Trapped Between Fear and Hope

Maya Brooks

Hello, and welcome back to The Bookmark Diaries, where we curl up with a good book and a warm cup of coffee. I’m Maya, and I am just, like, so happy to be in the studio with you today. So, I was thinking about this week’s read—Chasing Shadows by Robert Bryndza—and, honestly, it kind of got me reflecting. You know when you pick up a book and the main character’s taking these giant steps to start over? Different apartment, maybe even a new name? That’s exactly what Bryndza’s protagonist is doing. She’s survived something really traumatic—like, past capital T Trauma—and now she’s out here rebuilding everything under a new identity, in a place where no one’s supposed to know her. But the crazy thing is, that fear? It just lingers. No matter how many locks you put between you and your past, it’s like this shadow that won’t go away. You feel her conflict: she desperately wants to move on, but there’s this constant, quiet dread that it’s all just temporary. It hit home for me, honestly. I mean, okay—after college, I moved from LA up to San Francisco for work, and sure, my situation was more like, ‘Will I make friends or just binge-watch The Office again?’ But even so, even tiny things, like catching the same scent as my old roommate's perfume in a coffee shop, suddenly brought everything rushing back. Imagine that—but dialed up to eleven, with actual danger in the mix. Bryndza taps into that super well—the notion that starting over sounds romantic in theory, but the past is stubborn. Sometimes, it doesn’t want to be left behind.

Maya Brooks

The tension is honestly off the charts in this book. Right from the start, you sense that something’s off—there are these creepy notes, maybe a shadow just where it shouldn’t be, and it’s all so... personal. Bryndza really knows how to make your heart pound. The chapters are short—I love that, by the way—but also dangerous, because every chapter ends in a kind of mini cliffhanger. So you’re like, ‘just one more,’ and then before you know it, it’s two in the morning and your tea’s gone cold. There’s one twist that absolutely floored me—and I promise, no spoilers—but let’s just say, suddenly the person you think you can count on might not actually have your back. That’s the core of what makes psychological thrillers so deliciously stressful, right? You’re constantly forced to question every relationship, every friendly gesture. Who can you really trust? Bryndza plays with this so well; every interaction becomes charged, and honestly, it makes you feel just as paranoid as the main character. There’s this moment when she starts suspecting someone close to her, and your brain just goes: ‘Wait, is that possible? Am I missing something?’ That’s what keeps the pages turning, for me. The suspense never lets up, and the tension just keeps building—like one of those old wind-up toys where you keep twisting the key and waiting for it to snap.

Maya Brooks

What really makes Chasing Shadows stick in my mind, though, is the way Bryndza takes all this suspense and builds it into something deeper. This isn’t just a book about a woman on the run—it’s about how surviving leaves marks on you, about how trauma sticks to your bones and messes with your sense of self. The cost of survival is something the protagonist weighs over and over. Can you ever really say, ‘I’m safe now?’ Or is it more like, ‘I’m safe… for now’? The novel keeps asking if you can truly start over, or if there’s always something—or someone—waiting to drag you back to who you were. It makes me think of books like Lisa Jewell’s Then She Was Gone, where the trauma just seeps into every new attempt at happiness. That illusion of safety—it’s fragile. Bryndza explores identity in such a smart way; by the end, you’re left with this big uncomfortable question: How much of our past do we really get to shed? Can we choose our own survival, or are we sort of shaped by what we’re running from? I keep going back to that. So, if psychological thrillers with strong, complex leads and deeper questions about trauma are your jam, I really think you’ll love Chasing Shadows. Alright, I think that’s where we’ll wrap it up today. Thanks for curling up with The Bookmark Diaries. Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review if you’ve got a minute, and—hey—think about that question: can you ever truly escape your past? Until next time, happy reading.