THE COLLECTIVE

 

SYNOPSIS

Just how far will a grieving mother go to right a tragic wrong?

Camille Gardener is a grieving—and angry—mother who, five years after her daughter’s death, is still obsessed with the privileged young man she believes to be responsible.

When her rash actions draw the attention of a secret group of women—the collective— Camille is drawn into a dark web where these mothers share their wildly different stories of loss as well as their desire for justice in a world where privilege denies accountability. Fueled by mutual rage, the collective members devise and act out retribution fantasies via precise, anonymous, highly coordinated revenge killings.

As Camille struggles to comprehend whether this is a role-playing exercise or terrifying reality, she must decide if these women are truly avenging angels or monsters. Becoming more deeply enmeshed in the group, Camille learns truths about the collective—and about herself—that she may not be able to survive

Title: The Collective

Author: Alison Gaylin

Publisher: William Morrow

Publication date: November 2, 2021

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

If you’ve been following me for some time you’ll already know I absolutely love female revenge stories, and The Collective is a story about female revenge raised to the umpteenth power! Paraphrasing Elphaba from Wicked “Unlimited, together we’re unlimited […..] If we work in tandem there’s no fight we cannot win”. (extra points if you’ve read that line singing it!).

 

Camille is a grieving mother who can’t move past her daughter’s death. The man responsible was exonerated but she still believes him guilty so, when she’s approached by a mysterious woman about a grief support group, she soon finds herself drawn into a secret group of grieving women called The Collective, whose mutual rage will make them seek out their own kind of justice.

 

I was immediately hooked from the start. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was fantastic. I could feel Camille’s despair and rage in Vivienne Leheny’s interpretation.

 

Although it started a bit slow (necessary to establish where Camille was coming from), once she makes contact with The Collective, things didn’t stop moving until the very end. And what and end! As she’s assigned different tasks and finds herself drawn deeper into the organization, she starts questioning some of their methods, what led to some tense moments I really enjoyed (once again I think the audio made these even better).

 

There were several twists I didn’t see coming, but the biggest one was right at the end. I was totally blindsided! I was not expecting that at all! I guess it will not appeal to everyone but it’s one I will surely remember for a long time to come.

 

Super fast and enjoyable read that presents some interesting questions about justice, revenge and that fine line that separates them and that will definitely make you think.