This author seems to think that if they’re both men, it’s not Workplace Sexual Harassment. The many-times repeated, but never demonstrated, claim that they’re friends and this is a game they play is problematic. How do they show their friendship in the novel? How does the harassed indicate it’s okay to keep going? I’m not impressed by this writing.
Other than the glaring defect(s) stated above, I read several examples of telling, rather than demonstrating. The fact that they happen to have somebody who doesn’t know anything about their abilities asking about how they work is super convenient and also lazy writing. The horror parts use corny, overused tropes such as the sing-song voice saying the typical things. I am a fan of Joel Leslie, but some of the voices are painful to listen to and hard to understand. There are some ideas that are worth exploring in this novel, such as the abuses of power of those in mental healthcare settings/those in charge of children. Those are horrors enough for me, so you can keep the gramophone playing 1940s music.