Even More Historic Horrors: A Review of Dance in a Madhouse by Jess Wright

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

As promised, I have a very special review for you today. Today’s review is brought to you by Montague Books and SparkPoint Studio. Thank you for sending me an advanced copy of today’s book. They aren’t paying me for my review, they just sent me the book for free; all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you very much for sending me a copy of today’s read. It really means a lot to me when someone out there wants to send me books. Thank you, thank you! And what book was I so kindly sent?

Please give a warm welcome to Dance in a Madhouse by Jess Wright! Dance in a Madhouse releases on September 8, 2026.

As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you will know I simply love to spoil the entirety of the books I read. This is your one and only warning. I also have a quick content warning for this novel. Dance in a Madhouse is set in a mental hospital in 1905. While this book does not feature the worst atrocities that occurred in mental hospitals of the time, dated terminology is used and there are mentions of treatments that are now known and considered torture methods. There are also brief mentions of animal cruelty and death. With that, let’s get to the synopsis.

Owen Townsend is primed for success. He has a medical internship, he’s engaged to the love of his life, he comes from a wealthy family, and he has survived a long battle with typhoid. On his first outing after recovering from typhoid, Owen becomes delirious. In his delirium, he believes he and his fiancée, Maude, are in trouble, that someone or something is out to get them, and he ultimately commits an act of violence that sends him to a mental hospital.

He's sent to Fairmount Lodge in Philadelphia after being diagnosed with Schizophrenia. Being a doctor himself, Owen does not agree with this diagnoses. He believes his actions were caused by poisoning. Either from the extreme typhoid treatment he was given during the height of his sickness, or maybe someone is actually out to get him. Alas his claims and fears are quickly dismissed by the psychiatrist running Fairmount Lodge.

Owen is not even there a full day when a fire breaks out and claims the life of one of the doctors. Inspector Brumbaugh is called in to investigate and Owen realizes Brumbaugh may be his ticket out of Fairmount Lodge. In exchange for helping Brumbaugh solve the murder, because the doctor’s death was definitely murder, Brumbaugh will help Owen prove he was poisoned, his diagnosis is incorrect, and he has been wrongfully confined in Fairmount Lodge.

I fear Dance in a Madhouse fails with its narrator. The story is told through Owen’s point of view, and he’s first presented to readers as an unreliable narrator. He’s delirious and paranoid from his illness and the drugs he was given. His narration is clearly not to be trusted at the start of the novel. Yet the author wants readers to trust Owen by the time he arrives at Fairmount Lodge. I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. Owen cannot be both a reliable and unreliable narrator. If he’s set up to be an unreliable narrator from the start, then an unreliable narrator he must remain throughout the course of the novel.

I would have loved to have seen Owen remain delirious throughout the entirety of the text. Questioning if he does have a mental illness, or if someone is out to get him, or even wondering if he is being gaslighted by the head psychiatrist of Fairmount Lodge; any of these three would have elevated Dance in a Madhouse, in my opinion. Sadly I do not get my wish. It's pretty obvious that Owen is being set up and the brief glimpse of Owen being an unreliable narrator is extinguished.

It doesn’t help that I am not the biggest fan of Owen. There is nothing wrong with him. He’s smart, he has good motivation, he's an active character throughout the novel, he learns empathy while in Fairmount Lodge. But he’s literally just a guy. There is nothing special about him. He’s boring! I don’t hate him, but he’s not interesting. I would have preferred the main character to have been anyone else. Or, again, Owen should have been kept as an unreliable narrator; that would have at least made him interesting!

Thankfully the two mystery plots are intriguing. First you have the question of who is responsible for getting Owen sent to Fairmount Lodge. Then you have the murder mystery plot. While I do find the first mystery to be predictable as there is only one possible culprit, no effort is made to provide a red herring or second suspect, the murder mystery has teeth. There are plenty of twists and plenty of suspects to keep readers guessing. I never knew exactly where this mystery would lead. Was a patient responsible for the doctor’s death? An outsider perhaps? Even Owen was a possibility as he was still delirious upon entering Fairmount Lodge. Though this possibility can promptly be ruled out seeing as Owen isn’t an unreliable narrator. It all comes back to Owen needing to be an unreliable narrator.

All I want is an unreliable narrator in my thriller novels!

Dance in a Madhouse is a decent read. I believe fans of thrillers will enjoy this read enough. Nothing in the novel is groundbreaking, nor is anything egregious. It is a serviceable novel.  

Thank you once again to Montague Books and SparkPoint Studio for sending me an advance copy of Dance in a Madhouse. It does truly mean a lot to me every time someone out there offers to send me books. Thank you, thank you!

And with that I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you for joining me today, Book Nerds. I hope you all enjoyed your stay. I will see you all again next week with a very special post that has been two years in the making. If you can’t wait till that long, then give Reading Has Ruined My Life a follow over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily so come back often to revel in literary goodness. You can also follow the blog on Twitter and BlueSky (@RHRMLBlog). If you want something not related to books, then check out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. The show stars me and two of my dearest friends as we talk everything and anything. We have episodes on Disney, Scooby-Doo, Barbie, and so much more; there is bound to be something that strikes your fancy. Nothing to See Hear can currently be found on Spotify and YouTube with new episodes releasing every Wednesday evening.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!