Book Review: Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine

Mogsy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (August 1, 2023)

Length: 432 pages

Author Information: Website 

Word of advice: Do not start this book before you go to sleep or unless you have a good chunk of time available to devote to it, because believe me, you will not want to stop. Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine has rocketed up my list of favorite thriller reads of the year, thanks to its gripping narrative and unexpected plot twists that had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

The story follows actress Anna Alcott, who enjoyed a moderately successful career in her youth. Now in her late 30s, she is preparing to settle down with her new husband Dex to start a family, but unfortunately, infertility had other plans. After wrapping up work on her latest project, an indie film called The Auteur, Anna decides that the time has finally come to seek help at a fertility clinic, one that comes highly recommended by friends. However, during their latest round of IVF, The Auteur unexpectedly becomes a runaway hit, and suddenly, Anna is faced with the possibility of being nominated for an Oscar.

Years ago, the opportunity would have been a dream come true, but now Anna only has her sights on getting pregnant—and the obsession might even be starting to affect her senses. At first, it was the missed doctor appointments, though she could have sworn she entered the dates and times correctly into her calendar. Then came the misplaced bottles of medications crucial to her IVF cycles, almost as if someone was deliberately trying to sabotage her pregnancy journey.

Things only get worse when Anna eventually gets her positive test. One day, someone breaks into the house while she is sleeping, and creepy dolls are left on the beach where she frequently walks. As desperation mounts and the stress becomes more than she can take, Anna starts having terrible symptoms and can’t stop worrying about her baby’s safety even as she wonders if she might be losing her mind.

From the very beginning, I was seized by the uncomfortable truths of human reproduction. In my experience, most books for expectant mothers paint a halcyon, glowing picture of pregnancy (“Your baby is now the size of a sweet potato!”) while failing to depict that what happens between conception and birth is a harrowing process where so many things can go wrong. Heck, even trying to conceive can be a monumental struggle, as it was for Anna Alcott. In a true test of my squeamishness, the author does not shy away from any of the messy, painful details as she describes her protagonist’s experience with IVF and then, later, her experiences with a difficult pregnancy. For this reason, Delicate Condition has the potential to be a highly distressing read for someone who is pregnant, struggling with infertility, or has experienced miscarriage. Reader discretion is definitely advised.

Personally though, what set this book apart for me was its main character, whose every emotion came to life with depth and complexity. Even though I had relatively textbook pregnancies with my kids, as a naturally anxious person, I was paranoid and worried every day, and seeing those fears magnified a thousand times in Anna, my heart just broke for her.

The novel’s pacing was also an example of masterful balance and control, never letting up for a second while still being careful not to overwhelm the reader with too many developments. And while this book has been compared to Rosemary’s Baby, quite honestly, I feel the comparison is neither accurate nor fair. Delicate Condition certainly deserves to stand on its own since there are some elements it tackles differently, and other areas where it does things even better. Best of all, there was plenty of psychological depth to the horror and suspense, both of which increased gradually over the course of the story, building up to multiple revelations until the grand finale left me in a state of complete shock.

Finally, this isn’t actually my first book by the author, who has published YA titles under her name Danielle Vega. However, compared to the YA horror novel I’d previously read by her, which was rather run-of-the-mill and unadventurous, Delicate Condition is a whole other kind monster—a dark, vicious, and unrelenting one. At the same time, I loved the sophistication and boldness of the writing and narrative, and if this is what I can look forward to from the author’s adult fiction in the future, then sign me up for more.