"Remember you are safe. Your response is out of proportion to the facts. There is no danger except in your mind."

After the introduction, we meet Anna as a middle-aged woman. You quickly parse she is someone who has spent her life supporting the dreams of her husband, and man who, while perhaps good-intentioned, has a bumbling paternalism for his wife.

In Anna's point of view you hear all the excuses she makes for him. She is filled with a lifetime of guilt, shame, and inferiority, and that colors all her interactions with him.

This is where King Nyx excels. Exposing and subtly picking apart the relationships between it's characters. And that is the primary focus for the first half of the book.

After that is when it starts to fall apart. We fall into a mystery set up quite well in the beginning, but tied together a bit too cleanly at the end. Those meaty character interactions fall to the wayside for some gothic-mystery shenanigans.

The most disappointing aspect for me was that we didn't really get to see all that much growth from Anna. She is, ultimately, the same character we meet at the beginning.

Very strong start, but I wish this story had leaned more into its strengths instead of getting lost in its own mysteries.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

I found the summary to be confusing and vague on what the book is actually about. I found it difficult to read due to this, as well.

An unusual tale about a woman desperate to support her husband and his quirky ideas about reality for he is the one who saved her from her delusions. Set in the early 1900’s, this is the tale of a woman struggling to piece together reality when she cannot trust her herself to tell the difference between reality and delusion. It is a mystery set on a secluded private island owned by an eccentric wealthy man who runs a reformatory school for girls but that may not be his real intention. Some of the girls have gone missing.

A dark and poetic read that was both pleasant and disturbing. I particularly loved our protagonist’s passion for birds and what it means to keep them in her care.

**3.5 stars**

The cover of this book perfectly expresses the mood the author was trying to convey with her book: dark, brooding, emotional, Gothic. Did she succeed in the story? Maybe a little. The setting of a spooky isolated island owned my a megalomaniac, the emotionally damaged past of our main character Anna, and her husband’s odd career choice of trying to write a book about scientific anomalies. What doesn’t succeed: how absolutely boring the first 30% of this book is. If I wasn’t a completionist by nature I’d absolutely have stopped at the 15-20% mark of this book. I am being totally honest when I say it was only wanting to find out about the welfare of Castor and Pollux that kept me going.

When we finally get to the action and mystery of the story it was ok. But there is a whole unique plot point that seemed really cool but kind of ended up meaning nothing (don’t want to give anything away). I did enjoy the concept of King Nyx, the feminism and fierceness of the females in this story, how much Charlie loved his wife, the birds, the setting and most of all Anna.

At the start of the book I had no idea Charles and Anna Fort were real people. I have to give major kudos to the author for imagining a story like this from scratch.

Thanks to the author and publisher for the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was definitely spooky without being horror.
Set in early 1900s at time that SHOULD have been more innocent, but wasn't. We are set up to wonder who will get our protagonists when the get to a private island. It's post-WWI and there's a flu pandemic going on. Will they be infected by the flu? There is a scene early on that makes you think it's a possibility. Will it be the mysterious and pretty creepy owner of the island? Will we ever met him? And just WHO is he and what is HIS issue?

And what's up with children's mechanical toy, named King Nyx? What are these mysterious weather phenomena that Anna's husband Charles is writing about? And what about Stella and her husband? I had immediate trust issues with them.

All in all, a lot of questions that kept me engaged. I could see this happening so clearly, though I listened to it. Would make a fabulous movie.

By the way, the narrator was incredible. I'll have to watch for more of her work.

Isolated island mansion, eccentric host, missing girls. Pretty typical setup, but makes some unique choices with characters, plot, and message that set it apart from other books of its kind. My favorite aspect was the book's commentary on science - that things we presently acknowledge as scientific certainties were not always seen that way, and our ideas of what's true may continue to evolve as we learn more over time. Also, that establishing something as a scientific fact may sometimes create a bias or limit people's ability to see anomalies or things outside of what's 'known'.

This book had such delicious gothic vibes. I feel like the less you know going into this book, the better, so I won't go into detail here, but I found this book very compelling. I found the first quarter of the book to be a little slow, but if you stick it out the story gets really interesting from there. Once I hit 30% I was committed to knowing what was going on on this strange island. I don't read a lot of thrillers, but I thought this one was very unique, not just in setting, but the entire premise. I'm not sure I've read anything quite like this before.

This book has a lot to say about the way powerful men treat those around them, particularly women. This story focuses on the lives of the women who are bound to powerful men, either because they are married to them, or because they work for them. There is also quite a bit about mental illness - a lot of the paranormal element can be described as "Is it really happening or am I losing my grip on reality," and I love when a story can do that well.

The story had great tension and character development, and aside from the slowness at the beginning, I thought the pacing was pretty solid too. If you like stories like Jane Eyre and The Haunting of Hill House, I think you would enjoy this!

Charles Fort, according to Wikipedia, was an American writer and researcher who specialized in “anomalous phenomena.” His theories included researching objects falling from a clear sky, energy beaming from the North Pole, and people controlling us from Mars. His wife, Anna, worked sixteen hour days in a hotel basement laundry to support her husband’s ambitions, so when the “Canned Fruit King,” industrialist Claude Arkel, offers the Forts an opportunity to spend the winter on his private island so that Charles can complete his book, Anna is hopeful that she can retire from the laundry and that they can hold on to their tidy apartment in the Bronx.

At the dock as they are about to embark to Arkel’s island, they encounter several women petitioning to have the Governor send police to the island to investigate three young girls who had gone missing. They are met by a mute chauffeur wearing a gas mask (the year is 1918 and the Spanish flu is raging) and they are told that they must isolate for two weeks in a rustic cabins in the wood. Their neighbors quarantining in an adjacent cabin are Stella and Frank Bixby. He is a psychologist from Boston who specializes in treating patients with recurring nightmares with hypnosis, and had previously treated Arkel.

The tension ratchets up as Anna sees flayed animals hanging from trees, a young mother with an infant in the woods, children crying for help, and Frank brandishing a gun at Stella. She spies an old friend, Mary, who had worked at the Fort household 23 years ago for a brief time before running away. But Anna is not a reliable narrator. When Mary fled, Anna suffered from “hysterical catatonia” and entered a private sanatorium for a month. Charles paid for Anna’s care and then married her, renouncing his inheritance.

Bakis returns almost three decades after her well-received “Lives of the Monster Dogs” with a gothic novel. This atmospheric tale retained my attention with its escalating pace of a thriller, although the theme of women who “stand by their man” was a bit heavy-handed. Thank you Liveright and Net Galley for an advanced readers copy of this novel.

This book had two things I love. It had a gothic style mystery, with girls disappearing and no one seems to care. Also, it had a connection to real people. I love when a book makes me d a little research about the people or events that the book is based on. I love the slow burn. I love the isolation. I love the historical significance. I love how easy it is to relate even though the events are from a century ago.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

King Nyx by Kirsten Bakis is a historical novel with mystery elements following Anna and Charles Fort, a married couple, in 1918 who are offered the chance to stay at the mysterious Mr. Arkel’s home on an island off the East Coast. When they arrive several women are petitioning for assistance to find out what happened to multiple local girls who went missing. On the island, things get stranger and stranger as Anna’s past joins her present.

The mystery and suspense elements felt really well integrated with the broader plot of and themes of the treatment of women during the time period. There are references to asylums and how little power women had as well as how hard it was to be believed. In a lot of ways, the book feels very topical and very current as many of these issues from a hundred years ago are ones we are still working on now.

Anna loves Greek mythology and her personal history with it is woven into her POV, which is something I always enjoy. She’s a more reflective POV and the entire book is told in flashback, with Anna telling her own story when her husband’s editor comes to call in the prologue.

I would recommend this to fans of historical fiction with suspense and mystery elements that are more focused on issues at the time and readers looking for a reimagining of the life of Charles and Anna Fort.

An atmospheric Gothic set on a Canadian island in the early 1900s. Anna's husband who researches anomalous events, takes a job working for a mysterious wealthy man and now they're deep into something weird. And girls have disappeared but no one save Anna seems to care. This is slow in spots (especially early on) and the writing can be described as mannered but Anna makes for an interesting character who is pushing against expectations for and about women during the period. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

Decent writing here but the plot was way too predictable for me. Nothing surprising or unexpected happened. The whole plot seems painfully obvious from the beginning. If you can handle that then this is a good read. Historical mystery vibe, just not much of a mystery. I found the ending unsatisfying.

Gothic mystery, ghostly, haunting, Jane Eyre vibes. It was a pretty decent book and it dove into some tough subjects. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't just read Jane Eyre in January. I loved the historical setting.

King Nyx has a strong opening full of blood and energy. It promises many interesting feminist gothic ideas--the woman of a mad scientist who might finally be able to come into her own. Then, we go way back in time to where his career started and while parts of that are compelling, the momentum tanks there and the story is lost in a mire of too much dialogue and too little action.

While Bakis alludes to some research into the period and treatment women often endured in their marriages and as part of mental health treatments, none of this is explored at a depth that would be helpful.

For readers who enjoy chatty and whimsical adventures with a few "strong female characters" thrown in, this might be great, but for me, it fell flat.

"Light and dark, love and war. Nyx, Nox or Night personified...subduer of gods and men...daughter of chaos...mother of Dreams...

"One uncreated; and one infinite...begotten before the worlds...to thee do we send up our sighs, our sighs..."

A haunting mystery. Anna Filing Fort, the real genius behind an opportunist "animalist" husband, now dead. Recalling a time the couple stayed at a vast estate and mansion with billionaire Claude Arkel.

Mr. Arkel's eery mansion. Missing girls. Crying, Mournful ghosts. Birds. The Grand Theory. Stella. Automata, life sized dolls. An underground chamber.

This novel is delightfully creepy and more and more horrifying. The suspense and speculation, imagining what could be in the darkness.

A dead first wife. Strange happenings. Strange monster sightings. Sweet, confiding Mary. The Realm of the Damned. Hypnotism. Sleepwalking. A greenhouse. An abduction.

Thrilling end, I did not see that coming. King Nyx, sanatoriums, cruel men. 🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars!

Stick with this one, it takes a minute to get going, but once it does it's quite enjoyable.
Recommended for those who enjoy gothic, science, historically-set tales, with eccentric characters (is anyone reliable?) and a feminist edge.
Jane Eyre meets Shutter Island, a little The Woman In Black, a dash of Rebecca.
Perfect for those eerie, rainy days.

I’m not 100% sure how to describe this as it’s not really like anything I’ve read before. It’s sort of gothic horror without being scary or supernatural, sort of steampunk fantasy but totally based in realism, and sort of historical fiction with something just outside the realm of straight up history.

Either way, I enjoyed the heck out of it. In the end, I suppose it’s really a view of what women tolerated and experienced at the turn of the century and how much they’d ignore to be even remotely safe. I’m not sure we’ve made the kind of progress we should have but we’ve made some. Still a feminist utopia seems as much of a fever dream now as it did 100 years ago, which is probably why I feel like it’s got fantasy elements.

King Nyx is a haunting, Gothic, historical fiction tale that takes place on an island owned by a wealthy recluse in the 1920s. Employees of the island are dying left and right while women suffer silently at the evil hands of powerful men. The story starts a bit slow but Bakis adequately crafts suspense as the reader explores the unknown with the main character. King Nix delves in to mental illness, abuse, trauma, and love in unusual that captivates the reader.



Thanks to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company, Liveright for the eARCQ

KING NYX by Kirsten Bakis

Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: Introduction to this author’s work

Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/9781324093534

Release Date: February 27th, 2024

General Genre: Horror, Science-Fiction, Gothic, Mystery, Thriller

Sub-Genre/Themes: historical fiction (1919) Amateur sleuths, isolated island estate, eccentric millionaire, repressed memory, hypnosis, delusions/hysteria, sanatorium, experimental studies, domestic abuse, unexplained phenomena, gaslighting, misogyny, sexism, missing girls, female friendships


Writing Style: Complex, detailed, flashbacks, intricately plotted, leisurely paced

What You Need to Know: NetGalley ARC on my Kindle Scribe. I almost tapped out at 30% because I was a little bored, but things eventually picked up, and then I became extremely invested.

My Reading Experience: “More lives are derailed by men who did whatever they wanted. The same story over and over again.”
An eccentric millionaire summons Anna Fort’s husband to his private estate on a remote island. Things are mysterious the moment they arrive. The driver that picks them up is odd. They must quarantine for a few weeks in a little cabin next door to another couple in the same situation.
As time passes, things get more and more alarming. Anna befriends the wife of the couple next door, Stella, and they begin exploring the island.
So many unsettling things happen, I don’t want to spoil any reading discoveries! I loved that every, single character seemed unreliable to me and that the early 1900s vibe was very pervasive throughout the novel.
Even thought I would never really want to be trapped on a remote island with suspicious strangers, I did very much enjoy reading about it.
A few creepy jump scares too! Some unexpected developments that made for some eerie scenes.
Loved the classic Gothic tropes at play too with the madness and hysteria, and all the ways men are so dismissive and possessive of women. Anna has an interesting past that involves a toy…very interesting. Maybe my favorite thread throughout this whole thing.

Final Recommendation: Perfect for horror fans looking for those experimental science research vibes, historical fiction setting, and a cast of strange characters. Mysterious, unique, and eerie. Perfect rainy day + cup of tea reading vibes.

Comps: Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Eyre, Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, The Whistling by Rebecca Netley

Written with a hazy dreamlike quality, on the surface, King Nyx is a gothic myself set on a Canadian Island owned by a rich recluse in the 1920s. In a deeper sense, it is a story about memory, trauma, and the roles men and women are expected to play. I loved the author’s first book, Lives of the Monster Dogs. This one did not disappoint. Though the story is a slow burn, the author set such a moody and lush tone with her descriptions of the surroundings and the glaring flaws of her characters that it was impossible to put this book down. Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book!