Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada a for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A missing woman ... abusive parents ...... psychological experiments. ... repressed childhood memories ..

This book started off really strong but about a third of the way in, it actually started to drag a little for me, and then started to pick up again at the end. The mystery was mostly predictable with a slight twist at the end. Overall, if you like physiological thrillers, i think you would enjoy this one .

Book rating : 3.5 ⭐️
Cover rating : 4 🌟

I really loved the concept of this book and the writing was fantastic. The story was engrossing and well thought out. There are a lot of dark and messed up twists, but, unfortunately, I predicted all of them. I really wish I wasn’t so good at predicting twists cause these ones were good! I also really enjoyed the way Fern’s character evolved and grew as the story went on. I can’t give it more than 4 stars because I wasn’t surprised at all by the ending, but I’m definitely going to have to give this author’s other book a try.

Thank you Netgally and the publisher for the opportunity to read this incredible thriller.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat to the very end! There were so many twists, turns and clues dropped throughout the story that I couldn't read fast enough to figure out the mystery of what happened. Fern experiences a deep seated anxiety and once you read about how she was raised then you can understand why Fern is the way that she is. From the experiments to the interviews there were some very questionable things that took place in her childhood that made her into the woman she is today. There were also some interesting facts about the human psyche and how we internalize trauma and how our brains and bodies process these traumas, by blocking out certain events or by remembering others.

If you're in the mood for a great mystery then this is definitely one to read!

what an amazing book. it had everything i could have hoped for, mystery, complicated characters, it was well written, I am discovering this author and I loved her!

I thoroughly enjoyed this bool. Was unfamiliar with author but to my delight the book kept me captivated throughout! I would recommend it as it twists and turns and keeps you guessing.

This was a really well written psychological thriller, I felt completely immersed in the story right from the first page. The pacing is so good it kept me flipping the pages and twists and turns kept the momentum going. A shady cast of characters to gave me a lot of pause and made me wonder how complicit they all were as the story moved along. Not one of them is particularly likable either!

This was disturbing and dark in the best way. This will definitely be a buzzed about thriller this year.

I really enjoyed this thriller. Fern is a great character and her determination to find out what happened to Astrid had me on the edge of my seat..

It had a fast pace and I could not put it down until the very end. It kept my interest the whole way through.

I would recommend this book if you love thrillers.

Twenty years ago, fourteen year-old Astrid Sullivan of Maine disappeared without a trace and there were no witnesses. A month later she reappeared but her abductor was never found. And now she goes missing again and the search for her begins. Upon hearing this news, Fern "Bird" Douglas, immediately feels a familiar but disturbing connection to Astrid, like she knows her but her memory says otherwise. Fern later returns to her hometown, New Hampshire, to help her dad to move to Florida. Here she finds out that Astrid has recently published her memoir. She immediately reads it and as her memory about Astrid begins to resurface, she begins to put the pieces together, hoping to look for Astrid before it's too late.

I loved Collin's debut novel The Winter Sister and was so excited to read her latest book, Behind The Red Door. This book has an intriguing plot and anything that involves lost memory, past, disappearance is definitely going to get my attention. In this way, this book delivers that and I quite liked the plot albeit predictable towards the end. The writing is good, but there are some parts that felt repetitive and dragged on, before the story picks up again. It is a slow-burn story that also explores family relationships and how it affected the adult Fern. In the end, this book turns out to be just okay for me. I quite liked it but the story is not as impactful as The Winter Sister.


Pub. Date: 4 Aug, 2020


***Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for this gifted review copy in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed in this review are my own and was not influenced by the author, publisher or any third party.***

Excellent psychological thriller. When Fern reads about the disappearance of Astrid Sullivan memories start to creep in. Are they memories or is she imagining events? Once you start it you won't put it down!

I liked this book it started off really strong, well written descriptive. About mid way through it started to lose me and picked up again for the last quarter. It was a good read, I would read this author again.

Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: August 4, 2020
Astrid Sullivan was made famous when she disappeared at fourteen years old, only to be returned unharmed weeks later. Now, twenty years later, Astrid has gone missing again. Has the kidnapper come back? Fern Douglas recognizes Astrid immediately. Her husband explains it by saying that Astrid grew up nearby Fern, and the case received a lot of media attention. Her psychiatrist attributes Fern’s recollection as the result of deeply disturbing nightmares. But Fern KNOWS that Astrid is more familiar to her than that. She knows the missing woman from somewhere, she is certain of it. One day, when Fern picks up Astrid’s memoir, she begins to read about the young girl who witnessed Astrid’s kidnapping and didn’t say anything, keeping quiet while Astrid was taken. Fern begins to wonder if she was the silent witness Astrid mentioned. And if so, is the kidnapper coming back for her, too?
Megan Collins is a relatively new author, her previous novel, The Winter Sister, being her debut. That being said, Collins is educated in writing, having an MFA and has also worked as a creative writing teacher. Right off the bat, her education and knowledge is evident.
Having never read The Winter Sister, Collins is a new writer for me. This novel told a deeply disturbing tale, with parental dysfunction not seen since “Darling Rose Gold”. But it also tells a tale of overcoming obstacles, and seeking justice.
Fern is a damaged and delicate character, but, by taking steps to save Astrid, slowly uncovers her inner strength and bravery. Fern’s struggles with anxiety hit close to home for me, and I immediately felt a kinship with her. How she uses her husband as her anchor, to bring her back to the real world and keep her anxieties from “spiraling” is something I see every day in my own anxiety-ridden life. But Collins stays positive with this and does not let the anxiety overcome Fern, as she lives a successful life as a social worker and still manages to find the inner bravery she needs to find Astrid.
Well told, with strong characters, “Behind the Red Door” is gripping and suspenseful. Through it all, I predicted the ending and although I was partially right, there was a lot of unknown in this novel that threw me for a loop. I thoroughly enjoyed the way this novel wrapped up, with just the right amount of unexpected twists.

I received an advanced copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher.

let me start this review by saying i dont dabble in thrillers very often. i like the idea of them and the content, but im always very nervous to pick them up because i find that all the crime shows ive watched make it super easy to solve the case, so to speak.

i knew the plot twist from the beginning, but that does not mean it wasnt good. it was an amazing book, very well laid out and written. Fern trying to solve this case is exactly what needed to happen to convey this story.

the representation of anxiety in this story is also very important, becauss it stems from so much trauma and its so important to show that that is indeed a real feeling.

overall, i liked it. it made me uncomfy, which is the entire point. i would recommend this to people and i hope y'all will pick it up when its released in August!

“It makes me certain - with a level of conviction I can’t explain - that I know her.”

Behind The Red Door is a beautifully-written thriller about a woman who believes she has a connection to a 20-year-old abduction case. The victim was brought back, wrote a memoir years later and has now vanished, again.

The story is well-paced as it succeeds to keep the reader invested with the deliciously addictive book-within-a-book aspect. We’re offered chapters off the missing woman’s memoir titled “Behind The Red Door”, where she’s crafted so meticulously that we easily get to connect with her character, and the reader can also instantly feel connected with our well-developed protagonist due to her distinct voice.

Behind The Red Door studies many thought-provoking subjects like trauma, memory and especially fear - which is discussed through the main character’s father who’s a psychology professor, so that was very interesting. There are two big revelations at the end; the former being predictable and the latter definitely surprising, but I liked how things were concluded in the end - I thought it ended on a meaningful note in a way it would make a great impact on the reader.

An ARC of this novel was sent to me by NetGalley for reviewing purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I actually really liked this book! The characters are extremely complex and well developed, which made them seem more realistic. The book itself is extremely well developed and I enjoyed reading it.

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I had to drop this down from 4 to 3 stars after finishing it because I was right about who I thought had been the kidnapper from the very beginning but overall it was still an interesting read with flushed out characters, and interesting plot twists. It will keep you entertained until the very end.

I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced digital version of this gripping psychological thriller in return for an honest review. I found its mood to be oppressive, claustrophobic, and disturbing, but in a good way as I couldn’t put the book down. I was riveted to the pages. It was a 4.5 Star read for me.

I thought the protagonist, Ferm to be a woman living in a fragile emotional state of all-encompassing fear and heightened anxiety. How she got into this state was readily explained by her psychologically abusive upbringing. I realize I should have felt more sympathetic, but as the main character, I found her behaviour annoying. She treated her most patient and supportive husband badly, but he still adored her. It was hard to believe that she functioned well as a school social worker.

She returns home to her father’s house. He has requested that she come to help him pack before he moves away. Twenty years ago, a fourteen-year-old girl, Astrid, was taken from a nearby town. She was returned in a couple of weeks by an unknown masked man. Now, Astrid has been kidnapped again on the 20th anniversary of her previous abduction. She wrote a book about her first time in captivity and it has become a best seller.

On returning home, Fern was hoping for signs of affection from her cold and distant father, Ted, who is obsessed with his life’s work as a psychotherapist studying fear. However, her main goal being at her father’s home is to recover some missing memories and to find the newly abducted Astrid before she dies in captivity. Fern is certain that she somehow saw Astrid years before when she was 12 years old and feels a strong inexplicable connection with her. She feels she knows something about her kidnapping, but this is a blank space in her memory. Fern discovers she is pregnant but refuses to tell her husband, although she knows it would bring him great joy.

Other main characters from her childhood are Mara, her mother, who has left Ted, and was a busy artist devoid of any motherly instincts. Cooper was an older teenager who sensed Fern was afraid of almost everything and bullied her unmercifully.

This was an intense read, well-paced, which maintained the suspense throughout. Characters were mainly unreliable with significant flaws. Once you think you are sure where the story is heading, there is a major misdirection followed by a twist. Highly recommended as an original psychological novel drenched with an atmosphere of anxiety, dread and paranoia.

BEHIND THE RED DOOR REVIEW!
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“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 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. 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.”
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WOW! This book, y’all. 🤯
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I was so excited to get this #ARC from @netgalley that I actually put down the other book I was reading at the time. I devoured this book in two sittings! It was such a fast paced, twisty read. I actually screamed (with excitement) when the first major twist happened at the half way mark. And the twists just kept on coming!!
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BEHIND THE RED DOOR actually made me feel physically ill (in the best way possible!!) as the characters in the book began to revealed their true colours. I haven’t had a book do this to me since reading King’s Pet Sematary 😳
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I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a twisted, mind blowing thriller (TW: child abuse)
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Thank you to netgalley, the author and @atria for my ARC! 💚