Looking For a Good Book

Nora Pacetti is happy to be a stay-at-home mom to her sweet new baby girl, Olivia. One day Olivia begins to wail in pain and Nora notices odd growths sprouting out of her baby.  Nora’s mother, Giulia, who tends to believe in every crazy conspiracy theory, is confident that the growths are pinfeathers – that Olivia is growing feathers.

Nora isn’t convinced in her mother’s theory, but she does know that something unusual is happening. Her husband, Adam, encourages a doctor visit but when the physician shows unusual curiosity and wants to run further tests, Nora fears that her baby will taken away and poked and prodded like a lab rat.

Life gets dicier when their home is invaded and Nora accidentally kills an intruder. Her mother’s crazy theories start to hold more weight and the family heads west before authorities come to investigate the dead man in their home. Olivia becomes more and more bird-like, and Giulia proves resourceful as she’s horded cash, purchased cars, and even has a cabin as an escape house deep in the Minnesota woods. She has also connected with another woman with a bird-child, who is also hiding out in the cabin. But why is this happening and who are the men trying to track them down? A mother will do anything to protect her child.

I believe that Christina Henry is absolutely one of the best modern horror authors writing today and Pinfeathers shows how to build a growing sense of both physical and psychological horror through the course of a novel. It’s marvelous execution.

As a reader, I wondered where this was going to go. I had confidence that Olivia was indeed turning into a bird (the title was a big clue, and the fact that I am familiar with Henry’s work helped cement the thought) but how far was it going to go and what was going to happen next? I definitely had some surprises, which for a reader of horror, was a real treat.

There’s an obvious supernatural aspect here and it’s in large part an action thriller – which I feel is new to Henry’s milieu – and of course the psychological influence through Nora’s concern carries the story. It was really riveting.

And yet … I feel it falls just a tad short of being a full 5 stars book.

We’re given some hints as to what’s behind the conversion(s) and the mother, Giulia, has theories about how this has happened and why Olivia isn’t the only affect child, but Giulia has already been established as someone willing to believe crazy theories. She *may* be right about what’s happening here, but then again she may be wrong. And so we are left with some major questions about the how and why. Henry does it address, very very late in the book, almost as a last minute add-on. It was a little disappointing to end this way, taking an otherwise top-notch story and leaving us with this piece that we really hadn’t been reading about.

Still, it’s Christina Henry and it’s a thrilling ride through 300+ pages.

Looking for a good book? Pinfeathers is Christina Henry’s latest book, combining psychological horror and the paranormal with an action thriller. It’s an exciting read

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars rounded down

* * * * * *

Pinfeathers

author: Christina Henry

publisher: Berkley

ISBN:  9780593954010

hardcover, 320 pages