Oh my goodness!! This book was so good! It kept me enraptured from the beginning! I had no idea how it was going to end or anything. You really feel for Camille and all the mothers who have tragically lost their children. As a mother, I could understand wanting revenge. But when you mess with the Dark Web....it's just not good. Psychological Thrillers are one of my favorite genres and this was a great book! I've never read anything else by Alison Gaylin, but I'll make sure I read more!

Wow! This was an excellent read, probably the best book I have read this year. It was the type of book that you just want to keep reading to find out what happens next. Camilla's daughter died after she was raped and left for dead 5 years ago, after the daughter's death, Cam's marriage falls apart. Camilla remains obsessed with the young man she feels is responsible for her daughter's death. The young man faced charges but high-priced lawyers were able to get him off and at the same time ruin Camilla's daughter's reputation.
The book is full of twists and turns. A real psychological thriller. And the ending...
I read an advanced copy via NetGalley.

Upfront: My apologies to Ms. Gaylin. I totally confused her with another author! It can happen, especially when you read as much as I do. So imagine my deep surprise when this book was not at all what I was expecting! Several times I thought "wow! I am liking this new direction." Huh, funny me! Seems Ms. Gaylin has been writing books it looks like I need to read for a while and I have only now stumbled across her. I liked her very nuanced characters and interesting situations she places them in. Even the supporting characters were fleshed out and added to the overall story. I like that! But for me, the very best part was the concept of women coming together after tragedy to support each other in any way possible, legal or not. In a few ways, the set up reminded me a lot of The Chain by Adrian McKinty, but only peripherally. Having read one will not lessen the suspense of the other one. This one will leave readers with a book hangover and a lingering question: what would YOU do to get justice for a loved one?

What are your thoughts on justice and vengeance? Do you agree that murderers should be murdered themselves? Or does our criminal system usually do the right thing and criminals get the punishment they need through that system? Would you feel differently if it was a family member who had suffered, perhaps was even killed? What would you be willing to do?

This book explores those concepts, especially for mothers who have lost their children to crime, often violent crime. A chat room on the dark web gives these women the opportunity to vent, to write about their fantasies for making perpetrators pay for their crimes. And even act on those fantasies.

We meet Camille, whose teen daughter died five years ago. The alleged perpetrator was never tried or punished for his crimes and Camille is becoming increasingly obsessed with destroying him. Soon, Camille is introduced to “The Collective” chat group and is sucked into spending hours interacting with the other women. Everyone in the group is anonymous and identified only by a number. Camille receives a message asking if she’s really serious about seeking vengeance and the darker parts of the book begin.

This complex web has each woman completing small tasks to prove their worth. Camille isn’t sure if there’s an end game or just doing things to gain more trust in the group.

This one built to a stunning conclusion that I did not see coming although most of the clues were there for me. There’s some part of me that cheers the thought of vigilante justice, but this book makes me rethink that!

I think this would make an excellent book club book and would lead to a lively discussion!

Overall, I thought the book was really good. I thought the author created the despair and hopelessness felt by the main character well and used that to come up with a feasible thrilling plot. I thought she carried the tension throughout . As a female and a mom, I feel like I could relate to the anger and destruction that such a situation could cause. Not sure I loved the ending but now sure what I would have done differently.

Five years. It's been five whole years since Camille's daughter Emily was killed by Harris Blanchard, and not only has he gotten off scot free, but now he's winning a humanitarian award?? Camille told herself she was just going to go and see him, see if he's changed at all... but she can't help herself from screaming at him in the middle of the award ceremony. Not only did this stunt earn her a night in jail, but a video of the incident has also gone viral. Camille is convinced she will never make peace with the loss of her daughter... until she's handed a card.

The card leads Camille to a group of mothers just like her. Mothers whose children were murdered and who want revenge. But how far is Camille willing to go? When you feel like you've got nothing else to lose, the answer might be... further than you think...

WOW is all I can say. This book hooked me in right from the start and kept me turning the pages late into the night. I went down the rabbit hole with Camille and felt her anger, confusion, and fear. I personally didn't see the ending coming and savored the wild ride it took to get there. I definitely can't recommend this book enough and look forward to reading more from this author!

4.5 stars

The Collective by Alison Gaylin is a fast-paced thriller that grabs the reader from page one and does not let go until its breathtaking conclusion.
Told from a first person POV, the story follows Camille, a web designer, who is still grieving the loss of her daughter 5 years before to a drunken incident at a frat party. A wealthy family’s son is accused, but then acquitted, of being responsible. Cami’s persistent rage and instability contributes to her marriage falling apart and she leans heavily on anti-anxiety pills to remain functional each day. When she joins a group named Niobe, she hurtles into uncharted territory as she becomes enmeshed in this cult-like collective of vengeful mothers.
At this point, the story really takes off and the action is non-stop. The many plot twists add to the literary tension and a shocking conclusion.
The author’s nuanced writing is atmospheric and nicely descriptive, with good use of metaphors, such as “The truth…hides in plain sight. It crouches in corners and pounces…,” that add to the reader’s immersion in Cami’s feelings of sadness and anger, and the moral dilemma in which she finds herself. As a mother, I found it easy to identify with Cami’s POV, although not with many of her actions.
The book also touches on the concept that, in our legal system, justice is not blind to wealthy, powerful individuals. While the story is about anger, revenge and misguided vigilantes, it also involves themes of personal strength, emotional survival and friendship. I recommend The Collective to readers who enjoy well-written twisty suspense and strong female protagonists.

Thank you to William Morrow, Scene of the Crime Early Reads, and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

This was a phenomenally written book about a woman who has lost her child at a very young age to a sexual crime. The offender comes from a family of money and gets his fancy lawyer to get him free of any charges... Fast forward several years and the mom is still angry and biter about the loss of her child. The young man is now getting rewarded with a humanitarian award and the mom chooses to attend... but this is where things get a little crazy.. She goes wild at the family and there is a video made of her... from this a black web women's group reaches out to her to help her with her grief over the loss of her child. Camille joins the group and starts working through various jobs as she contemplates what it is she would like to have happen to the young man.. She does various jobs for them while at the same time breaking the rules they have set forth for the "club". In the end there is a huge twist that you can see coming as you are reading the text... but I loved it anyway.. Wonderfully written. Very compelling.

Oh. My. Gosh. This book is amazing. I can absolutely see why it was chosen to be a BOTM. It does have a lot of TW, so I highly recommend looking them up if you are worried.

How far would you go to get justice for the murder of your child? I have never lost a child, but I can imagine going just as crazy as our main character Camille did. Her daughter was murdered, and the murderer got away with it because of his families wealth and name. So she takes things in her own hands, and joins a cult.

I don’t want to say too much to give it away, but I will say that this book is phenomenal. There isn’t a lot of dialogue, but it still reads super easy and smoothly. I highly recommend grabbing this book! I devoured it in one day. It’s dark, twisty, and had an insane ending. This would be a great book club book!!

I am torn about how to rate this book. On the one hand, the writing was good and I liked the story. On the other hand there was so much death and I hated the ending. So unfortunately I'm going to rate this book 3 stars. Middle of the line, good but could have been better.

It’s been five years since Camille Gardener’s fifteen-year-old daughter Emily was murdered. While attending a frat party at nearby Brayburn College in upstate New York, Emily was taken to the woods by seventeen-year-old Harris Blanchard. There, after a night of drinking, he raped her and left her to die. Blanchard was acquitted after his wealthy parents’ lawyers painted Emily as a wild party girl. Camille cannot move her life ahead from this tragedy. She is now divorced. When Blanchard is given a humanitarian award by Brayburn, she is compelled to attend and cannot control herself at the ceremony. While there, she is approached by a woman who gives her a card about an online group of grieving mothers who have similarly lost children and their murderers never paid for their crimes. What appears to be a harmless Facebook group of women seeking support evolves into a dark web meeting place for mothers seeking true revenge and justice.

At first Camille does not believe that the group (The Collective) truly intends on carrying out each mother’s violent fantasy for revenge. But she soon sees how serious the group is and once she’s pledged to be a part of the group’s plans, it might be too late to turn back. Author Alison Gaylin has created a very dark and tense story that sucked me into this compelling story. There are some very good twists and turns as the rage escalates.

Camille Gardener is grieving the loss of her 15 year old daughter, who was allegedly murdered by a college boy and aquitted, likely due to his family privilege. Camille knows he is guilty, but how far would she go to get the justice she believes her daughter deserves? How far will a mother go in the depths of her grief?

Okay, WOW. This one took a little bit for me to get into, but once I surpassed the 25% mark, I was hooked. Be prepared to take the ride of your life through the dark web where the limitless abyss of a mother's grief will leave you wide eyed and breathless. The twists, the pulse pounding thrills.... who can you trust, where can you hide? This was brilliance woven into every razor sharp chapter. I didn't want it to end! Buckle up, this one is wild!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to ride this ride! I think I've got literary whiplash!

The Collective, by Alison Gaylin

Short Take: Sure, it’s a tasty, twisty thriller, but it’s also so much more.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Hello, my beloved nerdlings, and Happy Almost-Halloween! Tomorrow is the annual Nerd House Pumpkin Party, followed by trick-or-treating for the Junior Nerdling, so I am busier than the ant in that old fable. Or was it the grasshopper? I can never remember. In any case, this joint will be jumpin in the very near future, so I’m just gonna hop right in here.

There are far too many aspects of The Collective that are too familiar. Five years ago, Camille Gardner’s fifteen year old daughter Emily snuck out to a frat party, where she was given far too many drinks, raped, and left out in the winter woods to die. Today, Camille’s marriage is over, her career is increasingly shaky, and the wealthy frat boy who she believes murdered Emily is doing just fine, due to a big-money lawyer who made him out to be the REAL victim.

Duckies, I want to say a whole lot of things about the Groundhog-Day-esque nature of the “girl misbehaves, boy commits multiple horrific crimes, girl is badly injured or dies, boy goes on to live his life” story. It’s everywhere in the news and in fiction and there’s a reason for that: Everyone agrees that it’s terrible, but it keeps happening anyway, because to people in power, it’s perfectly reasonable. But unfortunately, I’m a bit pressed for time, so just pretend I said a whole lot of persuasive, eloquent things, ok?

Ahem. Sorry, back to the book! Camille is heartbroken, and isolated, and kind of a mess at times, but most of all, she’s very, very angry. And it’s that rage that draws the attention of The Collective. They are a group of mothers who have lost their children through the actions of others who have gone unpunished. Under the anonymity of the dark web, they write elaborate fantasies of how they want their children’s murderers to die. It’s a cathartic and harmless bit of role-playing… until someone actually dies.

Of course, from there, we get twists and turns and bonding and body counts. The story is absolutely great, if a little outlandish, but I feel like it’s almost beside the point. Because what Ms. Gaylin has actually crafted is a brilliant meditation on female rage. There’s definitely been an uptick in the last few years of stories in which women are the violent or devious or murderous characters, and it’s a refreshing change from the “a beautiful woman dies and a man feels bad about it” storyline that has proliferated in the last few decades.

But Ms. Gaylin reminded me that there was a time when a woman’s anger was wondrous, and terrifying, and the stuff of legend. The Collective taps into the myth of Niobe, but duckies, Medea also brought the pain, the actual FURIES were all women, and Circe turned men into literal pigs. It’s absolutely marvelous, the way these modern-day characters are able to tap into that vein of primal power. I just wish that so many women could find that strength before becoming a victim, or victim-adjacent.

And is it so wrong for a teeny part of me to wish that The Collective was actually out there?

The Nerd’s Rating: FIVE HAPPY NEURONS (and a cold refreshing glass of OJ, hold the extras.)

A twisty novel of revenge. Camille's life has never been the same since her daughter Emily was murdered and Harris, who took the 15 year old to a frat party, got her drunk, raped her, and then took her to the woods to die, was acquitted of the crime. When she loses it at an event honoring Harris, she's approached by a woman who offers her entree into a group of women who are similarly mourning murdered children and, as it turns out, avenging them. Camille funds herself wrapped into the Collective almost immediately but shortly after determines that something's not quite right. No spoilers from me but know that the plotting is complex and I was actually surprised by the final turns,. Camille is an interesting character; I also liked Luke, an actor with whom she has a special connection. And, I learned what bolt-ons are. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. It's a page turner.

What does a group of moms who have lost children do? Band together to seek revenge. This premise made for a creepy, fast-paced thriller and I loved it.

Thank you #harpercollinspublishing for my arc e-read of The Collective. It is a twisty psychological thriller about grief and revenge that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The writer does an excellent job of building the characters and suspense. I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend this one when it comes out on 11/2/2021.

Thank you to the publishers at William Morrow and Custom House and Netgalley for this ARC of The Collective!

Camille Gardner is still reeling from the untimely death of her 15 year old daughter 5 years later. After getting a divorce and seeking help from grief counselors, nothing has helped her forgive her daughter’s killer. He went unpunished, and Camille thinks he should pay the price. After a shocking incident lands Camille in jail for the night, a strange woman hands her a business card with one word on it - Niobe. Curiosity getting the best of her, she looks it up and finds a group full of women mourning the loss of a child.

But this support group leads her to another group, one hidden from prying eyes, stashed away on the dark web. The collective has reached out to Camille. They want to recruit her, for life. But what exactly is the collective? Find out November 2nd!

Wow! What an incredible story! My heart was racing about half the time while I was reading this. I never really knew what might happen, and I think Alison did a great job of making me feel like I was living in Camille’s shoes. This might be hard for some people to read, especially if you’ve lost a child yourself. As a mother myself, I can’t say that what Camille and the collective does might never cross my mind if someone hurt my children.

Preorder your copy today!

What is the price of revenge? Camille Gardner is still suffering five years after her daughter's death. The accused murder has suffered no consequences. Feeling helpless and distraught she decides to do something and joins The Collective, a dark web community of women like herself dedicated to revenge. Camille finds herself in over her head and the line between victim and villain are blurred.
*If you like psychological thrillers with an element of mystery and dark unlikeable characters.
*For fans of Lisa Gardner and Karin Slaughter

I received an ARC of the Collective in exchange for an honest review.
This book was were different from anything I've ever read before because if focused on the topic of vigilante justice.. The topics explored in this book were very thought provoking and will stick with me for a long time.

As the book begins, we are introduced to Camille, who is attending a college awards ceremony for Harris Blanchard. However, Camille isn't there to support Harris or celebrate with him, she is there to call him out for the rape and murder of her daughter, Emily. Harris, whose family is well connected to the college and born with a sliver spoon in his mouth was never been found guilty of anything and continues to thrive.

Camille's world fell apart the day her daughter died - including eventually getting divorced from her husband Matt, struggling to maintain relationships and keep her business afloat. In fact, even her therapist, Joan, died in a tragic accident, falling down the stairs.. One of her few remaining friends is Luke, who received Emily's heart upon her death through organ donation.

Through a series of events, Camille receives and invitation to a dark website - the focus of which is an anonymous site to define justice for the unpunished and for these individuals to feel the pain they deserve. Camille finds comfort sharing her true thoughts about what she wants to happen to Harris and learning that there are others out there struggling like her. However, Camille gets sucked in much deeper than expected and begins to engage with others on the site to administer justice for these murderers, rapists, drunk drivers, etc. The group seems to give Camille back her energy and she begins living her life again with a true sense of purpose. However, it doesn't take long for her to feel conflicted by her actions and the action of the other members. Camille eventually wants to end her involvement - something that could put the entire group at risk.

This book is one that left me thinking - is any one person really all good or all bad and when does the good outweigh the bad? It also reiterated the flaws in our justice system and made we wonder why more people don't take the law into their own hands.. This was a page turner and one that made me question - what would I do if I were Camille and once you get in so deep, how do you ever get out?

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow Publishers for the ARC of The Collective! I devoured this one in a weekend.
Five years after the death of Camille’s daughter, she is given the opportunity to avenge her death. But unfortunately, it seems she has bitten off more than she can chew… it kept me guessing until the end!