I wanted this baby so badly.
But she may be the death of me...
Anna Alcott is desperate to have a family. But as she tries to balance her increasingly public life as an indie actress with a gruelling IVF regime, she starts to suspect that someone is going to great lengths to make sure that never happens. Crucial medicines are lost. Appointments are moved without her knowledge. She's sure she's being followed. And when she finally does get pregnant, someone breaks into her house and steals the ultrasound photograph of her baby. But despite everything she's gone through, not even her husband is willing to believe that someone is playing twisted games with her.
Then her doctors tell her she's lost the baby. Despite her grief, Anna ignores the grave-faced men lecturing her - because she can still feel the baby moving, can see the toll it's taking on her weakened body. Isolated in a remote snowbound town, Anna is sure that whoever has been following her is closing in on her and her unborn child. And as her symptoms become more terrifying, she can't help but wonder what exactly is growing inside her... and why no-one will listen when she says that something is horribly wrong.
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ALL MOTHER'S HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON: PAIN. Maybe that's why there are so many superstitions surrounding pregnancy.- PROLOGUE
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(@ViperBooks, 17 August 2023, e-galley, 400 pages, ARC from the publisher via @NetGalley)
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I really loved Delicate Condition. I look forward to the next AHS series which is based on this book. I hope they do it justice. This is the perfect blend of horror thriller and mystery. I was gripped from the first few lines and didn't want to put the book down until I reached the end. The book is told from Anna's POV, so you get inside her head when this disturbing things are happening to her. It made me angry how often her fears are dismissed because she's a woman. The people around her far too often tell her to get some rest and have a cup of tea rather than listening to her as if she's being hysterical. Why are women, even intelligent women dismissed so easily? They seem reluctant to believe her even when there are physical manifestations of her fear such as the creepy dolls left around the property. There are so many twists and turns I was never such what was really going on. I also locked the sucker-punch ending.
