Quiver

June 13, 2011
The malignant spirit of 16th-century sociopath Countess Elizabeth Báthory hovers over events in Canadian author Luhning's suspenseful first novel, a modern tale of obsession and seduction. Since her youth, forensic psychiatrist Danica Winston has been fascinated by the Hungarian countess and her legendary slaughters of servant girls so she could bathe in their blood. Working in London with a patient who's just killed a teenage girl in the manner of Báthory, Danica makes the acquaintance of Maria János, an enigmatic archivist who claims to have found Báthory's long-lost diaries. Drawn into Maria's glamorous life, Danica succumbs to her new friend's Svengalian manipulations in a way that increasingly parallels the hold Báthory exerts on accomplices in the grisly diary entries Maria tantalizes Danica with. Despite the over-the-top climax, the care with which Luhning (Sway, a poetry collection) orchestrates the tale's events makes Danica's discovery of the dark side of herself and others both believable and chilling.