DNF at 40%. I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this book because I had tried Bakis's other book, The Lives of the Monster Dogs, and I knew she hadn't written anything else in decades. I also DNFed Lives of the Monster Dogs, but I found the ideas so imaginative, I wanted to give the author another shot.

The beginning was strong - there's a creepy atmosphere, missing girls, weird couple next door, eccentric rich dude, and a husband into wacky theories. A highlight for me was the first dinner the two couples had with each other because it was so believably awkward and strained but polite - I love that kind of scene. People are just *talking* but it's agonizing.

But then the story hit a lull. I found myself quite bored and uninterested in the various threads. Some focus might've helped - there are a lot of threads to follow that don't feel connected. I'm currently reading The Illness Lesson by Clare Beams which feels atmospherically similar to this book, also quite a slow burn, but it has more effective focus and slow escalation that keeps me invested.

There are many glowing reviews of this book, so I think it's still worth a try if you enjoy a gothic, slow, sort of creepy read. And I would still try another book from the author because I like her writing on a sentence level. It's the plotting/pacing I have struggled with in both of her books.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I'm really disappointed. I read and loved Lives of the Monster Dogs so much when it came out in the late 90s. I've checked every few years for a new Bakis novel with no luck. I was super psyched to have gotten an ARC for her long-awaited new book. Alas, I found that I was forcing myself to keep reading. I was just bored and uninterested in Anna's story. Too many plot holes, unrealistic coincidences, and character actions. Overall, I just didn't care enough about Anna to keep reading. Disappointed.

King Nix is dark, moody, gothic, and overall a fantastic mystery. Its fast paced with plenty of twists and turns. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read a digital Arc.

Mysterious island, gothic thriller mystery, and a determined cast of women. The premise of this book pulled me in immediately

3.5 ⭐️

This story is told by Annie, a wife of late crypto-scientist and poor received writer Charles, as she recalls a story of her own - a story of mystery, murder, and the oppression of women. A majority of this book takes places on a dark and mysterious island, owned by the unseen Mr. Arkel. But as we soon find out, the people on this island may have the darkest secrets of all.

I quite enjoyed this read, especially the characters Annie and Stella. I found that some of the plot pacing felt rushed, and the ending to the mystery was a bit quick to be fully satisfying for me, but overall, this read had me pulled in and guessing most of the way. A great read for spooky season.

Thank you NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the ARC of this book.

Starts off slowly with quite a bit of backstory. Some interesting ideas/spooky happenings but it didn’t quite come together for me. Thank you for the ARC.

Set in 1918, with a lot of references back to the 1800's this dark gothic mystery checked a LOT of boxes for me. We start with Annie meeting with Mr. Dreise regarding her husbands estate - you know immediately how Mr. Dreise feels about a woman's 'place' in society. Flash back - the story is told through the POV of Anna/Annie Fort a woman who grew up in Hell's Kitchen, who had lost her mother and her father was unable to care for her due to his drinking, ended up working as a maid for the very wealthy Fort family. During this time she saw things that were unexplainable and the Fort family decided that she should be treated for mental illness. She falls in love with their son Charles/Charlie and when he decides to marry her after her treatment, the family shuns them and they have no money. Charles is a writer, or a crypto scientist and is studying things that cannot be scientifically explained. He finally has a break through when he and his wife are invited to a private island owned by Mr. Arkel where they are to live for the winter and he is to finish his writing. Mr. Arkel is going to fund his studies.
Keep in mind that women were not allowed the right to vote until 1920. The time period that this book is written was a terrible time in the studies of mental health and illness and simply put - the way women were treated and what was expected of them. You will see this all through the book.
Anna had a friend when she worked for the Fort family, Mary. Mary was a head strong young lady who wanted to defy the world's expectations of women. She was encouraging to Anna and wanted Anna to believe in herself. She gave Anna a journal and encouraged her to write her story of King Nyx (love love love this goddess) Anna never believed she could write for herself... until the death of her husband. Then she decided to write down the story of what happened to them all those years ago on the island.
Everything was described so beautifully I felt as if I was in the story watching. When a book was opened, I could almost smell the leather of the covers and the dust on the pages. I loved this book and am going back to read her other works!

King Nyx is a dark, heavily gothic story of ghosts and automatons, murder and loss, desperation and denial, that imagines the life of Anna Fort, wife of the eccentric Charles Fort. In this novel, she travels with her husband to an isolated island where a mysterious millionaire has invited him to work for the winter. But the millionaire's own strange dictates and wants force the couple into an odd and tense living situation with another couple, also invited to the island. Anna begins to hear and see things she can't quite explain, but doesn't always trust her own senses as her mental health has been fragile before. But things begin to come together until the secrets at the heart of the island are revealed in unexpected ways.

The writing itself is mannered, reflecting the writing of the period, and the characters behave a bit unnaturally--but then again, it's a gothic novel and that's practically required. Anna's desire to both support her husband (who researches anomalous events, like rains of frogs) and her urges to distance herself from his embarrassing beliefs create excellent dramatic tension, as does the questionably consensual BDSM activity of the other couple. It's a fascinating novel with a lot of think about, and a compelling read.

This was a strange, hard to read book. Slow to start, the first quarter of the book is taken up with backsstory. As the story progresses the mish mash narrative devolves into silliness. I did not like the characters, nor did I find it remotely believable. By the time I crawled across the finish line I was heartily sick of them all.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and WW Norton for my free and unbiased review.

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Boy, what a disjointed, bizarre mess. It’s as though Bakis mashed up Shutter Island, The Woman in Black, Rebecca, The Yellow Wallpaper, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and The Most Dangerous Game, and I do mean mashed up. I had high expectations. Gothic narrative in which a woman with prior mental health issues is exposed to a mystery? Sure. Count me in. But none of what happens in this novel held my attention, enabled a suspension of disbelief, or aroused a sense of suspense in general. Honesty, had I not received this as an ARC I would have dnf’d it at about 50 pages, by which point I had physically rolled my eyes at least four times. I cannot recall another book that had me doing so.

CW: domestic violence, gaslighting, institutionalization, child sex crimes. fetish sex, gun violence, all of which are mentioned or gestured to, none of which accomplish the shock value I suspect the author was aiming for.

The more this author and her narrator revealed the less I cared, the less I believed the narrator, and the more bored I became. There was no sense of connection between so many parts of the narrative, each more bizarre than the last. A reclusive billionaire on an island? OK, but one who quarantines guests for an undisclosed reason and period of time in creepy cabins, has the, guarded by armed guards, and feeds them from daily trunks of gourmet cuisine that somehow magically stays hot,or cold forever? No. Runaway girls from a reform school,on the same island run by the same billionaire? Weirder still. And now they are living in the woods, in a graveyard, nursing infants in the moonlight. And don’t even get me started on the co-dependent narrator, her wastrel husband and their mutually obsessive research subject on bizarre rain (frogs, blood, etc.), and her damned birds.

Just nope. I clearly did not read the same book as the others who have reviewed it so far. This was not a well-wrought “psychological thriller” anymore than Annie’s husband Charles is a “crypto scientist.” Yeesh. Don’t drink the kool-aid on this one.

I do judge a book by its cover and this gothic/thriller drew me in. I found it a slow start, but once the action started, it didn't stop and the twists and turns of the plot were well rewarded at the end. The story of a woman trying to support her author husband while dealing with the ghosts of her past. When they are invited to a wealthy recluse's private island so her husband can finish his book, her past and present intersect in a gripping plot that asks how much of what is in our dreams in from our own reality.

King Nyx is a brilliantly written gothic mystery. Lots of suspense and unexpected elements. I struggled with it being so dark at times but appreciated the atmosphere as well.

Set in the early 1900s, this book is a gothic thriller mystery. Although the story starts off slowly, the author masterfully builds the suspense as the reader wanders through a dream-like haze along with the main character. Full of twists and turns, the anxiety is increased as more is revealed but not understood. The setting adds to the tension, as the characters are trapped together on a secluded island with no escape. An exciting feminist book which explores themes such as guilt, trauma, and gender.