‘Bath Haus’ by P. J. Vernon

Published by Point Blank,
8 January 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-836-43220-3 (PBO)

One of those amazing discoveries that you remember for a long time, Bath Haus delivered on various fronts; originality; page-turning tension; strong characterisation and really lovely prose. It was a delight. 

The story revolves around Oliver, a recovering drug addict from Indiana who’d had a pretty bad deal in life until he met Nathan. Nathan, a smart and successful surgeon living in Washington DC where his family are uber rich, fell for the young man he encountered trying to straighten himself out and the two now live together. Nathan brings security and stability to the relationship and Oliver … doesn’t. He is clearly physically very attractive. He also struggles with the need to behave; not to kick over the traces, not to touch drugs including cigarettes, and definitely not to go off on casual one-night encounters with other men. The book opens as he succumbs to temptation on that last point when Nathan is out of town and visits sex club Bath Haus. 

This proves to be a much bigger mistake than Oliver could possibly have guessed. Kristian, a man who initiates a sexual encounter, grabs Oliver around the throat and tries to throttle him, so Oliver has to fight back to escape. The bruises around his neck can’t be hidden and Oliver has to resort to a series of lies to Nathan to explain what’s happened to him. 

Lies have a bad habit of leading to more lies, and that’s what happens here. It’s compounded by the fact that Kristian doesn’t want to let go that stranglehold over Oliver, and events take an increasingly twisty and sinister turn. The tension escalates towards the end of the novel with a satisfying climax that took my breath away. 

Written mainly from Oliver’s point of view but also from Nathan’s, first person narrative gets us right into the protagonists’ heads. 

I have rarely rooted for a character so much as for Oliver. This is what drives the novel: the reader cares very much about what happens to this all too human and likeable young man; we want him to save his relationship with Nathan, we want him to escape the evil clutches of horrifying Kristian, maybe we want him to grab a crafty cigarette without censure but to continue to resist hard drugs. He’s very flawed, but boy! did I want him to win through. 

It’s quite rare to find a novel with a highly intelligent, literary style of writing marrying up with thriller content. It’s also the first I’ve read that has a homosexual relationship, and wider homosexual culture, at its heart. It felt authentic, and sexy.  I couldn’t put it down and am looking forward to reading more novels by this very talented author.
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Reviewer: Dea Parkin 

P. J. Vernon was born in South Carolina. He holds a PhD in immunology and published science before turning his hand to publishing fiction. P. J. is an insatiable reader of suspense and domestic noir. His writing―and love for all things unsettling―is influenced by the works of Gillian Flynn, S. J. Watson, and the late A.S.A. Harrison. Apart from spinning tales of dark secrets or terror in suburbia, P. J. is an active member of the Imaginative Fiction Writers Association (IFWA) and the Alberta Romance Writers Association (ARWA). He lives in Canada with his partner and two wily dogs. 

Dea Parkin is Editor-in-chief at editorial consultancy Fiction Feedback, sponsor of the Emerging Author Dagger. She’s also Competitions Coordinator at the Crime Writers’ Association. She writes short stories, poetry, award-winning non-fiction and occasionally re-engages with The Novel. When she isn't editing or writing, you can find her at crime-writing festivals or giving her all on the tennis court. Usually, reading several books at a time, she thrives on crime fiction, history, and novels with a mystical edge. She is engaged in a continual struggle to find space for her books and time for her friends.