Some house are haunted. Others are witnesses.

For more than a century, the hospital on Blackthorn Hill has housed the most troubled minds in the state. But long before it became a modern forensic psychiatric facility, it was an asylum where the unwanted were sent and few were ever discharged.

Forensic psychologist Dr. Denise Miller comes to Blackthorn with optimism. She accepts a leadership position, determined that Blackthorn will do better than the institutions of the past. But something beneath the hill threatens her idealistic vision.

Soon after Denise takes her post, her ten-year-old daughter starts drawing long underground tunnels, steel doors, and silent figures in the dark. When Denise soon learns the tunnels are real, she begins uncovering a history that generations of hospital administrators worked to erase. At Blackthorn, harm was never admitted, and anyone who asked the wrong questions learned the same lesson: the institution must be protected at all costs.

The House on Blackthorn Hill is a psychological thriller about truth, trauma, and the voices history tries to silence.

Dr. Crystal Hernandez is a forensic psychologist and consultant specializing in behavioral health, justice systems, and forensic mental health services. Her work focuses on the systemic failures that affect vulnerable populations. She has partnered with courts, healthcare organizations, Tribal nations, and public agencies to strengthen crisis-response systems, improve forensic mental health services, and address systemic gaps affecting individuals experiencing mental illness, trauma, and crisis. She's widely recognized for her expertise in crisis systems, competency-to-stand-trial processes, and integrated behavioral health and justice initiatives. The House on Blackthorn Hill is her debut work of fiction.