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The Thundering
WHAT IS “NORMAL”? That question consumes psychologist Cathy Morgen when she takes on the case of a devastated teenager named Joseph. In the spring of 1961, Cathy receives a distressing call from the director of Summerhaven Mental Hospital in Portland, Oregon: They need her expertise. Over her husband’s angry protests, Cathy drives to the asylum, where she observes a bizarre sight: a kicking, neighing boy behaving exactly like a panicked mustang. What horrors, Cathy asks herself, have caused Joseph to give up being human? Thus begins Cathy’s heart-wrenching quest to unravel the mystery of the talented, traumatized “horse-boy”–and in doing so redeem herself for failing to save a similar young patient. Many people are working against her, including an arrogant chief psychiatrist, a doctor who favors a host of barbaric “therapies,” and her own spouse. Near escapes, brilliant insights, shocking confessions, and unthinkable betrayal will all play a role in helping Cathy discover the true meaning of “normal”…and the key to healing Joseph’s broken psyche. The Thundering is a haunting and uplifting tale of brutality and compassion during the darkest times of America’s mental healthcare crisis.
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First published September 12, 2015
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About the author
Megan Davidson
5 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Megan Davidson is the author of 3 historical romances, all published by Kensington Publishing. She has also co-authored 2 books on fiction writing with author Cynthia Sterling. A long-time editor for a small publishing house in Pittsburgh, PA, Megan currently teaches fiction at the Downtown Writers Center is Syracuse, NY. She has a Master's degree in Fine Arts in English Writing from the University of Pittsburgh.
Megan Davidson is the author of 3 historical romances, all published by Kensington Publishing. She has also co-authored 2 books on fiction writing with author Cynthia Sterling. A long-time editor for a small publishing house in Pittsburgh, PA, Megan currently teaches fiction at the Downtown Writers Center is Syracuse, NY. She has a Master's degree in Fine Arts in English Writing from the University of Pittsburgh.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 28, 2015
Thundering : awesomely great, intense, or unusual
When Joey is 6 years old, his father packs a suitcase, tells him his mother is resting and that they're going to stay somewhere else until she feels better. His father drives him many miles away and leaves him with a man called Sid. Joey never sees his mother or his father again.
Dr. Cathy Morgen is a psychologist called to the Summerhaven Mental Hospital to evaluate a teenager, Joseph. When she arrives, she is startled to see this young man neighing and acting like a panicking horse. Having spent time in a circus, Joseph is called horse-boy.
Cathy is immediately taken with Joseph. There are so many questions ... why does he feel more comfortable being a horse rather than a human? Where did he come from? Where is his family? What awful trauma has this child suffered that he willingly gave up being human?
While Cathy tries to reach him, she is hampered by the Director of the Mental Hospital, her husband, Joseph himself. But it's a fight she is determined to win.
This is such a sad story. It is also a hopeful story. I had moments where I laughed ..and more moments where tears fell.
This is such a well-written story. Not a mystery as such, except for what happened to him in the years between 6 and 16. It's a story that needs telling. It's a story about mental health institutions and how they perceive their patients. It's a story about doctors who can only hope and pray they can help in some way. It's the story of a young man who is afraid to love and trust again.
This was an amazing book! My many thanks to the author and to Word Slinger Publicity who supplied the book and the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
When Joey is 6 years old, his father packs a suitcase, tells him his mother is resting and that they're going to stay somewhere else until she feels better. His father drives him many miles away and leaves him with a man called Sid. Joey never sees his mother or his father again.
Dr. Cathy Morgen is a psychologist called to the Summerhaven Mental Hospital to evaluate a teenager, Joseph. When she arrives, she is startled to see this young man neighing and acting like a panicking horse. Having spent time in a circus, Joseph is called horse-boy.
Cathy is immediately taken with Joseph. There are so many questions ... why does he feel more comfortable being a horse rather than a human? Where did he come from? Where is his family? What awful trauma has this child suffered that he willingly gave up being human?
While Cathy tries to reach him, she is hampered by the Director of the Mental Hospital, her husband, Joseph himself. But it's a fight she is determined to win.
This is such a sad story. It is also a hopeful story. I had moments where I laughed ..and more moments where tears fell.
This is such a well-written story. Not a mystery as such, except for what happened to him in the years between 6 and 16. It's a story that needs telling. It's a story about mental health institutions and how they perceive their patients. It's a story about doctors who can only hope and pray they can help in some way. It's the story of a young man who is afraid to love and trust again.
This was an amazing book! My many thanks to the author and to Word Slinger Publicity who supplied the book and the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
October 12, 2015
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
Morgen is likely to get phone calls at all hours, but a call from the director of Portland’s leading private sanatorium convinced her to leave the warmth of her bed and tend to the current emergency at Summerhaven. It’s 1961, and her banker husband is not at all pleased that his wife is working instead of making him breakfast, keeping house and, perhaps, giving him the son he’s always wanted. Their teenaged daughter, Suzy, copes just fine with having two working parents, but Dan seems to be getting more irascible and ill-tempered about Cathy’s professional life. Dr. Gorsky is troubled by the new emergency admission the sanitarium has just admitted. Joseph Chief is a teenaged boy who was featured in a travelling carnival as a horse-boy. When he attacked one of the customers, the police took him into custody, and he ended up at Summerhaven, where he had already assaulted one of the attendants. Dr. Gorsky is reluctant to put the young man on Thorazine or another heavy sedative and, remembering Cathy’s past work with a young girl, thinks that she might just be able to reach the panic-stricken teen.
Megan Davidson’s psychological thriller, The Thundering, is an intense and gripping story about an abused and traumatized young man and the doctor who helps him come to terms with his past. I was fascinated by Dr. Morgen’s case studies of Joseph and her growing rapport with the boy whose psychological survival hinged on his decision to become a horse. The setting of this story precedes the feminist movement in this country, and Morgen’s value and role as a professional is called into question not only by her husband and colleagues, but by the nurses and staff at Summerhaven as well. And while Morgen promises Dan and herself that she will retire within a year, the reader can’t help but see what a tragic waste that would be for herself and the patients she helps. The mystery behind Joseph’s lost family and affinity with horses is a tantalizing while tragic one, and the author admirably builds the tension in the plot as the pieces of the past begin to come together. I was so impressed and moved by The Thundering. It’s a marvelous literary effort that gripped both my attention and my imagination, and didn’t let go. The Thundering is most highly recommended.
Morgen is likely to get phone calls at all hours, but a call from the director of Portland’s leading private sanatorium convinced her to leave the warmth of her bed and tend to the current emergency at Summerhaven. It’s 1961, and her banker husband is not at all pleased that his wife is working instead of making him breakfast, keeping house and, perhaps, giving him the son he’s always wanted. Their teenaged daughter, Suzy, copes just fine with having two working parents, but Dan seems to be getting more irascible and ill-tempered about Cathy’s professional life. Dr. Gorsky is troubled by the new emergency admission the sanitarium has just admitted. Joseph Chief is a teenaged boy who was featured in a travelling carnival as a horse-boy. When he attacked one of the customers, the police took him into custody, and he ended up at Summerhaven, where he had already assaulted one of the attendants. Dr. Gorsky is reluctant to put the young man on Thorazine or another heavy sedative and, remembering Cathy’s past work with a young girl, thinks that she might just be able to reach the panic-stricken teen.
Megan Davidson’s psychological thriller, The Thundering, is an intense and gripping story about an abused and traumatized young man and the doctor who helps him come to terms with his past. I was fascinated by Dr. Morgen’s case studies of Joseph and her growing rapport with the boy whose psychological survival hinged on his decision to become a horse. The setting of this story precedes the feminist movement in this country, and Morgen’s value and role as a professional is called into question not only by her husband and colleagues, but by the nurses and staff at Summerhaven as well. And while Morgen promises Dan and herself that she will retire within a year, the reader can’t help but see what a tragic waste that would be for herself and the patients she helps. The mystery behind Joseph’s lost family and affinity with horses is a tantalizing while tragic one, and the author admirably builds the tension in the plot as the pieces of the past begin to come together. I was so impressed and moved by The Thundering. It’s a marvelous literary effort that gripped both my attention and my imagination, and didn’t let go. The Thundering is most highly recommended.
October 27, 2015
Who is the “horse-boy?” A nightmare threatens to devour innocent little Joseph. As he matures, he finds ways to cope with his terrible lot in life, ways that serve him well but society will not tolerate. Is an institution the solution? There is no ignoring his unique qualities but his problems are singular, haunting and difficult to unlock. Doctor Morgen desperately wants to save him but her colleagues and family attempt to hobble her with accepted chauvinism of that era. With her history and future, is she even the best person to treat the troubled teen? Davidson has laid out a breathtaking tale of inhumanity and lets you in on what being human entails. You must read the book to discover her solution.
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.
February 2, 2020
Cathleen is psychologist at the prestigious private sanatorium Summerhaven and when a boy, Joseph, is brought in suffering from the delusion he is not human and displays all the characteristics of being a horse. He kicks and neighs and only uses a few words. Can Cathy keep the head psychiatrist from ruining this child forever with over medication or worse yet electrol shock treatment when his form of treatment of the boy doesn't work. Cathy has success with the boy but it's slow. She has him talking more and drawing hopefully opening communication so Cathy can find out the horrors that happened to him to make him withdraw from being a human. She must fight to keep treating him and push him more to speak of things he doesn't want to remember before the head doctor does irreparable damage with his miss diagnosis of scitzophranica. Fighting a superior who refused to address her as Dr. Morgen using Mrs instead in keeping with his idea women didn't belong in a doctors world. He has a totally different approach to patient treatments feeling confrontation would work better. He does let Dr. Morgan continue her work with Joseph closely monitoring her every move and sees she had made great progress with this broken child. He however, makes the biggest mistake ever in his zest to prove schizophrenia. Excellent read keeping your interest. Highly recommend.
October 24, 2021
As a psychologist and a woman in the 1960's, Dr. Cathy Morgen has to contend with a husband threatened by her career, as well as colleagues and administration who do not respect professional women. When a new client comes to Cathy broken by past trauma, will the doctor be able to advocate for her patient and will the woman be able to use compassion to heal?
I did not find the book to be as well written and thought provoking as other reviewers. The elements of a good story are there, but not presented in a compelling way. The Thundering is not a book I would recommend, as a result.
I did not find the book to be as well written and thought provoking as other reviewers. The elements of a good story are there, but not presented in a compelling way. The Thundering is not a book I would recommend, as a result.
November 16, 2015
I received a free copy in return for an honest review.
I loved this story. It's set in 1961, so the main character, a psychologist, is as interesting to the reader as the boy she is treating.
Psychiatry and psychology are still in their infancy, women stay at home and look after their husbands, children and home (in that order). Her colleagues don't take her or her methods seriously, and Cathy rejects the accepted and advancing treatments that are being enthusiastically adopted by her senior colleagues. These dangerous and cruel treatments, sedation and ECT, were used for decades, disabling and ruining the lives of people who were completely powerless in the hands of therapists.
I liked how the author hinted at the barbarity of these practises, hinted at how they grew and expanded within a political context of saving money, (references to Kennedy's policies) hinted at the way in which the mentally ill were despised and rejected. The author could have expanded on any of these themes, yet somehow they seemed to be more powerful explored within the context of Cathy's relationships with her colleagues, other women, her husband, her daughter, and Joseph.
Cathy had to have been an extraordinary woman with a brilliant mind and strength of character to be practising as a psychologist in 1961. Again, this is understated, but explains how she could make progress where others could not. Despite her own experiences of prejudice against a working professional married woman with a career, she is excited that her daughter might follow in her footsteps. That her daughter might have the strength of character, insightfulness, empathy and determination to become a psychologist too.
Finding out what trauma had caused Joseph's behaviour was less important to me than the journey that Cathy and Joseph udertake to reach that goal.
Once that journey is over, the story loses its energy. There was tension, suspense and conflict as Cathy worked with Joseph and confronted her colleagues. Yet the final confrontation with her husband is flat. If the author is setting this up as a series about Dr Cathy Morgen, and I think she should, then she could have invested more in the end of the book and extended option by another chapter. The call she took from her colleague at the end suggests that there may be a sequel, and if so, then I hope that the odd symptoms that Cathy experiences will be explained.
if the ending had explored more of growing tension between Cathy and her husband, if it was not so off handed, I may have given the book a five.
I loved this story. It's set in 1961, so the main character, a psychologist, is as interesting to the reader as the boy she is treating.
Psychiatry and psychology are still in their infancy, women stay at home and look after their husbands, children and home (in that order). Her colleagues don't take her or her methods seriously, and Cathy rejects the accepted and advancing treatments that are being enthusiastically adopted by her senior colleagues. These dangerous and cruel treatments, sedation and ECT, were used for decades, disabling and ruining the lives of people who were completely powerless in the hands of therapists.
I liked how the author hinted at the barbarity of these practises, hinted at how they grew and expanded within a political context of saving money, (references to Kennedy's policies) hinted at the way in which the mentally ill were despised and rejected. The author could have expanded on any of these themes, yet somehow they seemed to be more powerful explored within the context of Cathy's relationships with her colleagues, other women, her husband, her daughter, and Joseph.
Cathy had to have been an extraordinary woman with a brilliant mind and strength of character to be practising as a psychologist in 1961. Again, this is understated, but explains how she could make progress where others could not. Despite her own experiences of prejudice against a working professional married woman with a career, she is excited that her daughter might follow in her footsteps. That her daughter might have the strength of character, insightfulness, empathy and determination to become a psychologist too.
Finding out what trauma had caused Joseph's behaviour was less important to me than the journey that Cathy and Joseph udertake to reach that goal.
Once that journey is over, the story loses its energy. There was tension, suspense and conflict as Cathy worked with Joseph and confronted her colleagues. Yet the final confrontation with her husband is flat. If the author is setting this up as a series about Dr Cathy Morgen, and I think she should, then she could have invested more in the end of the book and extended option by another chapter. The call she took from her colleague at the end suggests that there may be a sequel, and if so, then I hope that the odd symptoms that Cathy experiences will be explained.
if the ending had explored more of growing tension between Cathy and her husband, if it was not so off handed, I may have given the book a five.
February 28, 2016
I would like to thank NetGalley and Champlain Avenue Books for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest and open review.
I must start this review by saying that this was one of the most moving books I've ever read. I read most of the book with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. After saying that, it was also a book that uplifted me.
The story is of how Cathy works with Joseph to gain his trust. It also looks at some of the treatments used to treat psychiatric patients. Thinking about them today makes you realise how barbaric some of them were.
Chauvnism was rife and Cathy suffered from it not only at the hospital but also at home. Looking at Cathy and Don's relationship from today's point of view makes it almost laughable.
This gripped me from the start and it's a story that will stay with me for a long time.
I highly recommend it.
I must start this review by saying that this was one of the most moving books I've ever read. I read most of the book with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. After saying that, it was also a book that uplifted me.
The story is of how Cathy works with Joseph to gain his trust. It also looks at some of the treatments used to treat psychiatric patients. Thinking about them today makes you realise how barbaric some of them were.
Chauvnism was rife and Cathy suffered from it not only at the hospital but also at home. Looking at Cathy and Don's relationship from today's point of view makes it almost laughable.
This gripped me from the start and it's a story that will stay with me for a long time.
I highly recommend it.
August 11, 2016
A very different kind of book about a boy what acts like a hore whos name is Joseph but they call him horse boy.
The story is set in 1961 where a psychologist tries to help the boy. Cathy tries to gain his trust in an asylum why does the boy feel more at ease being a horse rather then himself?
Both the stories of Cathy and Joseph are good it is a rather sad story but well written and it kept me reading to find out how it would end.
A must read.
Thank you Netgalley the Author and Publisher for a chance to read this book.
The story is set in 1961 where a psychologist tries to help the boy. Cathy tries to gain his trust in an asylum why does the boy feel more at ease being a horse rather then himself?
Both the stories of Cathy and Joseph are good it is a rather sad story but well written and it kept me reading to find out how it would end.
A must read.
Thank you Netgalley the Author and Publisher for a chance to read this book.
November 15, 2015
The Thundering is about a 15 year old young man who acts like a horse. This has become one of my favorite books of this year. Such a heartbreaking, unique plot I have read in a very long time. Ms. Davidson definitely written a world that will be hard to forget.
I received a free copy for an honest review.
I received a free copy for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews