What do you think?
Rate this book
Evil Genius: A Novel
An exuberant novel about a young woman’s quest to carve her own path—even if she needs to step over a few dead bodies along the way
It’s 1974 and San Francisco is full of mystery and menace. Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent keeps telling herself how lucky she is to be married to Drew, a man who says he loves her. But Celia’s contentment with her little life is shattered when a woman she knows is murdered in a love tryst gone awry. What would that be like, Celia wonders, to die—or kill—for love? What would it be like to live each moment passionately and with full knowledge that each breath is bringing her closer to her final breath?
Before Celia knows it her musings about love-and-death happenings are bleeding into daily life. She’s practicing her marksmanship at a local gun range. She's searching for a love tryst of her very own. She's thinking about how good it would feel to bury something sharp inside her domineering husband’s ear. It’s all pretend, though, until the night comes when Celia finally goes too far, and she and Drew are set on a deadly collision course.
Exhilarating, surreal, and bitingly clever, Evil Genius is a comic noir about obsession and desire—and what happens when a sweetly seditious young woman dares to imagine a better life for herself.
Claire Oshetsky is also the author of the novels Poor Deer and Chouette, which was longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
It’s 1974 and San Francisco is full of mystery and menace. Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent keeps telling herself how lucky she is to be married to Drew, a man who says he loves her. But Celia’s contentment with her little life is shattered when a woman she knows is murdered in a love tryst gone awry. What would that be like, Celia wonders, to die—or kill—for love? What would it be like to live each moment passionately and with full knowledge that each breath is bringing her closer to her final breath?
Before Celia knows it her musings about love-and-death happenings are bleeding into daily life. She’s practicing her marksmanship at a local gun range. She's searching for a love tryst of her very own. She's thinking about how good it would feel to bury something sharp inside her domineering husband’s ear. It’s all pretend, though, until the night comes when Celia finally goes too far, and she and Drew are set on a deadly collision course.
Exhilarating, surreal, and bitingly clever, Evil Genius is a comic noir about obsession and desire—and what happens when a sweetly seditious young woman dares to imagine a better life for herself.
Claire Oshetsky is also the author of the novels Poor Deer and Chouette, which was longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
1 pages, Audio CD
First published February 17, 2026
40 people are currently reading
12580 people want to read
About the author
Claire Oshetsky
3 books804 followers
"Listen! I will be honest with you, I do not offer the old smooth prizes..."
- Walt Whitman
I review books here on goodreads as a reader, for the most part, and not as a writer. Come follow or friend me on my reviewer's page. if you like.
I visit this page so infrequently that I won't be accepting friend requests here.
Now and then I'll be leaving reviews on goodreads as "Claire Oshetsky" but only for those books that have influenced me as a writer.
- Walt Whitman
I review books here on goodreads as a reader, for the most part, and not as a writer. Come follow or friend me on my reviewer's page. if you like.
I visit this page so infrequently that I won't be accepting friend requests here.
Now and then I'll be leaving reviews on goodreads as "Claire Oshetsky" but only for those books that have influenced me as a writer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 140 reviews
Read
July 9, 2025It's July 6 2025 and the first review copies of Evil Genius will be out in 10 days and the story will no longer belong to me.
I'm spending a quiet time today, thinking about why I wrote this novel the way I did. You could say Evil Genius was written in reaction to the melancholy of my last novel, Poor Deer. I'm not sure if Evil Genius a funny novel, exactly, but I had fun writing it. I let the sentences build and grow in ludicrous and weedy ways. If you read the novel then you will eventually get to somebody shouting: The goddamn dog-walker left the doggone dog room door open again! I've told her a hundred times to latch it tight!, and when you do I hope you remember you read it first right here.
I'm spending a quiet time today, thinking about why I wrote this novel the way I did. You could say Evil Genius was written in reaction to the melancholy of my last novel, Poor Deer. I'm not sure if Evil Genius a funny novel, exactly, but I had fun writing it. I let the sentences build and grow in ludicrous and weedy ways. If you read the novel then you will eventually get to somebody shouting: The goddamn dog-walker left the doggone dog room door open again! I've told her a hundred times to latch it tight!, and when you do I hope you remember you read it first right here.
October 25, 2025
Celia is a nineteen year old telephone operator in 1970’s San Francisco, married to Drew, who is extremely controlling.
Celia becomes quite obsessed about love and death when her coworker is murdered by her own husband in a crime of passion.
Celia starts off as a meek character… putting up with her husband’s angry tirades… and then things change, she becomes empowered by some friends at work.
Lots of action packed situations that Celia becomes involved in.
This is a darkly comic, extremely entertaining and fast read.
Celia is quirky, offbeat, unhinged but lovable.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one as I have this author’s previous novels!
I devoured this one.. highly recommend!
Thank you to Netgalley through Ecco, for the gifted ARC, in exchange for an honest review!
Celia becomes quite obsessed about love and death when her coworker is murdered by her own husband in a crime of passion.
Celia starts off as a meek character… putting up with her husband’s angry tirades… and then things change, she becomes empowered by some friends at work.
Lots of action packed situations that Celia becomes involved in.
This is a darkly comic, extremely entertaining and fast read.
Celia is quirky, offbeat, unhinged but lovable.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one as I have this author’s previous novels!
I devoured this one.. highly recommend!
Thank you to Netgalley through Ecco, for the gifted ARC, in exchange for an honest review!
October 21, 2025
A darkly comic, action-packed novel, including questionable decisions, cruel and illegal acts, some convenient coincidences, and shocking consequences. 19-year-old Celia is overcoming trauma, wreaking revenge, and striving for a free, happy, and authentic life.
The opening chapter is titled “The Cliffhanger”, which proved true: I read the whole book in a single sitting. Randall is telling coworkers how Vivienne Bianco was murdered by her husband while he was hiding under the bed. He's cut short before he can finish the story, but it sets Celia thinking about life, death, and murder.
“It’s a strange but true fact that a typical person living in these modern times will cross paths with thirty-six actual, in-the-flesh murderers in their lifetime, along with seventy-seven people who are destined to be murdered.”
It’s a distraction from her dull job in a telephone company billing office in 1974 San Francisco:
“On the third floor of a six-floor building on Fourth Street.”
People call with sob stories to excuse late payment, usually in vain. The staff “rip their lips” (cut their telephone contract) with relish, and joke about heavy-breathers who also call.
Image: Cut off: an old-fashioned landline handset, with a severed cord: freedom, or tragedy in waiting?
Celia never knew her father, her mother died recently after paranoia and mental health problems, and she is newly married:
“My Drew never once hit me.”
But he does push, demean, control, and gaslight her.
In her reverie, she plays with counterfactual versions of who was manipulating who in the unfinished story, and wonders what it would be like to murder someone. She wants to know more about Randall and Vivienne, so she starts socialising more with coworkers. One thing leads to another…
Nothing in the narrative is wasted, and it’s great fun, but with plenty of depth as well.
Note I read an uncorrected proof; the final publication may differ slightly.
See also
• This is lighter, and in some ways more realistic, than Oshetsky’s other two novels, though quirkiness and a love of birds and animals is common to all. See my reviews:
• Chouette, 4*, HERE.
• Poor Deer, 5*, HERE.
• For a different take on dull office life, see Nicholson Baker’s The Mezzanine, which I reviewed HERE.
• The thrill, sometimes sexual, of thinking about and seeing sudden death reminded me of JG Ballard’s The Atrocity Exhibition, which I reviewed HERE, and his Crash, which I’ve not read.
• Reading this, I recalled the (fictitious) conundrum of whether Ronald Opus’s death was murder or suicide. See HERE.
The opening chapter is titled “The Cliffhanger”, which proved true: I read the whole book in a single sitting. Randall is telling coworkers how Vivienne Bianco was murdered by her husband while he was hiding under the bed. He's cut short before he can finish the story, but it sets Celia thinking about life, death, and murder.
“It’s a strange but true fact that a typical person living in these modern times will cross paths with thirty-six actual, in-the-flesh murderers in their lifetime, along with seventy-seven people who are destined to be murdered.”
It’s a distraction from her dull job in a telephone company billing office in 1974 San Francisco:
“On the third floor of a six-floor building on Fourth Street.”
People call with sob stories to excuse late payment, usually in vain. The staff “rip their lips” (cut their telephone contract) with relish, and joke about heavy-breathers who also call.
Image: Cut off: an old-fashioned landline handset, with a severed cord: freedom, or tragedy in waiting?
Celia never knew her father, her mother died recently after paranoia and mental health problems, and she is newly married:
“My Drew never once hit me.”
But he does push, demean, control, and gaslight her.
In her reverie, she plays with counterfactual versions of who was manipulating who in the unfinished story, and wonders what it would be like to murder someone. She wants to know more about Randall and Vivienne, so she starts socialising more with coworkers. One thing leads to another…
Nothing in the narrative is wasted, and it’s great fun, but with plenty of depth as well.
Note I read an uncorrected proof; the final publication may differ slightly.
See also
• This is lighter, and in some ways more realistic, than Oshetsky’s other two novels, though quirkiness and a love of birds and animals is common to all. See my reviews:
• Chouette, 4*, HERE.
• Poor Deer, 5*, HERE.
• For a different take on dull office life, see Nicholson Baker’s The Mezzanine, which I reviewed HERE.
• The thrill, sometimes sexual, of thinking about and seeing sudden death reminded me of JG Ballard’s The Atrocity Exhibition, which I reviewed HERE, and his Crash, which I’ve not read.
• Reading this, I recalled the (fictitious) conundrum of whether Ronald Opus’s death was murder or suicide. See HERE.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Talk about a wild ride! This is Oshetsky's best work yet.
👉 Click here to watch my Best Books of 2025 video. 📚🐛
Would leap to recommend this to fans of Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth and/or The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff.
📝 Thoughts & Observations Log below (spoiler free) 👇
PART 1 - THE CLIFFHANGER
Already loving this book's wry humor. And as protagonist's go, Celia is a riot (a dark and twisted, strange and amusing riot).
Page 12 just sold me on this book. I'm laughing so hard! 🤣
PART 2 - A DROP OF WINE
I love when an author drops a few subtle clues that make you suspect something's not right, and then you turn a page and—💥BOOM!💥—your suspicions are confirmed AND things are much worse than you even imagined.
😀 Very curious to see where this is going . . .
PART 3 - ELEVEN MINUTES TO SPARE
Picture me glued to this book because an unhinged character with dangerous thoughts is one thing, but an unhinged character with dangerous thoughts AND A WEAPON is quite another! 🍿🫣
PART 4 - LONG-LEGGED CRABS
I guess Celia is biding her time? Nothing to report for Part 4. 🤷♀️
PART 5 - KEEP MOVING THROUGH IT
A subtle shift in tone here as we glimpse Celia's relationship with her mother-in-law and learn more about her past.
I hope we get a few more doses of dark humor in the chapters that follow.
PART 6 - THE SOCK MAN
I can't say whether this part about a man and his sock was funny or uncomfortable. I just know that I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how things would play out. 👨🧦🎤
PART 7 - HELLO, WIFE
Holy hell. 🫢 Every chapter in this part had me grinding my teeth, or gasping aloud, or biting my nails. Good stuff!
PART 8 - SMALL PLASTIC LIVES
I can't make heads or tails of Celia's thinking. One minute she
I know she's but even knowing all that, I'm left scratching my head.
I'm ready for Celia to take drastic action.
PART 9 - LOVE AND DEATH
MY JAW IS ON THE FLOOR! 😮
PART 10 - THE CONFESSION
So many threads of this book are converging in ways I never expected. Brilliant!
PART 11 - LOVE AND LIFE
Okay, I really like the ending overall, but I can't help wishing the final page had done more for me. Nonetheless, this was a great read!
👉Pub date: February 17, 2026.
My deepest gratitude to the kind people at Ecco for sending me an advanced reading copy.
👉 Click here to watch my Best Books of 2025 video. 📚🐛
Would leap to recommend this to fans of Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth and/or The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff.
📝 Thoughts & Observations Log below (spoiler free) 👇
PART 1 - THE CLIFFHANGER
Already loving this book's wry humor. And as protagonist's go, Celia is a riot (a dark and twisted, strange and amusing riot).
Page 12 just sold me on this book. I'm laughing so hard! 🤣
PART 2 - A DROP OF WINE
I love when an author drops a few subtle clues that make you suspect something's not right, and then you turn a page and—💥BOOM!💥—your suspicions are confirmed AND things are much worse than you even imagined.
😀 Very curious to see where this is going . . .
PART 3 - ELEVEN MINUTES TO SPARE
Picture me glued to this book because an unhinged character with dangerous thoughts is one thing, but an unhinged character with dangerous thoughts AND A WEAPON is quite another! 🍿🫣
PART 4 - LONG-LEGGED CRABS
I guess Celia is biding her time? Nothing to report for Part 4. 🤷♀️
PART 5 - KEEP MOVING THROUGH IT
A subtle shift in tone here as we glimpse Celia's relationship with her mother-in-law and learn more about her past.
I hope we get a few more doses of dark humor in the chapters that follow.
PART 6 - THE SOCK MAN
I can't say whether this part about a man and his sock was funny or uncomfortable. I just know that I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how things would play out. 👨🧦🎤
PART 7 - HELLO, WIFE
Holy hell. 🫢 Every chapter in this part had me grinding my teeth, or gasping aloud, or biting my nails. Good stuff!
PART 8 - SMALL PLASTIC LIVES
I can't make heads or tails of Celia's thinking. One minute she
I know she's but even knowing all that, I'm left scratching my head.
I'm ready for Celia to take drastic action.
PART 9 - LOVE AND DEATH
MY JAW IS ON THE FLOOR! 😮
PART 10 - THE CONFESSION
So many threads of this book are converging in ways I never expected. Brilliant!
PART 11 - LOVE AND LIFE
Okay, I really like the ending overall, but I can't help wishing the final page had done more for me. Nonetheless, this was a great read!
👉Pub date: February 17, 2026.
My deepest gratitude to the kind people at Ecco for sending me an advanced reading copy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Pre-Read Notes:
This title suggested a story about someone with mental illness, which is a form de jour at the moment. I read these to see how mentally ill characters are being depicted in contemporary fiction.
"What Drew didn’t know is that I couldn’t be shamed that way. Not any longer. I’d learned from Doggo’s example. I would never again let myself be shamed by my body, or its functions, or its urges." p134
Final Review
(thoughts & recs) How time flies when you're stable and happy.
I loved the form of this story, and I'm so so picky about the stream-of-consciousness. The treatment of time creates an entertaining read with well done meta moments.
Simultaneously, it comments on time--in stories and in life--about moments that creep by in agonizing detail and whole decades that disappear in a single sentence about love.
What a treat that I finished this on Valentine's. EVIL GENIUS is not a romance but it's still my favorite love story ever.
I recommend this one to fans of The Guest by Emma Cline or Tilt by Emma Pattee.
My Favorite Things:
✔️ The use of Barbie dolls in this story is freaking brilliant. Iconic and symbolic here for the traumatized brain's desperate search for safety. This is such a good use of a setting element; the world create by this character's thought habit becomes its own character.
✔️ "Here was Helen. Her smile made me feel as if I were part of nature, not a flawed human being. No one thinks a tree isn’t beautiful. No one thinks a craggy hill is ugly just because it’s craggy, either. That’s the way Helen made me feel. Like a tree on a craggy hill." p143 Oh man this narrator is so vulnerable all through this chapter and I remember being this age, traumatized, part of a loveless world, and thinking I was falling in love with every human who showed me kindness or let me connect. I think this writer shows great restraint in the way she develops this character, who is held together by the details. It would be tempting to reveal too much here, and she doesn't. I interpret this detail as compassion for the character and readers.
✔️ This is not accurate: "One side effect of industrialization is an explosion of despair. Back in the day, when all labor was menial labor, we humans never had time to fret over our own despair. Now we have plenty of free time and we use our time to ponder the pain and meaninglessness of our fragile existences..." p147 Industrialization *is* connected historically to a rise in despair among people who lived in industrial cities. However, it was documented that the despair had more to do with the state of work (risk of danger, exploitation, conditions) than the needing more of it. Health experts widely agree that contemporary adults in the US need more rest and free time, not less of it.
✔️ The description of codependency is eerily accurate, a lighthouse in a giant ocean of misrepresentation and stigma.
Content Notes: DV, gr*pe, emotional and verbal abuse, SA, personal hygiene issues, crank calls, inappropriate callers, car accident, abandonment, animal cruelty, drowning, the ocean
Thank you to the author Claire Oshetsky, Ecco/Harper Collins, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of EVIL GENIUS. All views are mine.
This title suggested a story about someone with mental illness, which is a form de jour at the moment. I read these to see how mentally ill characters are being depicted in contemporary fiction.
"What Drew didn’t know is that I couldn’t be shamed that way. Not any longer. I’d learned from Doggo’s example. I would never again let myself be shamed by my body, or its functions, or its urges." p134
Final Review
(thoughts & recs) How time flies when you're stable and happy.
I loved the form of this story, and I'm so so picky about the stream-of-consciousness. The treatment of time creates an entertaining read with well done meta moments.
Simultaneously, it comments on time--in stories and in life--about moments that creep by in agonizing detail and whole decades that disappear in a single sentence about love.
What a treat that I finished this on Valentine's. EVIL GENIUS is not a romance but it's still my favorite love story ever.
I recommend this one to fans of The Guest by Emma Cline or Tilt by Emma Pattee.
My Favorite Things:
✔️ The use of Barbie dolls in this story is freaking brilliant. Iconic and symbolic here for the traumatized brain's desperate search for safety. This is such a good use of a setting element; the world create by this character's thought habit becomes its own character.
✔️ "Here was Helen. Her smile made me feel as if I were part of nature, not a flawed human being. No one thinks a tree isn’t beautiful. No one thinks a craggy hill is ugly just because it’s craggy, either. That’s the way Helen made me feel. Like a tree on a craggy hill." p143 Oh man this narrator is so vulnerable all through this chapter and I remember being this age, traumatized, part of a loveless world, and thinking I was falling in love with every human who showed me kindness or let me connect. I think this writer shows great restraint in the way she develops this character, who is held together by the details. It would be tempting to reveal too much here, and she doesn't. I interpret this detail as compassion for the character and readers.
✔️ This is not accurate: "One side effect of industrialization is an explosion of despair. Back in the day, when all labor was menial labor, we humans never had time to fret over our own despair. Now we have plenty of free time and we use our time to ponder the pain and meaninglessness of our fragile existences..." p147 Industrialization *is* connected historically to a rise in despair among people who lived in industrial cities. However, it was documented that the despair had more to do with the state of work (risk of danger, exploitation, conditions) than the needing more of it. Health experts widely agree that contemporary adults in the US need more rest and free time, not less of it.
✔️ The description of codependency is eerily accurate, a lighthouse in a giant ocean of misrepresentation and stigma.
Content Notes: DV, gr*pe, emotional and verbal abuse, SA, personal hygiene issues, crank calls, inappropriate callers, car accident, abandonment, animal cruelty, drowning, the ocean
Thank you to the author Claire Oshetsky, Ecco/Harper Collins, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of EVIL GENIUS. All views are mine.
October 3, 2025
From the title to the epigraph by Walt Whitman (which makes hilarious ironic sense once you finish the book) to the last sentence of the Acknowledgements, I love everything about and in this novel. Protagonist Celia Dent with her practical way of negotiating the unnegotiable is somebody I love and understand.
Once again, the structure of this new Claire Oshetsky book is perfection.
The plot! Where to begin. It's a murder story, but every step of the way, I was surprised and could not imagine what would happen next.
This is my third book by Claire Oshetsky and I want to read anything she writes in the future.
Once again, the structure of this new Claire Oshetsky book is perfection.
The plot! Where to begin. It's a murder story, but every step of the way, I was surprised and could not imagine what would happen next.
This is my third book by Claire Oshetsky and I want to read anything she writes in the future.
February 17, 2026
(Update: Happy Publication Day to my latest favorite Bildungsroman! It may be a crowded field, since I do tend to welcome this type of story, but this one still stands out unlike any other.)
…And, this makes sense, because I think this author has established a sound record of writing books that nobody else could have written, and telling stories that nobody else could have told, in so few pages and using language that nobody else could have come up with.
Indeed: the language in this book is so uniquely wonderful that I find myself cowed in my attempt to harness language of my own to describe how much I loved it. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a book this much on the sentence level in a long time, or in quite this way. The sentences were so funny and surprising that there were many times when I just sort of delightedly and internally exclaimed, “Oh!” at the end of one.
The story itself is also delightful and surprising; you never quite know which way it is going to go. As with the author’s previous works, there is first an engaging “surface story” that can be somewhat fantastical or surreal, or even entail an element of magic realism. This one is more grounded in reality, but it is still a delightful hyperbolic adventure, a bit of a madcap caper, in which Celia Dent, an only nineteen-year-old, married (this is important), phone company billing call center employee in 1974 San Francisco, experiences a series of life-altering epiphanies and events triggered by the uxoricide of a woman with whom a male call center colleague was having a “love tryst.” Celia’s thinking and behavior are forever altered in response to this catalyst.
I don’t want to reveal more and risk giving away any spoilers, and I don’t need to share any further, as the novel will carry you right along once you begin. Aside from the domino effect of startling plot events, there is also another characteristic layer of thought-provoking enjoyment to this novel in its unusual, metaphorical and symbolic consideration of important themes that are also explored in the author’s previous works. Among others, these include the quest for personal liberation and freedom, the journey of recovery and integration after trauma, and the task of self-actualization and understanding and owning one’s individuality and identity.
And, there is a very wonderful dog character who ends up safe from harm.
I highly recommend this creative, darkly funny yet deep, startling and extraordinary story by a true artist with an astounding imaginative capacity. Thanks to NetGalley, Ecco, and the author for the ARC.
…And, this makes sense, because I think this author has established a sound record of writing books that nobody else could have written, and telling stories that nobody else could have told, in so few pages and using language that nobody else could have come up with.
Indeed: the language in this book is so uniquely wonderful that I find myself cowed in my attempt to harness language of my own to describe how much I loved it. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a book this much on the sentence level in a long time, or in quite this way. The sentences were so funny and surprising that there were many times when I just sort of delightedly and internally exclaimed, “Oh!” at the end of one.
The story itself is also delightful and surprising; you never quite know which way it is going to go. As with the author’s previous works, there is first an engaging “surface story” that can be somewhat fantastical or surreal, or even entail an element of magic realism. This one is more grounded in reality, but it is still a delightful hyperbolic adventure, a bit of a madcap caper, in which Celia Dent, an only nineteen-year-old, married (this is important), phone company billing call center employee in 1974 San Francisco, experiences a series of life-altering epiphanies and events triggered by the uxoricide of a woman with whom a male call center colleague was having a “love tryst.” Celia’s thinking and behavior are forever altered in response to this catalyst.
I don’t want to reveal more and risk giving away any spoilers, and I don’t need to share any further, as the novel will carry you right along once you begin. Aside from the domino effect of startling plot events, there is also another characteristic layer of thought-provoking enjoyment to this novel in its unusual, metaphorical and symbolic consideration of important themes that are also explored in the author’s previous works. Among others, these include the quest for personal liberation and freedom, the journey of recovery and integration after trauma, and the task of self-actualization and understanding and owning one’s individuality and identity.
And, there is a very wonderful dog character who ends up safe from harm.
I highly recommend this creative, darkly funny yet deep, startling and extraordinary story by a true artist with an astounding imaginative capacity. Thanks to NetGalley, Ecco, and the author for the ARC.
January 16, 2026
This knocked me out in so many ways, cementing Oshetsky as a favorite author. Full review to come, but omg am I gonna be insufferable about this book all year.
October 7, 2025
This author is an amazing storyteller. One of the best I’ve ever read. I can’t believe how they carried me through so much outlandishness and it all seemed perfectly normal. I would follow this author anywhere. Superb!
November 8, 2025
I really enjoyed being in Celia's world and watching her change throughout the story... I would have happily taken another 100 pages and beefed up the story some, but I am so glad I picked it up. 4.25 stars.
September 4, 2025
Extraordinary.
November 3, 2025
Claire Oshetsky consistently views the world from an off-kilter lens. In her first novel, Chouette, she eviscerates society’s failure to accept nonconformity when a woman gives birth to an owl-baby. In her sophomore book, Poor Deer, a young girl is haunted by a cloven-hoofed apparition after she inadvertently causes her four-year-old best friend’s death. And in Evil Genius? She’s at it again when a young wife, stuck in a controlling marriage and a tedious job in the Resident Billing Office at the phone company breaks away from the narrow definitions of acceptable behavior.
We meet Carla Dent when she is just 19 and charged with “ripping the lips” (severing telephone contracts) of customers who are late with their telephone payments. Nothing very exciting happens in the office, so when two colleagues end up having an affair and the husband barges in and kills his wife, Carla is titillated. Particularly since her own husband (“my Drew”), who can’t seem to hold onto a job, expects her home on the dot right after work and always accuses her of being “in a mood.”
In darkly funny scenes, Carla finds herself drawn to some really weird phone customers (like the “Sock Man”), accepting an invitation to meet a narcissist’s new puppy when her train is late (“the goddamn dog-walker left the doggone dog room door open again”), purchasing a little black knife called a dirk, earning the eternal enmity of Mrs. Brisket whose son amassed a fortune in bills calling porn sites, and --- well, I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun.
Suffice to say, despite the outlandish premise, there’s something endearing about Celia and the book really works. As in Claire Oshetsky’s previous two books, the theme is empowerment, as Celia realizes that “no one gets to be the boss of me.” Thanks to Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, for an early copy in exchange for an honest reiew.
We meet Carla Dent when she is just 19 and charged with “ripping the lips” (severing telephone contracts) of customers who are late with their telephone payments. Nothing very exciting happens in the office, so when two colleagues end up having an affair and the husband barges in and kills his wife, Carla is titillated. Particularly since her own husband (“my Drew”), who can’t seem to hold onto a job, expects her home on the dot right after work and always accuses her of being “in a mood.”
In darkly funny scenes, Carla finds herself drawn to some really weird phone customers (like the “Sock Man”), accepting an invitation to meet a narcissist’s new puppy when her train is late (“the goddamn dog-walker left the doggone dog room door open again”), purchasing a little black knife called a dirk, earning the eternal enmity of Mrs. Brisket whose son amassed a fortune in bills calling porn sites, and --- well, I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun.
Suffice to say, despite the outlandish premise, there’s something endearing about Celia and the book really works. As in Claire Oshetsky’s previous two books, the theme is empowerment, as Celia realizes that “no one gets to be the boss of me.” Thanks to Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, for an early copy in exchange for an honest reiew.
February 17, 2026
A brilliant coming-of-rage story with a narrator that will stay with you.
Happy Publication Day to my favorite new unreliable narrator!
In Evil Genius, Claire Oshetsky invites readers into the delightfully dark - and ever so slightly unhinged - mind of a young woman awakening to the danger and thrill of wanting more from life. Set against the backdrop of 1974 San Francisco, this darkly comic noir hums with the restless energy of a city, and a woman, on the verge of unraveling.
Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent is a newlywed, a telephone operator, and a very good girl - or at least that's what she's been told to be. Her husband Drew is older, controlling, and just horrible all around, though Celia starts out trying to excuse the red flags. But when a coworker is murdered in what seems like a crime of passion, Celia's carefully ordered world fractures. What would it feel like, she wonders, to matter that much to someone - to kill or be killed for love? What begins as idle curiosity soon subtly begins to change the trajectory of her entire life, and whether Celia is losing her grip or discovering it for the first time becomes the book's exquisite tension.
Oshetsky's prose is both surreal and intoxicating, and the 1970s setting is full of texture, from rotary phones and cigarette smoke to the hum of liberation movements just beginning to touch women like Celia. Celia herself is a marvelous creation: she may be naive and simply caught up in a bizarre chain of events, or she may be an unreliable narrator who is secretly an evil genius. Maybe she's a bit of both, and wondering about that while watching her claw her way out of the narrative written for her is both exhilarating and heartbreaking.
Evil Genius is a wicked little gem: darkly funny, disquieting, unflinchingly weird, and oddly empowering. A brilliant, thought-provoking coming-of-rage story with a main character you won't soon forget.
Many thanks to Ecco for providing me with an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
"Evil Genius" publishes TODAY, February 17, 2026.
Happy Publication Day to my favorite new unreliable narrator!
In Evil Genius, Claire Oshetsky invites readers into the delightfully dark - and ever so slightly unhinged - mind of a young woman awakening to the danger and thrill of wanting more from life. Set against the backdrop of 1974 San Francisco, this darkly comic noir hums with the restless energy of a city, and a woman, on the verge of unraveling.
Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent is a newlywed, a telephone operator, and a very good girl - or at least that's what she's been told to be. Her husband Drew is older, controlling, and just horrible all around, though Celia starts out trying to excuse the red flags. But when a coworker is murdered in what seems like a crime of passion, Celia's carefully ordered world fractures. What would it feel like, she wonders, to matter that much to someone - to kill or be killed for love? What begins as idle curiosity soon subtly begins to change the trajectory of her entire life, and whether Celia is losing her grip or discovering it for the first time becomes the book's exquisite tension.
Oshetsky's prose is both surreal and intoxicating, and the 1970s setting is full of texture, from rotary phones and cigarette smoke to the hum of liberation movements just beginning to touch women like Celia. Celia herself is a marvelous creation: she may be naive and simply caught up in a bizarre chain of events, or she may be an unreliable narrator who is secretly an evil genius. Maybe she's a bit of both, and wondering about that while watching her claw her way out of the narrative written for her is both exhilarating and heartbreaking.
Evil Genius is a wicked little gem: darkly funny, disquieting, unflinchingly weird, and oddly empowering. A brilliant, thought-provoking coming-of-rage story with a main character you won't soon forget.
Many thanks to Ecco for providing me with an advance copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
"Evil Genius" publishes TODAY, February 17, 2026.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky is being pitched as a comic noir. It is comic. It is noir. It is tremendously undervalued to leave it at that. There is immense depth to be found if you find yourself willing to look.
It's 1974 in San Fran, and Celia is 19, married to Drew, a more than poor excuse for a husband, and she works at a phone company. The gossip at work is about a murder that has been committed of a company employee by her husband, but this is only the tip of a very large iceberg that sets the wheels in motion for what is to come.
There are Barbies. There is a Sock Man. A Crab Queen. There are traditional Highland Scottish sidearms. There is self-doubt and gaslighting. There are misplaced and then rectified perspectives. There are struggles with identity and sexuality. There is learning to reclaim our lives and our autonomy. There is grieving for those we lost, those we will lose, and those we barely know.
I loved this book for all of the ways it touched me: by invoking tears, laughter, sadness, and anger. If a book makes me feel deeply, it has my heart. I have not yet read Poor Deer by the author, but I have recently read Chouette. While these are both surmised to be based in fantasy/magical realism, Evil Genius is firmly grounded in possible reality with a slightly absurd, yet not unrealistic, twist. I think it is magically successful. Celia stole my heart, and if you root for meek and marginally passive heroines, then I think she will steal yours too.
While I am unable to quote from my ARC copy, please don't doubt that the book is full of many highly worthy quotable passages. However, because I just can't not quote SOMETHING, the following quotes came to mind while reading.
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." — Anaïs Nin
"You had the power all along my dear." — Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Many thanks to Ecco Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
It's 1974 in San Fran, and Celia is 19, married to Drew, a more than poor excuse for a husband, and she works at a phone company. The gossip at work is about a murder that has been committed of a company employee by her husband, but this is only the tip of a very large iceberg that sets the wheels in motion for what is to come.
There are Barbies. There is a Sock Man. A Crab Queen. There are traditional Highland Scottish sidearms. There is self-doubt and gaslighting. There are misplaced and then rectified perspectives. There are struggles with identity and sexuality. There is learning to reclaim our lives and our autonomy. There is grieving for those we lost, those we will lose, and those we barely know.
I loved this book for all of the ways it touched me: by invoking tears, laughter, sadness, and anger. If a book makes me feel deeply, it has my heart. I have not yet read Poor Deer by the author, but I have recently read Chouette. While these are both surmised to be based in fantasy/magical realism, Evil Genius is firmly grounded in possible reality with a slightly absurd, yet not unrealistic, twist. I think it is magically successful. Celia stole my heart, and if you root for meek and marginally passive heroines, then I think she will steal yours too.
While I am unable to quote from my ARC copy, please don't doubt that the book is full of many highly worthy quotable passages. However, because I just can't not quote SOMETHING, the following quotes came to mind while reading.
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." — Anaïs Nin
"You had the power all along my dear." — Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Many thanks to Ecco Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The author says she 'had fun' writing this and indeed the joy of storytelling leaps off the page. There is a love for certain peculiar words and quaint expressions that had me smiling throughout.
The book is set in the 1970s, and our young narrator - 19 year old Celia - explains how a colleague has been murdered by her husband while her lover - another colleague of Celia's - was hiding under the bed. The murder triggers profound changes in Celia's life too, who is unhappily married to a controlling husband.
It's a quick read, inspired by a John Cheever story, and has Mad Men vibes too. I guess you could call it a crime caper (?) but it has a warm and cozy feeling (which is also the atmosphere I remember from Oshetsky's previous novel Poor Deer).
It veers on the absurd (my favourite scene is when a fantastically strange character called Sock Man stands behind Celia and 'drapes' a sock over her shoulder) and the plot is over the top, but at the same time the story remains completely believable and logical.
I love books (and movies or series) that manage to be comical and humane at the same time.
Many thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the e-ARC.
The book is set in the 1970s, and our young narrator - 19 year old Celia - explains how a colleague has been murdered by her husband while her lover - another colleague of Celia's - was hiding under the bed. The murder triggers profound changes in Celia's life too, who is unhappily married to a controlling husband.
It's a quick read, inspired by a John Cheever story, and has Mad Men vibes too. I guess you could call it a crime caper (?) but it has a warm and cozy feeling (which is also the atmosphere I remember from Oshetsky's previous novel Poor Deer).
It veers on the absurd (my favourite scene is when a fantastically strange character called Sock Man stands behind Celia and 'drapes' a sock over her shoulder) and the plot is over the top, but at the same time the story remains completely believable and logical.
I love books (and movies or series) that manage to be comical and humane at the same time.
Many thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the e-ARC.
August 20, 2025
I was drawn to this book by its premise and the glowing reviews this author has received for her earlier books among my friends on Goodreads. I was thrilled by the prospect of reading Claire Oshetsky’s newest work and coming to my own conclusions about her ability to draw readers in. And…I’m happy to report that Evil Genius succeeds on all fronts. It delivers on both characterization and plot. The FMC, Chloe, at just 19 years of age and already stuck in (let’s just call it) a weird marriage, is a wonderfully written character. She’s flawed and deeply human, and I rooted for her at every turn in this unusual, but captivating, novel.
Having enjoyed this book thoroughly, I now plan to go back and read the author’s previous books, Poor Deer and Chouette.
Much thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for providing me with access to the e-ARC of this book for review.
Having enjoyed this book thoroughly, I now plan to go back and read the author’s previous books, Poor Deer and Chouette.
Much thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for providing me with access to the e-ARC of this book for review.
November 5, 2025
A book both highly unique yet right in line with ouevre of Claire Oshetsky. Consistently hilarious, we follow the story of Celia Dent, our 19-year-old phone company employee in 70's San Francisco, stuck in a fraught marriage and trapped in her circumstances, until she wakes up and decides upon a different path. Evil Genius is plottier than her previous works but gives us every bit of the interiority into our protagonist that we would desire. It has some of the makings of a murder thriller, but I think largely avoids fitting neatly into any certain genre due to a wonderful off-kilterness in how Celia sees the world and her place in it. Another winning book you will devour as quickly as you can.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
2.5 rounded down. I'm glad that a lot of early reviewers seem to have gotten something from this, but it just didn't quite do it for me.
The writing was hit or miss. While generally the narration had it's entertaining moments, and there were a few sections that were quite well done and stuck with me, a lot of it just lacked the same rhythm and felt almost awkward. Some of it just felt like it was trying way too hard to be eccentric. And some of the dialogue, especially from Drew, the fmc's husband, was so bad it just took me out of it.
A few lines at the ending kind of seemed to want me to believe that the fmc was in fact an evil genius, and if that's the case - I do not agree in the slightest. She wasn't an unlikable narrator, I'm a big weird girl fan, but it did feel like there was a lot of build up just for her to not have much involvement in the actual climax of the novel at all.
I feel like this started strong with a good set up, and while I appreciate some of the themes that were driven home here, overall it ended up being a bit disappointing.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
The writing was hit or miss. While generally the narration had it's entertaining moments, and there were a few sections that were quite well done and stuck with me, a lot of it just lacked the same rhythm and felt almost awkward. Some of it just felt like it was trying way too hard to be eccentric. And some of the dialogue, especially from Drew, the fmc's husband, was so bad it just took me out of it.
A few lines at the ending kind of seemed to want me to believe that the fmc was in fact an evil genius, and if that's the case - I do not agree in the slightest. She wasn't an unlikable narrator, I'm a big weird girl fan, but it did feel like there was a lot of build up just for her to not have much involvement in the actual climax of the novel at all.
I feel like this started strong with a good set up, and while I appreciate some of the themes that were driven home here, overall it ended up being a bit disappointing.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
September 23, 2025
This was a little fever dream of a book. It is a story about Celia Dent, a young wife in the Bay Area married off too soon following her mother's death. She ends up with a scrub tech who is the average nasty 70s American male, 3 steps shy of serial killer but passing as a decent husband. She is regularly abused but confuses that with love because what else is there? Starved for (positive) attention, she starts to daydream about a love tryst that led to a shooting of a coworker while her hatred of her husband begins to surface. She takes risks, drinking and staying out, but also arms herself because she knows how vulnerable she is on some level. Celia's musings and wonderings seem off kilter but also right for a young girl who has not known kindness and still partially lives in the world of fantasy. Despite having no one in her life to help her orient herself, Celia manages to get her life right and gets lucky along the way. Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.
February 7, 2026
Watch my video review here:
Evil Genius - Claire Oshetsky - Spoiler-Free Book Review
https://youtu.be/XTwilcqXf-Q
I believe Claire Oshetsky is the true evil genius.
Evil Genius - Claire Oshetsky - Spoiler-Free Book Review
https://youtu.be/XTwilcqXf-Q
I believe Claire Oshetsky is the true evil genius.
September 11, 2025
3.5 stars
Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky is a feisty, offbeat look into reclamation amidst horrific misogynistic violence.
Evil Genius takes place in 1970s San Francisco and follows Celia, a nineteen-year-old telephone company operator. Celia becomes obsessed with love and death after her coworker is brutally murdered by her husband. Her obsession with the case becomes more understandable when we learn about her own domestic situation: Celia is married to a man named Drew who is, quite frankly, a despicable human being. Celia accepts his highly abusive and controlling behavior as normal and loving, but she begins to question her situation after her coworker’s death sets off an unlikely chain of events.
Evil Genius has a strong central through line of empowerment amidst horrific violence and loss. Celia’s sees the world through a somewhat off-kilter lens. She’s simultaneously shrewd and astonishingly naïve, fragile yet tenacious. Her perspective lends a sense of righteous outrage against the abuse, rape, and assault she endures as a young and vulnerable woman in the 1970s.
Oshetsky’s plot has plenty of clever twists and turns that land Celia in frankly outlandish, but horrifying, situations. Unfortunately, at a certain point it became difficult for me to suspend my disbelief regarding the number of coincidences and violent acts/accidents Celia encounters in a very short period of time. I also found myself a bit emotionally detached from the narrative because of Celia’s unique narration style. However, it was a short, easy, and entertaining read—definitely work checking out (I highly recommend checking trigger warnings beforehand!).
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky is a feisty, offbeat look into reclamation amidst horrific misogynistic violence.
Evil Genius takes place in 1970s San Francisco and follows Celia, a nineteen-year-old telephone company operator. Celia becomes obsessed with love and death after her coworker is brutally murdered by her husband. Her obsession with the case becomes more understandable when we learn about her own domestic situation: Celia is married to a man named Drew who is, quite frankly, a despicable human being. Celia accepts his highly abusive and controlling behavior as normal and loving, but she begins to question her situation after her coworker’s death sets off an unlikely chain of events.
Evil Genius has a strong central through line of empowerment amidst horrific violence and loss. Celia’s sees the world through a somewhat off-kilter lens. She’s simultaneously shrewd and astonishingly naïve, fragile yet tenacious. Her perspective lends a sense of righteous outrage against the abuse, rape, and assault she endures as a young and vulnerable woman in the 1970s.
Oshetsky’s plot has plenty of clever twists and turns that land Celia in frankly outlandish, but horrifying, situations. Unfortunately, at a certain point it became difficult for me to suspend my disbelief regarding the number of coincidences and violent acts/accidents Celia encounters in a very short period of time. I also found myself a bit emotionally detached from the narrative because of Celia’s unique narration style. However, it was a short, easy, and entertaining read—definitely work checking out (I highly recommend checking trigger warnings beforehand!).
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 26, 2026
“Evil geniuses like to come across as cheerful bumblers [...] They are always people you would never suspect.”
This was good but it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. I still sped-read it in a day and still found myself endeared to our protagonist Celia. But I think I was hoping for something a little more unhinged. The synopsis for this book felt very misleading.
This was good but it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. I still sped-read it in a day and still found myself endeared to our protagonist Celia. But I think I was hoping for something a little more unhinged. The synopsis for this book felt very misleading.
February 3, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5.
We meet nineteen-year-old Celia, a telephone operator in San Francisco in the 1970s. Celia is trapped in a dead end job and a disturbing marriage. When she hears that a colleague has been involved in a love tryst turned murder, she is titillated – and perhaps even inspired? Is Celia the innocent and sweet girl she outwardly projects, or is she an evil genius?
Oh this was so much FUN. Will you allow me to call it fun, even though there are some seriously disturbing elements here? This is comic noir at its best, outlandish and off kilter and quirky and dark and yes, FUN. I really enjoyed it, but please note the trigger warning for a controlling and abusive husband.
Fun fact: author Oshetsky has had a lot of varied and unique jobs, including pickle factory worker, pigeon wrangler, and you guessed it, phone company employee!
Let me know if you think you might pick this up! Has anyone read any of Oshetsky’s other work?
To be published Feb 17, 2026 ty @eccobooks!
We meet nineteen-year-old Celia, a telephone operator in San Francisco in the 1970s. Celia is trapped in a dead end job and a disturbing marriage. When she hears that a colleague has been involved in a love tryst turned murder, she is titillated – and perhaps even inspired? Is Celia the innocent and sweet girl she outwardly projects, or is she an evil genius?
Oh this was so much FUN. Will you allow me to call it fun, even though there are some seriously disturbing elements here? This is comic noir at its best, outlandish and off kilter and quirky and dark and yes, FUN. I really enjoyed it, but please note the trigger warning for a controlling and abusive husband.
Fun fact: author Oshetsky has had a lot of varied and unique jobs, including pickle factory worker, pigeon wrangler, and you guessed it, phone company employee!
Let me know if you think you might pick this up! Has anyone read any of Oshetsky’s other work?
To be published Feb 17, 2026 ty @eccobooks!
September 7, 2025
The cover could have been blank and I would have known right away that this was written by Claire (complementary!)!
More complex themes written in a very unique yet accessible way. Also Drew’s mom, toxic “boy mom” alert!
Highly recommend getting this when it comes out on February 17, so glad I got to read early.
Thanks NetGalley and Ecco for the eARC!
More complex themes written in a very unique yet accessible way. Also Drew’s mom, toxic “boy mom” alert!
Highly recommend getting this when it comes out on February 17, so glad I got to read early.
Thanks NetGalley and Ecco for the eARC!
February 12, 2026
looks like we have different opinions about this book. for me, it was boring and not 'fun' enough to keep my interest and grab my attention. it was just hard to get into the book. so i ended up skimming most parts until the end. either way, let's be honest, i expected more from this book.
November 10, 2025
ottessa vibes with none of her artificial aftertaste. a joy
February 15, 2026
Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky. Thanks to @eccobooks for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Celia is nineteen, married, living in San Francisco in 1974 as a telephone operator. When one of her colleagues is murdered in a love triangle, it shocks her world and leaves her wondering what it would be like to be part of something like that.
I loved the time period of this one and how the main character was perfect for it. She was so young and naive, but had a lot of potential to grow, develop, and become her own. We watch her make some bad decisions but also like how she seems to wake up a little with each one. It was a little odd at times, but stick with it. It’s dark but so is Celia’s mind at times.
“Danger and sex and passion and violence and tragic endings were all knotted up inside of me by then, long before I knew what any of those words really meant.”
Read if you like:
-Historical fiction w/ female perspective
-Female narrations
-Dark humor
-Coming of age stories
Evil Genius comes out 2/17.
Celia is nineteen, married, living in San Francisco in 1974 as a telephone operator. When one of her colleagues is murdered in a love triangle, it shocks her world and leaves her wondering what it would be like to be part of something like that.
I loved the time period of this one and how the main character was perfect for it. She was so young and naive, but had a lot of potential to grow, develop, and become her own. We watch her make some bad decisions but also like how she seems to wake up a little with each one. It was a little odd at times, but stick with it. It’s dark but so is Celia’s mind at times.
“Danger and sex and passion and violence and tragic endings were all knotted up inside of me by then, long before I knew what any of those words really meant.”
Read if you like:
-Historical fiction w/ female perspective
-Female narrations
-Dark humor
-Coming of age stories
Evil Genius comes out 2/17.
November 29, 2025
I read Poor Deer earlier this year and really enjoyed it. Like Poor Deer, Evil Genius is a slippery, brief, bittersweet novel with a dreamlike quality that distances the reader somewhat but barely dilutes the difficult subject matter and suffering, endearing main characters. Evil Genius is about a 19 year old telephone company customer service operator who has married a real POS named Drew. Drew is the worst, and Celia is a lovely girl with odd flights of fancy and a kind of amoral, self-discovering wanderlust. Not that she travels anywhere, but as the book unspools, her sense of self and of the world grows larger. Despite the terrors in her life and the ways in which she is pummeled by the unpleasant forces that act on her, she possesses an internal kernel of unflinching strength that she stubbornly nurtures into a life for herself.
I adore Celia.
I could easily see someone hating the way this book plays out, but I loved that even the climax feels a bit like a dream you wake up from unable to decide if it was pleasurable or nightmarish. I almost forgive them (Claire Oshetsky, the wonderful downer) for the hints about the rest of Celia's life, which are heartwarming and then tragic because that is the nature of living.
This is one of those books where I feel that the title/cover combo is going to give a sense to the reader that is entirely off-base -- looks like you're going to be reading HENCH again, for example -- and I hope very much that the right audience slips past the cover and finds delight in the story Oshetsky has actually written. Which I think is a bit like if How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying was about spousal abuse and you were a little bit high.
I adore Celia.
I could easily see someone hating the way this book plays out, but I loved that even the climax feels a bit like a dream you wake up from unable to decide if it was pleasurable or nightmarish. I almost forgive them (Claire Oshetsky, the wonderful downer) for the hints about the rest of Celia's life, which are heartwarming and then tragic because that is the nature of living.
This is one of those books where I feel that the title/cover combo is going to give a sense to the reader that is entirely off-base -- looks like you're going to be reading HENCH again, for example -- and I hope very much that the right audience slips past the cover and finds delight in the story Oshetsky has actually written. Which I think is a bit like if How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying was about spousal abuse and you were a little bit high.
September 5, 2025
4.5
This was a ride!!
This was a ride!!
September 18, 2025
Celia Dent, a nineteen-year-old housewife in 1970s San Francisco, decided she wanted more than obedience, stability, and her husband’s version of love. This life she’s settled into has started to feel like a carefully laid crab trap.
She isn’t listlessly daydreaming— she is testing the edges of what’s possible, what’s permissible, what she can get away with.
Claire Oshetsky gives us a narrator who is at once naïve and unsparingly practical. Celia can be reckless, yes, but she’s also shrewd, making choices that are as surprising as they are self-preserving. She knows the stakes and pushes anyway, not out of ignorance but out of a hunger to finally define her own story. That tension, between innocence and sharp calculation, is what makes her such an interesting guide.
The novel thrums with comic noir energy: sly, darkly funny, and charged with the promise of danger. Oshetsky renders Celia’s interior world with a kind of nervy clarity, showing us how quickly curiosity and imagination can shade into obsession, how easily longing can turn into something sharper, riskier— something more alive.
This isn’t a victim’s tale— it’s a portrait of a young woman learning how to take her life back, one perilous step at a time. The novel is brisk, unsettling, and wickedly smart, with a heroine who is turning this into her own coming-of-age story (with a twist).
She isn’t listlessly daydreaming— she is testing the edges of what’s possible, what’s permissible, what she can get away with.
Claire Oshetsky gives us a narrator who is at once naïve and unsparingly practical. Celia can be reckless, yes, but she’s also shrewd, making choices that are as surprising as they are self-preserving. She knows the stakes and pushes anyway, not out of ignorance but out of a hunger to finally define her own story. That tension, between innocence and sharp calculation, is what makes her such an interesting guide.
The novel thrums with comic noir energy: sly, darkly funny, and charged with the promise of danger. Oshetsky renders Celia’s interior world with a kind of nervy clarity, showing us how quickly curiosity and imagination can shade into obsession, how easily longing can turn into something sharper, riskier— something more alive.
This isn’t a victim’s tale— it’s a portrait of a young woman learning how to take her life back, one perilous step at a time. The novel is brisk, unsettling, and wickedly smart, with a heroine who is turning this into her own coming-of-age story (with a twist).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 140 reviews