This book was not what I was expecting.
A new author and she has written a little gem. Gloria is a serial killer, you cross her or upset and you are dead. The deaths are all made to look like accidents. When you are dead Gloria adds another doll to her growing collection. Gloria is far from from likeable, at one stage I wanted to kill her myself.
Maurice gets Gloria as his lodger who immediately takes over his life.
I class this book as psychological thriller with a heart. I highly recommend this book a breath of fresh air and not too graphic.
I would like to thank the author Joanna Stephen- Ward, Bloodhound books and Net.galley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for giving an honest review.

I received an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Some books are so twisted, you have to question the mental state of the person who wrote them- having said that this book was quite enjoyable in a very disturbing sort of way. Definitely four stars if you can suspend your sense of morality

Netgallery The doll collector. I have had a very strange experience with this book, although it’s not due for release until the 20th of November 2018. I have already read this book. I knew exactly what was coming next from Gloria, and yes it was called the Doll collector. The only explanation I can think of not that long ago I was sent a pre publication copy of a book, and I think it must have been this book, although I could be wrong, the author sent it and to other people also. At the time we where asked not to review the book, as he felt it was not quite finished those that received a copy all we was asked to do was to share our view of the ending and if anyone had any thoughts to how it could possibly be any better. Although I returned a email back not with ideas, I just stated my opinion of the ending. Which honest it wasn’t a particular good ending at all, it seemed to me to have spoilt a good book with such a really really flat ending, the author actually admitted he was none to happy about the ending. Hence he wanted a feed back to what dome readers thought. It must have been this book, unless this is a second release. Right up to the last few chapters I knew exactly what was coming as I had all the way through the book, However the last few chapters had changed with The ending having changed. Now because I had read 95% of the book before I was still totally gripped by the story itself. I actually still found it a book that I didn’t want to put down a real nail biting book( ( not that I bite my nails) it’s was just a figure of speech and although I knew what exactly was coming I still found it truly addictive. The ending was so so different to the one I read the first time, and to say it was a brilliant ending this time is a understatement. It really really did the book full justice, also it’s a book I could read again. With the new ending although having read it twice I would need a longer gap to read it again. Truthfully there are very very few books that I can actually read more than once, I have never really had a desire to re read a book. Until I read a book called Harry’s game by Gerald Seymour. That was the first book I ever read twice, I can count on one hand the amount of book I have been able to read more than the once. The doll collector is definitely on my list to read again and that after having already having read it twice, so in a couple of years I will read it again. It’s a fantastic read some things happen you just do not expect, and all the way through the book it just keeps you guessing after guessing, yet you can definitely not predict the ending on either occasions. I definitely class this book as one not to be missed, if you only read one book this year make it this one you will not be disappointed far from it. Utterly brilliant.

I thought this was an unusual read, it was disjointed and not at all like any serial killer book that I have read in the past. It was as if it was trying but not quite getting there..

This story was really odd. Reading it was both fascinating and torture. Gloria was utterly despicable. Ian and his father were worse in all their manipulation and cruelty. Gloria was so delusional and they clearly knew what they were doing. The author does a great job of creating a character with not one redeeming quality. Gloria was so wicked at times it was almost comical.

Really, looking back, not much happens in this story. What does takes place at the very end. The ending was a bit clever and a bit far fetched. This story was hard to read but I couldn’t stop because I had to see how this one wrapped up!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Bloodhound Books for a copy in exchange for a review.

.
Tag along with Gloria a thoroughly unstable, self seeking central character as she sets out to create her perfect life. Gloria has a few special friends that join her on that journey reminders of past deadly deeds namely dolls that represent her victims. She is the spider at the centre of the web and should you have the bad luck to wander in to her line of sight she will wrap you in her deadly embraces. Struggling is futile it binds you tighter towards her and you will regret your audacity at not giving her what she craves.
Maurice finds himself to be her latest target. He goes from being her landlord to her fiancée in what seems to be no time at all.
The story seems to wain as it starts to concentrate more on Maurice giving him more of a central feel which makes Gloria more of a side story. We get more and more embroiled in his woes as the book progresses and less of Gloria. I personally feel Gloria could have been taken along a more darker path to enrich her character and make her a more deadly. She had a great potential that was not fully explored.

OMG I loved this twisty and creepy read which had a couple of twists I just didn't see coming!

Maurice takes in a lodger to help pay the rent. All Gloria has wanted is to be loved. With a tragic past she's determined to get people to like her and forces her friendship on the neighbours whether they like it or not. She cleans up Maurice and his home and is the weirdest, strangest, most disturbed and evil character ever.

She collects dolls and each one represents someone she's killed....

Ian and his father are trying to evict Maurice and unfortunately for Ian he meets Gloria. She is furious when she learns the flat is rented rather than owned and decides she needs to exact her revenge on Maurice... With a couple of massive twists I didn't see coming. It's a great read.

This is one of the oddest books I have read in a long time. The characters are intriguing but weird. The plot starts out as one thing and totally twists off in a different direction. There is a bit of humor albeit a dark humor. The ending is unexpected and yet satisfying. After finishing it took me a bit of thinking to figure out what I had just read. Definitely a head shaker

I didn't like this book at all. It started off promising, but quickly devolved into a rambling mess.

"Murders that look like accidents. An accident that looks like murder. Their deaths appear to be accidents but Gloria knows they were murdered because she murdered them. And every time Gloria kills she buys a doll. But how many dolls will she need to keep her satisfied?
When Gloria takes a room as a lodger her behaviour starts to spin out of control. Gloria wants love and happiness and friendship and she will do anything she can to get what she wants..."

I did not like Gloria, the author did a great job making this character hateable! Gloria is twisted and menacing, I couldn't wait to find out if she got justice for what she'd done. This book reminded me of "The Collector" by John Fowles. I loved it!

Thank you #NetGalley for this ARC of #TheDollCollector
Pub Date: 20 Nov 2018

Not sure what to say about this book only that it didn't really grab me and I found it a bit of a toil to read even though I did quite a bit of skim reading.

Based on this I don't think I will read any more from this author, sorry.

Wow...this was bad. I mean, really bad. And not fun bad like Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Jeez...where do I start?

The simplistic writing, the cookie cutter characters, the fact that the very title itself is false advertising...so many issues, so little time.

Gloria is the saddest sack of a serial killer I've ever had the displeasure to read. She is racist, demeaning, jealous, petty and a wannabe. And those are her best qualities.

The dolls in question are only mentioned a few times in the entire book, thrown in to remind us that Gloria collects them after she disposes of her victims in order to remember them by.

Gloria is not tied to them emotionally and psychologically; it is as if the author forgot they were part of her serial killer's psychological profile and threw in a line or two about the dolls midway through the story to remind us and herself.

Gloria doesn't kill because she's a sociopath or a psychopath or because she's damaged or just a brilliant nutcase; she kills because she's a jealous, bitter, hateful person.

Dexter Morgan she is not.

The bulk of the trivial story is taken up with Gloria and Maurice's nonsensical romance, no surprise she desires a man in her life, and the narrative maintains a predictable, cornball pace in which a lot of boring stuff happens, nothing surprising or thrilling in the least.

Most of the characters don't warrant a mention; there are subplots involving Maurice's living condition and his dealings with a greedy real estate business owner and his equally pathetic son; Gloria stalking her neighbors and her constant, repetitive use of the insult of the word pig-ignorant. I have no idea what that word means but I can make a guess.

The insult is degrading to pigs especially; pigs are quite smart.

The ending was sort of out of left field but I guess the author wanted all the bad guys to get their comeuppance. If only that were true in real life...then our president would be someone else.

Nothing in this book was believable and required a lot of suspension of disbelief. I won't read a second book by this author.

This was a great mid-October read. I thought it would focus more on the dolls, as there is little more spooky than a doll. However, this novel centers around Ian, his father, his tenant Maurice, and Maurice’s boarder Gloria. It is definitely a roller coaster read with an ending no one will see coming. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Excellent book with a great storyline. Characters that are so well written. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Holy crap, I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I’d have loved to give Gloria a good oul ass whooping mind you, talk about psycho, deranged, deluded….just some of the words I could use! Someone does something on her that she doesn’t like… oooh lets kill her and get a lookalike doll to sit on my mantelpiece… CRACKERS… I know its fictional but seriously this woman is for the birds! I enjoyed the build up, the little twists and turns and the ending, definitely recommending this one.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bloodhound Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Reviewed as the Doll Collection by Joanna Stephen-Ward

This book wasn't for me. 
I found the writing style overly simplistic.
Also,I didn't find a single character believable or many of their actions.

Murders that look like accidents. An accident that look like murder.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bloodhound Books and Joanna Stephen-Ward for the chance to read this book.

Gloria seems like your average boring, frumpy woman next door who is a little too clingy and desperate to have any real friends or kind of relationship. But underneath all that normalcy lurks a woman who is driven to kill. She doesn’t like killing, or at least that’s what she tells herself and her doll collection, and she doesn’t know why people are cruel to her and make her kill them. But they do. So each time she kills she adds another doll to her collection and moves on in her quest for love and acceptance.

The book started off well and I enjoyed the opening chapter and it’s chilling final two sentences whispered to her dolls about more joining her collection and was excited to read what Gloria would do next. I liked the early 90s setting of the story and the small moments of nostalgia it offered. Reading references to things such as doing the pools and using phone boxes took me back to my youth. I think setting the story in this era worked well as a lot of things the various characters did wouldn’t have been possible with a modern timeline.

Unfortunately I felt that overall the synopsis of this book was a case of false advertising: the murders Gloria commits are mostly historic, she shows no sense of buying dolls for ‘satisfaction’ and she kills only because she feels they’ve driven her too it with their mistreatment of her rather than because she craves it. The thrills in this book were lacking and it concentrated more on her “romance” with Maurice and the subplot of the saga of his housing situation than it did on her killings. Gloria is a very judgmental and bitter character but instead of this making her interesting and someone you love to hate, I found her quite bland and boring and was unable to connect with her or be invested in anything that she did or that happened to her.. Maurice was a better character but I found the story predictable and lacking in any real excitement. I think the book might have been a better read if it had deliberately focused on Maurice and Gloria had been a secondary character.

The Doll Collector is a great psychological thriller. The author really makes you despise the killer Gloria. Joanna Stephaen-Ward has written a great book and the characters are very interesting. If you like a good thriller read this book.

Wow, what a loathesome person this Gloria is--Gloria is a 30 year old woman and a psycho-- that is all I will say.. From the book blurb you find that she is a murderess and has gotten away with the murders many times over--she calls her victims her dolls.. The other characters in the book were written very well and were fleshed out and seemed real. .The only problem I had with the story is the ending--I am not sure why the author ended it that way.. In any event, I still recommend reading this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

The Doll Collector by author Joanna Stephen-Ward is a great mystery/thriller and a well developed book. The psychological thrill to it makes it even better. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of The Doll Collector in exchange for an honest review.