Suspenseful, claustrophobic and misogynistic, Beware the Woman is a slow burn psychological/horror thriller with ramping intensity, veiled motives, and suspect actions. Megan Abbott has delivered a nail-biting novel filled with uncomfortable moments, enigmatic characters, and a highly uncertain outcome.

Newly married, deeply in love and pregnant, Jacy has never been happier. Now she’s accompanying her husband Jed to visit his father, Dr. Ash, in the Upper Peninsula. At first, everything is idyllic, loving and welcoming. But when Jacy experiences a complication to her pregnancy, the environment around her changes and she starts to feel trapped while her husband and father-in-law become controlling and overbearing. Is she in danger or just being paranoid? While she wrestles with that question, one thing is perfectly clear. She will do anything it takes to protect her baby.

The main draw of Beware the Woman is Jacy’s predicament and how she reacts. At first everything seems fine, but little weird moments occur that have her start to question what’s happening around her. Then the frequency of curious occurrences ramps up and she realizes that the situation around her is deteriorating and putting her in jeopardy. Realizing circumstances require an inner strength she doesn’t know she possesses, she must evolve her thinking and rise to the occasion to take control of her destiny. So while it takes a while for her to act on her paranoia – all while the reader is screaming at her to get out – in the end she shows an impressive fortitude to overcome the odds stacked against her.

Creepy and unsettling, Beware the Woman is an intriguing book with a solid premise, deliberate pacing, and odd characters that all contribute to raising the anxiety of the reader. It does lack closure to parts of the story and it doesn’t completely stick the landing, but the enjoyment is in the journey rather than the destination. For readers who are looking for a blend of psychological thriller and horror story, kind of like Get Out meets Rosemary’s Baby, this book is up your alley.

This novel eases in to its sense of foreboding until you are so invested in the outcome that you can’t possibly put the book down. I really enjoyed this thriller that focuses on how a woman’s body can feel like it’s not her own during pregnancy and liked how the main character stayed rooted in her strength as a woman. I highly recommend this one!
Thanks to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC for an honest review.

Thank you to Megan Abbott, Penguin Group Putnam, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of a digital advanced reviewer copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows pregnant Jacy and her husband Jed, that embark on a road trip to visit Jed's parents in northern Michigan. Jacy's worst nightmare begins when she begins bleeding. Worried about her unborn child, she sees a local doctor whose diagnoses changes the atmosphere of her entire trip. Stuck on bedrest, Jacy begins to feel trapped inside the cabin and she just wants to go home. Why is Jed's family insisting she can't leave?

This book is the definition of a slow build. The reader seems to be following the character's day-to-day activities, even when there isn't much going on. Although I do admit I could feel the claustrophobia that Jacy was feeling with not being able to leave, I didn't feel much else for this book. At least 50 percent of the book could have been redacted and this could have been published as novella, which I would have given a higher rating. The ending saved this book from a 2 star rating. I struggled to get through it and don't really understand what even happened.

This was so good and entertaining! Thrilling and kept me turning the pages. I love a book like this! Highly recommend.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Group Putnam for an advanced copy of this thriller about a young woman, her in-laws and a cabin in the dark woods.

Claustrophobia is a very powerful fear that most people have experienced at least once in their lives. Tight spaces don't bother me, but when I spend any time longer than 4 minutes in my garage I have to either open the car door, or the door to the house. The confinement gets to me, and within seconds it is all I can think about. This is a strange feeling to have in one's house, a place that should be safe, with one's own family really just a doorway away. Maybe I have forgotten, or submerged deep in my memory a time of being trapped in a garage. Minds are funny like that, they protect us from ourselves and our fears. Even when they are real. The character in Megan Abbott's Beware the Woman, is also having feelings about being trapped, stuck in a cabin, with family she doesn't know well, surrounded by dark woods and many, many secrets.

Jacy has never had it easy in life, thought her mother did her best to give Jacy whatever she needed or wanted. However life is looking good for Jacy. She has a husband Jed, a new baby on the way, and an exciting trek to plan. Travelling to Michigan, the Upper Peninsula specifically, to visit Jed's father Dr. Ash. This is Jed and Jacy's first real road trip, and some odd things happen, but once they get to Dr Ash's home everything seems great. Jacy feels the love and is looking forward to spending time there, well except for the house manager Mrs. Brandt who seems a little cold and indifferent. Jacy soon begins not to feel well, and things start to go off, with Jed not acting Jed like, Dr. Ash getting weird, and the woods that surround them getting darker and creepier. Or is it all in Jacy's mind.

A very twisty pieced of a psychological thriller with a lot of bits of horror, both imagery and in something is out there feeling. This is more reminiscent of Abbott's previous book The Turnout, with that same feeling of body horror, along with mind games, and lots of turns. The theme for the story would be body autonomy, as many of the man in this story try to control Jacy and what she should be doing with her own body, and act in many ways against her interests, and her will. The characters are very well developed and one does a good feeling for them. Some bring out strong emotions in readers, usually disgust. The plot is good, very well put together, and flows well with no major hiccups, or losing the pace. There is no real learning curve, the reader gets the story and where it is going quite easily, and can just read and enjoy the trip, which is a little bit scary and unsettling at times.

Recommended for fans of thrillers and for readers of Abbott's earlier books. This could be a good one to give to someone to interest them in Abbott's writings, though it is a bit different than earlier books, it should still hook people into reading more. A good Mother's Day gift also, especially if Mom likes thrills in her reading.

I absolutely loved this book. It hooked me and kept me turning pages until I was done. Finished it in two days! The character development was strong, and the premise was unique enough that it didn't feel like anything else I've read.

Another twisty plot from Megan Abbott! Beware the Woman has all the vibes of a solid psychological thriller: creepy country house, suspicious relatives, complicated relationship history with honesty issues. However, things feel off-kilter when protagonist Jacy fails over and over to see (and then act on) the blatant weirdness of her father-in-law. It's clear to the reader that the man is strange and dangerous, but due to given circumstances, Jacy stays and waits for what will inevitably be a bad ending for her. Although Abbott seems to be making a point about the necessity for women to have control over their bodies during pregnancy, the character acts like a hostage without ability to take any paths of action. Lots of suspense, and of course, a major twist, but issues with that main character prevented me from enjoying this 100%.

Wonderful feminist lead with shocking twists and turns! A delightful devouring. As a Michigander also love the setting.

I was lucky enough to win an advance copy of BEWARE THE WOMAN by Megan Abbott though a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thanks for the early look, and have a safe and healthy winter!

Creepy. Atmospheric. Elements of horror.

This had a little bit of everything, but sadly left me wanting for more. I don't know what was missing, but something was off for me to make this book something special. Overall this was a good read and enjoyable, but just nothing that will stick with me for long.

I’d give this two and a half stars if that was an option. This didn’t feel like a Megan Abbott book to me. It was hard at times to stick with it, where normally I can’t put her books down. It was slow and spooky and I pretty much hated everyone in it. I don’t know, this one just didn’t do it for me.

Abbott strikes again with her newest novel! I had trouble putting down this creepy horror/thriller book. The characters were well developed and I found myself both loving and hating some characters. I would recommend Beware of The Woman to anyone who loves unpredictable horror and thriller books.

This book was so strange - it felt more like a horror story than a thriller or psychological suspense. There was so much that was unexplained and the ending didn't really provide any closure. It definitely needs an epilogue to explain what happened to Jacy and her baby. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

A tense disturbing thriller. A pregnant woman, happily married, goes with her husband to meet his father on an isolated piece of land. slowly things start unraveling. It was well written but hard to read, i felt tense and trapped and wanted it to be over. was really concerned about the possible direction it could be taking.

I love Megan Abbotts books and this one is so good. I devoured this in one sitting. It was chilling! In a good way!! A must read!
I just reviewed Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott. #BewaretheWoman #NetGalley
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This book reminded me why I love Megan Abbott so much!

Yes, the ending is divisive. Personally, I prefer endings that leave some threads unraveled. I don't want everything tied up perfectly for me or a simple happy ending. I think I'm in the minority of early reviewers but I thought the ending was a good fit for the entire tone and theme of the book. We never really got a full sense of who any of these characters were, why would I expect the ending to clearly spell things out for the reader?

To back up, this novel revolves around the main character, Jacy, and the trip her and her new husband, Jed, make to visit his father at his old cabin in the middle of nowhere. No phone service, no wifi, no AC. This book is definitely a slow burn and there isn't a ton of active until the final 25%. Abbott does a wonderful job stirring up all kinds of emotions (I seriously hated Jed) while creating an eventually overwhelming sense of unease and dread. She does this while exploring some powerful themes surrounding pregnancy, motherhood and how society views women.

A claustrophobic, feminist, slow burn thriller with great plot pacing, unnerving but engaging characters and a terribly isolated setting. 4/5 stars - thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I love Megan Abbott. I can't help it, I just do. Apparently I'm in the minority if Goodreads reviews of her books are to be believed, because they all have shockingly low ratings and many people saying things about her unlikable characters and weird, uncomfortable depictions of sexuality, but those are the very things I love her for. Give me a book about flawed, messy, sometimes awful girls/women clawing and fighting and hurting each other to stay alive in the world they live in and I'm happy every time. I'm easy, I guess.

This book was terrifying to me. I never expect thrillers to be scary because they so rarely are, and that's fine. It's not why I read them. And Megan Abbott's in particular are never scary, more brutal and beautiful and sad. This was also all of those things, but it filled me with such a deep sense of unease and anxiety pretty early on, and then continued to ratchet up those feelings until I was desperate to get to the end just to feel some relief. That's what I love in a book of any genre.

It's not a new story, visiting the in-laws in a remote place and becoming trapped there while sinister things are happening around you, just out of sight. It doesn't need to be new, because what Megan Abbott does with it is so resonant and scary. Pregnancy is already a nightmare to me, a thing I hope never to have to endure, and then add a father-in-law who seems at first to be charming and solicitous and funny, only to gradually become more and more threatening and condescending and rotten, the way it happens sometimes in nightmares. This book felt like a nightmare, one you keep trying desperately to wake up from but instead you just keep making it worse. And when the one person you thought you could rely on, the person who promised you for better or worse, 'til death do us part, starts turning on you, but in ways so odd and subtle that you can't formulate a coherent argument to get him back on your side...well, 'til death do us part might be the key phrase.

I knew Dr. Ash was up to no good, that was obvious from the beginning. But I didn't know how batshit it was going to get with Mrs. Brandt and Hicks until we got there toward the end. I kept hoping against hope that these women would get justice for themselves and avenge Wendy, and I guess *technically* that's what happened, but it didn't feel as satisfying as it could have because of who ultimately pulled the trigger and why. I wanted a more explosive ending and more of a certainty that this awful monster of a man got what he deserved.

I also found the choppiness of the writing to be distracting. Normally I love weird writing, authors taking chances with language and playing with sentence structure, and Megan Abbott has done similar things in previous books. But here, for some reason, I found it difficult to read, and it put me at a remove from the characters and the action in a way that felt like it hurt the story a little. Not enough to take it down more than 1 star, but enough that I thought it was worth mentioning.

I could see people having issues with the story because of the way it depicts men, but honestly, I didn't find it a stretch at all. And, loath as I am to say "not all men," it wasn't all the men.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy of this book to read.

This book felt very unsettling and weird. I think that might have been what Megan Abbott was going for, but it didn't push me to read faster which I think may have been the intention. Jacy and Jed rush into a marriage and find they're pregnant and go to visit Jed's father. The flattery of her reception from Jed's father seems sweet at first, then turns increasingly worrisome and just plan weird. I enjoyed that it was a very feminist forward story but I feel like a lot of the points were almost too in your face so it felt overdone.

Beware the Woman, by Megan Abbott, is definitely a slow burn thriller. I’m would say this is a pretty big departure from her previous novels and had some strong The Yellow Wallpaper vibes. Fans of Mexican Gothic will devour this novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnum, G. P. Putnum Sons for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoy everything I've ever read by Megan Abbott. This was no exception! I don't want to spoil anything, so please please please read this one to see for yourself!!