Trauma: I hope he rots in hell

by Cynthia Fridsma

Her whole life, Susan’s been haunted by bloody nightmares. But she is about to find out the irrefutable truth about how her night terrors reflect her real life. She discovers her life is all lies.

Unbeknownst to Susan, a serial killer on the other side of the US is making his way toward her with one goal: to kill Susan and her mother. The voices in his head are telling him he must.

Will Susan’s nightmares ever end? And more importantly, will she survive the deadly encounter with the serial killer—her own father ?

234 pages, Paperback

Published November 18, 2020

About the author

As far back as she can remember, Cynthia has been listening to exciting stories told by her mother. She grew up reading books from Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, and Philip K. Dick, among others.

It was Cynthia’s mother who inspired her to start telling—and writing—her own stories.

Ms. Fridsma’s writing career started after a handicap in 2014—she has a tremor in her right hand, numbness in the fingers, and pain in her wrist. She had to give up her other creative outlets, such as photography, computer programming, and gave up on juggling, so focused on what she could do rather than what she couldn’t do.

Besides writing, she sometimes plays guitar—in Jimi Hendrix style.

Cynthia lives with her husband and pet rabbit Max in Amsterdam

Reviews

[G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan’s biological father turns out to be Roy, a sadistic serial killer who hears voices from the gods and suffers from disturbing hallucinations. As the narrative progresses, it is revealed that Susan’s mother, Galina, experienced horrifying abuse at Roy’s hands during his spiraling descent into madness. But did Galina die, or is she also somehow still haunting Susan’s dreams and memories? The story of Susan’s and her parents not only tells a tale of a battered woman, a good husband sliding into murderous psychopathic madness, and a child’s mounting terror, it is also full of surprises. All the lead characters have a hidden backstory that is slowly unveiled in a riveting sequence of dramatic twists and turns.

Susan is left with a lot of information to process – a serial killer for a father, the events that led to her adoption, and worrying about Xander’s recovery. But all’s well that end’s well, and the plot concludes with yet another surprise twist that connects Xander’s accident to Susan’s happy ending.
As an extra treat, readers will love the references to Stephen King’s masterpiece of horror, The Shining. Trauma is a real treasure for anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers or horrors. There is a lot of action and drama within the book that will keep readers focused on the text and hoping for more.

[Gyabner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book, knowing that I don't like mystery books, but I loved it! The way the story catches your attention as soon as you read the first page is amazing. Susan has some great character development, and the story has interesting plot twists. The revelation of who the killer was is very surprising. This book is very captivating, it grabs the reader's attention and plays with their emotions. The book describes it’s scenery very well, and it’s very descriptive when it comes to the action scenes. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading mystery books!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A page turning storyline that kept my interest throughout

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just Ok

I personally did not care for the book. The only reason I gave it 2 stars was that the story line was great. But the writing was very choppy and the storyline did not flow well making it very hard to follow.