In a huge mansion, Elea is held against her will by Aleksander, a powerful businessman at the head of a network of cybercriminals. She is tortured, sleeping in a cage, nearly drowning in a bath of ice water and having her hand stabbed. All so that she will reveal her secrets to her tormentor. However, these intrigues lead to a passionate love story between the two protagonists. The old Stockholm syndrome.
This book titled Games Volume 1. The Bogeyman (Chatterley), by the author Okéanos S., belongs to the literary genre of dark romance. ” Of the Dark love stories that flirt with the limits of morality and the forbidden, here romance rhymes with violence», we can read on the website of BMR editions (Hachette), as a definition.
“The idea is to push the sliders of passion even further with a figure of toxic masculinity that we are trying to save in spite of itself”deciphers Glenn Tavennec, director of the popular novel imprint Verso (Seuil). These violent stories use, according to him, the “clichés” and the “absolute fascination of the violent man and the submissive woman”. A pattern that is repeated almost identically in each book.
Commercial success
Angélina, 21 years old, an avid reader, speaks rather of an attraction to“heavy atmosphere” and the “suspense” stories “mafia and gang”. Margaux, 21, who has read it. “around fifty in two years”He also admits to having succumbed to “persistent tension” present in the books.
And it is a success. The famous series of three novels. Captive (BMR), by Sarah Rivens, has sold over a million copies in France. The first volume of lake stone (BMR), by the same author, has sold more than 200,000 times. These books are spread everywhere on social media, in particular on TikTok under the hashtag #booktok. In this virtual community of readers, Internet users, mostly young women between 15 and 25 years old, share their opinions on their readings. And dark romance is no exception.
Aware that these novels can be read by a very young audience, Marie Legrand, director of BMR editions, defends herself: “We only publish dark psychological romance, meaning the hero manipulates and mentally torments the heroine. We will never publish a book where there is rape or incest, for example.”
There is no problem, however, to publish. Captive, where the heroine, Ella, has her hand burned on a hot plate. “holder” John, with whom she will eventually fall in love. “It is shameful, but it is not really a violation of the prohibitions”justifies Mme Legrand. Dark romance or romance without violence, these books are “obviously in the adult section”To avoid this “It falls into the hands of an unwary public”. The sex scenes, very explicit, “should not” “Building the way young people view their romantic relationships”duck.
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