A surprising, exciting, but uneven psychological thriller.
In this novel, a psychiatrist is forced to question his life’s work.
Dr. Oliver Powers had the perfect life. He was a highly successful psychiatrist who specialized and wrote about religious delusions. He had a wonderful wife, Hannah, and a charming daughter, Emily. Emily seemed perfect until she was overcome by mental illness and turned to spirituality for an answer. Her suicide left Oliver reeling and mentally checked out from his marriage. He was left drowning in his own guilt and grief. That’s all that he can remember when he wakes up in a hospital, strapped to a bed (“I look down at my body. It’s clad in a hospital johnny—cowboy-boot patterned for no conceivable reason—and draped in a bedsheet. From the hall come the sounds of a medical device pinging, a loud phone ringing, a speaker paging Dr. Mukherjee”). Oliver is told his name is Cornelius T. Greenbird. What follows is a series of terrible events where he must face the sins of his past and transform into a different person if he hopes to survive. He’s left behind a trail of failed patients with varying severities of mental illnesses, and now they’ve come back for revenge. At the heart of the conspiracy is Harkins Hovarth III, a disturbed former patient with a tragic past who has the wealth to orchestrate the strange scheme. He doesn’t intend to let Oliver off easy and will do anything to force him to change. The journey Oliver embarks on and the treatment plan he undergoes will bring into question everything he thought was true. And in the end, he will find himself in a place beyond belief. Wolfendon’s ambitious novel offers unpredictable plot twists and unexpected disclosures. But while the plot is full of thrills, the story has a few problems. Many of Oliver’s decisions and much of his character development only happen because he is tortured. In addition, the ending includes a significant revelation that will mystify and dissatisfy some readers. There are also passages about mental disorders that are debatable. For example, the legitimacy of medication for the treatment of mental illness is questioned. That said, the tale is well written, and Oliver’s narrative voice is engaging, empathetic, and at times entertaining.
A surprising, exciting, but uneven psychological thriller.Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68513-093-0
Page Count: 367
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A particularly nasty villain heightens the stakes in this thriller about a woman learning how to be her own hero.
An author is targeted by a fan who just can’t let her go.
Arden Bowie has had plenty of tragedy in her life, but now she’s finally on top. After her parents died when she was a teenager, she moved from Brooklyn to Ohio to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. She soon became part of their loving family and grew up to become a writer and bookseller. When her debut novel is published, she meets Dustin Dubecki at her first event. He showers her with praise, asks for writing advice, and wants to take her out for coffee. Arden tells herself he’s just a little awkward, but then he keeps showing up at her local events—and, even stranger, she’s sure she sees him lurking at her event in New York City. When he bursts into her apartment one night and assaults her, Arden’s calm life is shattered. Dustin gets a five-year sentence at a psychiatric facility; Arden spends most of that time rebuilding her sense of stability. Eventually, she moves to Oregon to start a new life where Dustin can never find her. But even though she has a beautiful home, a thriving career, a doting family, new friends, and even a potential love interest in a former cop named Gideon Riley, Arden can’t escape Dustin’s rage when his sentence is finally up. Roberts toggles between Arden’s point of view and Dustin’s, giving the reader occasional glimpses into his extremely twisted mindset. Although Arden’s attempts to escape Dustin are engrossing, the story stalls in the middle when far too many pages are dedicated to Arden purchasing and decorating a house. But the excitement picks back up when Dustin, a truly odious villain, re-enters the story. It’s also satisfying to see Arden grow into someone who refuses to be a victim, even as she deals with horrifying circumstances.
A particularly nasty villain heightens the stakes in this thriller about a woman learning how to be her own hero.Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250413581
Page Count: 432
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.
Character assassination reigns supreme, if not uncontested, in a Long Island suburb.
April Masterson loves her husband, corporate attorney Elliott; their 7-year-old, Bobby; and her YouTube channel, “April’s Sweet Secrets.” What she doesn’t love is whoever’s texting her warnings about how Bobby isn’t really in their backyard while she’s busy filming her videos or withering critiques of her baking show or veiled accusations about her past and threats about her present. Her best friend, former prosecutor Julie Bressler, may be bossy and opinionated, but surely she’d never turn on April this way. Who else might know enough to send April goodies like a picture of her kissing Mark Tanner, Bobby’s soccer coach? Though April struggles to get Elliot to take her ordeal seriously, even when she shows up at his office for a lunch date, he’s protected by his receptionist, Brianna Anderson, whose attachment to her boss goes far beyond loyalty. Then Julie turns on her; Maria Cooper, her friendly new next-door neighbor, turns on her; and in the most mind-boggling scene, Doris Kirkland, April’s mother, whose dementia has brought her to a nursing home, turns on her. McFadden releases an escalating series of toxins so deftly into the suburban atmosphere that it’s practically an anticlimax when someone gets killed and April instantly becomes the prime suspect. But that’s only a setup for the tale’s boldest move: switching its narrator from April to a fair-weather friend who frames the whole nightmare in dramatically different terms. As a special gift to her savviest fans, the author throws in an even more jolting epilogue that’s as hard to forget as it is to believe.
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249600
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
