A wail rips through the canopy, and I can feel the agony in the gutturalness of it. A scream wrenched from an abyss of never-ending pain. It forces my hand into the air.

He pivots to face the judge, his narrowed eyes sweeping me. “No, Your Honor. I don’t care to play into courtroom theatrics.” Then to me: “I fail to see how attempting to disgrace me proves your evaluation of Charles Reker was thorough, Dr. Noble.” Born, Darkly is a dark, twisted, and filthy seduction. A doctor with a secret. A convicted death row patient with tormented answers. Doctor London Nobel and serial killer Grayson Sullivan see things within each other that they shouldn’t: a kindred spirit. What happens between them becomes more than patient-Doctor. Braverman’s ambition is not matched by talent, but if any good came of the Boris Johnson era, the enduring myth that the best and the brightest rise to the top was finally given its last rites. Braverman is on a mission: to reshape the right in her authoritarian and intolerant image, hopefully with her at its helm. Whether the mantle of leadership falls to her or someone else, on the battleground of ideas, she has already won.An hour after my testimony, the trial concludes, and the jury is sequestered for deliberation. High profile cases can’t be kept out of the media, unfortunately. Judge Gellar is doing what she can to give Charles a fair trial.

Dr. Noble provided the speculated reasoning as to the murder, but not the mutilation, Your Honor. In my opinion—” Really, eyes are the windows to the soul? Then I wonder what little Halen St. James thinks of all the cryptic eyes watching her in the killing fields… I wonder if the hairs on her delicate nape lifted away, if a thrilling shiver raced over her soft skin. She’s desperate for the answer, and she’ll do anything to uncover it—even make a deal with me, dangling freedom like bait on a hook. Objection,” the defense interjects. “Is there a question here, Your Honor? The witness has already provided testimony to her thoughts on the defendant’s state of mind.” There is another book, but the first part of the story IS complete and feels that way. You're not left hanging, but more so left prepared for more to come. So if you're hesitant to read because it says duet, I'd go for it anyway. Want will drive you right into the maddening depths, I assure you. But you have to want with a fire, with a passion. The day you stop wanting, is the day you decide to die. I know this, because I believed I’d never find my muse. Unfulfilled until the end came for me. Bored. Apathetic. Uninspired.”The way they were self aware, always in each other's head and catching up with what game the other one was trying to play makes this more enjoyable because they weren't each other's victim. They were both hunters fighting for control. Grayson Sullivan has long understood his psychotic predilection. He’s calculated and has motives beyond anything anyone dreamed of. He’s an angel of death for the depraved. The serial killer of killers. He only comes for you if you’ve done very, very bad things. If your heart is pure, you have nothing to fear. He will force a very confused and yet eager doctor to face her fears and do the unthinkable. This book absolutely blew me away. Few books have ever left me feeling as if my heart was ripped out, but this one was one of them. The story follows London, a smart and beautiful criminal psychologist who treats a convicted serial killer, Grayson. London gets fascinated by this dark man and falls for him.