$2.99
1 in stock
| Book Title | Holy Secrets |
| Genre | Thriller |
| Author | Seymour Shubin |
| Publisher | Pocket Books |
| Published | 1984 |
| Format | Mass Market Paperback |
| Condition | Readers Copy |
| Condition Notes | This copy has heavy exterior wear. The front cover shows substantial discoloration and staining, including a large brown water/moisture stain along the lower-left edge and additional staining across the bottom. There is heavy edge and corner wear, creasing, rubbing, surface soiling, and a significant tear/chip at the upper edge near the spine.
The cover remains attached and the title and artwork are clearly readable, but the extent of the staining and physical wear puts this below EugeneBookStore's Good grade. Based on the photograph, I would list it as a Reader's Copy. |
| Condition | Readers Copy |
Dr. Carla Keller’s life is shattered when her psychiatrist husband commits suicide. As she struggles with his death, she discovers that the man she thought she knew had been concealing a disturbing secret.
Her search for answers leads directly to the Cartwell Psychiatric Institute, where her husband’s colleagues—and oldest friends—are determined to control what happens next. Instead of helping Carla uncover the truth, the psychiatrists gradually turn their professional authority against her. Before long, Carla finds herself trapped inside the very psychiatric system she once trusted.
Now she must determine whether she is truly losing control of her mind or whether the doctors surrounding her are deliberately manipulating her. The deeper she digs into her husband’s hidden life, the more dangerous the truth becomes.
Holy Secrets turns the psychiatric hospital into a claustrophobic battleground where the people responsible for deciding who is sane may have the most to hide.
EugeneBookStore Summary
Holy Secrets is an unusual psychological thriller built around a frightening idea: What happens when the people with the authority to declare you insane are the very people you cannot trust?
Seymour Shubin combines psychological suspense, medical authority and institutional confinement into a story in which Carla Keller must fight not only to uncover her husband’s secrets but also to preserve her own credibility and freedom.
This is a good choice for readers who enjoy older psychological thrillers, psychiatric-hospital suspense and stories where the protagonist cannot be certain whom to trust.
Collector Notes
Originally published in 1984, Holy Secrets is one of Seymour Shubin’s lesser-known suspense novels. Shubin wrote numerous mystery and psychological novels, and Holy Secrets even received a contemporary Publishers Weekly review in May 1984.
This Pocket Books paperback has some appeal today as a piece of 1980s psychological-horror/thriller paperback history, particularly because of its stark cover design and psychiatric-institution premise. It is much less commonly encountered than books by the major mass-market horror writers of the period.
However, this particular copy’s heavy wear and staining make it a reading copy rather than a collectible example.
