Publishers Weekly
04/01/2024
A sinister sanatorium with a history of escapes and deaths is the centerpiece of this eerie splice of psychological and supernatural horror from Panatier (The Phlebotomist). Using the alias Charlotte Turner, Morgan Bright voluntarily commits herself to the Hollyhock House, an asylum in Hay Springs, Neb., to undergo a short stint of treatment for purported “domestic psychosis.” Really, Morgan is seeking to uncover the undisclosed facts behind her sister Hadleigh’s death after she fled from Hollyhock two and a half years earlier. To Morgan’s dismay, the character of “Charlotte” soon takes over and begins cooperating complacently with the asylum’s bizarre treatment regimens—as revealed in postcommitment interviews conducted between Morgan and police and medical authorities and laced throughout the text. These transcripts suggest Morgan harbors two strong personalities in conflict with one another and call into question how much about Morgan’s identity the reader can trust. Though the description of Hollyhock’s strange therapies becomes repetitive in spots, Panatier conjures an unsettling mood of suspicion and disbelief from his depiction of the asylum’s cultish caregivers and their oddly ritualized behavior. Fans of paranoid thrillers like Catriona Ward’s Last House on Needless Street will devour this. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
"Panatier conjures an unsettling mood of suspicion and disbelief from his depiction of the asylum’s cultish caregivers and their oddly ritualized behavior. Fans of paranoid thrillers like Catriona Ward’s Last House on Needless Street will devour this."
– Publishers Weekly
"The Redemption of Morgan Bright is a gorgeous mystery. A layered maze that grants access to the darkness yet shows the reader only enough to put one foot in front of the other as they delve ever deeper into dread. Beautifully told and with perfect pacing, Chris Panatier unveils each piece with deliberation and care, building to a series of jaw-dropping reveals and an ending I never saw coming. This is horror that hits on every level, crafted with an expert hand. I absolutely loved it."
– Laurel Hightower, author of Below and Crossroads
"In his first foray into horror, Panatier draws inspiration from the repeal of Roe v. Wade and disturbing psychiatric treatments of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to provide an eerie commentary on present threats to women’s bodily autonomy… the story’s grounding in the real-life horror of history makes for a chilling read."
– Booklist
"Haunting, gorgeously visceral and, frankly, gross – the mysteries of Hollyhock House will keep you pinned to your seat, desperately flipping pages until its secrets are unearthed. You'll never look at a can of cranberry sauce the same way again."
– Lauren Raye Snow, World Fantasy Award Finalist
"The Redemption of Morgan Bright is a dizzying mix of epistolary recollections, sinister encounters and dark, velvety prose laid sumptuously upon the platter of Hollyhock Asylum. Important themes are tackled with Panatier's usual urgency and intelligence. A sharp thorn of a book."
—Gemma Amor, Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award nominated author of Dear Laura and Full Immersion
"A triumph. Panatier has created a world I never wanted to leave, but by the time I hit the third act, I dreaded turning the page. The Redemption of Morgan Bright is a brutal, beautiful, relentless, and tragic journey into hell. I freaking loved it."
– Sam Rebelein, author of Edenville
“This book kept me up at night, turning pages and seeing shadows out of the corner of my eye. Panatier delivers on a layered horror story that keeps you jumping at every unexpected turn.”
— Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, author of Grim Root and Glorious Fiends
“Panatier spins us a tale straight from an alternative America that will haunt your days and nights. This is The Handmaid’s Tale meets Midsommer, an immersive reading experience that will take you deep into the caverns of your own mind to inspect the wriggling, creeping things that lurk in the shadows. How would you transform, in the search for personal peace? And just how far would you travel into darkness to uncover a dark and insidious truth?"
— Caroline Hardaker, author of Mothtown and Composite Creatures
“The disturbingly irresistible pull of The Redemption of Morgan Bright grows out of its many deceptions. Like a Matryoshka doll, Chris Panatier artfully peels off the layers of his character’s mind. A beautifully crafted book.”
— Gabriela Houston, author of The Bone Roots and The Second Bell
“Lack of bodily autonomy, memory gaps, and ghosts are just some of the psychological horrors inside Hollyhock Asylum… every time I thought I’d figured out its secrets, another curveball came along.”
— Reese Hogan, author of Shrouded Loyalties
“The Redemption of Morgan Bright split me in two. Now there is the me before reading this book, and the me after reading it. A terrifying dive into the evil humans can inflict on each other, both while alive and from beyond the grave.”
— Jessica Hagemann Bross, author of Headcheese
“The Redemption of Morgan Bright is one of the best depictions I’ve read of civil commitment, where the most challenging battle is not against the institution, staff, and other patients, but against yourself. If you’ve ever spent time on the inside or know someone who has, you’ll recognize Hollyhock is as real as it gets. And it is terrifying.”
— Michael Carter, author of Boneyard Tales
“A creepy, beautifully written blend of horror and mystery, unraveling like a documentary into some very messed up supernatural and all-too-human nightmares. You will be easily drawn into the quiet hell of Hollyhock Hall, but I can’t promise you’ll make it out again.”
— Dan Hanks, author of Swashbucklers
“A twisted chrysalis of a novel. A book to dissolve the spine and rearrange the guts. Read it and be altered, emerging with the kind of wings that soar best in the dark.”
— Daniel Cohen, bestselling author of The Coldmaker Saga
"A powerful new voice in horror, Panatier skillfully delivers a mind-bending tale that blurs the line between reality and insanity while leaving readers to distinguish fact from fiction. An enthralling story that I didn't want to put down, I'll be thinking about this one for some time to come."
– Shawn Burgess, author of Tears of Grief Hollow
"This was my first time reading Chris Panatier, but it certainly won't be my last. The Redemption of Morgan Bright was a rollercoaster, equal parts Girl, Interrupted and The Stepford Wives, with enough folk horror and emotional weight to grab you by the throat and not let go until the very (shocking but satisfying) last scene, all of it orchestrated by Panatier's sure and steady hand."
– Paul Michael Anderson, author of Standalone and Bones Are Made To Be Broken
"Chris Panatier is a literary lepidopterist who goes-for-baroque with his gothic shocker The Redemption of Morgan Bright, metamorphosing a mindf**k of a novel that's equal parts Shock Corridor and Midsommar. You don't read this book as much as let it cocoon you, consume you, rearrange and change you from the inside out, and when it's done – with you – what emerges from its radiant pages is an altogether altered reader. What a beautiful butterfly of a book this is."
– Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters
