This story is about a woman who has a brother in an asylum. Also in the asylum is Henry. Henry has made a make believe world in order to protect himself from abuse. His imaginary friends killed some teenagers that broke into his home with the intent to hurt him. Now he's in the asylum, because no one believes that he didn't commit the crime. The woman is sent to investigate his claims. She investigates the occult. She's a freelance investigator. Unusual things begin to happen in the asylum. People are dying, and it's not clear how they died or who murdered them. An excellent story that has you on the edge of your seat.

I could not finish this book. I tried. I even skimmed through pages to try to get to the end. Eventually I gave up. It's not what I expected.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview Inside the Asylum by Mary SanGiovanni.
SanGiovanni is fast becoming a great horror writer. I put her in with Bentley - she creates a scary world in each of her novels.
This one is just as good and will keep you at the edge of your seat.
Great setting - an asylum with plenty of gore to spare.
Quick read. 3 stars.

I wanted to like this book, it’s completely different to what I’m used to reading. I wanted this to be a horror but it was mainly supernatural and that just made it hard for me to enjoy. I really struggled to make it through this book unfortunately.

A mind is a terrible thing to destroy . . .

Kathy has been hired to assess the threat of patient Henry Banks, an inmate at the
Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane, the same hospital where her brother is housed. Her employers believe that Henry has the ability to open doors to other dimensions with his mind—making him one of the most dangerous men in modern history. Because unbeknownst to Kathy, her clients are affiliated with certain government organizations that investigate people like Henry—and the potential to weaponize such abilities.

What Kathy comes to understand in interviewing Henry, and in her unavoidable run-ins with her brother, is that Henry can indeed use his mind to create “Tulpas”—worlds, people, and creatures so vivid they come to actual life. But now they want life outside of Henry. And they'll stop at nothing to complete their emancipation. It's up to Kathy—with her brother's help—to stop them, and if possible, to save Henry before the Tulpas take him over—and everything else around him.

I thought it was going to be more of a horror story, but it turned out to be a very interesting Sci-fi thriller story. It was such a fast paced book for me, I couldn't wait to finish it!

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of #InsideTheAsylum
Pub Date: 07 May 2019

Supernatural is one of the genre's that I enjoy the most. This novel seemed to promise it all, it is the second Kathy Ryan book but I did not feel like I was missing anything. It can definitely be read as a stand alone book.

Kathy is employed to investigate Henry Banks at the Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane. coincidentally the same facility that houses her brother. Henry is believed to be a threat by her employers, he can use his mind to create Tulpas. Unfortunately for everyone the Tuplas have a mind of their own, so to speak, and want to exist independently of Henry.

It is up to Kathy, with the help of the brother she detests, to put a stop to it.

The premise was fantastic, I however found the book unnecessarily gory and I do not shy away from supernatural or horror novels. The gore and many,many,many deaths were gratuitous for me. If you expect this going in you may well enjoy the novel more.
Thank you #Netgalley and #Kensingtonbooks for the ARC of #InsidetheAsylum in exchange for my honest review.

I just reviewed Inside the Asylum by Mary SanGiovanni. #InsideTheAsylum #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]
Awesome detail and descriptions. Really great horror story. Definitely would read more from this author.

Inside the Asylum by Mary SanGiovanni is the third in the Kathy Ryan series. She is an Occult Security Consultant, who was originally introduced in the book “Chills” (which some don’t count), and then returned in “Behind the Door”. Now we see her again, so I’m going with this is the third book. However, they all could be read as stand-alone novels – so far, anyway.


First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Kensington Books/Lyrical Underground, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Series Background:    (Warning – May contain spoilers from previous books)
Kathy Ryan is called by police forces across the country when strange things are found. She is one of the leading experts in occult practices, ancient grimoires, devil worship, blood sacrifices, and rites to archaic gods and monsters. The reason behind her expertise is not well-known, but most agree that it has something to do with the scar that runs down her face. Her brother, once a member of a cult, and now in a mental hospital, is responsible for that scar.


My Synopsis:    (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
A visit to the state-run Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane on behalf of one of her clients makes Kathy a little uncomfortable. She has been to the facility before, but doesn’t like it. Her brother is one of the “inmates”, and her memories of him are not pleasant. However, this visit is not about him….initially at least.

What Kathy finds, is Henry Banks. As a child, Henry created a whole world in his head, complete with entities who protected him from the real-life abuse he suffered. As a man, he is locked up in a mental hospital for murder, and he insists he is innocent. His “friends” killed the teenagers, not him. Kathy fears that may be true.  For Henry Banks has developed the ability to create “Tulpas”, creatures so vivid in his mind, that they actually come to life. Unfortunately, now they are loose in the  hospital, and they want to stay free.

Kathy will have to trust her brother in order to stop the Tulpas from taking over.


My Opinions:
I am enjoying this series. First up, it is not for everyone. Part supernatural, part true horror, Mary SanGiovanni doesn’t shirk away from the gore, so be warned. Her writing is excellent, so you can almost see the blood spurt, and you want to step back.

The characters in this series come alive on the page, and in your mind, whether you want them there or not. I love the relationship between Kathy and her brother. It is complicated, as all sibling relationships are, but more so since Toby is a psychopath, and can’t really feel emotions. They say love and hate are opposite, yet they are closer than you think.

This is a really fast-paced novel, with non-stop action, and at times you wonder if anyone will survive. Cheering for a character is treacherous.

Each book gets better, and I can’t wait to see what this author throws at us next!

INSIDE THE ASYLUM is the third book in Mary SanGiovanni's "Kathy Ryan Series," after BEHIND THE DOOR and CHILLS. I marveled at the first two in the series: Kathy Ryan is an incredibly complex character, vulnerable yet tough, horribly abused in childhood so empathetic to other victims, wise in the ways of the Otherworld. Her foil is her horrible brother Toby, once her protector, then her assailant, a man who committed multiple brutal rape-murders and threatened the same to his sister.

In INSIDE THE ASYLUM, Kathy, who is a bit of a roving consultant on the occult, is called into the hospital for the criminally insane where her brother Toby is incarcerated. Another inmate, Henry Banks, who suffered an incredibly horrific childhood and adolescence at the hands of family members, long ago created for himself a fantasy realm into which to retreat; but Henry's imagination is so powerful that it has created "tulpas," entities which now are determined on living for themselves, not as illusionary "imaginary friends" anymore.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks NetGalley!

While the book is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone.
You should definitely google Tulpas before you read this.

I'd definitely consider reading more by this author.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I would classify this as a supernatural/fantasy thriller rather than horror. Although it takes place mainly inside an Asylum for the criminally insane, it is not creepy or scary—more entertaining and action packed, with dimension crossing monsters and formidable heroes with spell casting skills. I am more of a horror reader so I wasn’t a good target audience on this one but SanGiovani is a good writer (I have read and enjoyed other works by her) and she is good with characters and pacing and I enjoyed reading Inside the Asylum.

The reader will note that this is the 3rd in a series. I have only read this one but can say that I didn’t feel out of sync or confused and didn’t detect any spoilers for prior installments—which often happens when you jump into the river mid-stream.

I would recommend this book to friends who are into thrillers (and I bet that they will like it) but not as much to horror fans looking for something chilling and scary.

Three Stars.

One of the problems that I had with Behind the Door, the 2nd book in the Kathy Ryan series, was that I felt like it was a very on-the-surface read that didn’t enable me to connect with the main character. However, Mary SanGiovanni writes tales with ideas that are very hard for me to stay away from, so I figured I’d like Inside the Asylum even if the same problem for me persisted.

It didn’t.

Mostly this is probably because of the simple fact that this novel involves Ryan’s brother, Toby. However, it’s more than that. While the inside of Ryan’s head is definitely a more comfortable place this time around, SanGiovanni made me feel something for a psychopath (not saying it’s a good something or a bad something), and did it without trodding down a path overgrown with cliches. Kind of amazing. There are other connections made with characters in the book, but those I will leave for the reader to discover.

I mentioned earlier that she writes tales with ideas that are very hard for me to stay away from. As a child that created fantastical worlds inside her head to escape from things that grew into an adult to continued to do the same thing (too bad I can’t write worth a Tinker’s damn!), I saw an idea fleshed out that I never knew even had a name. I’m speaking, of course, of Tulpas. Who hasn’t that that if the protectors s/he created inside their head were actually real how much better things would be? Hasn’t longed for the ability to reach across the gulf and move something from imagination into reality? Sometimes when you’re in a dark streak that thought can be scary. However, for the most part it just fills you with a longing for something you know you can never have.

In terms of all the other stuff I usually talk about, I was pretty happy. The dialogue is solid. The pacing is great. This isn’t a chunker so the story is kept nice and tight. The batshit crazy descending up on asylum made me happy as well.

In closing, Inside the Asylum is a well-written story and a great entry into the Kathy Ryan series. I think it’s safe to say at this point that I look forward to upcoming entries from Mary SanGiovanni.

The Kathy Ryan series by Mary SanGiovanni has fast become one of my favorites.

You should know that you can absolutely read this book without reading the others in the series. Although some of the characters and storylines tie together, the books work as standalones.

Inside the Asylum is a scary read. It’s edgy and has some scenes that have you looking over your shoulder.

As always, though, I simply love what SanGiovanni does with her characters. Human or…not…each character has so much depth. She doesn’t do paper cutout villains. Oh, her villains are definitely evil and do unforgivable things, but she reminds you that there’s a fleeting glimpse of something more under the surface. In fact, she makes you feel so uncomfortable because you find yourself feeling just a tiny bit of sympathy or liking for them.

I liked what she did with the Tulpas. Honestly, Tulpas have never been my favorite baddies. Cold as it sounds, I’ve always kind of thought: Kill the person dreaming them up and you’re done! But the author makes her Tulpas bigger, scarier, and a lot harder to get rid of.

Looking forward to the next book in the series!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

If you like me have never heard of tulpas, go ahead and google them. What you find will enhance the creepiness of this well written horror tale. Kathy, an occult investigator, is worried about her brother and also intrigued by the story of Henry, also an inmate at the Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Is it possible that Henry's demons have escaped his mind and are in the halls killing the other inmates? Kathy's an interesting character and one worth following. No spoilers. This is outside my usual genres but I enjoyed it. Thanks to net galley for the ARC. Perfect for horror fans.

This is a new author for me to read anything from and overall this book was a good read for me. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. I would be interested in reading more from this author in the future!

What happens when your imaginary friends are no longer satisfied living in the world you created? What if they want to live in yours instead?

When Kathy Ryan interviews a patient at Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane she learns about Henry’s friends. The staff dismiss them as hallucinations but Kathy thinks otherwise.

Henry only survived the horrific abuse of his childhood with the help of Maisie, Orrin, Edgar and the Others. Henry’s friends’ lives started in his imagination and they lived in Ayteilu, the world he created. Unlike your normal garden variety imaginary friends, Henry’s have seriously levelled up.

They’re tulpas, “sentient and more or less autonomous beings brought about by the use of the mind.” If, like me, you haven’t heard of these before, Google can tell you all about them. While I found the entire phenomenon fascinating and Mary SanGiovanni takes this concept much further than I hope is ever possible, I cannot stress this enough: Do NOT try this at home!!!

Kathy’s investigation forces her to interact with her brother, Toby, another Connecticut-Newlyn patient. Awkward! And suitably creepy. I was eager to learn more about Kathy’s history after reading my first Kathy Ryan book, ‘Behind the Door’, and my wish was certainly granted in this book. I can handle all the book blood spatter and gore an author throws at me, but this part of the story was genuinely horrifying. It answered my questions from the previous book and was so well done. I hesitate to say that I loved it but it felt right, given what I already knew of Kathy, and it caused a visceral reaction in me.

While I had so much fun reading about Kathy’s previous investigation in Zarepath, this investigation blew me away. I loved the setting, the characters (especially Ernie), the action, the interaction between characters and the imaginative ways Henry’s friends interact with our world.

You do not want to be cast as a character in one of Mary SanGiovanni’s novels. If you actually make it out of the book alive (chances are you won’t and your death will be suitably gruesome) you will not be unchanged by the experience. Nightmares, severe trauma and a massive therapy bill will be amongst your prizes for surviving.

If you are squeamish, this book is not for you. If, however, you love the kind of horror that spills enough blood to make The Shining’s river feel more like a trickle and you want to jump up and down with perverse glee when a horror story character’s insides become their outsides, then this is definitely right up your alley. If you’re not convinced yet, you will also come face to (sort of) face with such awesomeness as a rampaging vending machine and flying lawn mowers!

I wasn’t a fan of the derogatory terms used regarding mental illness in this book by the main character, police officers and some of the staff at the asylum, including crazies, mad, nutjob and loony bin, but the majority of the offenders die, so there’s that. Content warnings include * SPOILER - mental illness, child abuse, torture, rape and murder - SPOILER *.

While this story ends in a way that could be a satisfying conclusion to the series I really hope there’s more to come. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Lyrical Underground, an imprint of Kensington Books, for the opportunity to read this book. Five blood soaked stars from me!

This was truly an amazing book. The storyline flowed, the characters were engaging and I could barely tear myself away from this book. Highly recommended!

Another Kathy Ryan Novel!

Kathy is back and this time she is sent to evaluate the strange behavior of an inmate at the Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Henry, the patient/inmate believes he can open doors to another dimension. A dimension of dark and evil things called Tulpas. 

Kathy knows how serious this is. Some of the people she works for would love to have the ability that Henry has. To use as a weapon. She believes that Henry has not only created these things but has unleashed them already. Henry had a lot of reasons to want to crawl into his head and let the Tulpas handle the bad stuff, but now that they have had a taste of freedom and know what they are capable of, they want to be real. In any shape or form and they are deadly.

Kathy will have to work with the only person she knows who is an occult expert. Her brother. Oh, and yes he lives next to Henry in the Insane Asylum.

This was a fast-paced, edge of your seat, bite your fingernails down to nothing thrill ride of gore! And as soon as it was over I wanted more. 

Great Job!

NetGalley/ May 7th 2019 by Kensington Publishing Corporation

Occult specialist Kathy Ryan returns for her third outing in Mary SanGiovanni’s latest, Inside the Asylum. And yes, I know, the publisher consider this to be the second official Ryan novel, despite her being introduced and playing a central role in 2016’s Chills. As far as I’m concerned, this is book three. And whooboy, do things ever get crazy!

Things are starting to bleed over from the other side, warping our reality, and at the center of it all is Henry Banks, an inmate at the Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Henry has a special gift, and a rich imagination, which is now causing all sorts of problems for the hospital. Inmates who know of Henry’s friends — his special friends, that is, the ones the doctors and staff think are imaginary — are being brutally murdered, but that’s just the start of it. Henry’s friends are tulpas, and they want not only to be free, they want to be alive, and the stronger they get the more Henry’s imagined world crosses over with ours.

Readers who have been following Ryan since the beginning, that is to say since Chills, will likely recognize the Connecticut-Newlyn Hospital for the Criminally Insane as the institution that houses her serial killer/cultist brother, Toby. In fact, it was this particular aspect that had me most interested in Inside the Asylum. I’ve been wanting to know more about and see more of the Ryan’s sibling rivalry, and the more personal elements of Kathy’s history and her relationship to Toby are some of this book’s strongest elements.

SanGiovanni is certainly no slouch when it comes to the supernatural either. Henry’s tulpas are both highly intriguing and fantastical, but at some points it did get to be a bit much for my tastes. As Henry’s dream world enmeshes with our own, SanGiovanni describes simple everyday object changing into demonic beasties, and it reminded me a bit too much of the climax to Michael Bay’s first Transformers movie, when a shard of the AllSpark started changing random electronics into psychotic robots. We even get a familiar riff of this with a demonic soda machine! SanGiovanni goes a step further, though, giving us an evil rake, a monstrous couch, and a sentient, walking end table. Some of this stuff got to be a little too fantastical for me, even in a story about duplicitous, murderous invisible friends. It’s also a blessedly minor bit of silliness in a story that otherwise plays it straight. When it comes to the killer occult elements and the blending of worlds, SanGiovanni presents a number of terrific flourishes, particularly in the book’s latter half when Inside the Asylum grows into a siege story.

Where Inside the Asylum really shines, though, is its characters and their interactions. Beyond Kathy and Toby, we get a vivid portrait of Henry and the traumas he’s suffered. His tulpas are a direct response to the trials he’s faced in his young life and a reaction to his outsider status, and ultimately he shares much the same goal as his creations, which is to simply be allowed to exist. A certain romanticism is at play there, and even if it does eventually go completely awry you can’t help but feel a bit of sympathy for Henry and the psychological damage that’s led him to all this. Toby, too, reveals some hidden depths and his interactions with Kathy shows there’s room for further exploration given the man’s uniquely twisted emotional filters and psychological wiring.

Kathy and her unusual career have plenty of future potential as well, and I’m looking forward to exploring more horrors with her as the guide. This is a series that has some wonderfully strong legs to it, and with some of the seeds being planted here, I can’t help but hope SanGiovanni and Kensington are able to get a few more books’ worth of mileage out of it all. There’s still plenty more stories to be told and all sorts of crazy worlds to explore, on this side of the door and beyond.

Inside the Asylum gave me chills and I could not put it down. Well written and horrifying. I must read more from this author.