A Madness So Discreet
by Mindy McGinnis
What is it about:
Grace Mae knows madness.
She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum.
When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past.
In this beautifully twisted historical thriller, Mindy McGinnis, acclaimed author of Not a Drop to Drink and In a Handful of Dust, explores the fine line between sanity and insanity, good and evil—and the madness that exists in all of us.
What did I think of it:
This blurb sounded a lot like what I heard about Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood: a girl named Grace in an Asylum, a doctor who shows interest. Further examination showed that it stops there though, and that the stories are hugely different otherwise.
That being said: I picked the book up because I enjoyed Not a Drop to Drink. This book is very different and even better than Not a Drop to Drink. I was hooked from the start. Grace is an intriguing character and so are the people who surround her. She might be unlucky with how she ended up in the asylum, but from there on out she meets people who make her life better.
I liked how McGinnis shows how the line between sane and insane is a small one. Some of the inmates seem more sane and more put together than those on the outside.
Next to the work Grace and the doctor do together, the story focuses on how Grace handles the Asylum and her past. Near the end there is a twist I didn't see coming and which brought new suspense to the story. All in all a gripping and emotional read. I will get my trotters on other books by McGinnis for sure.
Why should you read it:
It's a suspenseful and emotional read.
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