Obsession (Nicole Madigan, Pantera)

When journalist Nicole Madigan starts dating single dad Adam, it seems like the beginning of an exciting new chapter for her and her children. But as the relationship progresses, something sinister emerges alongside—a woman Adam briefly dated develops an obsession and begins stalking Madigan. For three years, this woman mocks Madigan online, sends abusive messages, and threatens to destroy Madigan’s personal, and professional, life. In Obsession, Madigan lays bare her experience as a victim-survivor and uses it as a catalyst to explore the psychology of stalking, its link to domestic violence, and the ways in which the justice system is failing to prosecute stalkers. Stalking, as the book demonstrates, is a misunderstood crime. In many cases victim-survivors do not even know that what they are experiencing is a crime. Plagued by uncertainty and shame, they often experience over 100 incidents before making a police report. Blending memoir with expert analysis, Madigan reveals the role pop culture plays in perpetuating myths of stalking and outlines in chilling detail the impacts stalking can have on the mental, financial and physical wellbeing of victim-survivors. Featuring personal stories from other victim-survivors and ending with Madigan’s own victim impact statement, Obsession is a compelling and insightful book that will appeal to readers of Jess Hill’s See What You Made Me Do and Stephanie Woods’s Fake.  

Books+Publishing reviewer: Coco McGrath is a freelance editor and former bookseller. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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