Her name is Marion. Actually, it isn’t, but never mind. You know the type: young, blonde, and pretty enough. The first girl to die in the slasher films. But not this time.

Alarmed by her sister’s abusive, controlling husband, Marion has decided to steal money from her oblivious employer, and race to save her, but along the way, she stops at a remote motel run by a slightly odd young man named Norm. Exhausted, Marion steps into the shower, turns up the water, the shower rings suddenly screech loudly, and…

“You think you know how this story ends.

“You don’t.”

We’ve all seen Psycho. Leah Rowan’s Marion turns it on its head, in a bloody tale of female rage and empowerment that is one of the most astonishing, exhilarating novels you’re likely to read this year. Getting the drop on Norm, she kills him instead, and…”Had I always been a deeply fucked-up person just waiting for my moment? Was I somehow enjoying this?”

The answer is yes, but she can’t stop to think about it. There are still so many obstacles in front of her. There’s a body to dispose of, of course. There’s that abusive husband of her sister’s. There’s the boss, who isn’t anywhere near as oblivious – or as nice – as he’s pretended to be. And there seems to be someone following Marion.

That someone is Hannah Pierce, a fledgling law firm investigator on her first real assignment, to find a missing blonde girl. Hannah has a whole lot to prove – to her law firm, to her disapproving parents, and most of all to herself – and, just like Marion, she’s about to discover a side of herself she never knew existed.

But again: You think you know where this novel is going.

You don’t.

As twist follows twist, and revelation follows revelation, Marion constantly keeps us on our toes, reinventing itself as it goes along, subverting every thriller stereotype about heroes and villains and victims we thought we knew. You’ll finish it, and then start to wonder: What are you capable of?

To read more of Neil’s review and discussion with Leah Rowan, go here.