This book must have ended up on my massive TBR thanks to fellow reader recommendations on Litsy. Asylum, written by Patrick McGrath, is a rather dark story set in a maximum security hospital for the criminally insane in 1959. A setting right up my alley!

Stella Raphael and her husband, Max, move onto the reservation of the asylum. Max is the newly hired psychiatrist for the hospital. The house they reside has a run down conservatory in desperate need of repair. Edgar Starks, a patient at the hospital, is allowed to work on repairing the conservatory and caring for the plants under the supervision of a guard. Edgar is an artist, specializing in sculpture. He is hospitalized for brutally murdering his wife during a psychotic episode.

Stella is not deterred from interacting with Edgar when she learns of his violent past. This is only the beginning of Stella’s story. To say anymore would deprive a reader new to this book of the shocking surprises that await. The journey that McGrath took Stella on was quite unexpected.

I borrowed this audiobook from my local library via the Libby app. The narration by Sir Ian McKellen was perfect as it added a gothic ambiance to the listening experience. The story is told from a third party perspective, another forensic psychiatrist who worked at the hospital and knew Max and Stella.

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