“A haunting thriller” (PopSugar) about a woman who believes that she has a connection to a decades old kidnapping and begins a frantic investigation to find out what really happened when the victim goes missing again. When Fern Douglas sees the news about Astrid Sullivan, a thirty-four-year-old missing woman from Maine, she is positive that she knows her. Fern’s husband is sure it’s because of … Fern’s husband is sure it’s because of Astrid’s famous kidnapping–and equally famous return–twenty years ago, but Fern has no memory of that, even though it happened an hour outside her New Hampshire hometown. And when Astrid appears in Fern’s recurring nightmare, one in which a girl reaches out to her, pleading, Fern fears that it’s not a dream at all, but a memory.
Returning to her childhood home to help her father pack for a move, Fern purchases a copy of Astrid’s recently published memoir–which may have provoked her original kidnapper to abduct her again–and as she reads through its chapters and visits the people and places within it, she discovers more evidence that she has an unsettling connection to the missing woman. With the help of her psychologist father, Fern digs deeper, hoping to find evidence that her connection to Astrid can help the police locate her. But when Fern discovers more about her own past than she ever bargained for, the disturbing truth will change both of their lives forever in this “masterful meditation on fear” (Mindy Mejia, author of Strike Me Down).
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This was excellent! Twisted well throughout and unexpected. Ominous and chilling! I simultaneously wanted to keep reading but at the same time I didn’t want the book to end. Fern sees where Astrid is missing again twenty years after she was kidnapped when she was a teenager. And Fern feels like she remembers her. Perhaps they were held kidnapped together? But why can’t she remember anything? She struggles with her lack of memories but is determined to figure it out. She knows that her childhood was emotional as she was neglected at times and was the subject of her father’s experiments with fear. She remembers both of her parents were absent as parents always immersed in their work.
In Behind the Red Door, Megan Collins has achieved something remarkable—a dark, disturbing story that is both elegant and fascinating. Exquisite writing, compelling characters and a story so captivating I finished it in a weekend. Few books live up to the word chilling, but this one does.
Behind the Red Door isn’t just a gripping, finely-tuned thriller, it’s a masterful meditation on fear. Dark forests, crumbling cabins, and mutating nightmares all populate this New England landscape where one woman may hold the key to saving a kidnapping victim. But in order to do so, she’ll have to confront a lifetime of terror, including the ultimate fear: not knowing who can be trusted or where the monsters live. I was hooked from the first page.
Intensely moving, beautifully written and thoroughly enjoyable, I can’t recommend this highly enough!
Spellbinding, poignant and atmospheric, Behind The Red Door is one of those rare stories you can get utterly lost in. The writing is so richly evocative I could vividly imagine every detail. A mesmerizing tale in which family bonds are broken, lifelong secrets are exposed, and a woman who suffers a debilitating anxiety disorder must find the truth about her connection to a decades-old kidnapping.
BEHIND THE RED DOOR is a stay-up-all-night-to-get-to-the-end-so-you-don’t-have-to-check-under-the-bed-before-trying-to-fall-asleep book. Megan Collins is a master at creating suspense. Loved every breath-holding minute of it!
This story had me on the edge of my seat for the whole ride! When Astrid goes missing for a second time, 20 years after her first disappearance, Fern starts to have a familiar sensation about her. She sets on her own investigstion to try to piece together the why and to figure out where Astrid may be. Megan Collins writes a suspenseful and atmospheric story. I felt as I was there with Fern the whole time.
I had seen this book advertised on many sites, and I was very excited to read it. However, it did not live up to my expectations. Fern Douglas sees a news report about Astrid Sullivan who is missing from her home in Maine. Fern recognizes Astrid, but does not know why. She discovers that Astrid had been kidnapped 20 years ago. Fern digs deeper into the disappearance and it awakens some repressed memories. Fern grew up with a father who was always experimenting on her to measure her level of fear. Fern needs to face her fears as she seeks answers to the disappearance of Astrid.
I did not like how Fern’s father treated her throughout her childhood. I also didn’t quite believe the story of Fern digging into the mysterious disappearance. I also thought the abductor’s identity was obvious.
This book is gorgeous! The writing is breathtaking and atmospheric, and I connected emotionally to the main character from the start. Collins navigates this woman’s horrifying discovery of her past through the memoir of a kidnapping victim, which I find very unique and effective. Highly recommend!
Fern Douglas hears the news about Astrid Sullivan. Astrid was kidnapped 20 years ago and was returned. Now it appears that she has been kidnapped for a second time.
Fern doesn’t know Astrid .. or at least she doesn’t remember knowing her. But Astrid is starring in Fern’s nightmares… a girl reaching out to her for help. Fern is afraid that it is a memory and not a dream
While helping her father pack up to move, Fern comes across a book written by Astrid. Fern is surprised to note that she has a connection to the missing woman. Investigating on her own, Fern discovers more about her past that she never knew. The troubling truth will change both their lives forever.
Will what she remembers about the first kidnapping help find Astrid now?
Full of twists and turns, this is well-written, full of angst, anxiety, emotion on several levels. The characters are deftly drawn amid a storm of suspense that starts on the very first page and doesn’t let up until the unexpected and surprising conclusion.
Many thanks to the author/ Atria Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Perfect combo of suspense and amazing character building!
One word: chilling. Without giving too much away, I will say the concept of conducting experiments to gauge the human response to fear made my blood run cold. This is a captivating, deftly crafted thriller that’s wholly unique.
Wow. This book just sucked me right in! I would have read it in one sitting if I could’ve.
This first person narrative is told through the eyes of Fern, who has suffered from debilitating anxiety and nightmares since she was a child.
A phone call from her father prompts her to return to her hometown where there has been a repeat of an abduction that happened 20 years earlier. And this is when Fern takes us down the rabbit hole.
This chilling novel has so many intriguing twists and layers. Fern’s parents are deplorable, and all townspeople seemingly have something to hide. Page after page, this gripping psychological thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat as Fern’s mental illness spirals, and the pieces are put together.
An absolute stunner of a book.
What a quick and twisted read we have between this very attractive and intriguing cover! Behind the Red Door follows the daughter of a psychologist who suddenly begins to have recurring thoughts when a girl goes missing again! Yes, again – she originally went missing when our protagonist was a young teenager, from the same area in which she lived. Gong back home, she hopes to remember more by going home to help her father pack for a move. The small bits of memories revealed gives the reader just enough to pull them deep into this story, like a trail of bread crumbs you have to follow deep into the woods, even if the woods are a bit scary… oh did I mention… of course there’s a set of woods in this story! The characters are well developed and the storyline wraps up in a very well thought out plot line. This is an author we all should be watching closely as I am sure she has more up her sleeve for future readers of this psychological thriller genre.
Wow! This was full of suspense and kept you turning the pages quickly. So many twists and turns that caused tense moments. The author does a great job of character development. She will have you sitting on the edge of your seat…gripping the book as your heart races.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
Behind the Red Door is dark and deeply disturbing. Fern is a school social worker on summer break who has always had a complicated relationship with her parents. Mara is an artist, and Ted is a psychologist and professor rejected by Ivy League schools and legitimate journals. They never hid the fact that they didn’t plan to be parents from Fern. Growing up, Fern received little guidance, supervision, or nurturing. Ted was physically abused by his own father and reminds Fern regularly, “I never hurt you. Never laid a hand on you.” But Ted has always been obsessed with conducting experiments about the fear response, studying what triggers fear in his subjects, how long the fear lasts, how they react to it. And over the years, he has demanded that Fern serve as his subject. Fern has struggled to overcome anxiety for many years, with Eric sometimes having to talk her through situations she is unable to handle on her own. Now she is back at home with her parents, searching for answers about Astrid’s disappearance and memories seem to be seeping back. Ted again wants Fern to participate in what he calls his “Experiments.” Eric, a physician, discourages Fern from being bullied by her father into participating because he recognizes that Ted’s experiments are not actually scientific but are, in Eric’s estimation, nothing more than cruel pranks.
Behind the Red Door is atmospheric, with Fern’s small New Hampshire hometown, surrounded by dense woods, providing an ideal backdrop for the shocking plot twists and developments that Collins includes at deftly-timed intervals. She also provides numerous suspects who could have kidnapped Astrid when she was a young girl, among them a Catholic priest and Cooper, the older brother of Fern’s best friend. And there’s a mysterious stranger who walks along the road outside of town wearing all black and disappears into the woods whenever someone approaches him.
Fern’s journey to the truth takes her to the neighboring town from which Astrid was abducted — and where she deduces she was spending time with her friend’s family on the very day Astrid disappeared. Her search also takes her to the Catholic church where Astrid had just been confirmed when she was stolen away, and the home Astrid now shares with her wife. Each step Fern takes and each page of Astrid’s memoir Fern studies help her recover her memories of a hand over her mouth, and a man wearing a welder’s mask, gloves, and waders. A room. For years, it has been believed that there was no witness to Astrid’s abduction. But there was. In her memoir, Astrid wrote about another girl being held captive with her whose real name Astrid never knew. Astrid dubbed her Lily. Even though Astrid’s therapist thinks Lily was an imaginary friend Astrid manufactured in order to bring her comfort and help her survive the ordeal, Fern wonders if she could have been Lily. But that’s ridiculous, of course. She assures herself “there’s no way a person can forget being abducted, being locked for days in a basement, or even a red door as bright as the one on the memoir’s cover.”
Behind the Red Door is a riveting exploration of a dysfunctional family, a daughter who has always accepted her parents as they are because she has never known any other way of life, and the recovery of repressed memories. With Ted and Mara, Collins has created two characters who are shockingly flawed and mesmerizingly fascinating. Collins illustrates how Fern’s upbringing has affected her and her relationship with her loving and supportive husband, Eric, who was raised in family that functioned normally, with spectacular finesse. Fern is frequently gullible and naive, but her instincts are impeccable and Collins credibly demonstrates her growing willingness to trust them. Collins portrays Fern’s pilgrimage from being oblivious to the truth to being fully informed and aware, and her emotional reactions to what she learns, with compassion and empathy. The fact that Fern is likable and sympathetic amplifies the dramatic tension, especially the revelations of what really happened to those two young girls so many years ago, including the identity of the kidnapper, the motivation for the crime, and how the experience shaped Astrid’s life.
Collins does not answer all questions posed in Behind the Red Door. Rather, once Fern uncovers the whole truth about not only what happened twenty years ago, but also recent events, she faces difficult decisions that will have far-reaching consequences. Collins leaves it to her readers to imagine what Fern chooses and supply their own resolution to her story.
Behind the Red Door is both horrifying and poignant, populated with fascinating, well-developed characters, and featuring a fast-paced plot surrounding a decades-only mystery. It’s a captivating and emotionally layered family drama that will haunt readers long after they finish reading it.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.
I’m still trying to process what I just read. There were parts of this story that I really really enjoyed and thought the writing was great. I loved how real Fern’s anxiety felt and the setting with the woods and the abduction she has this weird connection too was creepy and intriguing. Fern’s relationship with her parents is very disturbing, especially the relationship with her father. She doesn’t see it as abusive but it’s very obvious. The author does an ok job of trying to throw the reader on a few rabbit trails buy I always felt like I knew how it would end up. The closer to the ending I got, the crazier the book got and it just really took some turns that were just too over the top for me.
Megan Collins is the master of emotionally resonant, deeply personal suspense fiction where the small details are just as chilling as the dramatic turns. Behind the Red Door is gripping and gorgeously-written and, like her stellar debut The Winter Sister, I’m certain this book will haunt me for years to come.
Taut, provocative, disturbing—Megan Collins’ sophomore novel is more than a thriller; it’s a dark and deeply compelling examination of the knife’s edge between trust and fear. With muscular prose and richly wrought characters, Behind the Red Door grabbed me, startled me, and didn’t let go until I’d torn through every chilling word.
This is a disturbing and unique psychological thriller, filled with dark, WTF moments!
I was so excited when I saw this book, I sent my first and only letter/request to a publisher. Not sure if it helped, but I was approved on NG soon after. I’d recently finished ”The Winter Sister” and was eager to try another book by the author.
Fern was raised in an unconventional family. When couples truly feel they shouldn’t be parents, they should stick to that decision. Ted and Mara are a good example of one of those couples. When Fern address them by their names, we realize their relationship is complex. As the book progresses, we see just how complex.
Astrid was a 14-year-old girl, living in a neighboring town, that was abducted, locked in a basement for weeks and then returned. Left on a curb close to her house, blindfolded and drugged. But her captor was never apprehended. Twenty years later, she’s just published a book about her abduction, and she’s taken again.
Fern feels like her and Astrid share an intricate connection, but the memories are locked away and she can’t access them. While I anticipated a few of the twists, there were several that were unexpected, and kept the suspense level high.
”it’s like I’ve walked into a spiderweb I can’t wipe off, the silk of that dream sticking to my skin.”
Thank you to NetGalley, Megan Collins and Atria Books, for this free digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!
My Rating: 4 ’s
Published: August 4th 2020 by Atria Books
Pages: 320
Recommend: Yes
Megan Collins @AtriaBooks @NetGalley
#psychologicalthriller #NoRulesJustThrills #MustRead #JustFinished #InExchangeForReview #NetGalley #BehindTheRedDoor
After publication, my reviews can be found:
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Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/takemeaway21
BN.com, BookBub
More on the author:
https://www.megancollins.com
This kept me up all night! It’s a heavier psychological thriller than I expected, nevertheless the story is gripping and intense. Once Fern Douglas sees the news about Astrid Sullivan, a woman missing from Maine, she feels an instant connection to Astrid. Pretty soon Fern begins to have recurring nightmares of Astrid pleading for help. Fern is determined to find out why and becomes entangled with Astrid’s past and of her own. I felt immersed in the story and seeing Astrid & Fern through.