The Asylum is the third Victorian thriller from John Harwood (The Ghost Writer). The setting referred to in the title is not a madhouse in the strict sense of the term--Dr. Straker, the director, believes in treating patients humanely, with kindness and consideration. Indeed, part of the institution is for voluntary patients, rather like a spa in Baden-Baden. Do not be deceived, however, for things are not what they seem.
Georgina Ferrars awakes in a small room on the "voluntary" side of Tregannon House, a private asylum in a remote corner of England. She is disoriented, with no memory of the past several weeks. Dr. Straker tells her that she admitted herself as Lucy Ashton the day before and then suffered a seizure. Georgina insists she is not Lucy and Straker must send her uncle a telegram to clear this up. The reply comes back: Georgina is at home in London with the uncle; this other person "must be an imposter."
As Georgina tries everything she knows to prove her identity--even makes an escape attempt--she is caught up in a series of incidents that reek of betrayal and deception, long-held family secrets, a predisposition to madness and a set of "friends" who wish evil upon her. Through letters and journals unearthed from the hidden recesses of her luggage, however, a path toward truth emerges. Harwood holds the reader's interest by alternately letting us think that we are close to the solution, then pulling it away at the last second--a frustrating but very effective strategy. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.