The Hobgoblin of Little Minds

by Mark Matthews

Overview

Kori Persephone Driscoe suffered through her dad's mental illness. All she wanted was for him to get better, but instead he disappeared. Kori trespasses into the abandoned Northville Psychiatric Hospital, the last place her dad was treated, seeking solace and traces of his memory. What she finds instead is something no longer human living deep in the underground tunnels.

During the last days of the hospital, a rogue psychiatrist had been manipulating the mood swings of the mentally ill, transforming patients into savage, manic creatures who seek justice by the light of the full moon. When the creatures hunt for prey, only an escaped patient and her beloved child can help Kori survive. But they better act fast, because the creatures want blood, Kori wants to save her dad, and the whole hospital is about to be blown to pieces and bury Kori alive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780578786834
Publisher:	Wicked Run Press
Publication date:	01/28/2021
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.43(d)

About the Author

Mark Matthews is a graduate of the University of Michigan and a licensed professional counselor who has worked in behavioral health for over 20 years. He is the author of On the Lips of Children, Body of Christ, All Smoke Rises, and Milk-Blood. He is also the editor of, and a contributor to, Lullabies for Suffering and Garden of Fiends. His upcoming release, The Hobgoblin of Little Minds, will be available in January, 2021. He lives near Detroit with his family. Reach him at [e-mail]

Editorial Reviews

01/01/2021

This wholly original addition to the werewolf canon is framed by the well-known Emerson quote referenced in the title and informed by Matthews's (Lullabies for the Suffering) 20+ years working in the mental health industry. The fast-paced thriller, set in an abandoned mental hospital, recounts the effects of mental illness from the point of view of those who suffer and their families. Readers will fall into the compelling, action-packed story quickly, connecting with the main characters as each point of view is explored. Matthews offers a tale that makes readers squirm owing to its well-executed, visceral horror and the discomfort arising from a peek into the minds of characters trying to live with mania. VERDICT A deft and unique blend of werewolf story with an honest and respectful discussion of bipolar disorder. It is an obvious suggestion for fans of The Last Werewolf Trilogy by Glen Duncan but also a great companion to thought-provoking creature tales that contemplate the character's trauma as part of the horror, such as Ahmed Saadawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad.

Library Journal

2020-12-23
In Matthews’ dark horror novel, a woman searches for her mentally ill father in an abandoned psychiatric hospital and finds more than she bargained for.

Twenty-four-year-old Kori Persephone Driscoe’s father, Peter, has been missing for years, so she and her mother decide to empty the house where he lived alone after divorcing Kori’s mother. Kori also visits the soon-to-be-demolished Northville Psychiatric Hospital to look for her dad, as she’s done many times before. There, she finds disturbing graffiti in a tunnel and dwells on her father’s troubled past. A security guard discovers and chases her—but then a rock golem appears and murders her pursuer. She finds her dad in the tunnels, as well, but he seems disturbed, and committed to feeding genetically altered patients called Vrykolakas. Flashbacks relate Peter’s past involving the devious Dr. Zita and a patient named Maya with a troubled tale of her own. The Vrykolakas attack Kori, and later, she wanders in the woods outside the hospital; before long, she learns about a rogue doctor’s bizarre project. Matthews’ worldbuilding over the course of this novel has a contagious verve, as well as psychological complexity. Sometimes, though, it veers into undefined psychiatric jargon; for instance, unwary readers may not know that to “decompensate” means to lose the ability to maintain one’s mental health. There’s also some awkward phrasing (“Her arms wanted to embrace him, but her hands disagreed”) and moments of purple prose, such as a description of moon’s “endogenous rhythms of circalunar periodicity.” Nonetheless, this well-researched novel is likely to grab horror fiction readers’ attention like a sudden howl at the moon.

A fresh and eccentric monster tale.

Kirkus Reviews

A wickedly clever take on a well-worn trope, The Hobgoblin of Little Minds explores lycanthropy through the lens of mental illness and shows Matthews at the height of his powers as a cartographer of the many shades of darkness that inhabit human minds. This bleak, Odyssean, and impeccably well-wrought fable proves what many of us have known for quite some time: Mark Matthews is the reigning king of modern psychological horror."

~KEALAN PATRICK BURKE, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Kin and Sour Candy

"Matthews delivers a shocking new asylum mythos. At Northville Psychiatric Hospital, longstanding literary horrors of tunnels, malign treatments, and twisted minds receive new Frankensteinian life, patched together into a frightful blend of existential dread and family entanglements."

~TROY RONDINONE, PhD, author of Nightmare Factories: The Asylum in the American Imagination

"A stunningly daring descent into madness. Dank, dark and scary as hell. Brimming with tragic characters and monstrous villains--think Nurse Ratched by way of Dr. Moreau under the direction of Cronenberg. Proves once and for all that reality is often the strongest fuel for the nightmares burning bright. This one is a belter. An absolute beast!"

~JOHN BODEN, author of Spungunion and Walk the Darkness Down

"Matthews twists pioneering ideas from epigenetics and neuroscience into a classic horror tale, producing a nightmarish adventure that breathes new life into the werewolf legend."

~BILL SULLIVAN, Ph.D, Professor of Pharmacology at Indiana University, Author of Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are

"As a new take on the werewolf story, it is a fascinating read, but as a deep dive into the realities of mental illness, the book is an absolute triumph."

~IndieMuse.com

From the Publisher