Review by Booklist Review
Cole's long-awaited second thriller, following When No One Is Watching (2020), starts with a dramatis personae of all of the headmates who inhabit Kenetria "Ken" Nash, who has dissociative identity disorder. There's kind-hearted Solomon, organized caretaker Della, fan-fiction-obsessed Empress, four-year-old Keke, and more. Ken had a breakdown and Della was in charge for a while as COVID-19 raged, but now Ken is back and Della is missing, though she apparently signed Ken up for a job caretaking a castle in the middle of the Hudson River. As a storm approaches, Ken arrives, greeted by surly, sexy groundskeeper Celeste. The castle, which is supposedly haunted by the ghost of the wife of the industrialist who built it, looks exactly like the castle that all of Ken's identities share inside her mind. And there's a new, unnamed presence as well. As the secrets of the castle are revealed, involving a tradition of misogynistic privilege, so is the connection to Ken. Cole presents a master class in characterization and narrative structure as Ken's headmates "front" in response to the world outside while fighting an internal battle. The mystery of Della's disappearance coincides with the mystery of the castle in surprising ways that will keep readers on their toes in this brilliant, adroit novel.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A woman with dissociative identity disorder finds herself at the site of the childhood trauma that caused her break, fighting for survival against threats both external and internal. When Kenetria Nash wakes up, she at first has no idea that she's been dormant for six years. Following an extreme childhood trauma, Ken developed DID in order to cope, and she and her seven "headmates" live in relative harmony within a castle-shaped inner world, though only three of the personalities, including Ken, are truly able to "front" for long periods of time. While Ken has been slumbering, Della and Solomon have been managing, dealing with Covid-19 and an increasingly precarious financial situation. Ken comes back into awareness standing on a dock, waiting for a boat to pick her up and ferry her to her new job as caretaker at an old estate on an abandoned Hudson River island. If this sounds like the setup for a truly strange horror movie--it is. Managing her various selves is the least of Ken's problems, even as Della seems to have gone missing, because when they reach the estate, the house turns out to look exactly like the interior castle where all the headmates live. Not only has Ken apparently been here before, but soon her caustic ex shows up with his racist, misogynistic father, intent on hosting some kind of bizarre goblin hunting ritual--in a storm, of course. Her only ally is Celeste, who seems to run hot and cold with Ken, but ultimately may be her ticket to surviving the physical challenges ahead. Of course, she also has to deal with the mental challenges, not least of which involves the existence of a new headmate who looks an awful lot like a ghost spotted on the property. If it sounds a little over the top--it is. But there are enough twists and scares and unique elements to keep you reading. Ken can be hard to like sometimes, but she's easy to root for. A spooky, gothic setting disrupted by a totally modern heroine. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
