A women's health physician is kidnapped by a cult and held on their remote compound to serve as their in-house OB-GYN and all-purpose medical staff, where she faces competing impulses to both do the best she can for the women and girls she is asked to care for and also to plot an escape. She's never alone, supervised even with patients, and has no way to tell where she is, who she can trust, or if anyone is even looking for her. This is an excellent short novel/novella that I would have happily read another 200 pages of, had it been a longer novel.
Thank you to TOR and Netgalley for advance review copy.

Gilead meets Waco-- An obstetrician is kidnapped by an off-the-grid Christian cult compound to provide maternity care to their members. Has timely commentary on reproductive rights, morality, and literacy. Pacing was just right for a novella. Really makes you feel the dread and uncertainty in a setting that could be entirely plausible today.

Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

I have been so excited for this book and it did not disappoint!

I first encountered Naomi Kritzer’s writing when her short story “Cat Pictures, Please” was nominated (and later won) the Hugo Award. It was just delightful in every way and I cannot recommend it enough. It’s about a benevolent artificial intelligence that just wants to help people and to look at pictures of cats. This story was included in a short story collection after it won, Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories, and I enjoyed that collection very much.

Later, Ms. Kritzer took this premise and turned it into the award winning Catfishing on Catnet, in which the AI hangs out with a bunch of teens in a chat room and helps out when the protagonist is pursued by her stalker of a father. It was a delight and deserved every award it won. (And more!) I also very much enjoyed the sequel, Chaos on Catnet, and her more recent book, Liberty’s Daughter.

So of course, when I went to Worldcon for the first time this past summer and I saw that Ms. Kritzer was reading from a new upcoming work, I had to be there! She read from this book, Obstetrix, which is set in a not too distant future in which an obstetrician is kidnapped by a cult. I couldn’t want to read the rest of it, so I was so thrilled when Tor and NetGalley approved me for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

It did not disappoint. Once again, the author creates an immersive world with believable characters that make you unable to stop turning the pages. You really feel you are there, captive, with the protagonist, and you share her creeping dread.

I predict this book will be on the Hugo ballot next year - it’ll certainly be on mine!

This is well done, seems to be barely science fiction as in it could happen today or maybe next week. It's short and gets into the main character's head quite well and touches on a modern hot button issue. Has a bit of a thriller vibe to it but without quite as much tension as some of those books.