy who goes by Cas online. He started doing it to help pay his late grandfather’s medical bills. After he passed, Renan continued because he’s making good money. Not to mention that he really enjoys playing with himself on camera for his subscribers. Most of the subscribers are great. A few, not so much. One of the latter has started sending him creepy gifts addressed to his real name at his apartment. This creeper is also sending threatening messages online during his livestreams. Renan’s obviously terrified, but what can he do?

North, 28, is a serial killer. He kills bad guys, but I’m fairly certain he also kills others for sport. His dad and brother are also serial killers. I got a kick out of some of their conversations. It was almost like they were talking about the weather, not how to dismember and dispose of bodies.

North has followed Renan/Cas for a while. He’s obsessed with him, to the point of stalking. He knows his real name and where he lives. He’s just pulled up his latest livestream when he sees a someone brutally attacking Renan. Thankfully North isn’t far away, so he’s able to stop the attack before Renan gets killed. All of this is seen live by the subscribers. North takes Renan to the hospital for care, and this is where their very unusual relationship begins. This is also where Renan meets Atlas, North’s father, for the first time. His story is next, Always Waiting, which will be published in February of 2026, according to the book page.

I liked how the authors had North rescuing him from the bad guy so the readers wouldn’t be spending the whole book wondering if it was North. We know right off that it isn’t. When asked, North comes up with an excuse as to why he was able to rescue him.

Apparently, Renan’s picked up another violent stalker. Go figure.

I don’t consider myself a stalker or anything.

I’m a killer, but I’m not that big of a creep.

Yeah, he was totally a stalker.

North’s rescuing Renan turns into him protecting him after he leaves the hospital. North moves into his apartment, not letting Renan out of his sight for long. He even gives him a bit of, ahem!, inspiration during his first show back after the attack. Renan was beyond naive to allow this total stranger to move into his place knowing absolutely nothing about him, especially when there’s somebody out there wanting to hurt him. He felt safe with him because he saved him. I get that, but he literally knows nothing other than North’s name, and who’s to say he’s not using an alias? Not to mention that men nearby have been disappearing at an alarming rate. He should’ve been more cautious.

“You could be a psycho killer or something.”

He’s quiet for a beat, then says, “Even if I were, you wouldn’t be my victim. You’re too sweet for that.”

The gifts and messages become more threatening when Renan invites North to do a show with him. This, of course, gets them both all kinds of worked up, and they start playing around a little before the ‘big event’, so to speak. The first time they have sex is on camera, with North wearing a mask that Renan buys him for that purpose. This is when they go from protector and protectee to not quite a relationship, but they’re having a lot of sex and getting closer as friends of sorts.

All of this is very concerning to Atlas and North’s older brother. They’re all three killers. Bringing somebody – aka Renan – into their world could blow everything out of the water. I seriously loved Atlas. The jury is still out on the brother.

The entire family looks like they belong on the cover of a magazine.

Yeah, Murder Weekly.

There are others in the book that are important. The first is Olly, Renan’s long-time best friend and occasional cam buddy, though they’ve never gone beyond friendship. Then there’s Calvin, one of Renan’s nurses who will be Atlas’ man. I liked Olly okay, though he had the overbearing friend attitude a bit too often for me. Calvin wasn’t in the book enough for me to really form an opinion yet. There’s also a super creepy landlord who made my skin crawl just reading about him.

The bad guy is obvious yet not. I had it figured out during the first couple of chapters because the clues are there. I won’t be saying who it is here, only that I wasn’t all that surprised.

North and Renan together was… different. And I have to say that it’s not often that I’m cheering on a serial killer, yet here I am. As warped as their relationship is, and it is warped, I liked them together, even it it did give off some serious Stockholm Syndrome vibes.

There is some on page violence, so if you read this, be prepared.

Overall, this is a really good book that I honestly wasn’t sure about when I picked it up to read. As much as I did enjoy it – hell, I even liked these guys together as a couple – I did have a few issues with it, which is why I’m not giving it a full 5 stars.

I don’t mind italics in books to emphasize things. I do mind them when they’re overused. They were definitely overused here.

I felt that 296 pages was a big much because once North and Renan had sex, that’s pretty much all it was. I don’t mind sex scenes, but there were too many that lasted way too long in this book.

I also felt that it dragged a bit in some places. There was a whole lot of sex, but not a whole lot of trying to find the bad guy.

Even so, it was a good read, and I’ll definitely be reading Atlas and Calvin’s story when it’s released, though I’m mostly looking forward to North’s brother’s story. He was a bit of a mystery.

I don’t think I’ve read either of these authors before. I’ll be checking out their other books.