Book Review: Petrified Women

Jeremy Ray has done it again! Proving his first book, The Gathering, was no one hit wonder, Petrified Women is an outstanding and moving look at trauma and PTSD, while also being a nail-biting horror story that begs readers to ask the question, “How well do we really know the people closest to us?”

Harley’s been dating her boyfriend Aiden for a year now, and she really thinks he could be the one. The only problem in their relationship is Aiden’s taste for practical jokes. Elaborate, frightening, and (although Harley won’t admit it) occasionally cruel practical jokes. Thinking she’ll beat him at his own game, Harley prepares an epic practical joke for his birthday. It doesn’t go as planned though. Is Aiden playing a joke on her in return or is her boyfriend not really as charming and harmless as she thought?

I suffer from PTSD, so I appreciate Ray’s thoughtful look at the lasting effects of trauma and how it can affect different survivors in different ways. In Harley’s case, she tends to freeze up in perilous situations. In Petrified Women, she’ll have to fight that instinct if she wants to survive.