The Prisoner: Punished; Broken Trail (The Prisoner #15)

Prisoner Neal Landon has been through a lot. But instead of dragging him through hell, now his handler Martin Kinsey is dragging him up a narrow mountain trail behind a mule. Neal's punishment is taking him into old West cowboy country, where he finds himself naked and lashed to a whipping post.

After a bad decision, Neal receives the most severe beating of his life. Martin insists on the impossible: he must bear it without struggle, or be punished with an electric shock from the collar locked to his neck. The cruel strap punishes his body severely, until he collapses in exhausted shock. Even then, he faces hobbling, strict restraint in handcuffs and chains, and being immobilized in a sleep sack overnight with a spiked punishment collar drilling into his neck.

But change is in the air. He finds himself turned on by restraint and comforted by pain. Natural beauty makes him feel again. Martin rewards him for a prior heroic act by setting him free to exult in swimming in the lake and soaking in a natural hot spring.

Can Neal handle letting long-dormant memories and feelings surface? Because if he lets himself open up and be human, it's going to hurt.

Worse than anything Martin or the Program could dream up.