“Welcome to The Church of Salvation, where your soul checks in but never checks out.” – Nikki Minty, Psychosis Diagnosis
Many thanks to the publisher for granting my request for an ARC of Psychosis Diagnosis via NetGalley.
I was super intrigued by Psychosis Diagnosis by Nikki Minty when I read the description on NetGalley. I was looking forward to a full cast audiobook that explored mental health and featured supernatural elements. Did Psychosis Diagnosis live up to my expectations? Let’s explore.
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Summary
Set (mostly) in Australia, Psychosis Diagnosis follows Monroe. Monroe was raised in poverty by his mother, who struggles with substance abuse and her revolving door of boyfriends.
Unsurprisingly, Monroe is eager to escape his household when he turns 18. Monroe’s older sister invites him to move in with her and her husband, and Monroe accepts.
Shortly before Monroe’s 18th birthday, he’s approached by his neighbor, Indi. According to Indi, her parents are part of a religious cult and she’s being forced to marry its leader.
Monroe is eager to help Indi and decides to take her with him when he leaves. However, before they can leave, there’s a violent encounter between Monroe and Indi’s father. Indi’s father denies Indi’s existence, the police see Monroe as the aggressor and Monroe is arrested.
So Monroe spends time in a psychiatric facility. After his release, he returns to his hometown, determined to prove Indi’s existence.
What Monroe uncovers is a web of dark secrets and a decades old conspiracy involving a religious cult.
Psychosis Diagnosis by Nikki Minty is a thriller that includes elements of horror and the supernatural.
Thoughts
The first thing I thought when I finished Psychosis Diagnosis was, “I’m not sure what I think of this.” Obviously, I requested Minty’s novel on NetGalley because I expected to like it, but I found myself being unsure upon completion. I had to enlist someone from one of the Discord communities I’m part of to read Minty’s novel in order to get another opinion.
Positives
My favorite thing about Psychosis Diagnosis was the audiobook narrators. As I mentioned, the audiobook features a full cast of narrators, and all did a wonderful job. There were times when they needed to sound sinister or menacing; when circumstances called for that, I thought they did well. If you want to experience Psychosis Diagnosis, I would highly recommend the audiobook version.
Negatives
Unfortunately, there were a number of ways in which Psychosis Diagnosis fell flat for me.
As I mentioned, I was hoping for an exploration into mental health related issues. And sadly, Minty’s exploration into mental health and substance use was surface level at best. I don’t think how these topics were handled where necessarily the most offensive approach ever, but I don’t think it took a nuanced approach either.
While he was in the treatment facility, Monroe befriended a Latina woman, who was also a patient. I felt like Minty relied a lot on the “Spicy Latina” stereotype when describing this particular character. And this bugged me.
Those things said, I think the biggest issue I had with Psychosis Diagnosis was world-building. I didn’t feel like the magic system really made a lot of sense. While I don’t think Minty needed to explicitly spell out every detail about how the magic system works, if the reader is left wondering things like why only three characters seem to know magic exists, I think that’s a problem. I found myself wondering things like “if x is possible in this world, why aren’t the characters doing y?”
In Conclusion
While I really liked the audiobook narrators of Psychosis Diagnosis, I was otherwise pretty disappointed by Minty’s novel.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.
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