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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Dark and very disturbing, that is how I would describe this book. It went well beyond anything I could have imagined.. and it was addictive. Fern was such a mess of a character and I felt sorry for her. It was a quick, twisty read with a stunning ending.
Fern Douglas has always had anxiety issues, but she doesn’t know why. She is scared of everything and struggles in day to day life. She had a strange relationship with her parents. When she hears about a missing woman in Maine, where she grew up, she is convinced that she has a connection but she doesn’t know what. The missing woman, Astrid Sullivan went missing as a child and has again gone missing. Fern is determined help Astrid and find her, unlocking her own memories in the process. What is behind the red door?
Thanks to Atria Books for my advanced copy of this book to read
Fern Douglas has always had anxiety issues, but she doesn’t know why. She is scared of everything and struggles in day to day life. She had a strange relationship with her parents. When she hears about a missing woman in Maine, where she grew up, she is convinced that she has a connection but she doesn’t know what. The missing woman, Astrid Sullivan went missing as a child and has again gone missing. Fern is determined help Astrid and find her, unlocking her own memories in the process. What is behind the red door?
Thanks to Atria Books for my advanced copy of this book to read
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Behind the Red Door is a suspenseful novel about Fern Douglas, a social worker from Massachusetts who goes back to her hometown in New Hampshire when her father asks her to help him pack for his move to Florida. While watching the news, Fern recognizes the woman on TV, Astrid, who was kidnapped 20 years ago from NH and is now missing for a second time. She believes that she might have known her. Her husband Eric, a pediatrician, is skeptical since Fern suffers from anxiety and believes it’s most likely memories from the news coverage. While helping her dad pack she’s at the town store and picks up Astrid’s memoir, begins reading it, and more memories start trickling in. Fern can’t distinguish if they are really flashbacks or dreams. She starts digging into the kidnapping and realizes she may have been involved.
This story had a ton of unreliable and unlikeable characters. I was totally sucked into the first 2/3, but I felt that the ending was flat and lacked something. Fern’s parents were such bad parents!! Very creepy, isolated setting too!
This story had a ton of unreliable and unlikeable characters. I was totally sucked into the first 2/3, but I felt that the ending was flat and lacked something. Fern’s parents were such bad parents!! Very creepy, isolated setting too!
I really enjoyed this book!! Right away it caught my attention & it was able to keep me interested throughout the whole book. I thought the story itself was interesting & definitely scary considering it’s a very real & likely thing to happen (maybeeee not so much the ending
I absolutely loved the authors previous book The Winter Sister if you haven’t read it go and grab it now! I was so thrilled when I won this amazing book in a giveaway from the author! The book opens up with Fern Douglas whose a social worker in Boston. She’s married to an amazing man Eric and their trying for a baby, she nervous because her parents did not act like parents , and she had a bit of an unstable childhood , so she’s worried she won’t be a great mother. When the news flashes with a missing woman’s picture named Astrid, Fern is certain she knew this woman in her past. Astrid had been kidnapped 20years before and returned home unharmed and now she’s missing again. Eric says Fern must have known Astrid from the famous kidnapping before it had been all over the news. Uneasy Fern keeps having flashbacks and nightmares of Astrid’s face and she has the ominous feeling their connected somehow. When Ferns father Ted whose a researcher asks her to come and help pack he’s moving to Florida she uneasily agrees, but she’s never gotten over his experiments which would see her different reactions to fear. Fern hopes going back to her childhood home will unearth memories she has forgotten and somehow lead her back to Astrid and what led to her to go missing 20 years before and again now. Boy this book had so many twists and turns!! Ferns father was a piece of work who does experiments like this! I loved how the authors way of writing she made my skin crawl at times! Five stars!!
BEHIND THE RED DOOR was intriguing and weird at the same time. I read THE WINTER SISTER by this author a few years ago and it was really good so I decided to give this one a try.
What I liked:
-hidden elements within the storyline
-the main character trying to solve the mystery on her own (I'm always drawn to these)
-the atmosphere of the book felt "fallish"
What I didn't like:
-it felt redundant
-the ending
Overall, it was a good read! Not my favorite, but I still enjoyed it.
What I liked:
-hidden elements within the storyline
-the main character trying to solve the mystery on her own (I'm always drawn to these)
-the atmosphere of the book felt "fallish"
What I didn't like:
-it felt redundant
-the ending
Overall, it was a good read! Not my favorite, but I still enjoyed it.
Synopsis: Fern Douglas returns to her hometown in New Hampshire to help her father pack for his move to Florida. She realizes she recognizes the woman on TV who was kidnapped 20 years ago - and that she might have known her. Her husband doubts it and that it might just be memories from the news coverage back then. Until Fern reads Astrid’s memoir and more memories start trickling in - or are they dreams? Fern investigates her own town to get to the bottom of it.
Thank you to Atria Books and @netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review! Book is out August 4th!
My Review:⭐️⭐⭐.5 / 5 stars
I really enjoyed The Winter Sister - and excited for Megan Collins’ new book. I loved the theme of fear throughout the book through Ted’s (Fern’s father) research. Fern has many different things going on in her head - from her mind, it felt like everyone was a suspect and knew more than they should. I had my hunch from the start on who the kidnapper was, but a few twists and turns made me doubt myself. The mystery/thriller is a page-turner, but the ending was a bit disappointing. I also could not stand her parents (which was written like that on purpose, I’m sure). Child neglect is just as damaging to the child as physical abuse seems to be the theme.. Especially in the case of Fern Douglas. I did enjoy this and devoured every page, but I definitely liked Winter Sister more..
Thank you to Atria Books and @netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review! Book is out August 4th!
My Review:⭐️⭐⭐.5 / 5 stars
I really enjoyed The Winter Sister - and excited for Megan Collins’ new book. I loved the theme of fear throughout the book through Ted’s (Fern’s father) research. Fern has many different things going on in her head - from her mind, it felt like everyone was a suspect and knew more than they should. I had my hunch from the start on who the kidnapper was, but a few twists and turns made me doubt myself. The mystery/thriller is a page-turner, but the ending was a bit disappointing. I also could not stand her parents (which was written like that on purpose, I’m sure). Child neglect is just as damaging to the child as physical abuse seems to be the theme.. Especially in the case of Fern Douglas. I did enjoy this and devoured every page, but I definitely liked Winter Sister more..
3.5⭐️
This is a tricky one to rate, because I loved the 2/3, but found the last third kind of predictable and under-whelming. However, it was a very bingeable read, and I would definitely recommend it, especially to beginning thriller readers!
Synopsis: Fern, the main character, struggles with anxiety. When she sees a photo of Astrid Sullivan, the teen who went missing with no trace and then mysteriously reappeared, she feels like she knows her. Now, Astrid is missing again. Fern is convinced she knew Astrid somehow, but keeps attributing this feeling to her anxiety... Until she realizes that her recurring nightmare of a girl reaching for help must be Astrid.
I liked that this one hooked me almost immediately, and kept me hooked for a good first half. I read 130 pages in one sitting, and only stopped because I got too tired to stay up! The premise was super interesting, and I really liked the main character, Fern. The story includes excerpts from Astrid's memoir, which was a neat way to learn about her kidnapping. We read chapters as Fern does, but it seemed unrealistic that she wouldn't have just read the whole thing at once to uncover answers. I guessed the plot twist pretty early on, and I think it was pretty easy to figure out. There are some other suspicious characters, and I think if I was more convinced one of them could have been the "bad guy," I would have liked this one more.
Overall, I still enjoyed the book and think Collins did a good job of creating a creepy atmosphere and building up the suspense.
This is a tricky one to rate, because I loved the 2/3, but found the last third kind of predictable and under-whelming. However, it was a very bingeable read, and I would definitely recommend it, especially to beginning thriller readers!
Synopsis: Fern, the main character, struggles with anxiety. When she sees a photo of Astrid Sullivan, the teen who went missing with no trace and then mysteriously reappeared, she feels like she knows her. Now, Astrid is missing again. Fern is convinced she knew Astrid somehow, but keeps attributing this feeling to her anxiety... Until she realizes that her recurring nightmare of a girl reaching for help must be Astrid.
I liked that this one hooked me almost immediately, and kept me hooked for a good first half. I read 130 pages in one sitting, and only stopped because I got too tired to stay up! The premise was super interesting, and I really liked the main character, Fern. The story includes excerpts from Astrid's memoir, which was a neat way to learn about her kidnapping. We read chapters as Fern does, but it seemed unrealistic that she wouldn't have just read the whole thing at once to uncover answers. I guessed the plot twist pretty early on, and I think it was pretty easy to figure out. There are some other suspicious characters, and I think if I was more convinced one of them could have been the "bad guy," I would have liked this one more.
Overall, I still enjoyed the book and think Collins did a good job of creating a creepy atmosphere and building up the suspense.
I thoroughly enjoyed Behind the Red Door by Megan Collins. It was well written, suspenseful, and had great characters that felt real. Collins does a slow burn Thriller very well. She sets up the big question early and then lets you squirm and sit on it for a while before giving you a payoff you never expect. I really like books where you have no idea what's going on but you trust that the author is going to get you through. Behind the Red Door really delivered on this promise. On a personal note, I really liked that Fern's relationship with her husband is so solid. You don't see a lot of that in Thrillers.
When Fern Douglas is watching the news one evening, when a story about a missing woman catches her attention. The missing woman seems familiar to Fern and when her husband tells her this woman was previously. Abducted 20 years ago Fern gets invested in the case. She feels like she knew this woman, knew about her abduction. a trip home to visit her childhood home becomes an investigation into whether Fern knew this girl at all.
The grim atmosphere included a dark forest with a drifter no one knew, walking in and around it at at all hours, and a creepy cabin previously used for scenes in a horror film to set the theme for this disturbing tale. The story is very character driven mostly from Fern’s prospective.She is an unreliable narrator due to repressed memories, In fact this book was filled with liars and unreliable narrators. I wanted to like Fern but her anxiety and fear gave me anxiety. Her parents were atrocious. Her father is a psychologist studying fear in some very unorthodox ways. He used Fern frequently in his “experiments.” Her mother was just as bad, detached, selfish and allowed him to experiment on their child. Honestly, the fact that Fern wasn’t locked in a mental health facility was a miracle. I did love her husband Eric, he was kind, supportive and showed Fern what healthy relationships could be.
I did appreciate that Collins dropped me right into the story and Fern’s journey immediately. I appreciated the red herrings she threw in to keep me guessing. I did figure this one out early on but was uncertain because of her gripping writing style. There were still a couple twists that surprised me though.
This was a sold 4 star/5 read for me! It kept me turning the pages late into the night, and it was a fairly quick read. Thank you @atriabooks @megancollins and @netgalley for an advanced digital copy of the book for my review.
The grim atmosphere included a dark forest with a drifter no one knew, walking in and around it at at all hours, and a creepy cabin previously used for scenes in a horror film to set the theme for this disturbing tale. The story is very character driven mostly from Fern’s prospective.She is an unreliable narrator due to repressed memories, In fact this book was filled with liars and unreliable narrators. I wanted to like Fern but her anxiety and fear gave me anxiety. Her parents were atrocious. Her father is a psychologist studying fear in some very unorthodox ways. He used Fern frequently in his “experiments.” Her mother was just as bad, detached, selfish and allowed him to experiment on their child. Honestly, the fact that Fern wasn’t locked in a mental health facility was a miracle. I did love her husband Eric, he was kind, supportive and showed Fern what healthy relationships could be.
I did appreciate that Collins dropped me right into the story and Fern’s journey immediately. I appreciated the red herrings she threw in to keep me guessing. I did figure this one out early on but was uncertain because of her gripping writing style. There were still a couple twists that surprised me though.
This was a sold 4 star/5 read for me! It kept me turning the pages late into the night, and it was a fairly quick read. Thank you @atriabooks @megancollins and @netgalley for an advanced digital copy of the book for my review.