Above The Dungeon by SM Johnson

Above the Dungeon - 70,000 words, erotic fiction (M/M, BDSM)


With the ink barely dry on his Ivy League diploma, Dare is expected join the family business, marry his high school sweetheart, and commit his life to conservative suburbia. But in a moment of panic he runs away to NYC where his cousin gets him a bartending job at a club called Above the Dungeon. The basement of the club houses legendary BDSM Master Roman's dungeon. And Roman's interest in the newest bartender challenges Dare's lifelong perception of his own sexuality.


As he draws Dare into the world of BDSM, Roman has to contend with the feelings and insecurities of Jeff, the 24/7 slave he has at home.


Alternately told from points of view of Dare and Jeff, Above the Dungeon is a series of highly erotic BDSM scenes tied together with tight plot and intense relationship dynamics.

I picked this book up from Amazon because it looked great and at a price I couldn’t argue with.  Little did I know I was going to fall in love with this series and go buy the second book before I finished the first one.  SM Johnson took m/m romance to a level worthy of having her name in the same category as Ann Lister.  We have real men with real emotions, feelings and fears and there is a wonderful plot going on here that I just became addicted to. 

Adair grew up in the country club life style.  Coming from rich parents his life had been planned for him, even down to who he was supposed to marry.  On the verge of his world coming crashing down and choices that had been made for him come to a point of no return, he runs to his cousin to start over again. He lands a job at Above the Dungeon as a bar tender little did he know this was a gay bar. Dare as he likes to be called, was rather shocked at how easy it was to fit in with the customers at the bar.  When he meets his boss Roman, it was difficult for him to ignore the fact that Roman was a confident Dom who knew how to make a presence in every room he entered. 

Roman invited Dare to go to the basement called the dungeon to witness his playroom.  He confirmed to Dare that he would never be forced to do anything against his will but he did want him to see what could happened down there.  Roman had a slave/lover named Jeff.  Jeff is 36, two years younger than Roman and certainly not as faithful as Roman.  Jeff was in love with the idea of falling in love and would look for a new man to have that feeling with.  He was honest with Roman and would tell him when he found a new love, but Jeff’s heart and future would always belong to Roman.

We watch Roman take control of Dare and teach him about who he really is and what he wants but was never in a social position to be free.  I will admit some of the sex scenes are rather, what is the word I want to use?  Harsh…….not abusive but it was more uncomfortable to read than what I expected.  SM explores the world of BDSM through Dare’s eyes where everything is brand new and over whelming.  We see the world of being a Dom through Roman and the balance he is going to have to use to teach Dare and not shove him into something he doesn’t want, while balancing Jeff’s needs and jealousy as his Dom. 

The plot is strong and each of the three characters has a story of their own, we just have to wait and see if SM can find a way to blend them and make them whole.  I have already started the next book, Out of the Dungeon so stay tuned for that review.  I will certainly need to finish this series.