Dollface

By: Lindy Ryan

Narrator: Stephanie Németh-Parker

Macmillan Audio

ISBN: 9781250888914

Publisher: St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books

Publication Date: 02/24/2026

Format: Other

My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)

FEB 2026 MUST-READ BOOKS

Barbie meets Scream with a 90s nostalgia twist in this horror romp from Bless Your Heart author Lindy Ryan.

Horror author Jill has just moved to suburban New Jersey, hoping to fit in with the new PTA moms and maybe not weird everyone out with her Final Girl coffee mug. You know. Make some real friends.

But then a plastic face-masked serial killer begins slashing their way through town, one overly made-up mom at a time. The police are incredulous. The moms are indignant. And Jill is slowly wrapped into a killer’s murderous spree, until she might just be the last woman standing.

A delightfully murderous novel that is equal parts scathing and salacious, Dollface will win you over with its gossip and gore, one body at a time.

“A whimsical, bloody, unsettling suburban slasher with an unexpected twist." – New York Times bestselling author Delilah S. Dawson.

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#Dollface

My Review

DOLLFACE is a fast-paced, wildly entertaining Barbie-meets-Scream romp that wears its 90s nostalgia on its sleeve. Lindy Ryan delivers a campy and whimsical suburban nightmare that successfully blends satirical social commentary with surprisingly gnarly kills. While the central mystery can feel predictable, the unhinged energy and genre-savvy protagonist make it an addictive, popcorn horror read.

The characters in Lindy Ryan's "Dollface" represent a clash between the "gritty" world of horror fiction and the "perfect" facade of suburban New Jersey.

Themes:

~Social Masks and Performative Perfection

~The Pressure of Modern Motherhood

~Cycles of Childhood Trauma

~Feminine Rage and Empowerment

~Genre Meta-Awareness

The title Dollface is a layered motif that connects the protagonist's childhood trauma, the book's suburban satire, and the slasher plot.

The biggest takeaway from "Dollface" is its message that perfection is a violent performance. Lindy Ryan uses the "suburban slasher" to show that the high-pressure standards of modern motherhood and "Stepford" conformity are just as destructive as a literal killer.

By the end, the book suggests that embracing your trauma and "unhinged" reality is the only way to survive a culture that demands you wear a plastic mask. It’s ultimately a story about reclaiming feminine rage and using your knowledge of your own fears to fight back against those trying to polish you into something you’re not.

My thoughts...

Lindy Ryan’s Dollface is a meta "love letter" to the slasher genre, specifically designed for those who find the politics of the suburban PTA as terrifying as a masked killer. The novel thrives on its Stepford Wives-inspired satire, skewering the plastic perfection of New Jersey’s elite social circles while grounding the horror in the protagonist’s trauma-haunted past.

The writing style is frenetic, utilizing meta-awareness to turn common horror tropes into survival tools for its protagonist, Jill. Ryan’s background as a horror expert shines in the splatterpunk-lite death scenes, which provide a "vile" contrast to the hot-pink aesthetic. Though the killer’s identity may be guessed early by seasoned fans, the book’s exploration of feminine rage and the "unraveling" of modern motherhood provides a satisfying layer of depth beyond the blood and guts.

The audiobook...

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and listening to the audiobook narrated by the exceptional Stephanie Németh-Parker (a favorite). With over 400 audiobooks to her credit, she is an award-winning narrator known for her remarkable versatility. She seamlessly shifts between various accents, genres, and character distinctions, making her performance stand out. In dialogue-heavy stories like DOLLFACE, she vividly brings the characters to life with her ability to craft distinct and memorable voices. She expertly captures the "saccharine sweet" tones of the suburban PTA moms while delivering the "creepy and chilling" perspectives of the killer with precision and intensity.

The Verdict

✅ Read it if: You are looking for a fun, popcorn thriller that feels like a modern slasher movie. It is ideal for fans of Grady Hendrix or those who enjoy the "Mean Girls with a body count" vibe.

~Audio: 5 Stars

~Book: 4 Stars

Special thanks to Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for providing an advanced reading and listening copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks

My Rating: 5 Stars

Pub Date: Feb 24, 2026

Feb Newsletter

Praise

Most Anticipated by Macabre Daily, CrimeReads

“A whimsical, bloody, unsettling suburban slasher with an unexpected twist that will hit way too close to home for any mom who'd rather face a serial killer than a PTA meeting. I connected to the final girl on a molecular level!”

―Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author of Bloom and It Will Only Hurt For a Moment

“Imagine The Real Housewives: Friday the 13th edition, and you’ll have an idea of how much gory fun awaits you in Dollface. This twisty slasher novel screams Lindy Ryan’s mischievous and bloodthirsty talent!”

―Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Birds and Road of Bones

"Dollface is Stepford meets Stephen King―sharp and sinister in all the best ways. A twisted joy for horror fans."

―James "Murr" Murray and Darren Wearmouth, bestselling co-authors of The Stowaway and You Better Watch Out

“Literary slashers are having a moment right now, but I’m hard pressed to think of one in any medium like Lindy Ryan’s Dollface. Equal parts Stephen Graham Jones, Rachel Harrison, Ira Levin, and Sarah Langan, with a trenchant wit, rip-roaring pace, real anger, and one of the most unsettling opening chapters I’ve read in decades.”

―Nat Cassidy, USA Today bestselling author of When the Wolf Comes Home and Mary

"A twisty, gory homage to the slasher, with a horror writer heroine who's just a little too knowledgeable about genre tropes...Dollface is a whole lot of bloody fun."

―Christina Henry, author of Alice and The Place Where They Buried Your Heart

"Lindy Ryan's suburban giallo goes for the gullet, then slices right through. Dollface stands proudly within the new slasher canon alongside the works of Stephen Graham Jones and Brian McAuley, finding fresh weapons to render the reader's imagination into the reddest of ribbons." ―Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

About the Author

Lindy Ryan is an award-winning author, anthologist, and short-film director whose books and anthologies have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal. She also writes sweet, seasonal romance under the pseudonym Lindy Miller. Several of her projects have been adapted for screen.

​Ryan is the current author-in-residence at Rue Morgue and a columnist at BookTrib. Declared a “champion for women’s voices in horror” by Shelf Awareness, Ryan was named a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree in 2020, and in 2022, she was named one of horror's most masterful anthology curators. ​She previously served on the Board of Directors for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Brothers Grimm Society of North America.

She is an award-winning professor at Rutgers University, and a guest faculty mentor in Western Connecticut State University's Creative Writing MFA program. Prior to her career in academia, Ryan co-founded Radiant Advisors, a business intelligence research and advisory firm, where she led the company's research and data enablement practice for clients including 21st Century Fox Films, Warner Bros., and Disney. Ryan founded Black Spot Books, a specialty press focused on amplifying women's voices in horror, in 2017, which was acquired as an imprint of Vesuvian Media Group in 2019.

Born and raised in Southeast Texas, Ryan currently resides on the East Coast.​​​ WEBSITE