Psychological thriller anthology

I love anthologies and to me this book is an anthology. Typically the anthologies I read are a series of short stories put together with a theme like horror, fantasy/sci-fi or a type of romance, like paranormal, each being a standalone short story. This anthology is a little bit different, these 17 stories are all linked together. None are standalone, so you can’t truly skip over a story. You have to listen to them all.

At first I didn’t think I would like it because some reviews stated it was confusing or that it was hard to find and follow the common thread, but in truth you don’t really have to pay that much attention. The main link is some sort of book club and the secondary link is Margaret, the therapist and self-help author. She is the link threading through nearly every story.

If you like psychological thrillers, then you will enjoy these short stories if you just think of each story as a chapter in the full novel. I am typically not a fan of psychological thrillers. However, I enjoyed these because they were short stories.

I found many of the main characters neurotic, some were paranoid, some were, for a lack of a better word, dumb, but all of them had a lot of psychological turmoil and Margaret was linked somehow. Nearly every story had a murder and/or a plot to commit murder.

There are a few of the stories that even though they link back to a book club, they don’t link to Margaret and come across more like standalone stories. “Name on the wind”, “Sandra finds a way”, “the beachcomer”, “such a good girl” and “a bottle of prosecco”, are some of these stories, that are very thinly linked, so if you pulled them out, you wouldn’t be missing the thread, but others feed into the Margaret thread.

I rated it four stars because regardless of how many lives Margaret trampled on and all the stories where people first thought she was great but realized she wasn’t and plotted her demise, nothing happens to her. She just becomes richer and carries on, sometimes even profiting from their demise and hardship. She foils every plan to bring her down.

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The different voice actors !

The ending ruined it for me. But the way the stories weaved together was really
Cool !

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Perfection!

« The way they use a story within a story format to get the point across » …So good!

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Compelling

Great batch of stories with relatable characters - some predicable sections but overall entertaining and fun to listen to. Nice little plots twists.

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Loved it!

I truly enjoyed this set of stories and their links back to each other. The voice talent was amazing! Listen it’s worth it!

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Fresh outlook on mystery thriller writings

I wasn’t expecting it. I really thought okay let’s give it a listen because the writers were notable. However, I became fully immersed in the interconnected stories and was hooked from start to finish. It was fantastic had you thinking what’s going to happen next? For me that’s exactly how it should be when reading a mystery thriller. The narrators were excellent they gave life to the words. I wanna listen again, hope to see more like this.

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1 person found this helpful

Terrific!

Tying this all together was a feat of incredible creativity. The plot(s) kept me captivated from start to finish. I'll be listening to this one again and again as the years go by. Different aspects had me laughing, temporarily confused, agog with the brilliance of the writing, and both satisfied and disappointed when it was finished--disappointed because I wasn't ready for it to end. My sincere thanks this group of talented authors and the editors who made it work!

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Great

Took a minute to get used to the narration but a great collection. Kept me guessing and loved that some details overlapped.

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disconnected

I found it confusing sometimes and left wanting a proper conclusion to some of the stories

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Very twisted stuff

I love how the stories all tie into each other . Very well written and read. I was pleasantly surprised on how creative all the stories were.

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