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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
This one started off promising. The premise intrigued me. Per usual, right away I started theorizing about who the culprit was and what actually happened. For the most part, the unreliable narrator trope worked well here, if a bit on the nose. And then...everything that I predicted was right. No real twists, no wow factor. Mediocre plot development.
You guys. This book is SO MESSED UP (in the best way possible)!!!! Thank you so much @atriabooks for the gifted copy of Behind the Red Door by Megan Collins.
Fern sees a picture of Astrid on the news and thinks she knows her. Her husband thinks it’s because Astrid was kidnapped years ago and Fern must remember it - but Fern has no recollection of it at all. She heads home to help her psychologist father pack up her childhood home, and starts reading Astrid’s memoir. She starts remembering things about her childhood and as she remembers, the pieces start falling into place. Astrid has disappeared again - will Fern be the key to finding her?
This book was so twisty and the end is crazy. I did figure some of it out, but it didn’t take away from the creepiness of the book. There were definitely a few OMG moments and I finished thinking ‘what did I just read?!’ FYI - I stayed up WAY too late finishing this book last night! Totally worth it though!
I definitely recommend this to thriller readers!
Fern sees a picture of Astrid on the news and thinks she knows her. Her husband thinks it’s because Astrid was kidnapped years ago and Fern must remember it - but Fern has no recollection of it at all. She heads home to help her psychologist father pack up her childhood home, and starts reading Astrid’s memoir. She starts remembering things about her childhood and as she remembers, the pieces start falling into place. Astrid has disappeared again - will Fern be the key to finding her?
This book was so twisty and the end is crazy. I did figure some of it out, but it didn’t take away from the creepiness of the book. There were definitely a few OMG moments and I finished thinking ‘what did I just read?!’ FYI - I stayed up WAY too late finishing this book last night! Totally worth it though!
I definitely recommend this to thriller readers!
Thank you to Atria Books for gifting me a copy of BEHIND THE RED DOOR by Megan Collins.
What an incredibly dark and engrossing story this was! I have always loved a good psychological thriller and this one had all of the psychological components that fascinate me. A lost childhood memory. A kidnapped woman. An absent, self-absorbed, narcissistic father. It was everything that I hoped that it would be.
I will say that I did figure out where the ending was going fairly early into the book BUT Megan Collins wrote in such a way that I started to doubt my guess. I loved reading as she worked her magic and wove such an enthralling novel that kept me on the edge of my seat. I would love to know where her inspiration for this book came from as I can’t imagine having a father (or mother) as Fern did.
There was nothing slow about BEHIND THE RED DOOR. Between Fern’s glimpses into her mysterious connection with the missing woman and the experts from Astrid Sullivan’s memoir, I was completely absorbed into the pages of this book.
BEHIND THE RED DOOR will be published on August 4, 2020, but is available to pre-order now!
What an incredibly dark and engrossing story this was! I have always loved a good psychological thriller and this one had all of the psychological components that fascinate me. A lost childhood memory. A kidnapped woman. An absent, self-absorbed, narcissistic father. It was everything that I hoped that it would be.
I will say that I did figure out where the ending was going fairly early into the book BUT Megan Collins wrote in such a way that I started to doubt my guess. I loved reading as she worked her magic and wove such an enthralling novel that kept me on the edge of my seat. I would love to know where her inspiration for this book came from as I can’t imagine having a father (or mother) as Fern did.
There was nothing slow about BEHIND THE RED DOOR. Between Fern’s glimpses into her mysterious connection with the missing woman and the experts from Astrid Sullivan’s memoir, I was completely absorbed into the pages of this book.
BEHIND THE RED DOOR will be published on August 4, 2020, but is available to pre-order now!
Review found on The Life & Times of a Book Addict Blog.
Even though you can go back home, sometimes you shouldn't...
Behind the Red Door is told from the POV of Fern. She is an interesting character to get to know. Fern is married, she's a social worker, and she is and extremely paranoid and anxious person. Fern second-guesses everything and almost always thinks the worst. She longs for the love and approval of her parents, especially her father. Considering all that she has gone through, I'm surprised Fern doesn't have more issues than she already does. Her going home again leads her to investigating the disappearance of Alice. This is where things start to pick up in the story for me. There is an air of mystery surrounding the town that Alice first disappeared from when she was a teenager and I immediately wanted to know what people were hiding and if they knew more than they were letting on.
I was curious by the first few chapters. The more I more suspicious everyone and everything seemed. That curiosity didn't end until the last page of the story. I wasn't super surprised by everything that occurred in Behind the Red Door, but I definitely did not expect those last couple of twists.
The writing is good, and the story flowed at a decent pace. Megan Collins has created a suspenseful mystery that not only involves a kidnapping, but she also explores the dynamics of family and the effects that the past can have on a person in the present.
**Even though I received this book on behalf of the Publisher, the thoughts and opinions expressed are solely my own.**
RATING 3 1/2 OUT OF 5.
Even though you can go back home, sometimes you shouldn't...
Behind the Red Door is told from the POV of Fern. She is an interesting character to get to know. Fern is married, she's a social worker, and she is and extremely paranoid and anxious person. Fern second-guesses everything and almost always thinks the worst. She longs for the love and approval of her parents, especially her father. Considering all that she has gone through, I'm surprised Fern doesn't have more issues than she already does. Her going home again leads her to investigating the disappearance of Alice. This is where things start to pick up in the story for me. There is an air of mystery surrounding the town that Alice first disappeared from when she was a teenager and I immediately wanted to know what people were hiding and if they knew more than they were letting on.
I was curious by the first few chapters. The more I more suspicious everyone and everything seemed. That curiosity didn't end until the last page of the story. I wasn't super surprised by everything that occurred in Behind the Red Door, but I definitely did not expect those last couple of twists.
The writing is good, and the story flowed at a decent pace. Megan Collins has created a suspenseful mystery that not only involves a kidnapping, but she also explores the dynamics of family and the effects that the past can have on a person in the present.
**Even though I received this book on behalf of the Publisher, the thoughts and opinions expressed are solely my own.**
RATING 3 1/2 OUT OF 5.
A crime, unsolved for two decades, may have been committed again? What a horror for the victim, and how scary for someone else who suspects she may have been involved.
Poor Fern Douglas. Her serious and constant anxiety, while written well and totally believable, make her not especially comfortable to hang around. She always was imagining what could go catastrophically wrong. The anxiety seems perfectly justified after the childhood she experienced. Her father, Ted, treated her horrifically. He pretty much spends most of the book maintaining that since she was his child, he could treat her however he wanted, short of physically abusing her.
When Fern goes back to her father’s house to help him pack and prepare to move, she thinks since he’s retired they can hang out and actually have a normal relationship. Unfortunately, Ted just wants to see her reactions when a 20-year-old abduction is brought back into the spotlight as the crime seems to have repeated itself.
Without spoiling anything, the plot in this book was really predictable. The author tries to throw a couple alternatives into our reading path, but it all came back around as originally expected. Overall, I’d give the book 3 out of 5 stars. While it was well-written and conveyed the horror of the whole experience of being Fern, the plot played out pretty predictability, and the ending didn’t really leave the reader feeling good about it all.
http://booksithinkyoushouldread.blogspot.com/2020/08/book-review-and-giveaway-behind-red.html
Poor Fern Douglas. Her serious and constant anxiety, while written well and totally believable, make her not especially comfortable to hang around. She always was imagining what could go catastrophically wrong. The anxiety seems perfectly justified after the childhood she experienced. Her father, Ted, treated her horrifically. He pretty much spends most of the book maintaining that since she was his child, he could treat her however he wanted, short of physically abusing her.
When Fern goes back to her father’s house to help him pack and prepare to move, she thinks since he’s retired they can hang out and actually have a normal relationship. Unfortunately, Ted just wants to see her reactions when a 20-year-old abduction is brought back into the spotlight as the crime seems to have repeated itself.
Without spoiling anything, the plot in this book was really predictable. The author tries to throw a couple alternatives into our reading path, but it all came back around as originally expected. Overall, I’d give the book 3 out of 5 stars. While it was well-written and conveyed the horror of the whole experience of being Fern, the plot played out pretty predictability, and the ending didn’t really leave the reader feeling good about it all.
http://booksithinkyoushouldread.blogspot.com/2020/08/book-review-and-giveaway-behind-red.html
There is one major thing that I love the most about a Megan Collins book; and that’s her major twists and turns. You can never guess what’s going to happen because it always changes and I LOVE IT!
Fern’s anxiety that has manifested over the years is so real that it feels like I can feel it. The way she speaks and thinks feels honest and true.
The plot twist so good that I won’t talk about because I hate giving spoilers, but they are great!
After the reading “The Winter Sister”, Megan Collins has turned into an automatic buy author for me.
Fern’s anxiety that has manifested over the years is so real that it feels like I can feel it. The way she speaks and thinks feels honest and true.
The plot twist so good that I won’t talk about because I hate giving spoilers, but they are great!
After the reading “The Winter Sister”, Megan Collins has turned into an automatic buy author for me.
Fern knows that face on the news, but how? Has she ever met Astrid Sullivan? She can’t remember, but that face feels so familiar, in fact, that might be the face from her nightmares. While helping her father Ted pack up for his move to Florida, Fern starts reading the book Astrid wrote about when she was abducted and held in a basement with a red door. All the sudden Fern is feeling like this story sounds all to familiar, was she the other girl Astrid mentions in her book? Why can’t she remember?
Oh man, poor Fern had some messed up parents. Her dad ran “experiments” to test fear in his hopes of someday being known for his psychological work. He was awful from page one. This book kept me waiting to figure out when Fern’s memories would come back and what has actually happened. Who had taken Astrid, and where is she now? I did figure out who had taken Astrid as a child daily early, and I also figured out what had happened to Astrid today, but even though I had a good gut feeling, this book still kept me riveted until the last page.
Oh man, poor Fern had some messed up parents. Her dad ran “experiments” to test fear in his hopes of someday being known for his psychological work. He was awful from page one. This book kept me waiting to figure out when Fern’s memories would come back and what has actually happened. Who had taken Astrid, and where is she now? I did figure out who had taken Astrid as a child daily early, and I also figured out what had happened to Astrid today, but even though I had a good gut feeling, this book still kept me riveted until the last page.
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 loved the writing, couldn’t put the book down! But, I suspected the dad the entire time and also suspected that Astrid was not kidnapped a second time after Feen met with her wife. I was hoping that I was wrong, thinking that there’ll be some huge twist but unfortunately there was not.
Behind the Red Door is a 320-page mystery novel by Megan Collins. I received an ARC from NetGalley as a recommendation based on the fact that I love Ruth Ware’s novels. If you like Ruth Ware, you might enjoy this book, too.
Although the mystery of the story is great (a decades-old kidnapping that was never solved, even though the kidnapped child was returned), my favorite thing was how well the author portrayed the main character, Fern, who suffers from anxiety. Collins not only shows the inner workings of Fern’s mind and her reactions to stressful and anxiety-inducing situations, she also peppers in bits of wisdom from Fern’s therapist. That’s completely relatable, considering that when I’m feeling particularly anxious, I also repeat mantras my therapist has told me.
Fern has a supportive husband and a prickly relationship with her parents, and those relationships are explored in depth since Fern goes back to her hometown to help her father with *a task* (spoiler). While she’s back home, Fern encounters childhood friends and bullies, and it’s fascinating to see what spikes her anxiety and how she copes with old trauma. Since she’s spending time away from her husband, she has to be her own anchor in an increasingly unsettling situation. While she deals with all of that, she also fuels her own obsession with a recurring dream and her possible connection to the decades-old kidnapping.
It’s not often that I read a mystery novel and come away with an appreciation of how much the main character grew throughout the story. This book is definitely an exception, because the character work was outstanding. Add to that an exploration of mental health and complex family dynamics… Behind the Red Door is truly fantastic and a quick, engrossing read.
Although the mystery of the story is great (a decades-old kidnapping that was never solved, even though the kidnapped child was returned), my favorite thing was how well the author portrayed the main character, Fern, who suffers from anxiety. Collins not only shows the inner workings of Fern’s mind and her reactions to stressful and anxiety-inducing situations, she also peppers in bits of wisdom from Fern’s therapist. That’s completely relatable, considering that when I’m feeling particularly anxious, I also repeat mantras my therapist has told me.
Fern has a supportive husband and a prickly relationship with her parents, and those relationships are explored in depth since Fern goes back to her hometown to help her father with *a task* (spoiler). While she’s back home, Fern encounters childhood friends and bullies, and it’s fascinating to see what spikes her anxiety and how she copes with old trauma. Since she’s spending time away from her husband, she has to be her own anchor in an increasingly unsettling situation. While she deals with all of that, she also fuels her own obsession with a recurring dream and her possible connection to the decades-old kidnapping.
It’s not often that I read a mystery novel and come away with an appreciation of how much the main character grew throughout the story. This book is definitely an exception, because the character work was outstanding. Add to that an exploration of mental health and complex family dynamics… Behind the Red Door is truly fantastic and a quick, engrossing read.