Publisher's Weekly Review
A visual artist unravels after the death of her mother in Nguyen's exhilarating debut. Painter Annie Shaw appears to be living the American dream with her renowned journalist husband, Duncan, and daughter, Tabitha, in the Virginia countryside. The facade starts to crack when Annie discovers her elderly Vietnamese refugee mother's dead body among her hoarded goods in Annie's carriage house. In the weeks that follow, the emotionally fragile Annie gradually loses her grip on reality. Medication that once kept her obsessive-compulsive disorder under control proves no match for her spiraling thoughts, and she starts to see vengeful visions of her mother's ghost, who torments Annie with the horrors she experienced during the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, the ever-supportive Duncan is put to the test when Annie first becomes a suspect in the death of her art patron, Byrdie Fenton, then turns up at the scene of another murder with no memory of how she arrived there. Might she be unconsciously enacting the violent, compulsive thoughts that plague her? Braiding together hair-raising psychological suspense and poignant study of war's intergenerational trauma, Nguyen adds depth to the familiar setup of the unreliable, mentally ill heroine. Lisa Unger and Tess Gerritsen fans, take note. Agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Apr.)
Kirkus Review
A woman hits a tipping point in her life and has to fight to save herself and her family. Annie's mother was a Vietnam War refugee; her trauma response took the form of hoarding, and although she worked hard, there was never enough food on the table. So when Annie makes it to the Rhode Island School of Design and meets the wealthy, sandy-haired Duncan Shaw, she's all too happy to be taken care of. Fast forward more than 15 years to where the novel opens: Annie and Duncan are married and have a daughter. When her mother dies, Annie finds herself struggling to stay afloat: Her daughter seems to hate her; her husband is always working; her art career is stalled; and her OCD symptoms, partly inherited from her mother and long dormant, begin once again invading her life. Sleep brings nightmares from a long-ago car accident and dreams of her mother, always accusing her of doing terrible things. Then her husband and daughter both leave for the summer, and her compulsive behavior only worsens. When her art patron disappears and is then found murdered, Annie becomes a person of interest--particularly because she has started to suffer blackouts and can't defend her innocence. Is someone blackmailing her? Is she responsible for this violent death, and maybe others? Nguyen intersperses Annie's present-day narrative with flashbacks to her childhood and early life with Duncan, and cuts to a scene in a hotel that happens at an unspecified time. These layers add complexity, and occasionally confusion, to the timeline. The descriptions of Annie's OCD-- which takes the particular form of paranoia about germs, dirt, and contamination--and her struggles to control it are particularly visceral. It's not entertainment, this exploration of generational trauma and mental illness, and it's not exactly a domestic thriller, either. But there is healing to be had in the journey and the ending. Not an easy read, but it's worth it to see this flawed human grow. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
When Ahn "Annie" Shaw's mother dies, Annie doesn't know how to feel. Her mother was a Vietnam War refugee who raised Annie in a home filled with paranoia and abuse. Annie has been her mother's primary caretaker for several years while dealing with her own struggles: managing her Contamination OCD, her lackluster career, and her growing distance from her 14-year-old daughter, Tabitha. Duncan, Annie's husband, encourages her to give herself time to grieve, but Annie is determined to forget her turbulent childhood and the complicated relationship she and her mother had. As her OCD starts to take over her life, Annie finds herself at the center of a missing person's investigation. Everything comes to a head when she wakes up one morning in a hotel room next to a dead body. A twisty, horror-filled thriller follows, exploring generational trauma and the complex relationships between mothers and daughters. Annie realizes that the life she's created may not be the life she wants as she tries to weather the trauma and horror of everyday life. Thriller fans who can stomach disturbing imagery, including a gruesome scene involving a dog, will tear through Nguyen's incredibly compelling debut.
