The Collective by Alison Gaylin.
How far would a mother go to right a wrong?
Enter: the Collective.
A good read. Not what I thought. 3*.

This is the first book that I have read by this author and I have to say that I was impressed. This is a genre that I read a lot and this is one of the better ones that I have read. The plot is exciting and has a realistic edge to it. The author spends time building the plot and it is clear that she has done some research to make the story more true to life. I would certainly recommend this to lovers of the crime thriller genre and those that like Karin Slaughter and Angela Marston.

I revived this ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Before I begin I want to warn l you that this is one of those books that consumes you, it’s the kind that makes you cancel all plans and lets your partner/kids make their own tea!.

I really don’t want to spoil any part of this book with my review so I’ll try my best not to.

Camille is woman consumed by grief after her daughter Emily was murdered. She knows who is responsible & now she wants REVENGE!.

How can he live his life growing and changing whilst Emily stays the same forever?.

She gets a card shoved in her hand as she’s getting into a cab with just one word on it

What could it mean ?.

This hooked me right from the first page and didn’t let me go until the very end, anyone with children or a loved one will really feel for what Camille is going through and why she wants justice for what happened to her daughter Emily.

I didn’t seen the end twist coming at all and it was quite the abrupt shock but it fitted in well.

My favourite quote from the book is “ We are a collective” because you finally found out what everything meant along with what the title of the book meant.

It’s been a while since I have read a book in one sitting. This sure is worthy of that as it is such an easy read that drags you in and then you notice you have read half the book.
Camille has lost her daughter, her husband has left her and her work is suffering. Five years ago, Emily, her daughter was raped and left for dead in the woods in winter. Before she died Emily told her mother who did this to her, Harris Blanchard the wonder kid. He doesn’t get blamed for Emily’s death and although it goes to trial Emily is painted in a bad light. Camille can never let it rest that Harris didn’t atone for what he did. Then she meets, via the dark web, a group of vigilantes called the Collective. They kill the ones who have taken their loved ones lives in a similar manner as to how their family died. At first it’s very cloak and dagger, buy this here, wear that, leave this here etc. and Camille begins to see her seemingly minor jobs for the collective as part of a whole when a victim is discovered dead. But Camille is having second thoughts about what she is doing. An eye for an eye doesn’t seem so good after all. The only thing is, you can’t tell anyone about The Collective and you cannot leave.
Page turning read. I recommend

#TheCollective #NetGalley

Thank you Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review. IYKYK, my reviews are always honest.

3.5 rounded UP.

SYNOPSIS

5 yrs later and Camille is still grieving her daughter Emily's death like it happened yesterday. After an incident with her daughter's accused murderer/rapist goes viral, Camille is recruited into a "secret society" of grieving mothers who take justice into their own hands. DUN DUN DUN DUUUUNNNNNN!!!

MY OPINION

Ok this was the perfect guilty pleasure weekend read. However, this could also be titled The Misandry Manifesto, so if you can't get down with a lil (a LOT) of man bashing, stay clear. But since I'll slam on a man like I'll slam on Colleen Hoover's Verity, I was vibing aggressively.

This is part Audrie & Daisy documentary, part The Hit List by Holly Seddon, and part The Last Invitation by Darby Kane. All three of which I immensely enjoyed. The Collective tackles how the entitled white and rich be getting away with every damn thing—even murder. It was nice to see the ladies take justice into their own hands. Like Camille, I'd rather be waterboarded than forgive my daughter's rapist. Forgiveness wouldn't even be on my radar.

Anyways. The "downfall" of this book was Camille's big dummy energy at time. Gwurl... ROLE PLAY?? You can't be serious lmao. Also I had a hard time believing she was 50+ yrs old. She was giving me more early 30s. For once an author could put an outfit together... sometimes I have to wonder if these authors are colour blind. I read a book where this detective wore a maroon suit and a bright red shirt. ARE YOU GOOD??? What in god's green earth would possess you to combine those two colours. Ok sorry... got a lil off track there.

I also enjoyed the humour and sarcasm throughout, it kept it from going into My Dark Vanessa depression territory. I wouldn't say this was as profound as MDV or Cate Ray's Good Husbands; the messages were pretty banal and the characters lacked any dimension. The last twisty twist was OTT... so X couldn't just turn on a light? Seems like a personal problem.

All in all if you need something light or maybe you just broke up with your mans and wanna get your hate on, pick up this book. It's fast paced, a lil funny, and well-written for the most part. AGAIN, if man bashing puts you off, avoid this.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: solid writing, jokey jokes, juicy premise (Audrie & Daisy + The Hit List + The Last Invitation), well-paced, quick guilty pleasure read

Cons: characters were one dimensional, Camille seemed immature and switched up real quick, ending was doing too much

This was well written but the story was extremely far-fetched. It did not grip me as much as I would have liked. I was a little disappointed after reading other raving reviews.

What’s the worst thing you can imagine? For many people it would be losing a child. What if you lost a child though, through - I don’t know, a hit and run, or they were bullied into killing themselves or they were beaten up and left for dead? What if that happened and the person responsible for it got off scot free? Wouldn’t you want them to pay for what they did? What if someone offered you the chance to do just that? Would you take it? This is the choice that faces Camille Gardener.

She is invited to the Brayburn College alumni dinner where the young man, Harris Blanchard, who killed her 17 year old daughter, Emily 5 years ago, is due to receive the Martha L. Koch humanitarian award. He was acquitted of any wrongdoing at his trial. She shouldn’t go but she does. And she makes a drunken fool of herself as she calls him a murderer which, of course, ends up on social media. But the other thing it does is provide the opportunity for someone from the Collective to reach out. She gets a card pressed into her hand which has a single word embossed on it - Niobe.

So Camille looks into this Niobe group, it is a support group for mothers who have lost children and it encourages them to “let it all out”. They openly discuss the ‘punishments’ they would like to see meted out to the guilty. She finds some like minded individuals here but she ends up going down the rabbit hole into a darker domain together. Aglayan Kaya, located on the dark web, is a smaller group of mothers who are actively “making them pay”. They are all assigned numbers and led by the enigmatic 0001.

Camille eagerly agrees to the rules and is given some assignments to complete. At first they seem harmless - buy this, send that, leave this object here…. but eventually she finds herself complicit in a murder. Well it was inevitable wasn’t it? That’s the whole point of the group - right? They all deserve to die, don’t they? But what happens to those who question the rules and rationale of this group?

This is a really good, edgy thriller that leaves you asking yourself some of these questions. Of course life is not black and white. The important thing is not what fate throws at you but how you choose to deal with it. Cammile’s final decision might surprise some but, to me, it made perfect sense. Yep, I did enjoy this one even though the only character that was explored in any depth was Camille but she went through the whole gamut of emotions.

It was an interesting thought experiment and I wonder how many people would sign up to do exactly what Camille did! I don’t know what I would do. I don’t think you can answer a question like that until you are put in that situation. Food for thought! Many thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.

This is my first book by the author and it seems I have been missing out
What a powerful and emotive storyline……Camilia is grieving,5 years on since her daughter was killed,she seeks revenge and is not sure what can be done to quench this need….. enter ‘the collective’ an online group of people seeking to do the same ( for various reasons ),she is submerged into a world where her thoughts are understood,indeed encouraged,pity the person who crosses a member of ‘the collective’’
Hard hitting,with lots of twists and turns to keep you agog,varying degrees of likeability for the characters and a running theme of ‘is this justified’ meant altogether this was a very good revenge thriller
Great writing and an unsettling theme that you can’t help but resonate with imagining if you were in that unenviable position,good ending

8/10
4 Stars

I’ve not read any of this authors books before, but it looks like I’ve really been missing out!
This one in particular caught my attention, due to the extremely hard hitting premise.
A mother, seeking revenge for the death of her child. This immediately hits you in the feels and you can’t help but think…. “What would I do? How would I cope?”
Think of how dark you could get and then go that bit further, that’s this book!

Really enjoyed the writing style, the pace of it was good and the plot itself was fantastic.

All in all a 5 star read!

Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for my arc.

Heartbroken Camille wants the man who killed her daughter to pay. Her life has gone downhill since her daughter's death, and she feels revenge is the only thing left. When Camille stumbles upon a group of mothers who have lost their children, she sees hope for the first time in 5 years. But Camille could not comprehend how connected, how far this group is willing to go...

An absolute gripper of a book! I was hooked the whole way through, desperate to find out what happened next. This is so unlike anything I've read before and it was absolutely brilliant!

The Collective has an intriguing premise, vigilante justice and how guilt and rage can ultimately destroy you

The characters were clever and the plot itself is twisted and ultimately unexpected. Far fetched? Probably but not beyond the realms of possibility and also strangely satisfying, a quiet violence to it that keeps you involved throughout.

The ending was excellent and satisfyingly unpredictable, in a way that makes you feel slightly guilty for finding it so.

Really enjoyed it.

A very satisfying tale of revenge that I raced through in quick time.

Unfortunately, we have all heard of cases where a child is abused or found dead, murdered or killed by someone else and the person thought to have committed that atrocity walks free. We all feel for the parents but what would you do if that parent was you? Would you want revenge and how far would you go?

Camille is that parent; her only child is gone and her marriage has ended.

Grief has no time scale and after five years, the pain is still as raw, if not more so as the person she believed murdered her beautiful daughter is walking free and getting on with their lives. She has to do something but what?

Enter the collective ... a secret online group of mainly mothers who will help you get the justice you feel you deserve by working together.

Camille now has purpose but how far will she go?

With a great plot and interesting characters written at a pace that was quite slow at first but increased as the story developed, this book is a great thriller and certainly had me gripped from the start waiting to see how it all turned out.

Thank you must go to The Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for enabling me to read The Collective and share my views.

This is my first book by this author but it won't be my last. I really liked the wiritng style, the story was compelling and the characters were well developed and mostly relatable. Full of twists to keep you guessing.

This is the first book I've read by Alison Gaylin and I was drawn to it by the cover and synopsis. Camille is grieving the death of her teenage daughter and wants revenge on the man she believes murdered her. She becomes part of an online group of women who are focused on revenging the deaths of their children and soon becomes drawn into the dark web.
Initially I enjoyed this original thriller, it's an intriguing concept and Gaylin is a talented writer. There are lots of twists and on the whole it's a compelling read. However for me it was only a 3 star read as I felt that the plot became increasingly ridiculous and lost credibility for me.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

4.25-4.5⭐️

A best selling US author of this psychological suspense /revenge thriller. It’s my first time toe dip into her work.
Camille Gardner is a grieving mother who can’t move past the anger stage of grief 5 years after her daughter Emily died, she is still stalking the young man she believes is responsible for her death. During one of her rash displays of public anger she comes to the attention of a group of women known as the collective. She is sent initially on all innocuous missions. These missions become more demanding. You get the feeling that the collective with its herd mentality drives peoples anger, hatred and desire for revenge.

Camille’s pain and suffering is really well portrayed the reader is submerged into her broken life. You are living it with her, it’s soul destroying. She has descended into the depths of hell with her torment. Her obsession with Luke is creepy, but in a way I can understand it and her desperation to cling to Emily. I felt her pain, but I didn’t find her a likeable character. I don’t always need a likeable main character, in this book Luke took that role for me.

It’s got a good place, lots happening plenty of twists and turns. As the book raced towards the finale the tension was ramped right up. I was loving it, it was on for 5⭐️ However I felt let down by the ending, in particular the final motivation I felt was really weak, which has impacted on my rating. One element really resonated with me.
I’ve read a couple of revenge thrillers with this one holding up well against them.

4.5

Do you believe in Karma? Is payback a xxxxx? However it might be best to remember “while seeking revenge, dig two graves – one for yourself”. Camille Gardner makes her way to the Braeburn club where her Harris Blanchard is to become the recipient of an award. Camille hears about as much as she can take and makes a scene which goes viral.

Is she justified in her outburst? She is charged with disturbing the peace but she doesn’t care as she’s been living a nightmare for five years, her wounds just won’t heal. Is Harris responsible for the death of her teenage daughter? The courts don’t think so and exonerate him. Camille‘s actions catch the attention of a shadowy dark web group – a collective of women full of rage about the losses they have suffered. At first, Camille vents her anger, hatred and vitriolic bitterness to a receptive audience who feed her rage but then finds a self drawn into something much deeper, darker and very secretive. We follow Camille as she goes on one heck of a journey. Is this a case of be careful what you wish for?

Wow. This is one heck of a twisty rollercoaster ride with a fast paced jet black tumultuous plot. Whilst there may be a couple of plot holes to me it doesn’t matter much as it sure makes you think about a lot of things. Camille is definitely a dark pit of despair, full of hatred, anger and obsession and via her story you question ‘justice’ amongst other things. Is justice blind? Can we rely on it or do monsters hide behind the safety curtain of family money, a prestigious school which guards reputation fiercely and a fancy, slick, obviously expensive lawyer? How far would you prepared be prepared to go to right perceived wrongs in certain circumstances? Does that make you a monster too??

Camille‘s emotions and how her personal tragedy has irrevocably changed her is done very well. You definitely feel some empathy but as the plot unfolds do you still feel that same sympathy? The ending is excellent with one final twist you do not foresee.

This is a high quality enjoyable psychological thriller and definitely a case of “on wrongs swift vengeance waits“ – Alexander Pope.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Orion Publishing Group for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Alison Gaylin's books (also written under A.L. Gaylin), The Collective being the fourth of her standalone thrillers which I've read. And in all honesty, if I wasn't already a fan, there would be no way on this earth that I would be able to resist the pull of this book! That striking red cover with the silhouettes, that utterly intriguing tagline on the US version (it's 'no killer goes unpunished' if you haven't already seen it) and that 'grab you by the throat' blurb. Getting hold of a copy of this book became a priority!

Camille Gardener is a woman consumed by grief following the death of her 15-year-old daughter, Emily, five years earlier. She blames high achieving college student Harris Blanchard for Emily's death but Harris is the college's golden boy and has never been held to account. When Camille is approached by a stranger and given information about a Facebook group called Niobe for grieving mothers, she signs up. But the group is different to others she's joined in the past. Their anger matches her own, the women openly discuss the most horrific deaths they can imagine for those they feel are responsible for their child's death. But Niobe is only the start. Before long Camille is introduced to the Collective and things start to spiral out of control. Camille has been accepted into the Collective, but there's a good chance she won't make it out alive...

The Collective is so GOOD! Gaylin has once again produced an absolute page turner of a novel which I found near impossible to put down. Camille is a fascinating character and I watched, open mouthed, as she dug herself deeper and deeper into what felt like an inescapable hole. My heart was in my mouth and I was on the edge of my seat wondering how far things were going to go for the character. The more I read, the more I liked her. The more I read, the more I needed to know about the Collective. Gaylin has written such a brilliantly addictive thriller and I flew through the pages, desperate to find out where the author was going to take this misguided, grief-stricken woman. And oh my gosh, what a perfect ending.

The book is set around the Hudson Valley and I really enjoyed Gaylin's vivid descriptions of the area. The setting felt like a complete contrast to the dark events unfolding before me on the page. Proof that terrible things can happen to nice, normal people. And terrible is a pretty massive understatement when it comes to some of the grisly ways the members of the group fantasise about killing off those responsible for their children's deaths. Oh my goodness, you wouldn't want to cross any of those moms!

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. The Collective is an utterly captivating, highly addictive read which hooked me in from the opening pages and didn't let go until the shocking end. Such a thrilling plot, skilfully executed, featuring terrific characters and jaw-dropping twists. The Collective demonstrates how raw, how powerful, how completely destructive one woman's grief can be when fed. It's certainly a dark read but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride! Full of suspense, secrets and overflowing with revenge. Gaylin has done it again and I remain a huge fan. Highly recommended.

This review will be published on damppebbles.com on 11th August 2022.

Surely one of the most recommended books on the American Psychological Thriller Facebook groups last year, and I couldn't wait to read it.

Camille's life was destroyed with the death of her teenage daughter. She seeks solace and answers in grieving parents' group. When she finds 'the collective' she may have found what she's been searching for.

The collective is a secretive group on the dark web, they promise karmic vengeance. Simply commit to help others in a similar situation and they'll take care of your problem.

It's fast, dark and unpredictable. Camille doesn't know what she's getting into but knows she's found her people. It's something like The Chain meets Fight Club and for the most part I loved it.

The style is fast, almost stream of consciousness, ranting and rambling and you really get inside Camille's head. I loved when she's receiving instructions and going on little missions, while unsure of her role as a cog in much larger plot.

Like many concept psychological thrillers, I preferred the set up and uncertainties, it's very hard to maintain that tension and momentum, but this does a good job in resolving and wrapping it all up.

I'm sure it'll be a huge success on its UK release, fast, dark, unpredictable and very different.

Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group