Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum and narrated by January Lavoy.
Available May 14/24

When I read the description for this audiobook it was described as a ‘dark comedy’; it did not disappoint!

I was drawn to this book when I saw the narrator was January Lavoy. I have listened to a few books she has done and find them enjoyable. She is able to bring the characters to life so much so one can almost visualize the characters. But of course there has to be good writing to begin with.

This story of a cutthroat tech business has an abundance of intriguing characters all of whom I both liked and disliked I was fully engaged in the story wondering where it would go to next. Though I think I now have an aversion to people who say a person’s name three times in a row. My only criticism would be the ending as it seemed quite abrupt. I could have listened to more of the story to see where it would go next.

If you want a darkly comedic escape give this book a listen! Many thanks to MacMillan Audio, NetGalley, and the author for the opportunity to listen to this advance listener copy.

Very Bad Company is more workplace drama than a mystery/thriller. Set at a company retreat in Miami FL, the author brought to life the setting and the feel of a well-bankrolled company retreat. It is not long until one of the staff goes missing and then is found dead. While there are some attempts to figure out who is responsible, this story is primarily about the company, dynamics, and power struggles. There are many unlikeable characters all of which have an axe to grind or a personal agenda. Overall, this is a good drama with several unlikeable rich people behaving badly in an attempt to get richer.

The audiobook is narrated by January Lavoy who is engaging. She gave each of the many characters a uniqueness which allows the listener to distinguish between them easily.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the advanced listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed the workplace drama in this book. There are a number of characters, and they are all well written. I enjoyed the different POVs and storylines of all of the characters, even the ones that I didn't like so much.
This book had suspense, good twists that weren't over the top and even a little dark humor with a satisfying ending.
Narrator January Lavoy knocked it out of the park on this one.

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚, 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐩-𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚! 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚 (𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲) 𝐝𝐲𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡, 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐢. (𝐎𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐝𝐨 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦-𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩.) 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦-𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝓥𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓑𝓪𝓭 𝓒𝓸𝓶𝓹𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥.

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲; 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭.

𝐀 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐏𝐎𝐕𝐬, 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆. 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐋𝐚𝐕𝐨𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭!

𝐻𝓊𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝐸𝓂𝓂𝒶 𝑅𝑜𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒷𝓁𝓊𝓂, 𝒥𝒶𝓃𝓊𝒶𝓇𝓎 𝐿𝒶𝒱𝑜𝓎, 𝑀𝒶𝒸𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒶𝓃 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

This was not a very bad read - or rather listen, in my case. We get a group of unlikable characters, all of whom seem like unreliable narrators, a Miami setting, corporate drama (and romance), drugs, and sudden death.

I enjoyed the story, even though rooting for any of them is hard. When things go their way at times it almost seems unfair. When a reckoning loomed, it felt like justice, although no one truly gets punished (enough) in the end. Which, I suppose, is a realistic approach when portraying the underbelly of the corporate world.

It is hard to relate to the sentiment when the characters discuss that their 1 million salary is unfair compared to somebody else's 3 million. Some of them even cry poor! John, the CEO, is insufferable, and so are all the male characters in the company. (Marc is fine; Marc can stay.) The ladies all have skeletons in their closets, and even the newcomer, Caitlyn, does not leave Miami unscathed.

If you like office drama, you will probably enjoy it. The murder mystery part was not deep enough, in my opinion. Also, how was none of the people interviewed by the police? And where was the investigative journalist to cover how the leadership of Aurora debauched the week away after one of their own died?

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the advance audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a middle-of-the-road reading experience for me. It was good/okay; I was invested enough to want to finish it. It’s definitely not something I remember much of after a few weeks. I liked the twists and the ending. I liked the multiple POVs, even if I never really felt any deeper connection with any of them. To me, it just reads like a solid, basic thriller. If you are looking for a palette cleanser, fast, easy, read, then you’ll probably like this one. For avid thriller readers, it’s not going to be anything fresh or new. It was good, I kinda liked the workplace drama and I was interested in finding out what happened.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio & Emma Rosenblum for an audio ARC of Very Bad Company in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Bad Summer People so was extremely excited for Very Bad Company. That excitement got killed. It took me four attempts to finally finish this audiobook and, at that point, I only finished for the sake of finishing.

Bad Summer People was a juicy & fun beach read and Very Bad Company was a horrid corporate "thriller." There was nothing thrilling about it, though. It was soooooooooo boring & hard to pay attention to. Aside from that, much of the story just didn't make sense and was all over the place.

For instance, I never could understand how this company could pay all of these employees 7 figures if their product never brought in one penny.

I wasn't bothered by the multiple POVs as I expected since Bad Summer People was the same in that aspect. But, no one really stood out with these characters and it was hard to remember who was who.

This one was a huge dud for me, but I do look forward to this author's next book. I'd just stay away from corporate thrillers.

I absolutely loved this multi-perspective story about an executive retreat gone wrong. Although this is a bit of a mystery/thriller element with the occasion of one of the executives turning up dead during the retreat, it felt much more like a character study than a mystery, which I really loved.

This book is full of workplace drama! I loved the petty people and the ridiculous and sometimes over the top situations. If you are looking for a humorous book with a big cast of characters this one is great.
I love January LaVoy as a narrator, so listening to this book as an audiobook was perfect!

A startup company's dark secrets are brought to the surface on an annual work retreat.... Is anyone safe?

I love a juicy book. This was super juicy. I loved it. The multiple POVs make it easy to follow who knows what about the company and who has secrets of their own.

The vibe was White Lotus meets Succession and I am so here for it. The audio was great too!

This one was a lot of fun! Think the Club by Ellery Lloyd. It was the perfect kicking off summer/spring reading light mystery thriller that I was hoping for. A team of tech executives at a tech startup head to their luxurious corporate retreat in Miami where corporate perception is everything. I think this is a classic "read the plot summary" and if you think that is the type of book for you then you should read it because you will like it!

There were tons of characters you loved to hate, and relationships you absolutely were not rooting for but then wait maybe a little I DON'T KNOW DON'T ASK ME. I won't say there was some big reveal or anything like that but I don't think it was needed for the type of book it was!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced audiobook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!

January LaVoy's narration was a HOME RUN on this hilarious and twisted fiction novel. I listened to this in one day cleaning and running errands, it couldn't have been a better companion for all of my tasks to accomplish!

The alternating points of view, company retreat setting, unpredictable characters, and corporate drama were to die for. It was like going on this company vacay was just what the doctor ordered to make every character start acting a fool. I am here for it. The characters were well developed, despite there being so many of them, I had no trouble keeping track of each one. Sometimes in audiobooks it can be a bit tricky to follow, not the case with this book.

Potentially an unpopular opinion.. I loved John. I was actually laughing aloud at all of his Winston Churchill references, saying people's names three times, his crazy outfits, etc. He was HILARIOUS. What a kook!

I would say this book is like a guilty pleasure but I feel no guilt about enjoying it so much. Compulsively readable and so easy to listen to, it was a great escape with a spicy ending to match.

Thank you Macmillan and NetGalley for allowing me an advance audiobook in exchange for my honest review! I enjoyed the author Emma Rosenblum’s first book Bad Summer People, and selected this as the synopsis seemed interesting. This saturated with money tech start up Aurora took the reader to their exclusive Miami retreat and demonstrated how the 1% live. The MC Caitlin, who is a new team hire to Aurora, brings secrets of her own to the insanely expensive Miami weekend, where every rich character proceeds to lie, backstab, and do their best to act normal after one of the other higher-up executives goes missing. These are adults and they did not even care about her! John is the eccentric founder of Aurora and like everyone else, sees dollar signs instead of loyalty. Very Bad Company indeed. Could not invest in unlikable vapid humans. Too many characters and quasi-plots to keep straight, too much cliched drama, and not at all suspenseful like the synopsis says. Very quick airplane listen. I enjoyed the narrator as always though! Thank you again Macmillan and NetGalley! 2/5

oh this was crazy. unhinged tech space meets nonprofit level manipulation. gotta love it. Just wished the pacing was a little faster

Key Details:
•Executive Company Retreat
• Co-worker Found Dead
• Quirky CEO
• Secrets
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thoughts: As you read this book you slowly uncover different things about the Tech company the characters all work for. There is mystery surrounding what’s happening within the company as well as trying to figure out how and why one of their co-workers wound of dead during their retreat in Miami. The characters are all unique and very well developed— it’s hard to know which of them are trustworthy. It was an overall good read, but I felt like the big company’s big mystery was predictable and the end wasn’t as shocking as I had hoped.

First of all thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC of this book! This was my first by the author so I was really excited to start it. The best way I can describe it is trashy reality tv in book form. Entertaining but with no substance making it a pretty forgettable read. There were several characters to keep track of and they all felt the same. By the end I didn’t care about any of them or who killed their coworker. I did enjoy the setting and thought the narrator did a fantastic job.

This was fine. I enjoyed January LaVoy’s narration but she really couldn’t add much to characters that are just giving nothing.

Very Bad Company is about a corporate retreat from hell—Aurora, an ad tech company about to be sold in a hundred millions or something can’t remember the number sale—has a retreat where a lot of terrible people gather to talk shit about each other and then one of them dies. Is it an accident? Is it murder?? What don’t they know about the history of the company and its founder, a weirdo Churchill-obsessed creep?

This was just a very predictable and frankly kind of boring 🥱 attempt at suspense. I usually like rich people behaving badly stories but none of these characters had the charisma or nuance to keep me engaged. I didn’t hate it, it was fine. I think it’s a risk to fully immerse your reader in a climate that’s so off putting. There wasn’t anything or anyone to root for or relate to. Just a bunch of shitty already rich people only concerned with getting richer. The mystery you can guess from the very first chapter, and it doesn’t play out with any twists or turns.

I didn’t mind listening to this one, didn’t think of DNFing it, but it didn’t give me the twists and turns I thought it would. Sometimes it was funny. Middle of the road read. Will probably forget it quickly.

Thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, this one was a doozy!
Not quite a thriller… but this one starts out with a murder. Now that we know someone has died, we go back a week and attend this luxury corporate retreat with tech company Aurora and its highest executives. So which one will die? And why? And who did it?
It’s not just about this murder- as we learn more and more about each character, we realize they ALL have secrets, and all have a motive, and are all very, very, very morally grey 😮

Check this one out if you love a good cast of shifty characters, and a whole lotta corporate drama in a luxury location!

Enjoyed overall. Starts slow . . . in fact, if there is time to amend the audiobook, I wouldn't start with a reading of the itinerary. I can see it being fine at the beginning of the written text, but it really is not a strong opening on audio. It picks up when the girl group of four gets together (although this comes out of nowhere and then ends again inexplicably), and the boat ride really ignites some of the magic and fun inherent in the author's previous book.

I really enjoyed this twisty thriller set in the corporate world of tech startups. I was a bit let down by the ending.