4 out of 4 stars
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The Thundering is a psychological suspense novel by Megan Davidson. The story takes place in Portland, Oregon in 1961. Cathy Morgen is a psychologist who gets a late night call about an emergency admission. When she goes to the sanatorium, she meets Joseph, a teenage boy who behaves like a horse. He even kicks and bites when aggravated. At first, he only speaks in a few simple words or phrases. He does, however, show the ability to write and draw, which he uses to communicate more effectively. As time progresses, he reveals more about his frightful past, like living on a ranch where he talked to the horses and slept in the stable. As Cathy tries to help him, she also has to deal with struggles in her marriage and the prejudice that comes with being a female doctor in the 1960’s.
There is a prologue that takes place ten years prior in 1951, showing a glimpse of Joseph’s chaotic life “pre-horse.” His mother was sick and his father took him to stay on the ranch with an old friend named Sid. While there is a great amount of mystery in the novel, I was in no hurry to find everything out and simply enjoyed the ride. It didn’t feel like the book was purposely hiding information. Instead, it all naturally unfolded as Joseph came to terms with his past and the doctors, namely Cathy, tried to uncover new information about him. Plenty is divulged from the start, particularly with the prologue, so that the reader has a firm grasp on who these characters are and what their motivations are.
As soon as Cathy gets that initial phone call about Joseph’s case, her husband Dan is clearly upset. He wants her to quit. After twenty years of marriage, they’re not at all on the same page. Cathy also has a teenager of her own named Suzie. At first, I thought that more could have been done with her character. She acted like a regular teenage girl and didn’t seem to have a significant role. However, her role greatly expanded into something worthwhile. Her development, like pretty much all of the characters in this novel, was well done. Even the husband, who comes across as one-note most of the time, has realistic reasons for being so unsupportive of his wife's career. It is 1961, after all. Ultimately, there was a good balance of showcasing Cathy’s personal life to her professional life.
The multiple story threads complemented each other very well. I also liked the way that the book made use of the time period. There was plenty of commentary on disturbing psychological practices. An example is the use of hydrotherapy to calm patients down; Cathy mentally comments: “I’d be calm too if I was frozen near to death.” The doctors also have different ideas on how to handle Joseph’s unique situation: whether to make him realize that he’s human versus attempting to uncover why he became this way in the first place. Of course, there’s also gender commentary. Cathy is often referred to as “Mrs.” instead of as “Dr. Morgen.”
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It was a captivating novel with a great premise, solid writing, and fascinating characters. It was also well crafted in terms of both plot and character development. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in unusual psychology cases.
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The Thundering
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