Novella Review: Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

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

Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Genre: Thriller, Suspense

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Tordotcom (June 9, 2026)

Length: 195 pages

Author Information: Website

Naomi Kritzer’s Obstetrix is one of those books that I ended up enjoying more for what it is than for what I expected it to be. Going in, I thought it would be a little heavier on the topical commentary, perhaps leaning more into highlighting those anxieties surrounding its subject matter. Instead, I got a short, accessible survival thriller that lets those ideas sit in the background rather than constantly putting them front and center.

The story follows Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Gwinn, an obstetrician who has recently been acquitted after performing a medically necessary abortion, but even though she was cleared in court, the experience has left her looking for a fresh start and a new place to work. The opportunity seems to come when she’s contacted by a woman claiming to be looking for an obstetrician for her organization, but their meeting turns out to be a trap. Liz winds up drugged, kidnapped, and transported to a remote compound at an undisclosed location, where she discovers that the woman who interviewed her is actually a member of a fundamentalist cult.

What this group wants is something disturbingly simple: they need a doctor to care for the compound’s women, many of whom are expected to marry young and have children. One of them, experiencing a complicated pregnancy, is due to give birth very soon and will need a cesarean section. With no intention of taking anyone to an outside hospital, the cult needs someone who can handle these types of high-risk situations, even when this patient happens to be their leader’s own daughter. Liz is essentially imprisoned and told to do her job or else she’ll meet the same fate as her predecessor, who was killed for refusing to comply. But despite being forced into service, she genuinely wants to help those in her care, all while wondering how many of them, like her, are there against their will. With the cult’s faithful constantly watching, however, she has no way of knowing who she can trust. So she quietly studies the compound, looking for weaknesses, potential allies, and any opportunity to make her escape.

What I liked most about Obstetrix is how quickly it gets moving. Coming in at a little less than 200 pages, it really has no choice, and this bite-sized format works well for a story like this. Once Liz is kidnapped, the book immediately shifts gears into her struggle to survive, with the added complication of all the other potential innocents around her. As a compassionate doctor, Liz is painfully aware of the young women and children who desperately need her, and refusing to provide care isn’t something she can seriously consider, even with the threat of death hanging over her. That makes her a big part of why the novella works. She’s smart and practical, knows her own limits, and carefully weighs when to act and when to wait. She approaches her situation the way a medical professional would: observing, asking questions, remembering details, and analyzing everything around her. I appreciate that she’s compassionate without being naïve, fully aware that her captors are using her sense of responsibility against her but unwilling to stop caring because of it.

That said, I wish the story had spent time diving deeper into Liz’s situation. We’re given glimpses of life around the compound and its inner workings, but these moments feel condensed compared to the amount of time she supposedly spends there, ultimately leaving the cult itself feeling somewhat underdeveloped. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword, though, because I understand why Kritzer wanted to keep Obstetrix a quick, accessible novella, but at the same time, it probably could have benefited from a better sense of just how much danger Liz was in. There were also missed opportunities to dig further into the psychological side of the cult and uncover more layers as to how its members are controlled. Still, it’s a fine balancing act, and I can appreciate the choice to keep the story moving rather than bog it down with details.

And honestly, that’s probably why I’d classify this much more as a thriller than anything else. It’s not particularly speculative, and I wouldn’t really call it horror either. Sure, the near-future setting mostly serves as a backdrop for a story that feels disturbingly plausible right now, but I was actually surprised by how little the book touched upon the broader social issues. While ideas of bodily autonomy and reproductive rights were certainly present, Kritzer never stalls the story by hammering them home, instead letting them emerge naturally from Liz’s experiences. That worked for me.

Overall, Obstetrix was a solid, entertaining read that I flew through much faster than I expected. It’s not nearly as sci-fi or horror-focused as I anticipated, but as a snappy tense thriller, it absolutely works. A little more depth would have been preferable, but I also appreciated the understated approach to its themes and found the whole thing suspenseful without becoming exhausting. Sometimes, a quick and straightforward story is exactly what you’re in the mood for.