BEHIND THE RED DOOR

Nightmares have been plaguing Fern Douglas. That’s bad enough, but when Astrid Sullivan, a woman Fern doesn't know, starts showing up in the dreams, Fern has to wonder whether her nightmares might really be recovered memories.

As a child, Fern lived just a few miles from Astrid, yet she doesn't know anything about Astrid’s kidnapping though it was covered by the local and national news: Taken by a stranger, Astrid was kept for weeks and then mysteriously found near her own house, blindfolded and drugged but otherwise unharmed. How can Fern have no memory of the famous story? Now, 20 years later, Astrid Sullivan has been abducted again. Fern has a chance to investigate her weird connection to Astrid when she returns to Cedar, New Hampshire, to help her father, Ted, pack up before his move to Florida. Back in her hometown, Fern begins to read Astrid’s memoir, which sparks memories of having been with Astrid during her first kidnapping. Fern begins to track down people who might help her put the pieces together, including her best friend, Kyla, and Kyla’s scary brother, Cooper, who bullied Fern as a child. Meanwhile, Fern must once again navigate Ted’s “Experiments.” A psychologist specializing in the study of fear, Ted has used Fern since she was a child as a test subject, and now he is eager to interview her, hoping to use her newly recovering memories for his latest scholarly treatise. Collins nimbly orchestrates Fern’s growing sense of terror as she slowly sifts in echoes of long-repressed sounds and sights. Discovering who kidnapped Astrid and how Fern is connected makes for a tricky mystery. Even in the final pages, Collins avoids any expected resolution, leaving the reader deliciously unsettled and disturbed.

A dark psychological thriller riddled with twisted family dynamics.