Psychophilia

By: Michelle Muckley

Narrated by: Joy Nash

Plagued with strange memory gaps, Charlotte wants her life back, even if someone has to die for her to get it. She has tried so hard to be what Gregory wanted her to be, and yet still he doesn't love her. Pregnant, miserable, and knowing she is being betrayed by the one person she had left to rely on, she promises herself that she will do whatever it takes.

She must learn the truth about what happened before that day on the lake, but lies can be seductive and easier to believe, especially when they are her own.

©2015 Michelle Muckley (P)2015 Michelle Muckley

Critic reviews

"The book is very hard to put down, and extremely suspenseful." (Bookish Girl)

Audio version is SO much better!

What did you like best about Psychophilia? What did you like least?

The narration of this book was not only superb, it was totally necessary to enjoy this book. I started with the text version and was struggling to connect with the main character. Not to mention the book was riddled with errors. Joy Nash brought life and dimension to otherwise garbled and confusing dialogue. It was written in rambling, run on sentences which make perfect sense in Charlotte's mind but translate poorly to written word. I wouldn't have been able to appreciate the main character's psychosis if it weren't for Joy's exceptional narration.

Has Psychophilia turned you off from other books in this genre?

No not at all. I found this book randomly on a search and the description intrigued me. As a sufferer of postpartum psychosis myself, I am always interested in reading other experiences of female psychotic episodes, even if fictional.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Charlotte sneaks into her maid's room and meticulously snoops through the maid's things, plays her music and steals random items to analyze later. That particular scene, with Megadeth playing in the background, is very well written. In that scene you can feel how undone Charlotte is, and how bizarre her desires are.

Do you think Psychophilia needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It does not need a follow up as all the answers (if there really ever were any questions) were all summed up. Albeit poorly. What this book really needed was a clever ending - or a poignant ending.

Any additional comments?

The downside to this book was definitely the ending. We suffered along with Charlotte through her twisted rituals, her loss of memory and her bizarre marriage. We are rewarded with a thinly veiled twist that involves an affair that has no background, a diagnosis we pretty much already assumed existed and a Japanese maid we don't know whether to love or hate. Her husband, Gregory, was as like-able as gout and the ending did nothing to warm me to him. There was nothing concrete in the ending about who Charlotte really was and whether or not the reader should get behind her or just get away from her.

Bizarre yet Gripping

The story takes awhile to get going and then sort of plods along in places bogged down with detail; however, it is a haunting tale. It's amazing to see just how far down the rabbit hole a person's mind can go and how it will manifest its own reality. A great book for a patient reader