Megan Abbott (Give Me Your Hand; You Will Know Me) stands in her own league with her outstanding novels focusing on gender politics and the concerns of young women from unconventional backgrounds. Abbott continues this focus in her superb, suspense-laden Beware the Woman, a novel that delves into manipulation.
Channeling a bit of Rebecca and Gaslight, Beware the Woman focuses on second-grade teacher Jacy, whose bad relationships with men seem to be inherited from her mother's perpetual involvement with dismissive, married men. Then Jacy marries quiet, nice guy Jed Ash only four months after meeting him and without knowing him very well. Now, nearly two years later, the couple, happily expecting their first child, travel to visit Jed's father. Jed rarely mentions him, a retired physician in his isolated home on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. At first, "Doctor Ash" lovingly welcomes the couple, telling Jacy, "we are so lucky to have you." But his housekeeper, Mrs. Brandt, seems to despise her. When complications with her pregnancy arise, Jacy feels trapped as neither Jed, his father, nor a local doctor will allow her to leave. Instead they recommend bed rest, talk about her health and plans for the baby, and ignore her opinions.
Abbott's affinity for finely tuned pacing enhances the tension as Beware the Woman delves into in-depth character studies, misogynistic behavior, and love. Jacy, with her "hurricane of hormones," wonders if her feelings about being trapped are real or if the men are keeping her a prisoner, caring only about the baby--not her. Abbott continues to be a provocative writer. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer