Don't Shoot Me Santa (To Love a Psycho Book 4) by C F White

We are lucky to get another story from CF White's To Love a Psycho series. The holidays are close, a serial killer is on the loose, and Kenny is asked to consult right when he is trying to strengthen his relationship with Aaron.


From the blurb:

Only he decides who’s a good boy.

"I'm building you a place where you don't have to choose between being strong or safe. You can be both. Or neither. You can just...be."

Two years after escaping the legacy of his infamous serial killer parents, Aaron Jones has finally built something close to peace. A quiet cottage on the windswept Isle of Wight, a rescue dog named Chaos, a job using his behavioural skills, and, of course, a lover, Dr Kenneth Lyons, criminal psychologist, protector, and the only man who’s ever known exactly how to unravel him.

Their love is laced with rules. Trust. And surrender. It’s fragile, hard-won, and impossibly addictive.
But peace was never built to last. Not for them.

When a teenage boy is found murdered beneath the town’s Christmas lights, Kenny is called in to consult. As more bodies appear, each one draped in seasonal ritual and tied with blood-red ribbons, Aaron is dragged back into the darkness they both swore they’d left behind.

To protect the life they’ve built, Aaron agrees to every request Kenny makes. Even if it means offering more of himself and leaning deeper into the darker side of their love, where obedience is devotion, and surrender is the safest place he’s ever known.

But as the killer’s ritual unfolds, Kenny’s profile starts to mirror their own past too closely. And Aaron must face what he’s become under Kenny’s hands… and what he’s willing to do to keep him.

Because in the season of giving, some obsessions come wrapped in blood-red ribbons.

And only Santa decides who’s a good boy.

Don’t Shoot Me, Santa is the festive fourth book in the MM romantic thriller series, To Love a Psycho. Whilst it can be read as a Christmas standalone, it would be better experienced as part of the full series.

Please see author note for trigger warnings.


SNik's review:

Fourth in series (To Love a Psycho), can be read as a standalone but might be better if read in order. Established couple. Age gap. Hurt/comfort. Dual POV. Heed content warnings. 

Aaron and Kenny have been living on the Isle of Wight for the last two years, Kenny teaching A levels and Aaron working at a dog shelter. While still navigating their relationship with plans of forever, Kenny is asked to consult on a possible serial killer, but Aaron is always his first priority. 

There is a balanced amount of darkness from the murder investigations and the hopeful strengthening of Aaron and Kenny's relationship in this story. The deep commitment and fears of both Aaron and Kenny are thoroughly laid bare and there is so much depth to their feelings, the desperate love they have and the willingness to do anything to be together. The serial killer on the loose adds the edge of danger as well as harkens back to Aaron’s past which is still haunting him, and it looks like the author plans to continue with this couple so maybe they can get free of some of their past. A compelling story with complicated characters, a killer that has to be stopped, and two men that are still building a complex and meaningful relationship.

 

Don't Shoot Me Santa is currently available as an e-book, hardcover and paperback and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription