Mystery

Seeing Red

Insomnia is a good thing when it comes to reading some nights. I want to say that Megan Collins writes a very twisty story in this book and it was worth every minute of lost sleep. Before I continue I do want to say that this book does contain Child Abuse, Kidnapping and Mental Abuse so if these are triggers for you then I will say tread lightly. I do not want to warn you away from the book because it is such a great read so please give it a chance just go at your own pace.
Now that all the trigger warnings are out of the way let us talk about the good parts and why I loved this so much. Fern is a school teacher who has the summer off and gets a call from her father to come help him move and the call in my opinion came across like Fern was bothered by it. She is always looking for her father’s approval and she seems to never get it. When she comes across a book by Astrid Sullivan and for a reason, she couldn’t figure out it made her uneasy. It also is important to mention that Astrid was missing and is now missing again twenty years later.

I loved the creepy feeling that this book gave me and the questions I had all the way through. What Megan Collins does beautifully in this book is that she answers all your questions and still leaves you wanting more. While this is my first exposure to this author it will not be the last. I enjoyed the fast paced ride that this book was able to offer. I do want to say I was sorry to all parties involved in deciding in my arc of this novel. My delay has nothing to do with the book and more to do with life.
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A truly dark, disturbing, atmospheric psychological thriller that draws on the human psyche and how damaging fear can be to mental health.

Behind the Red Door is the story of protagonist Fern as she struggles to unlock her repressed memories to help find a missing woman.

20 years ago Astrid Sullivan was kidnapped, help prisoner in a basement by a masked assailant, then sensationally returned weeks later. Fern has no memory of this event even though she would have been old enough to remember it being all across the news, but when Astrid goes missing again 20 years later, Fern becomes convinced that she knew Astrid, that the two girls are somehow connected. The recurrent nightmare she has been having since childhood begins to take on the face of the young Astrid. Could her dreams be more than just a dream? Is it actually a flash of memory she is seeing in her sleep?

For all of the serial killer thrillers, psychological suspenses and thrillers, even horror novels, this truly is one of the most deeply disturbing and terrifying books I have read.

There is no need for gory, blood soaked depictions, no monsters in the classical sense, no sadistic killers on the loose, no gothic, dark, eerie houses, and yet; for every component that makes up a scary story that this book doesn’t have, doesn’t need, the tension is so precision perfect, sharper than any surgical scalpel and delivered so accurately that you don’t register the fatal cut to the jugular until it’s to late! It may not have you jumping at shadows, checking under your bed or have your heart rate soaring with every creak and groan of the house in the dead of night. This is so much worse because it’s all psychological, its all inside your head. Your mind trapped, at war with itself as it digests the horrors that our own minds can inflict.

This book poignantly embarks on a road paved with anxiety, mental health and afflictions of the mind and how the people you love, the people that are meant to keep you safe can be the very people that harm you the most. But even worse, the damage our own minds can do to ourselves.

The writing is so incredibly immersive that you feel as though as though you are also part of Ted’s research, like one of his subjects. As you feel the fear seeping off the pages and follow the plot lines about deceptions of the mind this book will have you questioning your own mind as well as what is about to be revealed next and doubting Ferns mind as well as your own! Have I been right all along or have I fallen for one of the red herrings scattered throughout the book?

If you are a fan of psychological thrillers then this book needs to be at the top of your tbr list! Behind the Red Door will be published on 04 August 2020 but you can preorder it now. I can promise you, it will be worth the wait! ( )

Behind the Red Door sets an immediate hook. Atmospheric, tense, and a master class in character development, the mystery surrounding Astrid Sullivan’s disappearance is as well-written as it is compelling.

Fern Douglas has returned home at the behest of her father, Ted, to help him pack for a relocation to FL in the wake of an impending separation from her mother. Fern, who grew up constantly seeking her father’s approval, leaps at the request for help. Flattered that her father, Ted, with whom she has an unconventional relationship, says he “needs” her.

Once home, a story surfaces about the re-disappearance of Astrid Sullivan, a recent memoirist who has chronicled her childhood abduction in a now bestselling book. Fern can’t help feeling like she was part of the original ordeal, if not a witness to it, and dives in to help unravel the mystery in a then and now story that unfolds neatly. Astrid appears to have been taken by the same, untraceable captor as held her before, only who was it? Where is she now? And had she been taken alone?

To say more would give away things best left discovered by the reader, but trust me when I say, you will want to know what happened. Even if some of it appears obvious, the author has a definite knack for stopping and starting chapters at the exact right points to keep the reader turning the page.

I have a bit of fatigue where unreliable narrators are concerned. Folks with repressed memories. Mysteries that hinge on the obvious. Somehow, Megan Collins has managed to use familiar tropes, but to create such unique characters that I almost (reason for four instead of five stars) didn’t notice. A father whose primary interaction with his daughter is to study her responses to fear? That’s a new one on me, and a great job was done fleshing out folks that live and breathe on the page—despite, and maybe because of, their eccentricities. A compelling story from beginning to end, Behind the Red Door is an enjoyable, recommended read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.
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3.5 stars. This book kept me enthralled the whole time. The main characters anxiety was palpable and you felt it along with her for the entire wild ride. A nice, quick, anxiety ridden tale about family and trauma and how it shapes us. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. ( )