Obstetrix
by Naomi KritzerSetting: Idaho
Genres: Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, Fiction / Women
Published on June 9, 2026
Pages: 208
Format: eARC Source: Netgalley
From the Hugo award-winning author Naomi Kritzer comes a tense portrait of a future we desperately hope to escape.
O Lord, deliver us.
Doctor Liz has just been acquitted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota when she's kidnapped.
They're not just any kidnappers, but a fundamentalist cult, deep in the rural west, without respect for law or decency, and in desperate need of an OB/GYN.
Guarded, isolated, without access to the outside world, Liz nevertheless is treated with respect as the only doctor on the compound, but she is very aware of what happened to the last obstetrician they kidnapped.
She must escape, and bring help to the girls trapped at the compound, if it's the last thing she does.
This is a fast moving medical thriller about an obstetrician who is kidnapped during a sham job interview. She’s taken to a cult compound and made to care for women and girls. She is there specifically in preparation for one high risk delivery. She hopes to be able to escape before that happens.
I did read this all in one sitting. I’ve always been fascinated by fundamentalist cults so this had that aspect in addition to the thriller aspect of wondering how/if the doctor was going to escape.
I appreciated the details about how the women of the cult justified the things that were happening to them. The Bible was locked up because it would be more special when it was read to them occasionally (even if that means that they are telling the children biblically-inaccurate versions of scripture because they can’t check the source material.) It’s ok for young teenagers to try to get pregnant because God won’t let them get pregnant if their body wasn’t ready (but at the same time infertility if a medical issue that needs to get fixed.)
I would have liked more details about how they were getting medical supplies. You need a doctor to restock those. That was glossed over. Of course they had to take an in-character shot at veterinary medicine. The person that helped with surgery was trained as a veterinary assistant. The doctor thought he wouldn’t know the name of the instruments. At least he was allowed to point out that they were the same. Yeah, we don’t make up our own, mostly…
I also liked the ending. I see some people complaining about it but I thought the rescue added some levity to a tense situation. I like she didn’t escape entirely on her own.
Overall it was a good, fast read about a situation that is sadly too probable.
