Naomi Kritzer has been publishing speculative fiction since 2003 and has won about 10 major awards since 2014. In 2024 I strongly recommended her book Liberty’s Daughter. Her latest work, Obstetrix, has been published today, and while it’s too close to today’s world to really call it science fiction, I can say that it’s a tense, exciting, and heartfelt thriller, with a strong and empathetic female protagonist, with a plot setup drawn from some ugly realities of modern society that seem to be getting worse. Technically a novella, although it’s being published as a short book, it’s a great fast read, and it illustrates some very important themes.
From the publisher’s summary: 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 … 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.
Doctor Liz is someone who would make a very good friend. She’s smart, but self-controlled enough to refrain from arguing overmuch with her kidnappers, deciding early on to make them think she’s too cowed to resist; she’s compassionate toward her patients, especially the women and girls who are just making the best of a bad situation (although some of them collaborate with their husbands and Pastor John); and she’s both resourceful and persistent as she seeks ways to escape, or at least communicate.
She’s also a book lover who had been relying on “comfort food” books during her trial and subsequent job hunt. Deprived by the cultists of any reading material (not even a Bible, as the cult leader only reads aloud the passages he chooses to reinforce his doctrine), she remembers plotlines from favorite literature to herself when she’s alone. The story she returns to the most, and which she tells to young Bethany, a 13-year-old who doesn’t seem very enthusiastic about the wedding her elders are planning for her soon, is called The Onyx Dagger. Liz finds a lot of parallels between this fantasy novel and her own situation, since it focuses on betrayal and figuring out whom to trust.
Liz narrates her story in past tense, and we don’t see directly from any other points of view, but other character descriptions, shown through what they say and do, and Liz’s analyses of them, show some depth. Liz’s father Sam is strong and steady, a great influence on her own personality, although we don’t hear a lot about him after the first few chapters. Several of the women in the compound obviously have inner lives, and Liz learns more about them as time goes on.
Although the book focuses very much on Liz, I appreciate that despite its thriller nature, this isn’t just a lone-wolf story. Liz only achieves what she does through the help of others; she makes allies and lets them trust her as well. Despite the harrowing situation, this ends up being a very positive story. I enjoyed it very much.
Obstetrix, by Naomi Kritzer, was published June 9, 2026, and is available here.
Content warnings (spoiler): Kidnapping, offscreen murder, cult activity, domestic violence and religiously motivated beatings, patriarchal religious domination of women, and controlling behavior such as limitation of food, activities, and communication.
Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of Obstetrix directly from Kritzer.
