Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky is a feisty, offbeat look into reclamation amidst horrific misogynistic violence.

Evil Genius takes place in 1970s San Francisco and follows Celia, a nineteen-year-old telephone company operator. Celia becomes obsessed with love and death after her coworker is brutally murdered by her husband. Her obsession with the case becomes more understandable when we learn about her own domestic situation: Celia is married to a man named Drew who is, quite frankly, a despicable human being. Celia accepts his highly abusive and controlling behavior as normal and loving, but she begins to question her situation after her coworker’s death sets off an unlikely chain of events.

Evil Genius has a strong central throughline of empowerment amidst horrific violence and loss. Celia’s sees the world through a somewhat off-kilter lens. She’s simultaneously shrewd and astonishingly naïve, fragile yet tenacious. Her perspective lends a sense of righteous outrage against the abuse, rape, and assault she endures as a young and vulnerable woman in the 1970s.

Oshetsky’s plot has plenty of clever twists and turns that land Celia in frankly outlandish, but horrifying, situations. Unfortunately, at a certain point it became difficult for me to suspend my disbelief regarding the number of coincidences and violent acts/accidents Celia encounters in a very short period of time. I also found myself a bit emotionally detached from the narrative because of Celia’s unique narration style. However, it was a short, easy, and entertaining read—definitely work checking out (I highly recommend checking trigger warnings beforehand!).

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A darkly comic bildungsroman about a young wife, stuck in an abusive marriage and dead-end job, finding her way to a life she truly wants to live. In Celia, Oshetsky has created a truly original narrative voice: intimate, compelling, and disarmingly quirky. The novel goes some pretty dark places, but Celia remains an effervescent narrator through the intense twists. The slightly retrospective framing didn’t quite gel for me, but the novel was a quick, surprisingly light-hearted read.

The cover could have been blank and I would have known right away that this was written by Claire (complementary!)!

More complex themes written in a very unique yet accessible way. Also Drew’s mom, toxic “boy mom” alert!

Highly recommend getting this when it comes out on February 17, so glad I got to read early.

Thanks NetGalley and Ecco for the eARC!

This is my first read by Claire Oshetsky, but it won't be my last. Darkly comic in the way of Ottessa Moshfegh, I couldn't look away from Evil Genius and didn't want to.

A 19 year old already stuck. Absolutely stellar. It’s twisting and dark, I absolutely rooted for our FMC every step of the way. It’s an eat it up in one sitting sort of novel.
The prose was so intense.
It proved once again how much I love the meeting of lit fic and horror

Dark, moody, and unsettling, this story captures the simmering tension of 1970s San Francisco through the eyes of Celia Dent, a young woman whose quiet life spirals into obsession and danger.

The author does a great job creating an atmosphere of menace—what begins as curiosity about love and death slowly twists into something far more chilling. Celia’s inner thoughts feel relatable and disturbing, making her descent all the more compelling.

The pacing sometimes lingers in her musings, but the build-up toward the inevitable collision is worth it.

This is a gripping read for those who like psychological suspense with a historical edge.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A feminist story that’ll have you on the edge of your seat for what will happen next on the FMC’s journey of self-discovery amidst trauma, grief, and isolation. The writing captures your interest from the first page and sends the reader on such a rollercoaster of a ride. This had a sharp wit laced through our FMC’s stark realizations and periods of introspection. Great for readers of Sophie Mackintosh.

Thanks to Netgalley and Ecco for the ebook. 19 year old Celia thinks she has it all: Married and working in the billing department for the San Francisco phone department. One day at work she learns about two employees whose affair ends in murder and Celia realizes that there’s actually no real passion in her life. What would it feel like to kill, or be murdered, for love? She starts pushing the boundaries of her normal life, which pushes her irrationally jealous husband, to the point where she creates a brand new life.

Celia Dent is only 19 years old, but the term "evil genius" lives in her mind after a coworker Randall survives an affair after the woman's husband shoots her and then himself, leaving a terrified but alive Randall cowering and hidden under the marital bed. Celia thinks Randall is the evil genius who planned it all as a way to get rid of the husband.

Celia dreams of getting out of her marriage to her controlling and mentally abusive husband, Drew, and considers how she herself can become an evil genius, smart but considered too simple and bumbling to be capable of planning any retribution herself.

Told in the first person narrative, the novel is interesting because of the personality that is Celia, who does manage to be an evil genius in spite of her simple outlook on life. Her job in billing and collecting on the phone leads to all kinds of evasive and demanding customers, some of whom she wishes to avoid ever meeting in person.

The job circumstances figure prominently in how Celia's dream of an evil genius solution to her problems. An excellent read because of an unlikely character.

San Francisco, 1974

“I wrapped myself in a glorious love story” with my Drew, a scrub tech at a hospital. He had a calm demeanor, wise eyes and promised that he would always take care of me. Celia Dent married at 19 and started to work for the phone company.

“To work in the Resident Billing Office was to live in a fractious sea of contradiction. We were supposed to be kind to our customers but also ‘rip their lips’ if they didn’t pay up. Every three minutes…a different voice…might be drunk or belligerent, or hostile…Berating us. Pleading with us. Threatening us.” Mrs. Brisket said Celia was a terrible person in an unusual face-to-face encounter after her phone connection to the world was severed.

“I was half disapproving and half aroused” by a crime of passion, an office drama. A fellow worker seemed to have orchestrated a hit as a result of a tryst with a higher-up. Having lunch and gossiping with women from the second floor sales department, Celia wanted to learn how to be more careless and free, to take risks. How could she when she was not permitted to arrive home from work even a minute late? “My Drew never once hit me. He only pushed me. Or held me down. Or wrapped his arms around me…therapeutically…beginning on our wedding night.”

“I thought I was in love with my Drew, but soon… I would feel the compulsion to take out…mother’s old nail file from the secret stash of memory-objects and bury it deep inside (Drew’s ) ear.” Celia would start to come into her own. Drinks with the second floor girls after work. Another day at lunch break, a visit to an old pawn shop, drawn in by an invisible compulsion to buy a two knife set consisting of a dirk and its matching smaller knife. A canvas carrying case would house the purchase. “Dirk” would look spiffy decked out in soft leather commandeered by Celia, with the little black knife concealed in her boot. She could now stand up for herself. On the train ride home, the train tracks rhythmically sang a song of “Love and Death, Love and Death.” Celia remembered an unnerving call on her work headset: A voice, “I’m watching you.” Who could it be?

“Evil Genius” by Claire Oshetsky is a departure from the author’s previous books: Poor Deer and Chouette. This novel addresses the issues of trauma and self preservation, however, the read is peppered with delicious laughter and thoughts of revenge. A traumatized Celia Dent, beaten down by life from an early age, must learn to trust and surround herself with positivity. Oshetsky’s beautiful prose draws the reader into this unputdownable tome, documenting a protagonist’s struggle for light at the end of the tunnel.

Highly recommended.

Thank you Ecco & Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure about this book in the beginning but then I was hooked and then I flew threw the last half of the book. The co-workers from the phone company were my favorite part. What a great read! Very thrilling and darkly funny. I will recommend this to people who liked Big Swiss.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book when I first started it but I was pleasantly surprised at how captivating this book was. Of course it’s mostly a literary fiction book with some humor and of course some thrills, but it was a very lightweight and enjoyable read the entire way through. The characters are so well developed but my favorite part was the narration by the main character in the way she tells the story, including some dreams that she has. This book reminds me of one of those classic noir thrillers that is easy to follow, so well written, and has a plot you won’t soon forget. I don’t buy many hard copies of books unless it’s one I know I’ll read again and again. Let’s just say I will be getting a hard copy of this one for sure!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review will be posted on Instagram and Amazon on pub day and links added to NetGalley.