⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to NetGalley and the author, Amber Dean, for the ARC.

📝 Short Summary
Hysterical follows a story steeped in psychological tension, where fear, control, and unraveling realities collide. As the narrative unfolds, the line between what is real and what is perceived begins to fracture, pulling the reader into an increasingly intense and unsettling experience that refuses to let up.

Review
This book was intense in the best possible way. From the opening pages, Hysterical creates a suffocating atmosphere that tightens with every chapter. The psychological tension is relentless, building a sense of dread that feels deeply personal and invasive rather than distant or abstract. Amber Dean’s writing is sharp and immersive, drawing the reader straight into the emotional and mental turmoil at the heart of the story. What stood out most was how controlled and deliberate the pacing felt, allowing the intensity to rise naturally while never losing momentum. The story does not rely on cheap shocks but instead digs into discomfort, fear, and instability in a way that feels raw and powerful. This was one of those reads that completely consumed my attention, leaving me unsettled and thinking about it long after I finished. It was gripping, unsettling, and incredibly well executed.

✅ Would I Recommend It?
Absolutely yes. This is a must read for fans of intense psychological horror and thrillers that focus on atmosphere, emotional tension, and a slow but devastating unraveling.

This book is more 4.5/5. Definitely top 10 favourite book I have read this year.

Hysterical by Amber Dean is a bold, unsettling novel that thrives on discomfort. The protagonist, Jessie is an intensely messy, impulsive and often unreliable narrator. But her rapidly unravelling mind is exactly what makes this story so compelling. Dean refuses to soften her edges or offer easy explanations, allowing Jessie's anger, instability and overall, a desire to be needed feel raw and painfully human.

The not-so-happy ending is one of the book's strongest choices. Rather than wrapping everything up in a happy Hollywood ending, it stays true to who Jessie is and leaves a lingering sense of unease. Hysterical won't suit readers looking for redemption or comfort. But for those, like me, who appreciate flawed characters and unresolved endings, Hysterical is a memorable read. Bravo Dean on your debut novel. Cannot wait to read what you have in store next.

Thank you to NetGallery and Victory Editing for providing a copy of Hysterical for my review.

Amber Dean - I thank you for giving voice to a woman's anger and how does a woman cope.
The horror of real life - unrequited slightly obsessive love of a best friend and toxic friendship all around; the use of men; men who see women harmed but do nothing.
And that urge - that powerful urge to move on. But not being all cute and coy.
Rage - a woman's rage, must have outlets.
This book fed my soul.

This is a filthy, unhinged masterpiece. Demented and delicious. I devoured it.
If you ever read something with obsession and rage and find yourself saying you wanted a little more… well, this is it!
Take Basic Instinct and Single White Female, but those are like the gateway for this slowly unraveling slide into depravity.

This book will absolutely not be for everyone. But it is certainly for me.
(The writing is supreme, and the juxtaposition of luxuriousness and repulsion throughout is 👌)

“Not calm. not stable. But broken in a way that bleeds beautiful. The kind of woman who turns pain into poetry, who leaves scars like love letters.”

Thank you, Amber Dean, for this. And thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing for the eARC!

Raw, with spurts of unforgettable imagery!

This was an easy read. It unravels gradually, along with the FMC, until we reach the final ghastly scene. It is a story about desperate longing & tenebrous desires, loneliness, insecurity, and deep-rooted paranoia.

There is something deeply wrong with Jessie. And yet, as untethered as she undoubtedly is, she is also incredibly relatable. Jessie is vulnerable, obsessive, and literally hysterical - as in, bonkers, cray cray, COMPLETELY UNDONE. All she wants is to be wanted, needed, understood. But how far will she go to make the ones she loves stay?

Looking forward to reading more from Amber Dean!

A big thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing for this eARC!

Ho-ly frick… what did I just read? I’m obsessed!

I tore through this in a little under two days, and it is utterly unhinged and deeply disturbing (major disclaimer: This is not horror for beginners) — but also so, so ridiculously good.

The lifestyle and atmosphere, the way relationships are portrayed, the slow, brutal unravelling of the MC, and the absolute brutal violence… I devoured every second of it. Incredibly written, unapologetic, and just plain wild.

I know this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s fine. But I’m already impatiently waiting for Amber Dean’s next book.

After hearing how unhinged this book was, I needed to get my hands on it and see for myself.

Hysterical is told through the perspective of Jessie as she navigates her wild life in New York City. Full of steamy encounters, illicit substances, and a hefty amount of murderous tendencies. We get both her obsessive daydreams and violent fantasies while she goes through her dark encounters

This book is pitch dark and fairly demented but all told through an elegant prose that frames the vulgar in a charming almost pretty way. This book was high octane and fast paced but that could definitely be a testament to how pulled in I was by the story. While some of the sensual aspects weren't exactly for me, they were written with a care and delicacy that didn't make them too uncomfortable to read.

This book is a must read for fans of Maeve Fly, feminine rage, unreliable narrators, and squelchy viscera presented on a pretty silver platter

We follow the story of Jessie, a young woman navigating life in NYC. She's still finding her footing in her relationships. and longing to be seen in them. Every gross, blood soaked inch of her. But that's normal right? To love someone so much you want to wear their skin, feel their heart beating next to your ears, feel their flesh on your teeth. It just means we're getting closer, right?.... Right?

What an unhinged, raw, unforgettable book. Packing punches with beautiful and disgusting imagery, longing thats tangible, and a narrative that flows like a consciousness. When love turns into obsession, what would you do to belong? To feel seen? To feel loved? The book will not disappoint lovers of femgore, weirdlitfic, and general horror lovers. I cannot wait to see what Amber Dean does next!

This is not a comfortable read, nor is it meant to be. It’s emotionally heavy, psychologically intense, and deliberately disorienting.

Readers who enjoy dark, literary fiction that explores mental illness, bodily autonomy, and the aftermath of trauma will find Hysterical deeply affecting.

Overall a phenomenal experience, I loved the writing and the personal connections in this story!

What a fun, well written ride. The tone certainly echoes in similarity to American Psycho, as other reviews have mentioned, without all the music analysis. J/Jessie is a young woman living in New York, engaging in drugs and sex for entertainment. Her obsession for her best friend starts as a hum and proceeds fully into a full volume blast by novel end. I enjoyed the mix of journal entries, written word, and plot driven text. Would recommend to fans of body horror, twisty emotions, and anyone looking for a taste of something different.


Thank you to NetGalley and Amber Dean for the ARC.
Opinions are my own.

Hysterical by Amber Dean was depraved and disgusting. It gave me nightmares and impacted me deeply. So naturally I’m giving it 5 stars.
You might find yourself thinking isn’t this the second American Psycho inspired book I’ve read in a week? And yes, yes it is. But while I read American Psycho through my fingers, terrified about how far Bret Easton Ellis was going to push this. Hysterical scared me for an entirely different reason. Arguably pushing the gore nearly as far as Ellis, Dean terrified me because I understood. Not one bit of me got Bateman, I didn’t understand him, I wasn’t empathetic towards him and he seemed like a tool for a message. Jessie on the other was a reckoning. Like Effy from Skins, I was infatuated with her and fascinated by her crazy. I was forced to come face to face with a very dark part of myself and I can honestly say this is the first time I have ever ‘enjoyed’ reading gore and extreme horror. I’m uncomfortable, I don’t like it but this book has buried itself under my skin and will easily be on my favs for the year.
Oh did I mention this is an INDIE PUBLISHED DEBUT NOVEL.
Bravo @amberdeanauthor and thank you for the ARC ebook, I’m going to need to buy myself a shelf trophy.

《4.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 5⭐️》

In the electric chaos of 2013 New York City, Jessie Ann is a sharp, reckless woman whose nightlife fueled existence masks a deeply fractured psyche. As Jessie drifts through underground scenes and self-destructive routines, her world begins to orbit dangerously around her best friend Tinsel. Tinsel is beautiful, magnetic, and everything Jessie feels she is not. But we find that what starts as devotion soon curdles into fixation.

Hysterical is messy, raw, and deeply unsettling in the very best way! Jessie is the kind of main character you don't trust but can't look away from, and being trapped inside her thoughts felt claustrophobic, intimate, and honestly exhausting in a very intentional way. The obsession at the center of this story is sharp and uncomfortable, the kind that blurs love, envy, and violence until they're indistinguishable. The writing is darkly funny one moment and grotesque the next, capturing that slippery feeling of losing control while still thinking you're in charge. I found myself wincing, rereading, and questioning what was real right alongside Jessie. This isn't a neat and polished thriller. It's a psychological horror fever dream that leans into instability, desire, and the ugly parts of being human. If you love unreliable narrators, female rage, and stories that make you feel slightly unwell after finishing. .. this one delivers!

Thank you to NetGalley, and Amber Dean for the eARC and special thanks to Amber for sending me a physical copy!

Hysterical by Amber Dean

This book was really good. It’s not afraid to go deep into madness, obsession, and paranoia, and it doesn’t pull back once it starts.

The story follows a young woman who slowly spirals further and further into obsession, especially when it comes to her best friend. There’s this push and pull where she feels like her friend is “stealing” anyone she gets close to, yet at the same time she desperately wants to be near her. She has feelings for her. She wants to be chosen. That tension was written really well and felt painfully relatable. The insecurity, the comparison, the constant overthinking, it all rang true.

What stood out to me most was the writing style when she starts spiraling. There are moments where her thoughts turn almost poetic. The formatting shifts and it reads like prose poetry in the middle of her breakdown. It felt intentional and unique, like we were truly inside her head. The book is dated like a diary, and that structure works. It feels intimate, like you’re reading something private that was never meant to be seen.

This book is not shy about gore or about obsession. When she thinks something, she follows it through. The violent fantasies are graphic, uncomfortable, and at times genuinely disturbing, and by the end the story doesn’t just hint at horror, it fully commits to it. This isn’t psychological tension that stays in her head the whole time. There is blood. There is physical violence. And that escalation felt earned because we’ve been inside her mind the entire time watching it build.

Beneath all of that, though, there’s something very human. I could relate to the feeling of being a young adult who doesn’t feel fully whole and becomes obsessive about other people because of it. It reminded me of the kind of emotional intensity someone might associate with borderline personality traits, but I appreciated that nothing was labeled. There’s no neat diagnosis attached. I think naming it can sometimes create stigma, and this book lets her just be messy and unraveling without putting her in a box.

It held my attention from beginning to end. I found myself thinking about it when I wasn’t reading it, which is always a good sign. Horror readers who appreciate psychological unraveling that actually turns physical, and who aren’t afraid of gore or uncomfortable obsession, will be very pleased with where this one goes.

Rating: 5/5 ⭐️