On her way to the screen played by Elisabeth Moss, Mrs. March is absolutely right—everyone is talking about her.
In a horror-laced psychological drama, the wife of a bestselling New York novelist learns his latest protagonist is modeled on her.
“But…isn't she...a whore?” whispers Mrs. March to the woman behind the counter at the patisserie she visits daily, who, like every other person in Manhattan, is reading, and loving, her husband's new book. Abandoning her purchases, she bolts from the store, never to return, and immediately confronts an advertisement featuring a woman smiling knowingly under the words "SHE HAD NO IDEA." Even the billboards know! This is just one of innumerable creepy details that speed Mrs. March's descent into a spiraling vortex of psychosis. Not that it's all in her head—copies of the book are everywhere, even in someone's cart at the grocery store. Debut novelist Feito sets her story in a hazy period in the pre-technology past and confines much of the action to her protagonist's claustrophobic Upper East Side apartment, where terrifying literati regularly convene for unbearable parties. Mrs. March's painfully low self-esteem drives the self-consciousness, paranoia, and jealousy that control her relationships with everyone from her housekeeper to her son to a family she runs into at the skating rink. The husband is there on a weekday? She thrills to speculate this means he's been laid off and concocts an elaborate lie to cover the real reason her own son is not in school. Mrs. March is the only character in the book who doesn't get a first name, even in a flashback to her childhood: "On tiptoes, Mrs. March cupped her hand and whispered into her mother's ear...'I have to go to the bathroom.' " While the poor woman never gets a break from the misery, Feito does offer the reader a few homeopathic drops of humor, such as when her protagonist learns that people will do just about anything you ask if you tell them you work for the New York Times. Feito is Spanish and lives in Madrid, but somehow she is the love child of Patricia Highsmith and Shirley Jackson.
On her way to the screen played by Elisabeth Moss, Mrs. March is absolutely right—everyone is talking about her.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63149-861-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Liveright/Norton
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A frighteningly good debut.
Mysterious guests overstay their welcome in this fresh take on the haunted house trope.
Eve Palmer makes the biggest mistake of her life when there’s a knock on the door from a man who says he grew up in her house. Against her better instincts she invites him and his family inside, but a 15-minute look around turns into a world of trouble when she can’t get them to leave. First the Faust family’s young daughter disappears in the basement; then a storm hits and the roads are blocked, giving them no choice but to spend the night. Soon rooms appear altered, strange odors waft through the house, and a toy chimp from Eve’s childhood seems to be sending her a warning: "Once they’re in, they never leave." Kliewer’s original and extremely scary story gathers elements inspired by authors like Shirley Jackson and classic horror films including Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He’s created a can’t-look-away imaginary world in which people and places aren’t what they appear. Readers will be as shaken as Eve, who fears she’s suffering from delusions when an apparition warns her that the Fausts—and even her partner, Charlie—aren’t who they say they are. Inserted between the book’s chapters are "documents" that lay out evidence collected by conspiracy theorists who believe what’s happening to Eve has nothing to do with delusions. This alternate storyline, written in the style of Reddit—Kliewer’s novel grew out of a novella he posted there—feels jarring at times, as we’re reluctantly pulled away from Eve’s gripping tale. The conspiracy theorists’ creepy posts aren’t quite as hypnotic, but they solidify the plot’s premise and neatly tie up Eve’s predicament. Fans of the surging horror genre will think twice about opening the door when somebody knocks.
A frighteningly good debut.Pub Date: June 18, 2024
ISBN: 9781982198787
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Emily Bestler/Atria
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
Chavez delivers a fraught if flawed page-turner that attempts too many twists.
A good Samaritan incurs a psychopath’s wrath in this debut thriller.
Veterinarian Cassie Larkin is heading home after a 12-hour shift when someone darts in front of her car, causing her to dump her energy drink. As she pulls over to mop up the mess, her headlights illuminate a couple having a physical altercation. Cassie calls 911, but before help arrives, the man tosses the woman down an embankment. Ignoring the dispatcher’s instructions, Cassie exits the vehicle and intervenes, preventing the now-unconscious woman’s murder. With sirens wailing in the distance, the man warns Cassie: “Let her die, and I’ll let you live.” He then scrambles back to the road and flees in Cassie’s van. Using mug shots, Cassie identifies the thief and would-be killer as Carver Sweet, who is wanted for poisoning his wife. The Santa Rosa police assure Cassie of her safety, but the next evening, her husband, Sam, vanishes while trick-or-treating with their 6-year-old daughter, Audrey. Hours later, he sends texts apologizing and confessing to an affair, but although it’s true that Sam and Cassie have been fighting, she suspects foul play—particularly given the previous night’s events. Cassie files a report with the cops, but they dismiss her concerns, leaving Cassie to investigate on her own. After a convoluted start, Chavez embarks on a paranoia-fueled thrill ride, escalating the stakes while exploiting readers’ darkest domestic fears. The far-fetched plot lacks cohesion and relies too heavily on coincidence to be fully satisfying, but the reader will be invested in learning the Larkin family’s fate through to the too-pat conclusion.
Chavez delivers a fraught if flawed page-turner that attempts too many twists.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-293617-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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