A clever cocktail of psychological thriller and supernatural horror.
A young psychiatrist goes head-to-head with a patient with a reputation for driving caregivers mad.
It’s 2008, and Parker, the narrator of DeWitt’s crisp and creepy debut, is moved to blog about his experience treating Joe, an institutionalized young man with a terrifying ability to exploit others’ worst fears. Previous doctors have given up on Joe, left emotionally shaken by him; on Parker’s first day, one orderly exits Joe’s asylum room in hysterics, and soon after his nurse kills herself in despair. Still, Parker plunges in, inspired by youthful determination and a commitment to his profession. (His mother’s mental illness inspired him to pursue psychiatry.) Joe is initially polite and seemingly sane, an experience that cues a series of twists until Parker discovers the truth about whether Joe is misunderstood, mad, or something harder to define. DeWitt’s story exploits some well-worn tropes (“lunatics running the asylum” prominent among them) and nakedly evokes The Exorcist and Dracula (Parker’s name seems an homage to Stoker’s Jonathan Harker); subplots involving Parker’s fiancee and the asylum’s administration don’t have much life to them, and the nurse’s early departure spares the reader extended time with her clichéd Irish accent. But the central plot and storytelling are gripping, built on smart psychological parrying and good old-fashioned gross-outs: Parker recalls his mom pleading for help because “the damn maggots won’t crawl out of me, baby,” and Joe says he was haunted by a creature with “fly eyes and two big, superstrong spider arms” that “eats bad thoughts.” The story’s blog format gives the novel a casual, galloping pace (DeWitt posted an early version to a Reddit horror-fiction community), and the climactic confrontations between Parker and Joe are entertainingly intense.
A clever cocktail of psychological thriller and supernatural horror.Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-18176-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
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