The new governess of Esnor House, Winifred Notty, arrives with three months to spare until Christmas. While she intends to spend her time raising and educating the two children entrusted to her care, she has other plans for the family and staff of the estate.

I had heard a few things about this book over the past few months but one thing I didn’t expect was just how funny it ended up being. Don’t get me wrong, some of the events that take place here are downright horrific, but it’s a testament to author Virginia Feito’s dry, sardonic wit in that she can take scenes that are so outlandishly brutal and make the reader laugh out loud, without it feeling forced or unnatural. I suppose it is unsettling at times to cheer for Winifred given her ultimate goal, but Feito makes her adversaries so deeply unlikeable, that it’s easy to see them discarded. I definitely didn’t feel like that with Patrick Bateman or any “real-life” sociopaths out there. Maybe Feito has a talent for it!

Victorian Psycho is equipped with one of the more deeply satisfying endings I’ve read recently. If you’re the squeamish type, you probably shouldn’t be reading this book in the first place, but the ending in and of itself takes the violence up a whole other notch. Also, this novel gets bonus points from me for its Christmas setting. Given my recent obsession with horror literature and my life-long appreciation for the holiday season, there is a very niche itch that gets scratched when the two are combined effectively.