Pairing: MM
Orientation: Gay
Identity: Cisgender, Trans.

Warning: discussion of depression, dealing with a chronic illness/disability, depiction of a D/s relationship between boss and employee, and a heavy caning scene.

The Assistant is Nick Kurosawa who is a former soldier battling with depression as he drifts from job to job and from one meaningless back alley encounter after another. Nick has found himself in a place where he doesn’t know how to move forward, but understands that he can’t stay stagnant. His one and only friend, Alex, gets him an interview for a position as a personal assistant to the secretive Jacob Umber.

The book is about the relationship that develops between the two men. The way they move from boss and employee to a more emotional and at times physical relationship. If the book had been longer, I would call it a slow burn, but since it isn’t I felt a bit stilted. We get almost fifty percent into the book before the relationship between the men begins to develop, during which time we get to know our main character Nick, but not much else. The book is almost three quarters done before the”mystery” of Jacob Umber begins to unravel and honestly it didn’t add much to the book or the relationship.

I felt the “romance” in this book was very one sided and forced. I’m not a newbie to D/s books and I felt that even though the very few mature scenes we got were very well done they weren’t anything that couldn’t have been in a scene between two strangers playing for the night.

I really enjoyed John Tristan’s writing. I just wish he would have written more. I think this book could have been a five star read if it were longer. If we had more time to explore the relationship between Nick and Jacob. If we had more time to figure out who Jacob was. After the the first half of the book, the rest of it felt rushed.

*The eARC of the book was provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange of an honest review.