Pushing Daisy

O’Halloran debuts with an intimate horror story that masterfully combines psychological and supernatural terror. Nurse Daisy Darling was beloved by many but underappreciated by her neglectful husband, Roger, who finds her dead in front of their fireplace via self-inflicted wounds made with the broken shards of his dead dog’s urn. As he determinedly ignores both her sealed suicide note and her family’s bitter recriminations, he discovers an unexpected connection with his previously unknown but flirty neighbor Mei—and begins to see and hear increasingly aggressive signs of Daisy’s spirit lingering in the house. O’Halloran strikes a delightfully uneasy balance between probing Roger’s bad behavior, both in the present and through flashbacks to his life with Daisy, and capturing the stomach-turning intensity of a violent, broken, and clingy revenant Daisy who’s no longer willing to be ignored. The result is both a woman’s revenge fantasy and a portrait of caring sweetness turned monstrous, particularly when Daisy begins to come after Mei. Excellent pacing and a flair for slipping between mundane stressors and visceral dread make this unforgettable. (May)