Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

A Madness So Discreet
A Madness So Discreet
A Madness So Discreet
Ebook333 pages5 hours

A Madness So Discreet

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery

Mindy McGinnis, the acclaimed author of Not a Drop to Drink and In a Handful of Dust, combines murder, madness, and mystery in a beautifully twisted gothic historical thriller perfect for fans of novels such as Asylum and The Diviners as well as television's True Detective and American Horror Story.

Grace Mae is already familiar with madness when family secrets and the bulge in her belly send her to an insane asylum—but it is in the darkness that she finds a new lease on life. When a visiting doctor interested in criminal psychology recognizes Grace's brilliant mind beneath her rage, he recruits her as his assistant. Continuing to operate under the cloak of madness at crime scenes allows her to gather clues from bystanders who believe her less than human. Now comfortable in an ethical asylum, Grace finds friends—and hope. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who will bring her shaky sanity and the demons in her past dangerously close to the surface.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateOct 6, 2015
ISBN9780062320889
Author

Mindy McGinnis

Mindy McGinnis is the author of several young adult novels, including A Long Stretch of Bad Days, The Last Laugh, The Initial Insult, Heroine, The Female of the Species, and A Madness So Discreet, winner of an Edgar Award. She writes across multiple genres, including postapocalyptic, historical, thriller, contemporary, mystery, and fantasy. While her settings may change, you can always count on her books to deliver grit, truth, and an unflinching look at humanity and the world around us. Mindy lives in Ohio. You can visit her online at mindymcginnis.com.

Read more from Mindy Mc Ginnis

Related to A Madness So Discreet

Related ebooks

YA Law & Crime For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for A Madness So Discreet

Rating: 3.7272727424242422 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

132 ratings22 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An addictive read

    I picked this book up and couldn't put it down. I was almost late back to work because I was lost in the pages while reading it over my lunch break. I stayed up late at night just to read more of the book even though I was tired. I look forward to seeing more great books from this writer.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An interesting look at asylums in the 1800s? in the United States, this book took a twist towards then end that really surprised me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book did not go where I thought it might. It was a quick and light read despite some heavy and dark plot points. And it was interesting reading about 19th century asylums (and the horrible helplessness of being a woman in that era). *trigger warning for abuse, rape, and suicide.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This was okay. I was mostly just bored the entire time. Nothing enticed me to keep reading. The plot was really slow and I didn't care enough about the characters. They just fell flat for me. This whole book did.
    2/5 stars.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Actual Rating: 2.5 stars

    First 20%: 4 stars
    Middle 60%: 3 stars
    Last 20%: 1 star

    I have very mixed thoughts about this book. When I first received the ARC I was ecstatic as the blurb had promised a dark thriller shrouded in madness. And the first 90 pages or so delivered. But then the novel does a huge shift into a mildly suspenseful detective novel that faintly resembles Sherlock Holmes. If it weren't for previous reviews I had read, this would have completely thrown me and caused me to dislike the book. However, when separating this section from the first part of the book, I was able to enjoy it as a light read.

    But then, in what I can only assume is an attempt to bring back the darkness and also cause the story to come full circle, Grace relishes in the "madness" within her by killing someone in cold blood- yes, he was most likely guilty of the crime she believed he committed, but her lack of remorse and coldness took it a step further and her father's secret his serial raping comes to light in a twisted (read: roundabout or perverse; take your pick) way.

    At this point my interest started to wain and I grew annoyed with the many things I felt the novel was trying to do but could not fully accomplish. The ultimate blow to the book is the excuse Dr. Thornhollow uses to justify Grace's father's actions. Now, I don't know what the definition of criminally insane was back in the 1890s, but I assume it doesn't vary too greatly to the definition of today. And a criminally insane person would not have the capacity to justify his actions (i.e. say he did it "because he wanted to" and is childish) nor have the state of mind to keep his multiple crimes hidden. He simply would not care who saw him performing such acts.

    Sadly, this book did not live up to the expectations I had. It felt disjointed, like multiple books sewn together, and though I would have loved to see the beginning (at the Boston asylum) further explored, or the middle it's own book, altogether, A Madness So Discreet just didn't work for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Victim of sexual abuse by her powerful father, pregnant Grace has been committed to an insane asylum until the birth of her baby. At the hands of the sadistic staff she miscarries and is punished for her violent reaction by being placed in the dungeon. She unexpectedly finds kindness there, and is rescued by a doctor who studies the criminal mind and wants her help to solve murders. They travel to a benign asylum in Ohio where Grace finds friendship as well as darkness in her work with the doctor. The portrayal of mental health services and attitudes during the 19th century adds to the dark plot, and the suspense makes this a fast-paced page-turner.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book. Again The author did not disappoint! This was such a great historical mystery! There are a few triggers so if you have issues, ask someone before reading. I definitely recommend this one!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Normally when I write a review I give a bit of a synopsis at the beginning but in this case I think it is almost better if you hardly know anything but the basic premise before reading. The book is about a pregnant woman in the late 1800s who is placed in an insane asylum by her wealthy and prominent father in order to hide her pregnancy. In my opinion that's really all you need to know because this book goes in some surprising directions which in part is why this was a fun read. (And yes, even though this book was dark and disturbing, it still managed to have some humor and was entertaining).This is the second book I have read by the author and she really has a knack for writing creative stories with strong female characters. I have read other books with an insane asylum as the setting, even some that take place in the same time period of the late 1800s, and yet this book felt completely fresh and new. And while there might have been some parts of the plot I struggled with, mainly the big story line of the last quarter of the book, it was still a story that I couldn't put down. I actually would love to read another book featuring Grace as a character. While the book might not be everyone's cup of tea, this was an enjoyable reading experience for me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a tremendously good read. Grace goes through a heart-breaking journey, and eventually, comes into her own with the help of the young doctor Thornhollow. Fascinating characters, haunting atmosphere, a breath of fresh air for the Mystery/ Thriller genre. I hope there are more books about the adventures of Grace and Thornhollow.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis was not completely what I expected. I expected a dark story, which I got, but I also got a sleuths story. Within this dark and violent story I got a procedural crime story of sorts. Think a mixture of Criminal Minds, Law & Order, the SVU one, a little CSI and any show with a crazy person solving crimes, but set in the late 1800’s without all the modern day equipment. Just keen observations and the use of new crime solving techniques, according to the secondary character, Dr. Thornhollow, was first used during the Jack The Ripper murders. Crime solving procedures we today call, Profiling, Motive, and Crime Scene Investigation.

    Grace is our protagonist and I quickly learned that she has suffered some horrific things before being placed in an asylum to hide a pregnancy, which she didn’t come by willing. Life in this asylum was not pleasant in the least. The people in charge of the patients well-being were more like sociopaths preying on the weak than the care givers they need. Grace hasn’t spoken a word since entering the asylum and when touched or provoked, mostly by men, she would erupt into violent rages. One such eruption had her sent to the basement where the ‘more difficult’ patients are discarded. While in this unlivable to human kind cell, Grace bonded with her neighboring inmate, Falsteed, he was able to break through Grace’s shell and she began talking again.

    The story became more interesting when Dr. Thornhollow, a visiting surgeon who comes to the hospital to perform Lobotomies, arrived. The build up for his arrival gave me the creeps, and he was obviously not completely right, but sane enough to be very likable. When Grace saw how calm the patients he did the procedure on were, she asked him to do the same for her. Falsteed disagreed, claiming that Grace is too smart to be made that way, as it turns out, Grace had a Photographic Memory.

    Thornhollow decided that Grace would be of great help in his work and they all came up with a scheme for Grace’s escape. He took her from the Boston asylum to an Ohio asylum, where patients were treated with more care and respect. This was where the story took a lighter turn, morbid at times, but lighter because Grace right away met two of the most entertaining characters. Nell and Lizzy, Nell was the funniest and certainly not prudish, in fact most of her jokes were of a sexual nature. Lizzy had an invisible friend called String, everyone accepted String as just a part of everyday life, but Nell liked to poke fun at Lizzy about String, in a friendly way of course, and I enjoyed getting these moments of laughter from a story that started out so dark.

    The mystery and crime sleuthing comes into play when Thornhollow and Grace got to work helping the police solve crimes. The techniques Thornhollow and Grace used were discussed as a new way to solve crimes. This reminded me of the crime procedural shows I use to watch and sometimes still do. I always figured out where they were going with each clue.

    Of course things can’t be all hunky-dory forever, Grace was still a damaged soul and continue to erupt in rages when things are out of her control. When working on these cases with the doc didn’t help anymore and just added to her feeling out of control, Grace reacted in a way I did not see coming. I thought I knew where the story was going, but I kept getting surprised. The choices Grace made to deal with the things that plagued her were not what I foresaw. Didn’t expect her to go the by any means necessary route to work through her situation. While some of these things made Grace come across as actually crazy, it did lead her to do what she needed to start her healing process.

    I liked Grace as a protagonist, I was able to see who she is through all the pain she wears on her sleeve. She was determined, not a shrinking violet that’s for sure, and she has a kind of 1800’s girls street smarts about her. Even though it’s clear Thornhollow was a bit off, or maybe a lot, I found him very wise. I was intrigued by a lot of the things he said. The storytelling was comparable with the time period, I think the author did a good job with that. It had characters that were captivating, who made me really adore them or truly despise them.

    Putting aside the depressing undertone of this story, I was actually entertained, be it on the darker side of entertaining, I learned a lot, I would call this story Edutainment. The way mental illness was looked at back then was not they way it is today. I mean there were patients in the asylum with Grace that were in there on the say so of their husband or father. Most weren’t actually insane and treatment was practically nonexistent. And the crime solving parts were edutainment as well, if it’s true that these procedures were first used in the 1800’s, don’t know, but it was fascinating all the same. I’ve read a few crime procedural books, not just watch them, and I actually like reading them too, so I think that was the most interesting part for me. Seeing the characters do these things with new eyes that’s so familiar today, especially all over our television screen. Oh, another thing, there is no romance in this book, so don’t expect that. I think these people had too much baggage to find time for any romantic escapades, but believe it or not there were a lot of laughs to be had.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Grace Mae has to pretend to be insane to keep her sanity.I wanted to like this book. And I did up until about chapter 10. With such a strong beginning I was hoping to get some more gritty details, continue with the gore and insane behavior from both the patients and those who are supposed to be taking care of them. But once Grace escaped with Dr. Thornhollow it became The Adventures of a cold Sherlock Holmes and (Fake) Asylum Patient (Female) Watson. We all know Sherlock is a perceptive individual and very clever. A bit impulsive at times but he only does it because of the thrill of solving a crime. Watson is the faithful partner looking at things Sherlock misses and serves as a way for Sherlock to collect his thoughts and organize what he knows. Thornhollow and Grace swapped back and forth between their roles as Sherlock and Watson but there was no thrill. No chemistry or connection other than your-brain-is-useful. I couldn’t care less for the lack of romance but I’d like them to do more than just tolerate each other. I wanted at least a friendship between the two and not rely on only Grace’s friendship with Nell (a sex addict infected with syphillis), Janie (a nurse at the asylum), or Elizabeth (a clinically insane patient with a special string that tells her things). I liked Thornhollow and Grace individually but not as a partnership.When the crazy was discussed it’s when the story got interesting Falsteed a former practicing doctor who ate tumors, Senator May serial rapist and incesty pedophile who went after Grace his oldest daughter before almost pouncing on his youngest framed for murder when he didn't commit one, Nell going on a sex spree after her first ever lover gave her syphillis and she went after the guy’s family down to the last cousin for revenge.When it got crazy it got good but this book focussed too much on Grace’s non existent insanity. She was thrown in an asylum for being pregnant she reacted to her surroundings in a normal way yet she didn’t suffer PTSD. I really don’t think she was ever insane even when she killed the serial killer of the story, a very anti-climatic ending to that arcNot a bad story but it gets boring very quickly. I hate to say it but this was as psychologically thrilling as a YA could get and it's not a good thing. It tried really hard to be a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Criminal Minds that didn't work for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Grace is unmarried and pregnant, and has been confined to a Boston mental asylum by her upper-class parents. Her treatment there is horrific, but a sympathetic doctor sees in her a potential collaborator in his crime-solving work and manages, with the collusion of a few others, to slip her out of the institution and take her with him to Ohio. She lives in another asylum there, one with more humane practices, and accompanies the doctor to crime scenes. They attempt to solve murders by looking at them in a more comprehensive and psychological light. When they are faced with a string of killings that seem to point to a serial killer, will they be able to identify the perpetrator? These questions are eclipsed when Grace's past abruptly comes back to haunt her. Though she has escaped her old life, she left behind a little sister who is likely to find herself caught in the same trap as Grace once was. Is there anything she can do from where she is now to change her sister's circumstances?If it seems from that description that this book jumps from track to track, that would be correct. The first part of the book dwells on the horrific treatment of patients (particularly women) in mental asylums. Though a specific date is never given, from context clues I would guess this takes place in the late 1800s. McGinnis does not shy away from the darkness, so readers may want to be advised that this book might be triggering in several ways (rape, incest, miscarriage, torture). Then, after leaving the institution in Boston, the book focuses much more on the crime-solving aspect. This portion of the book is generally pleasanter for both the reader and our main character, but it does move a bit slower. The ending brings the two portions of the book together in unsettling ways; I'm still grappling with some of the details. I didn't love this book, but I'm also not necessarily the intended audience. Readers who like a dark historical YA book with elements of mystery will enjoy it more than I did.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book was very interesting! I love the unique characters and would really love to see a sequel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The story is disturbing early on because you've heard of things that went on in asylums in the 19th century, of how cruel and inhumane these places were, and the reader is not spared any of this. One such place in Boston for the mentally ill is where fifteen-year-old Grace Mae is sent after an unwanted pregnancy, a result of forced relations upon her from a family member. But Grace has a sharp mind, which comes to the attention of a Dr. Thornhollow, who devises a ruse and an escape to Ohio for Grace after the (implied) stillborn delivery of the infant. It's a major plot twist, and the whole storyline turns on it. Still an inmate in the Ohio hospital, Grace remains under the doctor's care and becomes his assistant in his study of the criminal mind. Together, they investigate the possibility of a serial killer. Throughout, the supporting characters are well fleshed out, interesting, and at times humorous. A few inmates/characters have paranormal traits, which gives comic relief to the hard realities of life in such a place. As Grace's story advances, there are even more plot twists with an ending that's unpredictable and quite surprising.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    ***THIS REVIEW MAY OR MAY NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS***I'll get straight to it: I am disappointed to see quite a bunch of rather negative reviews. I understand, I too had certain expectations after reading the blurb. And up to some point, that's what we got. Oh, the horror! Then there's the sudden change. How or when, you'll notice right away. Whether you like it or not (you might consider the following as a spoiler, though I merely see it as a warning...), don't stare yourself blind on the "high Sherlock content". If you do, you won't be able see the psychological aspect and the dark path Grace Mae continues to walk upon. But then, that's my humble opinion and I don't expect you to agree with me, just remember: it IS A Madness So Discreet!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I must admit I had high hopes for this book and it lived up to them. Were parts of the story a bit contrived? Absolutely. Were some a bit slow? Yes. But I still enjoyed it and I'm happy I read it. I really felt for Grace and everything was going through. Same with Nell and Elizabeth and the murdered women. It was well written. 5 out of 5 stars.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A woman is put in to an asylum because she is inconveniently pregnant. Instead of languishing there, she is taken under the wing of a doctor who sees her powers of observation. And there's a killer on the loose. Interesting but not mind-blowing.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I received this free eARC from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review. Soooo... I DNF this at 25%. I was really looking forward to this novel! I loved McGinnis's other novels and the synopsis of this one was very intriguing. But man, it is so dry and the writing is long winded...I probably should have kept going and continued to read some more of the story, especially because the setting was changing and I believe the story was about to pick up now that Grace found a way out, but I'm just not that intrerested in what happens with Grace, as sad as that is. What happened to Grace before being submitted to the asylum was terrible and I feel for her. I do. But because of the writing, I just feel like nothing was getting done and she was just wandering aimlessly. Sadly this book just didn't cut it for me. I think this book is going to be a novel for a specific audience and many will try to read it because of the author's previous novels, but this is not the same. Actually, it's almost completely different. I'm glad I was given the opportunity to read this early, though, even though it wasn't the novel for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was good. I liked it better than Jackaby, perhaps because of the darkness and realism. The insane asylum setting was interesting, if a bit disturbing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis was not completely what I expected. I expected a dark story, which I got, but I also got a sleuths story. Within this dark and violent story I got a procedural crime story of sorts. Think a mixture of Criminal Minds, Law & Order, the SVU one, a little CSI and any show with a crazy person solving crimes, but set in the late 1800’s without all the modern day equipment. Just keen observations and the use of new crime solving techniques, according to the secondary character, Dr. Thornhollow, was first used during the Jack The Ripper murders. Crime solving procedures we today call, Profiling, Motive, and Crime Scene Investigation.

    Grace is our protagonist and I quickly learned that she has suffered some horrific things before being placed in an asylum to hide a pregnancy, which she didn’t come by willing. Life in this asylum was not pleasant in the least. The people in charge of the patients well-being were more like sociopaths preying on the weak than the care givers they need. Grace hasn’t spoken a word since entering the asylum and when touched or provoked, mostly by men, she would erupt into violent rages. One such eruption had her sent to the basement where the ‘more difficult’ patients are discarded. While in this unlivable to human kind cell, Grace bonded with her neighboring inmate, Falsteed, he was able to break through Grace’s shell and she began talking again.

    The story became more interesting when Dr. Thornhollow, a visiting surgeon who comes to the hospital to perform Lobotomies, arrived. The build up for his arrival gave me the creeps, and he was obviously not completely right, but sane enough to be very likable. When Grace saw how calm the patients he did the procedure on were, she asked him to do the same for her. Falsteed disagreed, claiming that Grace is too smart to be made that way, as it turns out, Grace had a Photographic Memory.

    Thornhollow decided that Grace would be of great help in his work and they all came up with a scheme for Grace’s escape. He took her from the Boston asylum to an Ohio asylum, where patients were treated with more care and respect. This was where the story took a lighter turn, morbid at times, but lighter because Grace right away met two of the most entertaining characters. Nell and Lizzy, Nell was the funniest and certainly not prudish, in fact most of her jokes were of a sexual nature. Lizzy had an invisible friend called String, everyone accepted String as just a part of everyday life, but Nell liked to poke fun at Lizzy about String, in a friendly way of course, and I enjoyed getting these moments of laughter from a story that started out so dark.

    The mystery and crime sleuthing comes into play when Thornhollow and Grace got to work helping the police solve crimes. The techniques Thornhollow and Grace used were discussed as a new way to solve crimes. This reminded me of the crime procedural shows I use to watch and sometimes still do. I always figured out where they were going with each clue.

    Of course things can’t be all hunky-dory forever, Grace was still a damaged soul and continue to erupt in rages when things are out of her control. When working on these cases with the doc didn’t help anymore and just added to her feeling out of control, Grace reacted in a way I did not see coming. I thought I knew where the story was going, but I kept getting surprised. The choices Grace made to deal with the things that plagued her were not what I foresaw. Didn’t expect her to go the by any means necessary route to work through her situation. While some of these things made Grace come across as actually crazy, it did lead her to do what she needed to start her healing process.

    I liked Grace as a protagonist, I was able to see who she is through all the pain she wears on her sleeve. She was determined, not a shrinking violet that’s for sure, and she has a kind of 1800’s girls street smarts about her. Even though it’s clear Thornhollow was a bit off, or maybe a lot, I found him very wise. I was intrigued by a lot of the things he said. The storytelling was comparable with the time period, I think the author did a good job with that. It had characters that were captivating, who made me really adore them or truly despise them.

    Putting aside the depressing undertone of this story, I was actually entertained, be it on the darker side of entertaining, I learned a lot, I would call this story Edutainment. The way mental illness was looked at back then was not they way it is today. I mean there were patients in the asylum with Grace that were in there on the say so of their husband or father. Most weren’t actually insane and treatment was practically nonexistent. And the crime solving parts were edutainment as well, if it’s true that these procedures were first used in the 1800’s, don’t know, but it was fascinating all the same. I’ve read a few crime procedural books, not just watch them, and I actually like reading them too, so I think that was the most interesting part for me. Seeing the characters do these things with new eyes that’s so familiar today, especially all over our television screen. Oh, another thing, there is no romance in this book, so don’t expect that. I think these people had too much baggage to find time for any romantic escapades, but believe it or not there were a lot of laughs to be had.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: A compelling read that begs you to question your own sanity.Opening Sentence: They all had their terrors.The Review:What a fantastic read! A Madness So Discreet is the sort of story that will make you question sanity itself. What defines sane and insane? Where is the line drawn? Who decides?The MC, Grace, is a young lady admitted to an asylum after being impregnated out of wedlock. In Grace’s time and society it is appalling to have such a thing happen so her family sends the young lady to an insane asylum to have her baby in secret, ship the baby off and for Grace to return home from her ‘European tour’ as if nothing has changed. The problem is, everything for Grace has changed because her father raped her and it’s his child she carries!They all had their terrors, but at least the spiders that lived in the new girl’s veins were imaginary. Grace had learned long ago that the true horrors of this world were other people.At the asylum Grace loses her baby but fakes her death and is smuggled out as an apprentice to Dr. Thornhollow, a doctor that studies criminal minds.“This one’s as cold as the water she’s sitting in, down past her bones and into her soul. Nothing wrong with her brain. It’s her heart that’s got no life in it.”I can’t begin to describe why I loved this book so much but I’ll give it a try. Firstly, Grace is the perfect MC; she’s gone through a terrible ordeal and comes out stronger than ever, is extremely intelligent and uses her wit to her advantage in a time when women were underestimated. In some respects, Grace seems crazy. She has the ability to literally switch of her emotions at will, even when she’s faced by a cut-up corpse! But this book has taught me that the terms sanity and insanity are often our perceptions and the society we live in. We are so quick to judge but usually it’s far from the truth.“What a shock you’ve had. Taken from that world into this. You used to move about in light and lavender, with the laughter pouring from you, and now it’s all blood and darkness, with your throat closed so tight your own breath is choking you.”Thornhollow is a brilliant character. I’ve never come across the likes of him before. He is kind of a genius in his field of work but has very little understanding of human relations and emotions. Thornhollow’s inability to act normal was hilarious, and added lightness to this otherwise intense read. His interaction /relationship with Grace was particularly entertaining because even though there was no romance, their chemistry as doctor and protégé/patient was brilliant.“Who is this Dr. Thornhollow you spoke of?” she asked. “Him? He’s the sanest of us all.”“Why is that?”“Because he knows he’s insane.”There were many other odd characters scattered in this story and usually I fail to remember them. However, the author managed to develop them all in such a way that I couldn’t forget even the house crazy stable boy, or the doctor’s feminist sister. Each character was unique and memorable, making the story a pleasure to read without any confusion.“I know that this is highly irregular,” Thornhollow went on, his voice pitched low.“Ighly irregular is me daily life, Doctor. Bein’ asked if I want to go for a stroll down to the ‘orehouse with a mute lassie alongside me by a man ‘oo’s supposed to be the next Jaysus Christ is flat cockamamie.”This is my second 5-star read this year and I cannot wait to read more by Mindy McGinnis.Notable Scene:“So are we really that different? The healthy and the ill?” Grace asked.“I would argue that there is no difference at all,” Thornhollow said. “To me the insane are simply people who have chosen not to participate in the world in the same manner as the majority, and there are days I don’t wonder if they’ve got the right of it.”“You make it sound as if hardly anyone is insane with a definition as narrow as that.”“Quite the opposite, my definition is too broad. I think we’re all quite made. Some of us are just more discreet about it.”FTC Advisory: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins provided me with a copy of A Madness So Discreet. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    ‘They all had their terrors, but at least the spiders that lived in the new girl’s veins were imaginary. Grace has learned long ago that the true horrors of this world were other people.’A Madness So Discreet introduces Grace Mae, a young woman who has been placed in an asylum in an attempt to hide her out of wedlock pregnancy in addition to the horrible secret to how she came to be pregnant in the first place. She is certainly of sound mind, however, the long nights spent listening to the screams of patients echoing the corridors is enough to effect even the toughest of individuals. When an opportunity to leave the asylum is presented to her she jumps at the opportunity for a fresh start, but Grace soon finds that sometimes your past finds a way to sneak up on you.The beginning is one of the most shocking and audacious introductions I have come across in YA. We’re introduced to Grace and the patients in the Wayburne Lunatic Asylum of Boston and a terrifying picture is quickly painted. This is set in the 19th century and patients are not treated as people, they are not given sufficient food or clothing, and they are thrown into the basement cells which leak rainwater from outside as a form of punishment. There are other far worse punishments described as well. It was grisly and utterly distressing but considering grisly and distressing are totally my thing, I was immediately foreseeing a first-rate reading experience. Alas, the book took an odd turn after that.‘They work their discreet types of madness on us, power and pain, and we hold on to our truths in the darkness.’Going from a decidedly Gothic feel and leaving the confines of the asylum, it quickly transforms into a something of a crime thriller, just minus the thrill. Grace is placed in the care of Dr. Thornhollow after he takes a keen interest in her sharp mind and believes she can be of assistance to him. Why he goes to such dramatic lengths to get her out of the asylum is beyond me though. See, Dr. Thornhollow believes himself to be Sherlock in his spare time, investigating crimes and catching killers. Towards the end we once again take an odd turn and it quickly becomes an episode of Law & Order.Referencing a book as having a Gothic feel, set in an asylum with crime and legal aspects should have been a home-run for me and I can’t decide whether all aspects combined were simply too much or it was simply too far-fetched for it to feel any way authentic. I would have much preferred Grace’s story to play out within the asylum walls, wrestling her inner-demons.

Book preview

A Madness So Discreet - Mindy McGinnis

ONE

They all had their terrors.

The new girl believed that spiders lived in her veins.

Her screams sliced through the darkness, passing through the thin walls of Grace’s cell and filling her brain with another’s misery to add to the pressures of her own. Grace pulled her pillow tight over her ears, ignoring the feather shafts that poked through the cheap muslin and pricked her skin. On the other side of the wall she could hear Mrs. Clay shifting in her bed, sleep stolen from both patients by the new girl, who hadn’t learned yet that screaming didn’t bring help.

Quite the opposite.

The ward door crashed open, the metal clanging against the stone wall and bringing cries from all corners as patients rushed away from the noise and whatever fresh hell it brought. The girl screamed louder, ignorantly drawing her tormentors to her. Grace identified the dragging gait of the women’s ward administrator as they passed her cell, followed by Dr. Heedson’s lighter step.

An unintelligible string of words from the new girl was silenced by a sharp crack. Another slew of syllables that meant nothing brought the harsh snap of a kick. Grace jammed her fingers into her ears until all she could hear was her heart as it pushed blood through her body, no matter how she wished for it to stop. The new girl wasn’t learning the efficacy of silence, the art of invisibility. Grace had given up speech long ago. Once the words no and stop had done nothing, the others refused to come out, their inadequacy making the effort necessary to voice them an equation too easily solved. Grace curled into a protective ball as Croomes and Heedson left the ward, the whimpers of the new girl trailing in their wake. Grace could deafen herself with her own hands and squeeze her eyes shut so tightly that the muscles in her face twitched in agony. But the acuity of her memory was a dark artist at work in her mind, painting pictures without her permission.

She moaned, pressing her forehead into the sharp ridges of her kneecaps. They poked through her threadbare nightgown into her eyelids, sending sparks across her sight, defying her dearest wish—to stop seeing. Faces were the most painful and the most likely to surface in the dark hours of the night. The spider girl’s moans had conjured her mother’s face in exquisite detail, each finely etched wrinkle apparent as she grimaced under whatever new indignity had been brought upon her, the edges of her lips permanently stained with wine.

Grace turned her head from the apparition, tentatively drawing her fingers from her ears. The ward had returned to silence, but her brain would almost welcome strings of gibberish in the dark, anything to send her thoughts on another avenue than the one it had chosen. It barreled on, resurrecting her father’s face twisted into a paroxysm no daughter should ever witness.

Her cry broke the stillness, bringing movement from Mrs. Clay’s cell. A soft humming threaded through the air, the only comfort her friend could offer through the walls that separated them. Grace latched on to the notes, following the pattern until she learned it. She joined in soundlessly, the silence she’d enveloped herself with too sacred to break. Her mind toyed with the notes, happy to be busy. She relaxed as it allowed itself to be bent to her whim, tracing the pattern of the lace cloth at home instead of the faces around the table. Grace’s hand fell to her belly as she drifted into sleep, cradling the life that grew there.

They all had their terrors, but at least the spiders that lived in the new girl’s veins were imaginary. Grace had learned long ago that the true horrors of this world were other people.

TWO

It was still dark outside when they were called to breakfast by the sound of Miss Marie walking the hall with her cowbell. Even though the clanging noise seemed to perforate her lips and bounce off her teeth while she dressed, Grace preferred Marie’s method of waking the inmates as opposed to Croomes’s; she was more likely to unlock the door and barge in, hoping to catch some infringement that she could punish.

Grace’s nightshirt went over her head, a flimsy shift taking its place. There were no undergarments to bother with; she’d been stripped immediately after her admittance, her corset, chemise, and petticoat whisked from her bare skin to reveal the guilty bulge of her belly while she was given a bath, Croomes scrubbing unnecessarily hard over her tender abdomen.

The lye soap had left burn marks on her skin, some laced with the deep scratches from Croomes. They scabbed over while she lay crying that night, the last of her voice seeping out of her while the Grace Mae who had worn a red velvet dress hours before fell asleep to wake only as Grace. Her family name had been stripped from her along with her clothes. There would be no record of a person with the last name of Mae in Wayburne Lunatic Asylum of Boston. Her father wouldn’t stand for it.

As her first days in the asylum had passed, she began to think of her body as a scab that served only to protect the tiny movements inside of her. Eventually she would be able to protect it no more; it would be forced into the world kicking and screaming, wanting nothing more than the protection and silence that the darkness had offered.

She understood babies now, and their reluctance to be born. Once hers was forced into the light and taken away, her body would be of no more use. She could only hope it would be allowed to slough off the world, unnoticed. Until then, she had only to wait.

Grace combed her light hair roughly with her fingers, catching the split ends in the ragged tips of her nails. Miss Marie gave a perfunctory tap on the door before unlocking it, taking one glance at her, and saying, Well, you’re one less I’ll have to help dress, at least, and moving on.

Mrs. Clay was in the hall, deftly working her dark hair into a bun with the pin she was allowed to keep even though it was against the rules. Grace stepped over a writhing woman, well aware of her own untidy hair and what price Mrs. Clay paid for her small luxuries. To be an exemplary patient meant she was paraded about when the Board came to inspect the asylum, her hairpin a prize won at a carnival where she was the animal on display.

Hello, dear. Mrs. Clay smiled, the tiniest of lines around her mouth edging more deeply as she did. I hope you slept well.

Grace shook her head as Mrs. Clay tucked her hand inside of Grace’s elbow to steer her toward the dining hall. Unperturbed by her walking partner’s continued silence, Mrs. Clay kept on. Come and have your food before there’s none left for you or the babe.

Food was a constant struggle. The kitchens provided only what they could afford for the day, regardless of how many mouths there were to feed. Many inmates never made it to the tables in time to see food but made the best of it with crumbs and scraps that fell to the floor. If not for the driving necessity of eating for two, Grace would’ve been happy to be a forgotten one who died quietly in her cell.

But for now her appetite was a pit, and she fed it with the abandon of the desperate. They made for the tables and the food piled there, the press of unwashed bodies on all sides of them breaking any pretense of a line. Mrs. Clay snatched two slices of bread, rolling one into a ball and hiding it in the folds of her skirts for Grace later. Grace dove for her own piece, slapping away the filthy hands of the girl on her right, who hissed at her. She jammed the bread into her mouth, ignoring the threat.

Grace chewed as quickly as possible, grinding the heavy bread with her teeth and peeling it off the roof of her mouth with her tongue. Even without knives and forks, her training wouldn’t allow her to stuff her fingers in her mouth. Across the table from her, Cracked Pat had no such compunctions. Fingers caked with food went into her mouth, along with fistfuls of her hair that she’d managed to pull free from her head. Grace turned away, her delicate stomach turning. Mrs. Clay followed with the concealed bread, and they retreated to a corner by a window rendered nearly opaque by streaks of bird droppings.

Here then, eat up, Mrs. Clay said, passing the bread tightly in her fist over to Grace. She leaned against the window and watched as Grace devoured it. Whoever thought the idea of sitting while you ate your food would seem like a treat, eh?

She was rewarded with a tiny smile, but Grace’s thoughts slipped away again, to the days when sweet Alice’s angelic face was what she saw across the table, not Cracked Pat’s bleeding scalp.

Fresh bruises on that one. Mrs. Clay jerked her chin toward the door where a patient not much older than Grace was making her unsure way to the table. Must be the new girl that was screaming about the spiders.

Grace nodded but didn’t turn her head to look.

Mrs. Clay reached out and touched her chin, pulling Grace’s blue gaze to her own. Have a care, girl. Show me you’ll take an interest in something around you, bleak as it all may be. You can keep your words inside if you want, but I see your eyes looking far off and your arms crossed over your belly. They’ll take it from you when it’s born and after that I won’t see you again even if I should get out of this place. I don’t think my kind is welcome at your home address.

Grace’s eyebrows drew together.

It’s your hands that give you away, Mrs. Clay said, taking one of Grace’s in her own. All smooth and lily-white, never done a lick of work in your life. I’ve got the calluses of twenty years at the plow, and every penny earned from it right into the husband’s pocket once he shucked me in here.

Grace pulled her hand back to rest on her stomach, and Mrs. Clay’s mouth tightened. You’re not the first young woman of your class I’ve seen in here, heavy around the waist. However that child was got on you, your family will want you back once it’s gone. You storing everything up on your insides won’t do you no favors once you’re past these walls. Find something outside to bring you back to the world, or you may end up here for good.

Grace’s eyes returned to the window, where a light morning rain began to seep through the layers of grime, allowing splashes of color from the outside world into the gray interior. Mrs. Clay sighed heavily and rested a hand on her shoulder.

Kind as they were, Mrs. Clay’s words were lost on Grace. She knew the baby would be born, and with its exit would come her reentry into the world she’d known. They would sew her back into her red velvet dress she’d arrived in. Her father’s black lacquered carriage would gather her after hours, the rolling wheels taking her back home to her own room, her own bed. Her own terrors.

She had already decided she was never leaving.

THREE

"Water treatment for you today?" Mrs. Clay asked, as they strolled arm in arm through the halls, stepping over inert bodies.

For you today? For you today? Cracked Pat kept pace alongside them, echoing Mrs. Clay’s words. Grace nodded as Cracked Pat reached up and plucked at Grace’s blond hair, which Mrs. Clay had neatly tucked into a bun using her pin.

There’s the little lady, Croomes’s voice bellowed down the stony hall, as she waddled toward them. Keeping time with the farmer’s wife, a fine pair of friends they are. I’m sure the two of you are plotting rather a nice picnic. Perhaps you’ll go for an afternoon ride on your matching ponies afterward? In the meantime it’s my clock you’re on, and it says you’re next for your treatment. Croomes made a mock bow.

I’ll remind you that I am not a farmer’s wife, Mrs. Clay said, her voice cold.

That a fact? Croomes asked.

It is, Mrs. Clay said. My husband divorced me soon after shuttling me in here. One word from him and the signature of a judge and I’m insane. My lands became his, the judge’s sister his wife, my children now hers.

Sad story you got there, Croomes said.

I am not a farmer’s wife. If you call me that again, they’ll have good reason to put me in solitary and you’ll be missing an eye.

Croomes watched Mrs. Clay for a moment, her jaw grinding her teeth together. I’ve got a fine list of things I’d like to call you. How about I try some of those?

I am not a farmer’s wife, Mrs. Clay repeated.

All right then, get an idea stuck in there much, do you? Croomes said. She gave Grace a push on the backside to move her along, but Grace noticed that she never turned her back on Mrs. Clay. Another small smile played on the edge of Grace’s lips and she squelched it quickly. It was the little battles that got them through their days. All in preparation for the bigger ones to come.

To kill yourself in an asylum is a thing easily done.

Plenty who wished to stay alive found themselves dying of neglect, while those who prayed for death woke each morning to the sun’s rays filtered through greasy windows. Grace had thought through her options more than once; to slide beneath the freezing waters during a treatment while the attendant’s back was turned or to simply cease eating.

But Grace had sat through many sermons by her father’s side, heard about the perils of hell and the fiery brimstone that surely awaited her if she took her own life. She doubted that hell was hot and sulfuric. Instead, she imagined it was comfortable and smelled like her own bedroom. If fear kept her from ending herself, she’d be neatly deposited back between those sheets, as confining as any chains. An ethereal hell or the one she’d already lived through were her options. Croomes twisted Grace’s wrist, bringing her thoughts back to the body she was stuck in for the moment.

My, my, but you do walk pretty, Croomes said. Not a bone out of place on you. Forget balancing the book, I bet we could put a whole bookcase on your head, couldn’t we? You look like a picture in one of them lady’s magazines, except for that bit. Croomes flicked Grace’s pregnant belly as they turned the corner to the baths. Nothing much ladylike about that, is there?

Grace had buried the urge to speak so deeply that most words from others meant nothing, but Croomes’s voice always crept through the safe fog she’d veiled her mind in, demanding to be heard. Grace set her jaw and went to a tub already half-filled with freezing water. Miss Marie was dumping buckets over another patient, but moved to help Grace take off her shift.

Marie offered her a hand as she stepped over the porcelain rim, and Grace took it, leaning heavily on the girl’s arm as she lowered herself into the frigid water. Though she’d forsaken sound, she couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering.

Right then, help her on into the tub. Let’s see if we can find some scented soaps while we’re at it, Croomes said, crossing her arms. ’Course, Marie here would be wanting to make sure you get through everything safely. Did she tell you she’s taking your baby?

Grace’s head jerked at the words and her wide eyes met Marie’s, who flushed and turned to hiss at Croomes.

What’d you have to go and do that for? No need to upset the girl.

Croomes produced a half-smoked cigarette from her pocket, struck a match on the stool, and lit what was left of it. You going to pour it over her head, or am I?

I will, Marie said, fetching her bucket from the other tub, where the patient’s head lolled to the side, lips blue. Though I don’t know as I see much of the point of it.

And where’s your medical degree, I’ll ask you? Heedson says it’s too much heat in the brain that makes them crazy, and so we douse ’em.

If that’s the case, this girl here should be talking normal as you or me right now. She’s as cold as the dead.

Croomes blew smoke out of her nose and watched as Marie poured the first bucketful over Grace’s head, the water loosening the pale bun and turning it into dark streaks that clung to her skin. This one’s as cold as the water she’s sitting in, down past her bones and into her soul. Nothing wrong with her brain. It’s her heart that’s got no life in it.

Grace sat, letting the water numb her skin and apathy numb her ears as Croomes rose from her stool. I’ve got Cracked Pat to tend to. Never comes to her treatments without my special encouragement.

I’ll finish here, Marie said as Croomes walked past Grace’s tub. No need for you to trouble yourself.

No trouble, Croomes said, digging her fingers into Grace’s bun and pulling out the pin that held it in place, sending the loose hair cascading down her shoulders. I’ll make sure this gets to its rightful owner, Croomes said, lifting a hank of Grace’s dripping hair and grinding her cigarette out on the pale expanse of her neck.

Words boiled in Grace’s stomach as she clenched down on the pain, her teeth grinding together to keep from rewarding Croomes’s cruelty by crying out. Marie gasped but cut it short at a glare from Croomes. Anybody hears about that, I’ll know who did the talking, won’t I?

The only warmth left in Grace’s body slid down her face in the form of tears, which Marie brushed away with her callused fingers once Croomes’s footsteps had receded down the hall. I’m sorry about that, miss, really I am. Way I look at it, most of you’ve got big enough problems without the likes of Croomes on your tails all the time.

Marie fell silent, her gaze cutting to the door and the other, unconscious patient floating in her freezing water. I’ll just do one more bucket and leave off the rest, no one needs to know. Besides, a bit of the cold might feel good on that burn.

The frigid water cascaded over Grace’s features once more, the icy fingers digging into the singed pink flesh of her neck where Croomes had burned her. Numbness crept in, a heavy weight that began in her legs and moved up her torso. She rested her head against the rim of the tub, cramped muscles crying out as she did.

Marie pulled up a stool next to her and began running her fingers through Grace’s hair to untangle the wet ends. You do a fine enough job of keeping yourself clean, she said. But without no brush I’m sure it’s difficult.

Grace felt the slightest relaxation spreading through her shoulders as Marie finger combed her hair. I’m sorry about the other thing too, miss, she said after a while. "I don’t think there’s no reason to tell you I’ll be the one taking your baby from you. Croomes did that just to satisfy the meanness in her.

My Andrew—that’s my husband, see—he’s always been wanting a wee one and I . . . well, I guess there weren’t such a thing in the cards for me. My own ma says we’ve not been married all that long, and you can’t hurry nature, but I got this feeling inside of me that I can’t shake. Like an emptiness where nothing’s ever gonna grow. I tried to say so to my ma and she said I’d best keep that talk to myself if I don’t want to end up in—

Marie stopped short, her fingers pausing for a moment. Well . . . I guess it’s no secret that some of you are just as sane as me and maybe that works the other way around too, sometimes.

Her fingers picked up their work, sliding freely through Grace’s hair. So when you came in here with your belly, I had a talk with Heedson and it was decided upon. I told my husband that our prayers had been answered, and he’d best be sleeping in another room for the time being just to be careful, and . . . I suppose it’s a horrible thing, miss, but I’ve been padding my skirts so that my waist matches your own, and I’ll be doing it right up until—

Marie’s words stopped and Grace stared forward, giving no indication that she’d heard any of it.

Aye, well, Marie said. If you want to hate me for it, you can and that’s your choice. I can’t say as I feel like it’s a good thing to do, but I promise I’ll give your babe a good home, and it’ll be loved as if it were my own.

The numbness had spread to Grace’s thighs and midsection, but she could still feel the kick inside of her. Slowly she reached up, entwining her freezing fingers with Marie’s and bringing them down into the cold water. Marie gasped at the shock, but then Grace cupped the nurse’s hand on the swell of her belly to feel a kick so strong it sent ripples to the sides of the tub.

They held hands under the water. Their cold fingers sheltered the tiny life, their combined tears the only heat in the room.

FOUR

When Grace woke in the morning her hair was frozen to the floor. Croomes had returned to the baths to find Marie combing it rather than administering treatments. Grace had been dragged to her room, her only dinner a day-old piece of bread tossed through the door before it was locked again. Grace had fallen asleep, her still-dripping hair hanging over the edge of her bed. The night temperatures froze them in place, and she had to pull herself free at sunrise, leaving her hair torn at the ends.

She was inspecting the unevenness when Croomes burst into her room. That’s a downright shame, the nurse said, rubbing her shoe over the ends left behind on the stones. You’ve got a fancy dinner tonight and here you’ve left most of your hair on the floor.

Accustomed to the teasing, Grace kept her face blank.

No, girl, Croomes went on. I’m not having a go at you. Heedson gave me a list of what he claims is the ‘well-mannered ones,’ and I’ve got to get you looking respectable. You get a new dress and everything. I think you’ll even get to have some silverware. Make sure you hold your fork right, now. And no elbows on the table. Croomes laughed at her own joke and slapped Grace’s backside on her way out.

You too, farmer’s— Croomes’s voice broke off in the hallway as she reconsidered. Mrs. Clay, she finished. You’re on display often enough to know the drill. God knows how Heedson’s deemed you respectable, the way you go about swearing to tear the eyes out of God-fearing folk.

If you fear God, that’s more to do with your actions than mine, Mrs. Clay said.

Croomes huffed and her footsteps receded down the hallway before Mrs. Clay appeared at Grace’s door. I tried to squirrel away a bite for you last night, but they were watching me pretty close, she said.

Mrs. Clay pulled the younger girl’s hand into the crook of her own elbow. So what’s this dinner, do you think? she asked, knowing full well that there would be no answer. I don’t see any room for kindness in this place, but let’s put a good face on it and see, shall we?

There was silverware. Grace was unprepared for how much it set her back to see a table set properly, and she stood still in the doorway for a moment before entering. Mrs. Clay gave her a slight push to get her into the dining room, followed by two other women she didn’t know, faces pink from fresh scrubbings and wet buns pulled tightly back from clean scalps. Already seated were three male patients, who rose when the women entered, although one of them lagged slightly behind the others, not accustomed to the tradition.

Mr. Baltingham, Mr. Crow, Mrs. Clay said congenially, nodding toward them before she sat down. Grace followed her cue, lowering her eyes when the men glanced toward her and staring at the plate setting in front of her. It was heavy

Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1