In Freida McFadden’s dedication at the beginning of DO NOT DISTURB, she thanks her parents, “who let me watch way too many scary movies when I was a child.” As such, you will see touches of Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of Robert Bloch’s novel, PSYCHO, among others.

Quinn Alexander is an abused wife. Her husband, Derek, pushes her a little too far one evening, and he ends up with a kitchen knife buried in his abdomen. Instead of sticking around and facing the music, which she knows she would never survive due to the deep connections of Derek’s wealthy family, Quinn opts to run to the nearest border --- which, in this case, is Canada. As she takes off at the start of a snowstorm, she realizes she will need to find somewhere to rest for the night. So, while still in New Hampshire, she turns off the highway to follow a sign to the Baxter Motel.

"DO NOT DISTURB [is] another exceedingly clever novel from a writer who has become a force of nature in the psychological thriller genre."

The inclusion of a motel visit at this point is very much in line with my Psycho reference. At the start of that film, Marion Crane (played by Janet Leigh) is a criminal on the run who stops for a quick rest and refresh at the infamous Bates Motel. The similarities do not end there, especially after Quinn meets Nick Baxter, the young man who is running the all-but-empty motel. There is even a figure of a woman in the window of the house behind the motel that is said to be his wife, Rosalie, who is housebound while suffering from MS. Hmm…

Baxter puts Quinn in a room between their longtime resident, Greta, and an empty room where she will learn that a young woman had once been murdered. When Quinn eventually meets Greta, she is taken aback by Greta's room, which is covered wall-to-wall with mirrors. She once was a famous carnival psychic and claims that mirrors were the gateway to the soul and the other world. Greta proceeds to get a reading out of Quinn, which confirms to her that she is using a false name and is on the run from something dangerous.

As they are snowed in with no chance of leaving, Quinn will be at the motel for much longer than she had intended. One night, after chatting with Greta, she steps outside and is approached by someone with evil intentions.

If you are new to Freida McFadden’s books, you need to be prepared as what might appear on the surface to be a straightforward narrative is often anything but. That is certainly the case with DO NOT DISTURB, another exceedingly clever novel from a writer who has become a force of nature in the psychological thriller genre.