12/23/2013
Leave-the-lights-on-tonight frightening, with a quiet edge of horror that is much more effective than gore.
It is not enough to say that Kasischke’s language is ‘poetic’ . . . [T]he language catapults us into another plane of existence, one of facade and reflection.
New York Times Book Review
A genuinely disturbing tale, each layer perfectly crafted, stacked together like a set of Russian nesting dolls, the tiniest one at the center the horrific secret that everything else depends upon....Both a masterwork of evocative prose and a bone-chilling page-turner.
Thought-provoking and chilling, MIND OF WINTER will have you looking over your shoulder as you tear through the pages to the shocking and heartbreaking conclusion. It will leave you questioning not only what is real, but also what it means to be a good mother.
MIND OF WINTER is a tightly coiled story of suffocating love and undeniable horror. Its grip is remarkably chilling, masterfully poetic, and psychologically unrelenting.
A terrifying brew of family drama and horror...The awesome ending doesn’t disappoint.
A nightmare-inducing domestic mystery...Kasischke knows that what lurks hidden in the shadows is scarier than any monster we can see. She also knows that, scared as we may be, we can’t resist a peek.
If I could stand on a mountaintop and shout over the land, I would do it now: This book is magnificent! It’s a gripping psychological thriller, at once both charmingly domestic and flat-out terrifying. Laura Kasischke writes so well that she leaves me inspired and very, very jealous.
Shocking.
A book that will haunt you for days and long, long nights after reading.
Booklist (starred review)
Impossible to put down.
2014-02-06If a Stranger Approaches You , 2013, etc.) chronicles the ramblings of a woman snowed in with her adopted daughter on Christmas Day. Holly and her husband, Eric, adopted beautiful Tatiana from a cold, impersonal Russian orphanage when she was a toddler. The little girl with the blue-tinged skin, glossy black hair, and huge, dark eyes adjusted quickly to the love and attention showered upon her by her new family, but when they all oversleep on Christmas morning, the day grows exceptionally strange. Eric rushes out in a blizzard to fetch his elderly parents from the airport, while Holly and Tatty—as they call their daughter—try to put dinner on the table for their guests, which include Eric's brothers and their wives and some family friends. But something is different about this day: Holly awakens to the idea that something followed them home from Russia, and she keeps trying to hold on to that idea in order to write it down. And Tatty, despite having overslept, keeps taking long naps. She also makes strange appearances in which both her clothes and personality change. Then there's Holly's phone, which rings often but conceals the identity of the caller and transmits odd messages. Holly, the sole narrator of the story, is a poet with writer's block, but in Kasischke's hands, she becomes a buzzing mosquito, obsessing over every decision, no matter how small and inconsequential. The story's most fascinating moments occur when the author decamps to Siberia in the days before and during Tatty's adoption. The rich and heartbreaking details surrounding the orphanage and the adoption process provide interesting insight into both Holly and Tatty. But the author's favored technique of taking random thoughts and dwelling on them for pages on end makes for some thin and often frustrating prose. A prolonged exercise in navel-gazing, with a powerful ending that may be redemptive in the eyes of readers who stick around.
It is not enough to say that Kasischke’s language is ‘poetic’ . . . [T]he language catapults us into another plane of existence, one of facade and reflection.” — New York Times Book Review
“Leave-the-lights-on-tonight frightening, with a quiet edge of horror that is much more effective than gore.” — NPR
“Shocking.” — Vogue.com
“A terrifying brew of family drama and horror. . . . The awesome ending doesn’t disappoint.” — Entertainment Weekly
“If I could stand on a mountaintop and shout over the land, I would do it now: This book is magnificent! It’s a gripping psychological thriller, at once both charmingly domestic and flat-out terrifying. Laura Kasischke writes so well that she leaves me inspired and very, very jealous.” — Elin Hilderbrand, author of Beautiful Day
“MIND OF WINTER is a tightly coiled story of suffocating love and undeniable horror. Its grip is remarkably chilling, masterfully poetic, and psychologically unrelenting.” — Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation Street
“Thought-provoking and chilling, MIND OF WINTER will have you looking over your shoulder as you tear through the pages to the shocking and heartbreaking conclusion. It will leave you questioning not only what is real, but also what it means to be a good mother.” — Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia
“Impossible to put down.” — BookPage
“An unknown horror hovers just out of reach in this gripping psychological thriller...Kasischke skillfully mixes an insightful look at a damaged woman with a twisty plot that builds to a shocking ending.” — Publishers Weekly
“A nightmare-inducing domestic mystery...Kasischke knows that what lurks hidden in the shadows is scarier than any monster we can see. She also knows that, scared as we may be, we can’t resist a peek.” — Boston Globe
“As a reader, you know that something horrible is going to be revealed—something awful and inevitable. And, when you finally force yourself to turn that last page, it will not be a scream that gets caught in your throat, but a gut-punching, heart-wrenching sob. A book that will haunt you for days and long, long nights after reading.” — Booklist (starred review)
“A genuinely disturbing tale, each layer perfectly crafted, stacked together like a set of Russian nesting dolls, the tiniest one at the center the horrific secret that everything else depends upon....Both a masterwork of evocative prose and a bone-chilling page-turner.” — Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People
