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.

I intended to read a few chapters and instead read the whole thing in one sitting.
An OBGYN gets kidnapped by a cult to birth their babies and has a few months to escape before one of the cult members (or prisoners it seems), is definitely going to need a c-section, and another, who is 13, will be married off on her 14th birthday to an old cult elder. If the c-section woman dies on the table they may kill her like they did the last doctor they kidnapped.
Did I mention the doc gets kidnapped on PAGE 10?! Talk about fast paced.
This isn't even my favorite genre but this book was a wild ride and I highly recommend it, especially if you're in a slump!

A fast-faced, all-too-familiar nightmare. As someone who's biggest fears are forced pregnancy and living under an authoritarian patriarchal dystopia, this little book gave me the biggest of chills (and nearly a couple panic attacks too).

I loved this very quick read about an obstetrician who, after being put through a criminal trial for performing a medically necessary abortion, is kidnapped by a cult to be a doctor on their remote wilderness compound. An all too plausible scenario with some of the country being so hostile to women's health.

Job-hunting obstetrician Elizabeth gets cold called to come interview for a job, but it turns out the interview is a ruse for a Christian cult to kidnap her and force her to be their on-site physician.

There's no sense dancing around it, so I'm just going come right out on it: Tor has labeled this as "Sci-Fi & Fantasy" but I have a hard time seeing it as speculative because the core conceit—US states outlawing abortion and putting doctors on show trial for making medically necessary treatment decisions—isn't speculative anymore. We're already there. In some sense, I kinda get the marketing decision because as I read it I thought "Wow, this is going to be talked about in the same breath as 'A Handmaid's Tale' some day" (and even the plot of that novel is looking more like reality by the minute) but at least at the time it was written it was still several decades away.

Genre marketing quibbles aside, Obstetrix is a solid thriller. Elizabeth has to figure out who these people are, where they took her, the social landscape of their group, and the processes and systems they've implemented to keep the cult in line as she tries to figure out how to get back out of... well, wherever it is they took her. Along the way, Kritzer examines the fraught nature of being a medical professional tasked with providing treatment under duress to patients who may not be the most cooperative (for a variety of reasons). And the novella doesn't outstay it's welcome, leaving just enough push and pull between Elizabeth's desire to do the right thing by her patients and her struggles to find a way out.

That said, the pacing at the end felt like a bit of a stumble. It's hard to discuss why I felt that way without giving spoilers, but I'm very much stuck between "The last chapter was necessary because it gives some closure" and "The last chapter is anticlimactic and may have been better presented as an epilogue rather than a final chapter."

On the whole, a worthwhile read on multiple levels with its solid thriller plot and the broader social commentary on the state of women's health.

4.5/5.

A doctor, first prosecuted for doing her job and, although acquitted, the trial still hangs over her like a rain cloud. Then, she is kidnapped by a cult who needs her OB/GYN skills to deliver a high risk pregnancy. Obstetrix is a fast pace book about a doctor trying to survive her ordeal and still help those that are also victims of circumstance. While, I would not call this sci-fi, I still really enjoyed this book. The big climax felt a bit rushed, but otherwise, this was a quick and fun read.

This was an excellent read. Felt real and timely. The characters felt real and the story put a huge amount of detail while still keeping a quick pace and making you truly understand the stakes. This book feels almost too real to be fiction at times, but had a lot of heart as well. I was truly impressed.

Definitely a different take on a cult short story with birthing in it. I don’t think it really was sci fi seeing that the OB getting arrested for abortion is a real thing now unfortunately but other aspects of the book were good. I wish it was longer honestly like some people said the ending was a little rushed. I wish it would go through her background first maybe and then go into the cult. But otherwise I really enjoyed the aspect of the book and what it did. 4.5 stars! Thank you net galley and tordotcom for the e arc!

This book opens with a very relatable situation based on our current political landscape that made it very easy to get interested in. It only gets more interesting as the story develops.

When Dr. Liz gets kidnapped and forced to care for the members of the cult that took her, you can feel the struggles she deals with on how to juggle caring for people while still fighting to get her life back. This further develops as she begins to make connections with some of the less ingrained members of the group and tries to keep them from being hurt.

While the ending came on slightly suddenly, based on the overall flow of the story, it was still well-written and wrapped up the story well.

Thank you to tordotcom for the arc! Obstetrix is coming June 9, 2026.

I don’t think the blurb quite matches up with the book - it sounds like it’s a dystopian book, but I’m pretty sure this is just where we’re at as a society?

Doctor Liz is very relatable - now that she’s been kidnapped by a cult to be their exclusive OB/GYN, she tells herself she should just refuse to do her job. But as soon as she starts having patients, she can’t help but try to help them.

As she spends time in seclusion, she thinks about her favorite comfort read, and meditates on what that character would do, which is so bookworm coded I just loved it.

As she gets to know the other people at the compound, she wonders who is there willingly and who has been forced to say. She hopes her elderly father is looking for her, but also is plotting how she might escape.

My pandemic comfort show was Escaping Polygamy, and Obstetrix felt like a very similar experience. I was mad that I finished it so quickly because it’s just 200 pages long, but I love the characters so much and I miss them.

Devoured this book in a single afternoon. A heart-in-your-throat thriller, following an out-of-work OB who lost her job for giving a wanted abortion in a state with blurry abortion-ban laws (what, exactly, does "saving the life of the mother" mean anyway?) who gets kidnapped by a cult that needs someone on hand to deliver babies. Published by Tor, which usually does scifi and fantasy, but nothing about this book feels speculative. And did I mention that it also is about the power of comfort reads in hard times? Absolutely fantastic.

A quick read that is tense and fast-paced. Thank you NetGalley, Tor Publishing, and Naomi Kritzer for allowing me to read this book early.

A solid five-star read, Obstetrix manages to be both unsettling and weirdly comforting if your idea of comfort includes high-stakes medicine and emotional damage. Set in Minnesota, it absolutely nails the vibe. Cold, sharp, and just a little too real in ways that creep up on you.

As a Minnesotan and a medical professional, I went in fully prepared to be annoyed. Instead, I was impressed. The clinical details are actually accurate, the dialogue sounds like real healthcare workers, and even the political and regional nuances feel spot on for Minnesota. Nothing feels exaggerated just for drama, which honestly feels rare. Naomi Kritzer clearly knows what she’s doing, and it shows.

It is dark, a little biting, and self-aware enough to not feel overdone. If you are used to rolling your eyes at medical fiction or anything trying to capture Minnesota culture, this one might actually get it right.

A near-future dystopia that feels so real and so possible that it almost reads as a thriller. Incredible!

In the interest of full transparency, I should note that I have a strong personal and professional interest in obstetrics and gynecology (I work in neonatology). As such, this book could have gone one of two ways: either an overly fictionalized, hard-to-buy story, or something so realistic it feels unsettlingly plausible. Fortunately (or perhaps, unfortunately), Obstetrix falls into the latter category.

In a near future world where doctors are punished for providing routine medical care (an ongoing fear amongst those of us who have vowed to “do no harm”), Dr. Liz is seeking new employment after being sued out of her previous job. In an act of what can only be described as utter desperation, she agrees to interview with a “midwife group.” But the situation quickly spirals when she’s kidnapped by a reclusive religious cult.

From there, it’s fast-paced and thrilling, as much a story about survival as it is a musing on ethics and extremism. The ensuing spiral is expertly paced, striking a compelling balance between medical drama, suspense, and the darkly fascinating world of cults. Yet as wild as it sounds, it’s easy to imagine and impossible to put down.

4.5 stars, rounded up. Thanks to tordotcom for the e-arc of this book! Can’t wait until June so i can convince all my coworkers to read it too.

I have been so eager to read this since I saw the announcement and it did not disappoint. Naomi Kritzer does a fabulous job of putting a real human into this situation. There's no magical moment where she gains crazy skills and manages to escape like an action movie hero. Her internal struggles as she helps her patients and tries to escape is heart wrenching. Liz's vulnerability and her care for the women and girls in the compound makes her situation even more terrifying. The setting is painfully real, the horror elements drawn from current politics. I appreciated the depth that Naomi Kritzer managed to give while still keeping Liz an outsider, unable to really connect with anyone. I wish it was a full length novel, I would've loved to go more in depth with those side characters. Overall, it's a fantastic read. Highly recommend.

Naomi Kritzer’s "Obstetrix" is a powerful and unflinching portrayal of a future all too close to our reality. Through the eyes of a young OB/GYN physician, Kritzer explores the endless conflict between medical ethics and oppressive ideology, creating a story that resonates deeply, especially for those in the medical field. The protagonist's struggle to uphold her oath amid escalating government restrictions and religious interference captures the urgent and ongoing battle over women's rights today. Rather than feeling distant or purely fictional, this narrative reflects real challenges, making Kritzer’s fearless exploration both timely and necessary. I applaud Naomi Kritzer's courageous call to attention in a time when even words on a page can feel dangerous.

Thank you so so so much to Naomi Kritzer, Tor Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the eARC.

What a captivating read! It was short yet fulfilling, but I wouldn’t have complained if it was longer. Getting an outsiders perspective of a cult was interesting and Naomi Kritzer did a good job at portraying Liz’s paranoia as she navigated around figuring out who she could trust.
I’m not familiar with medical terminology or pregnancy/labor so I definitely learned some things from reading this. I also didn’t have trouble following along with anything because it was explained well in a way that fit into the dialogue.

I flew through reading Obstetrix! The story follows an OBGYN who is searching for work after getting prosecuted in a state with anti-abortion laws. She’s goes to a job interview, and what unfolds at her new “job” at a cult left me turning the page to see what would happen next.

Unfortunately for our world, I could see something like this happening in cult groups that I’m sure exist across remote America. The questions at the center of this story is the same question at the heart of women’s health care- what happens when a woman is not allowed to choose for herself? Why are so may people complicit in stripping away other people’s rights? Who can be trusted?

I loved that the protagonist is a menopausal woman-so many stories in this genre are about people in their teens or twenties. I also loved how some of the women worked to help other women.

I definitely recommend Obstetrix- it’s a quick, fast-paced read that absolutely touches on issues that exist in our current, real world.

I really loved this, which surprised me because I kept thinking I knew where it was going and then it just… didn’t do anything cheap or obvious. It felt way plausible the entire time.

Liz felt extremely real to me — competent, ethical, tired, and constantly aware that one wrong move could get her killed. I appreciated that she’s not reckless or heroic in a dramatic way; she’s just trying to survive and do the least amount of harm possible in an impossible situation.

The book never lectures, never explains itself, and never turns into trauma porn. It trusts the reader, which I loved.

This book is a “near future” dystopia which, at the rate things are going, could be just what the world is like come the publication date. A frighteningly realistic depiction of a fundamentalist cult, and a protagonist you will be rooting for. The supporting characters are also well-drawn and complex. Highly recommended.

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, I want to shout from the rooftops about this book. I want to buy a copy for all the women in my life. I want to read it again immediately.

Naomi Kritzer has written a wonderful fast paced thriller about an OB/GYN in the Northern USA who’s abducted by a cult and forced to provide care for the many women who are pregnant in their isolated compound. The story raises many thought provoking ideas such as the level of care she owes these people. And in order to escape, would she, as a doctor, be capable of shooting someone?

But beyond thinking of escape, there is the boredom. Treating a group of 100 fairly healthy adults and their children isn’t overly taxing. The compound has one bible kept under lock and key and no other books. At night our protagonist Liz longs for a story that takes her outside her current situation. She longs for written words. These are the most poignant bits of the story. I want to write more about the plot and how much I loved it, but I also want to avoid any spoilers & because you should read it instead.

I realized while reading Obstetrix that my eyes were leaking. Which then turned to tears and by the end of the novel I was fully weeping. A beautiful little story. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed every minute.

I heard about this book because the author KJ Charles wrote a review for it way back in November. The book doesn’t publish until June, but I hope it gets the buzz it deserves. A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a quick thriller that I didn't want to put down. The author realistically depicted the tension that exists in society between people's desire for community and the lengths they will go to cling to their proximity to power. I'm curious why the publishers are marketing this book as science fiction or dystopian, the story felt like it was set in present day and was accurate to the current situation in the United States - North Dakota does have a total abortion ban with limited exceptions and there do exist fundamentalist groups who live off the grid. I was left curious what happens next to the characters and rooting for them!

I was very intrigued when I first requested this book from NetGalley, and I was happily not disappointed! I appreciate being able to read this book as an ARC and recommend it as a quick read to all of my friends and my handful of followers. The pace of the story was a lot quicker than I expected (and not in a bad way, at all!).
I'm not going to write much to spoil the story, but this is a little spoiler: Liz's dad fully came through in the end and it really reminded me of how my own father, also a vietnam veteran, would have stopped at nothing to find me.

Obstetrix follows Elizabeth Gwinn, an obstetrician whose life has already been dismantled by politics, medicine, and the justice system. After being tried—and acquitted—for terminating a pregnancy in a medically and psychologically complex case, Elizabeth relocates to Minnesota hoping to quietly rebuild her career. Instead, she is lured by a mysterious home-birth organization, drugged, and forced into captivity at a remote compound where she is expected to serve as the group’s physician.
What unfolds is a chilling exploration of reproductive control, coercion, and autonomy. Elizabeth’s role at the compound is intentionally minimized—she is often reduced to an observer rather than a decision-maker—underscoring how little agency women are allowed in this environment. One of the most compelling aspects of the novel is Elizabeth’s bond with Bethany, a 13-year-old girl who is curious, intelligent, and being groomed for a future she did not choose. Their relationship, particularly the way Elizabeth uses storytelling as quiet resistance, adds heart and humanity to an otherwise deeply unsettling setting.
The pacing is tight, the themes are clear without being heavy-handed, and the ending is genuinely satisfying. While the novel tackles difficult subject matter, it does so with care, empathy, and purpose. Obstetrix is an engaging, timely read that will resonate strongly with readers interested in medical ethics, reproductive rights, and stories about women reclaiming power in oppressive systems.

This was a compelling fast-paced read that I simply couldn’t put down. While I’d have liked to see some characters fleshed out more, I did love the main character’s POV.

It's not often that I immediately turn around a review after finishing a book, but sometimes you read something incredibly special and know you're going to be hearing a lot about it coming up and want to be part of hyping it up. Takes place in a near future where we are still living in the aftermath of Roe v Wade calling, and our main, Liz, is an ob/gyn who was just acquited for performing the last abortion in North Dakota. She's kidnapped by a fundamentalist cult with the lure of a job interview in Minnesota to be their doctor. We get a hell of a tale of how she survives, the things she witnesses, how she tries to prevent harm as best she can in a place where fourteen year old girls are married to forty year olds with the expectation of rapid and frequent childbirth, and how the power of stories gives hope and shared power in a patriarchal nightmare cult. This comes out in June, but preorder it now, and enjoy the summer treat.

'm not usually a dystopian reader, but one that has to do with women's rights, sure I'll buy in! Yesterday I shared a book about ethics in fertility treatment, today I'm here with a 5⭐ read about an OB/GYN in a future we hope to escape!

In Obstetrix, Dr. Liz has just been acquitted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota when she’s abducted by an isolated fundamentalist cult in need of an OB/GYN. Cut off from the outside world and keenly aware of what happened to the doctor before her, Liz must navigate fear, control, and uneasy respect to survive. Gripping and unsettling, the novel follows her race to escape and find help for the girls trapped alongside her.

I really liked this book. The cult aspect was great, the kidnapping/held captive situation was a bit stressful without being too scary, and the lack of books and technology was a huge difference from the reality we live in today. I would highly recommend this book and am looking forward to checking out some of the author's other books.

Obstetrix comes out in June, so add this one to your TBR and keep your eye out for it in the summer!
Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher @tordotcompub for giving me the chance to read and review this excellent book!

A quick to devour novella, it was a page turner and something you can't put down!
I have always been fascinated with anything with a cult in it and this one hit all the spots.

Another typically fresh and fantastic novella from Tor, and from Naomi Kritzer, author of the delightful Catfishing on CatNet!


I read this 200-ish-page treat in basically one sitting. I relished the voice and thought process of Dr. Liz, the pragmatic and straightforward but compassionate (and fantasy literature-loving) obstetrician who finds herself mysteriously stuck in the rural compound of the cult-like group Harvest during a time when obstetricians are in short regional supply due to increasing hardship and pressure for medical professionals in that line of work - as Dr. Liz has already discovered all too well.


This moving and suspenseful little story read like a mix of Big Love, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Call the Midwife. In some ways - and especially in their shared ability to find calmness and inspiration through escapism into a fantasy narrative - Dr. Liz reminded me of another favorite Tor character who is also beloved for their keen-eyed observations and askance assessments of the humankind around them: that’s right, Murderbot! The book should also appeal to fans of Tor luminary Sarah Gailey. And is not the cover striking?


I’m not sure that Tor ever commits a misstep, and they certainly haven’t done so with this one. Obstetrix is due on June 9, 2026. Big thanks to Tor Publishing Group, NetGalley, and the author for the ARC!

As miserable as it is that our current political landscape makes this book plausible, I could have read like 600 more pages of this.
Obstetrix is a tense novella detailing the experience of a doctor who is kidnapped by religious fundamentalists to work as the only medical provider on their compound. Kritzer writes from the extremely engaging POV of a main character who handles her situation much, much better than I could in her shoes. Dr. Liz's determination to survive and escape is really well foiled by her moral drive to care for the women and children around her, regardless of the fact that she isn't there willingly.
The atmosphere of the cult's remote compound is another bright light of the book--it doesn't need to be driven home to readers over and over again that they're in the middle of nowhere. It makes the feeling of constant surveillance and the riskiness of trusting the intentions of the women around Liz really effective.
I'm not sure how I feel about this book being billed as "near-future science fiction". It's almost a little too grounded in its bleakness for me to associate it with the far-flung realm of science fiction. I feel like we're gonna read about a heath care provider getting arrested for performing an abortion, like, tomorrow. (Will they then be acquitted just in time to be taken against their will by a small-scale Gilead? Probably not, but you know what I mean.)