Goodnight Monsters - by Suzanne Junered (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

For fans of Ariana Harwicz's Die, My Love and Ashley Audrain's The Push, a psychological horror novel that follows a woman obsessed with death who must decide if she's fit to bring new life into this world--especially after someone she's fantasized about killing turns up dead.

Southern suburban housewife Lia and her husband Evan have long dreamed of becoming parents--but when a pregnancy test shows positive, Lia questions whether she wants the child and keeps her pregnancy a secret.

As she's holding new life inside, she intentionally surrounds herself with death by blackmailing her way into a job at a forensic anthropology center endearingly called The Body Farm. At The Farm, monsters emerge from within Lia--the desire to kill--and she begins daydreaming about murder. Because fantasizing never hurt anyone. Or so she thinks.

Then a body donation to The Farm turns out to be someone she's imagined killing, and reality and fantasy begin to blur. As people around her begin to die, Lia loses trust in her loved ones and herself . . . and ultimately must put her monsters to bed.

Review Quotes

"Junered's prose is compulsively readable--the writing is often elegant, with a sinister undertone. . . . A thoroughly entertaining page-turner about the horrors of expecting."--Kirkus Reviews

"Dark comedy, reproductive ambivalence, grief, anxiety, and decomposition do not naturally behave themselves in the same room. But Junered seems to know that, and the tension is part of the appeal. This is a novel for readers who like their domestic fiction sharp, strange, and unafraid of moral discomfort."--Manhattan Book Review

"Junered skillfully juxtaposes the banal and the macabre . . . offering a nuanced portrait of anxiety, identity, and the dissonance between societal expectations and private reality . . . well suited to readers drawn to character-driven literary suspense with unsettling emotional depth."--BookLife Reviews

"Goodnight Monsters is built for readers who want dark humor, strong visuals, and a protagonist whose life is coming apart in unusually compelling ways."--Los Angeles Book Review

"Goodnight Monsters is a heady, fever-dream concoction of nightmare, fantasy, and half-imagined killings, all emanating from the disturbed brain of a woman who fears she's losing her grip on reality. Pitting primal feminine desire and rage against the cultural expectations of women and motherhood, Junered has crafted an unforgettably spiky and deeply human heroine as well as a story that will have you wondering what the hell you just read."--Emily Carpenter, author of Gothictown

"Goodnight Monsters is a twisty exploration of motherhood, marriage, and murder that brazenly probes the extremes of birth and death. Part thriller, part horror, this novel breathtakingly captures the miracle and mayhem that is pregnancy as it builds to its shocking conclusion. Perfect for fans of Anne Heltzel's Just Like Mother."--Erin Flanagan, Edgar Award-winning author of Deer Season, Blackout, and Come With Me

"Suzanne Junered's Goodnight Monsters is a delicious twist on the choices women face with impending motherhood. Incredibly timely in a post-Roe world, with a plot that will keep you guessing all the way to the end."--Michelle Cruz, author of Even When You Lie

"Goodnight Monsters is delightfully dark and obsessive, so sharp-eyed and full of tension that I haven't stopped thinking about this book since I started reading. It's gripping and full of surprises--I have never read a book that tackles the fear of motherhood in such an absorbing way. A must-read for fans of propulsive psychological horror and masterful prose. And that ending. I never saw it coming."--Penny Zang, author of Doll Parts

"A unique work of psychological horror, Goodnight Monsters is a dark, twisted exploration of marriage, motherhood, and death. Junered blurs the lines between nightmare and reality and kept me guessing until the final page. Bravo!"--K. T. Nguyen, Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author of You Know What You Did

About the Author

Suzanne Junered leads with love in her daily life, but her writing plunges into the darkest corners of the human psyche. A Tennessee native before the whispers in her mind urged her to head west, Suzanne's characters call her back to her roots, writing in the voices of nontraditional Southern women. She lives with her two sons in a home full of cat hair outside of Boulder, Colorado.