Review by New York Times Review
Liz Kendall is dying. Her abusive ex-husband has pinned her to the kitchen floor amid spilled grocery bags, and he's strangling her, "his wild eyes overflowing with hate." Suddenly Liz thwarts the attack by smashing a bottle of Heinz malt vinegar and viciously grinding the shards into his face. She isn't sure how it happened: It didn't feel like her hand, it felt like someone "slipping inside her body and her mind and moving her like a puppet." But it happens again a few days later when she ramps up the violence during a parking dispute at her daughter's school. It's like the "good" Liz - the one who's always tried to do the right thing, the one who wants to make sure her two kids have a loving home - gets taken over by a much darker Liz, one who's standing up for herself no matter what the cost. Just then Liz's 16-year-old son, Zac, befriends Fran, a young woman who's been scarred by her own horrific ordeal. When Fran first meets Liz, she notices that "Zac Kendall's mom was changing. Nothing else was. The rest of the room looked fine.... It was like there were two of her at the same time, overlapping each other and holding the exact same pose, but not quite in sync when they moved so you caught the lag if you were looking at the right moment." Suddenly, sharply, so deftly you hardly notice, Carey steers the novel straight into horror territory. One moment you're ready to attribute Liz's angry episodes to the trauma she's suffered, and the next you realize there's something far more malicious fueling her anger. "What was it that had changed Zac's mom?" Fran wonders. "And what had it changed her into?" There are some rough patches, to be sure - a ridiculous subplot involving Fran and a prison visit, an unresolved story line involving the ex-husband. But these are minor quibbles in what is otherwise a first-rate, superbly paced paranormal thriller.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [June 30, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
Carey's (The Girl with All the Gifts, 2014) latest is an intense, supernaturally tinged psychological suspense story featuring alternating narration by two deeply troubled women, both sympathetic, if not trustworthy. Liz is a single mom who, in a brutal fight with her abusive ex-husband, feels as if someone else is taking over her body and mind as she defends herself. Fran, 16, is getting by a decade after being the victim of a kidnapping and attempted murder, though her frequent hallucinations and imaginary best friend, a fox, may indicate otherwise. The anxiety-fueled story is filled with violence, darkness, and the ghosts living at the edge of reality. Liz and Fran are fighting forces that they don't understand, to save themselves and those they love, but would anyone believe the truth? Although Carey has his own built-in audience, this title is of a different breed; suggest it to fans of other tension-driven psychological thrillers that lap at the shore of horror, like those by Gillian Flynn, Sarah Pinborough, or Paul Tremblay.--Becky Spratford Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A single mother battles the seduction of her dark side in this gripping and easily devoured novel from Carey (The Boy on the Bridge). Liz Kendall's ex-husband, Marc, is a violent abuser, and gentle Liz is forced to physically retaliate against him in order to protect herself and her two children, six-year-old Molly and 16-year-old Zac. Following that incident, a newfound rage boils over each time she is under pressure, and this side of her gradually develops into a vicious second personality called Beth. While seeking help from a doctor, her family meets Fran Watts, a kidnapping victim who's grappling with hallucinations and memory loss. Fran, sick of feeling debilitated, befriends Zac and enlists him to help her research her kidnapper and restore her shaky memory. Fran's own coping mechanism arrives in the form of an imaginary friend who directly opposes Fran's confrontation of her painful past. When Marc threatens Liz again, Beth expels Liz and takes control, with devastating consequences. Both Liz and Fran must find a way to bridge the fissures of their minds before Beth causes irreparable damage. Carey's mastery of tension and diversity of voice will keep readers engaged until the well-earned ending, and his handling of mental illness is nuanced without romanticizing or sensationalizing trauma. This intense thriller shows human nature in all its grimness and glory. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Library Journal Review
In Carey's (The Girl with All the Gifts) latest novel, Liz Kendall tries to raise her two children while dealing with her abusive husband, Mark. When he attacks her, she retaliates. This flips an internal switch, bringing out a violent streak to her character in the form of a polar opposite personality named Beth. Beth encourages Liz to protect herself when Mark pressures her to drop the assault charge. This results in a brutal confrontation in which Beth kills Mark. Eventually, Beth becomes the dominate force in Liz's life. At the same time, Gil Watts deals with his troubled daughter Fran, who was abducted and abused during childhood. In therapy, taking medication, and regularly interacting with an imaginary fox-like creature, Fran runs a fine line between sanity and madness while coming to grips with her assault. The two families' lives intertwine while they battle their inner and outer demons as Fran becomes involved with Liz's son Zack. The work explores personal identity and sanity. Reader Robin Miles does an excellent job telling the story. VERDICT Recommended to all listeners with an interest in speculative fiction. ["A dark, supernatural thriller that blurs the edges of the world we know": LJ 10/15/18 review of the Orbit: Hachette hc.]-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. -Parkersburg Lib. © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
The author of The Girl with all the Gifts is back with a mind-blowing psychological thriller. Liz, a recently divorced mother of two, snaps when her ex-husband brings her kids back late one weekend. He assaults her, and this time, finally, she fights back. But it isn't Liz who bloodies him-it's Beth, Liz's other self. At Liz's psychiatrist's office, her teenage son Zac befriends a classmate he sees across the waiting room, Fran. Still in therapy from a kidnapping that happened years ago, Fran is the only person who can see Liz and Beth at the same time, and she is terrified. This is a horror tale of two characters who have dual selves in order to survive trauma. Liz and Fran's experiences are similar and eerily connected through the same location-the run-down Perry Friendly hotel in Pittsburgh. The two teens try to find out why Liz isn't acting like herself, and barely make it out alive. Like the author's previous novel, this thriller is teen-friendly. Fran and Zac investigate on their own, travel to courthouses and prisons, and don't put much trust in adults. Adult characters are well developed. Liz's other personality, Beth, acts like the mom no teenager would ever want to have, while Fran's father is ideal. The author incorporates the Abenaki Indian legend of a skadegamutc, a ghost-witch, into the paranormal elements. VERDICT Highly recommended for all horror and psychological thriller collections.-Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
After fending off a brutal attack by her ex-husband, a woman fears for her sanity. The truth is something far more terrifying.Liz Kendall is no stranger to her ex-husband's flying fists, but after one of Marc's weekends with the kids, she dares to speak up about him getting them home late. She had, evidently, "lost the habit of victimhood somewhere." All hell breaks loose, and Liz finds herself on the floor with Marc's hands around her neck. She feels outside of herself when she reaches for a vinegar bottle on the floor, breaks it, then grinds it into Marc's face. Liz is horrified at her actions and at the feeling she had of being controlled by someone, or something, else. "She hadn't willed this; she had only watched it, her nervous system dragged along in the wake of decisions made (instantly, enthusiastically) elsewhere." Sixteen-year-old Zac is protective of his mom and his 6-year-old sister, Molly, and is ready to be free of his dad and his volatile temper, and the aftermath of the attack promises that freedom. Soon after, Zac befriends Fran Watts, who was abducted at age 6 and, since her rescue, has suffered hallucinations, particularly one of a protector in the form of an anthropomorphic fox named Jinx, aka Lady Jinx, who carries a magical sword called the Oathkeeper. Determined to get to the bottom of her trauma, she seeks answers from her abductor, Bruno Picota, dubbed the Shadowman, who is incarcerated in a psychiatric institution, and is shocked at what she learns. She's even more shocked when she senses something different about Liz, something disturbingly familiar. Liz, meanwhile, increasingly doubts her sanity, but she's determined to make a fresh start. Unfortunately, the voice inside her head is getting stronger, and she's very, very angry. Carey, whose boundless imagination is in fine form, explores domestic violence, its aftermath, and the transformative power of love and hate with equal aplomb. Refreshingly, Carey resists the urge to instantly transform Liz from meek mom to brave avenger, but when Liz finally finds her footing, watch out, and the savvy but vulnerable Fran is a revelation.This wonderfully strange and creepy tale is a thrilling, genre-defying treat. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
