Affiliate links can be found within this post. If you need additional information, please see the disclaimer.
An ARC copy of this book was provided to me in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are my own.
My Review:
This book wasn’t on my radar at all until it showed up at my front door as a surprise from Angry Robot Books. A story deep with symbolism and rife with emotions. Morgan Bright has historically viewed herself as the family failure. Struggling from a drug addiction that was born out of a childhood injury that caused her severe pain.
Now her sister is dead under strange circumstances and she’s trying to figure out what happened. The focal point of this entire story surrounds the mystery of Hollyhock Asylum. A special place for women suffering from a myriad of female only conditions where they are “treated”, but the history of the place says otherwise. There are really bad things happening to the patients in this place and Morgan’s sister was one such example.
Her sister was found outside the asylum attempting to run away, freezing to death in the cold and part of her stomach was missing. Morgan is going undercover to get inside Hollyhock, creating a false identity, to find out what happened to her sister. But things are not what they seem inside Hollyhock and Morgan struggles to remember who she is as her false identity takes priority over her mission there.
The mystery and thriller elements of this story were well laid out and I really enjoyed the supernatural elements of it as well. This was one of those books that stayed true to the course it set out in the beginning. I’ve read a lot of books over the years that begin with these kinds of pretenses and then devolve into an explanation that takes away from the eeriness, but this one stays true to that theme all the way through.
There is a lot to digest in this story and I think I would need to read it a few times to fully capture all of my feelings about this book and its characters. Inside of those elements though is the even bigger message from the author about women’s rights to their own bodies. What’s being represented inside Hollyhock, for the author, is also a representation of the world today and women’s reproductive rights and rights to their own bodies.
But the pieces I found the most interesting were the reincarnate processes the author incorporated into this one. I don’t want to go into it as it will give away much of the main pieces of the story.
I found the story, characters and setting to be perfect in the way they were laid out and the conclusion had me on the edge of my seat. As the story comes to a close it feels like everything has settled into what you think you know is going to be the end. But then it’s not and I wasn’t quite sure how that made me feel. The last few pages left me feeling sad, for Morgan and for everyone involved in the story. This was unique for me as usually I feel comforted when I finish a book and this one left me feeling… sad and reflective.
GET IT HERE:
AMAZON | PUBLISHER | BOOKSHOP | BOOKBUB | GOODREADS
A woman checks herself into an asylum to solve the mystery of her sister’s murder, only to lose her memory and maybe her mind.
From the subversive voice behind The Phlebotomist comes a story that combines the uncanny atmosphere of Don’t Worry Darling with the narrative twists of The Last House on Needless Street
What would guilt make you do?
Hadleigh Keene died on the road leading away from Hollyhock Asylum. The reasons are unknown. Her sister Morgan blames herself. A year later with the case still unsolved, Morgan creates a false identity, that of a troubled housewife named Charlotte Turner, and goes inside.
Morgan quickly discovers that Hollyhock is… not right. She is shaken by the hospital’s peculiar routines and is soon beset by strange episodes. All the while, the persona of Charlotte takes on a life of its own, becoming stronger with each passing day. As her identity begins unraveling, Morgan finds herself tracing Hadleigh’s footsteps and peering into the places they lead.
The terrifying reality of The Redemption of Morgan Bright unfolds over the course of chapters told from the points of view of both Charlotte and Morgan, police interviews, and text messages.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Panatier
Chris Panatier lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife, daughter, and a fluctuating herd of animals resembling dogs (one is almost certainly a goat). He writes short stories and novels, “plays” the drums, and draws album covers for metal bands. Plays himself on twitter @chrisjpanatier.
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | X (TWITTER) | FACEBOOK
Adventures in Literature 
Leave a comment