The Asylum

Notes

The Asylum by Johan Theorin is set at the Dell preschool, part of St. Patricia’s Hospital, known as “St. Psycho’s” by the locals. It is a hospital for “antisocial men and women who have done what you might call bad things”. When Jan Hauger applies for a job as a classroom assistant, his ambitions aren’t entirely educational.

Theorin builds suspense as he jumps between the bright and cheerful nursery and the ominous psychiatric hospital to deliver a psychological thriller.

The ending is driven by one too many coincidences and is a little more than implausible, but the journey will put some industrial-strength knots in your stomach.

Publisher’s Synopsis

We don’t talk about sick or healthy people at St Patricia’s. Words such as hysteric, lunatic, and psychopath.… They are no longer used. Because who amongst us can say that we are always healthy?

An underground passage leads from the Dell nursery to Saint Patricia’s asylum. Only the children enter, leaving their minders behind. On the other side are their parents – some of the most dangerous psychopaths in the country.

Jan has just started working at the nursery. He is a loner with many secrets and one goal. He must get inside the asylum….

What is his connection with one of the inmates, a famous singer? What really happened when a boy in his care went missing nine years ago? Who can we trust when everyone has something to hide?

Read a full review of The Asylum by Johan Theorin at Shade Point.