Fast paced and kept me wanting more! Totally different from anything I've read before. I thought the story line of the Cleckley Institute was really interesting, especially as the acceptance and acknowledgement of mental health in our country rise.

Nature vs Nurture in this twisted psychological thriller. Well-developed characters and wonderful writing style, full of twists and turns, will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page, trying to anticipate where this story would go.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this novel for review purposes.

This is the first novel by Elisabeth Eaves that I have read. I did not realize I was in for such a good read.

Eaves digs into the world of psychopathic children and the treatment of this condition. I do love reading an interesting novel that also teaches me about a new subject. This is exactly what this novel was.

The thriller/mystery part of the novel was also spell binding. A well written, captivating story that kept me turning pages well past bed time.

The Outlier is an psychological thriller which focuses on neuroscientist Cate Winter who discovers a cure for Alzheimer's while carrying a secret from her past that continues to haunt her. Cate was once a patient at the Cleckley Institute, a facility for rehabilitating psychopathic children. She is haunted by the idea that her success as a scientist might be a fluke. Her discovery of another outlier like herself drives her to locate Hunter and learn about him. Hunter's backstory was interesting to read. I appreciated both Cate's and Hunter's flashback scenes. I found parts of the eco thriller dragged on but I appreciated how the story came together at the end.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled to fully get into The Outlier. Although the synopsis intrigued me, I found that the story was unable to hold my attention. I would be open to reading another book from this author, as what I did read of this novel was well written.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC!

The shifting of perspective worked for a bit, but there suddenly became too many things that you need to be aware of that it threw me off. I'm usually good at keeping track of things and yet this book was hard to digest.

The premise is amazing, and honestly, the writing is pretty suspenseful. I think the always changing perspective is just what I didn't like. Maybe if it didn't change all the time? Other than that, it was a pretty good read.

This is a really unique story, though I found it a little hard to follow at times. It centers on Cate, who is a successful entrepreneur, despite having grown up in a program for psychopathic children. When she finds that there is another potential success story from her childhood, she breaks protocol in order to track him down, and ends up stumbling into a sinister plot.

I thought the concept of the story was really cool, but I got lost a bit when Cate becomes involved in this whole other situation that she came across when on a mission to track down the other outlier. While it did all come together for me by the end, there was just a lot going on that I wasn’t expecting and I wasn’t as invested in the other plotline.

Overall, this was definitely a unique story but went in a different direction than I anticipated. I thought it was a decent read but not entirely up my alley. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Outlier immediately intrigued me with its psychological depth—an antiheroine who grew up in a treatment facility for the rehabilitation of psychopathic children, now grappling with her boundaries and sense of self as an adult. The strong character development in this complex narrative is a compelling draw for readers seeking a thought-provoking read.

I really enjoyed the first part of the book, especially the plotlines that followed Cate's quest to identify the other 'successful' graduate of their program, a character who is as complex and intriguing as Cate herself. And let's not forget a little bit of a sexy bad boy. The dynamics of their relationship when they finally meet are a fascinating exploration of trust, manipulation, and the blurred lines between good and evil.
But then there is another plotline centred around global warming, eco-terrorism, and natural conversation. The two plots didn't mesh for me. This is also based on my reading interests.

Elisabeth Eaves's writing is strong throughout the book, and her ability to create exciting, multi-layered characters shines through. I look forward to reading her next book.

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the gifted copy of the book.

3.5 - I enjoyed it!

I didn’t realize this was the authors debut until I finished the book, which I quite enjoyed. Well paced with the exception of the last 10% which felt rushed and like I missed something.

Cate, a successful entrepreneur, is about to sell her start up. She’s the epitome of success but also has a secret—she grew up and participated in an institute’s rehabilitation program/study for psychopathic children. She believes she’s a fluke as she’s the only success story, until she discovers there was a second outlier. She tracks him down because she wants to compare her life to his and determine what made them different than their peers. While there she learns some hard truths and discovers that he may be tied to more than one mysterious death.

I enjoyed this novel. It took me a while to engage with the story because of its complicated plot line. A lot of stuff happens and it was hard to keep track of how it all fit together. This in turn, caused the plot to drag a little at times. I pleased to discover the disparate plot lines link, become more cohesive and tie up nicely as the plot progressed. One of elements I really enjoyed was the underlying theme related to nature vs nurture vs choice as told through Cate’s eyes.

I rated this novel as 4, as there was no option for 3.5.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me with an ARC of this novel. All of the opinions offered in this review are my own and do not include AI generated content.

There was simply way too much going on in this book! So many elements had good potential, but because there was so much happening, they all fell flat for me.

I did enjoy how everything came together at the end, but I wasn’t invested throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Canada for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I must say I started this one off pretty confused. The first half and the second half seemed like two different parts. During the first half of the book there are two different storylines happening that don’t connect until way later, maybe 75% through, but the author did manage to connect them in a very cohesive way. I think I had a hard time really getting into because there were so many POVs that I didn’t connect to one character directly.

That being said, once I liked Cate I was into it! All the characters are actually really well developed and well rounded. The main story line follows Cate in two timelines and how she is dealing with labels she has been given. With some medical terms, the language used was still reader friendly to the point it wasn’t too intellectual that it would cause the reader to pause, but the amount of research that would have gone into this book is impressive.

The Outlier is a compelling read that explores the complex make up of the mind and the decisions humans make on a daily basis. Overall this book is witty, and shape, and really well written, it just takes some time to get immersed in the story.

The Outlier by Elisabeth Eaves is a psychological thriller with twists and turns that will leave your head spinning. Cate Winter grew up in a special school for psychopathic children called the Cleckley Institute. This school was a treatment facility which studied and rehabilitated psychopaths. To her knowledge, she is the only success case.

Cate is a successful neuroscientist who has just discovered the cure for Alzheimer's. She is about to sell her biotech company and become a very rich individual. However, first she must keep her secret hidden. What would people say if they knew she was a psychopath? While speaking with her mentor, Dr. M, she discovers that there may be another student who is also an outlier. She must discover who they are and if they truly are like her.

This story will take you across the to Baja California where Cate discovers that in order to succeed, there may be lines that she is not willing to cross, which make her different than the rest of her fellow patients.

I enjoyed this book, however I did find it a bit slow at times, which is why it only received 4 stars. The premise was different from some other books I had read, which made it all the more enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

If you're looking for a psychological thriller that keeps you interested, this book is for you!

The Outlier by Elisabeth Eaves takes you deep into the psyche of its anti-heroine, Cate Winter, a brilliant neuroscientist whose invention could revolutionize Alzheimer's treatment. But Cate is far more complex than just a successful entrepreneur on the brink of selling her biotech company for millions.

Cate's past is as gripping as the mystery she finds herself unravelling. Raised in the Cleckley Institute, a facility for psychopathic children, Cate is supposedly their only success story. She's spent her life trying to escape the shadow of this past, but when she learns there's another ex-patient out there who's thrived against all odds, she can't help but be drawn to him.

And here's where the story gets even more twisty. Cate's quest to find this mysterious outlier is filled with suspense and moral dilemmas. Eaves does a fantastic job of blurring the lines between right and wrong, making you question every character's motives, especially Cate's. When a mysterious death throws everything into question, you can't help but wonder: is Cate's newfound ally more dangerous than he seems? And if he is, what does that say about Cate?

I had a great time reading this book and was interested from start to finish! Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC!

This was a medical thriller and a bit of an environmental thriller and I felt like it was trying to do too many things. Not a book that was for me, but I appreciate what it was trying to do.

This fascinating thriller took me to unfamiliar worlds and plunged me deep inside them. The intertwining tales were well developed and I loved how they came together in the end. A character study as much as a thriller. Well done.
#Netgalley #PenguinRandomHouse #ElizabethEaves

This was such a unique book. I felt like there were two completely different stories happening though. I loved Cate's story and learning about her psychopathy and Dr. M's studies. At the same time, I felt like I was learning SO much about marine biology and the islands where Luciana lived. That being said, it was a bit too all over the place for me. The writing was incredibly well done, and I would read something else by Elisaebth Eaves, but this book was just a bit over the top for me. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this eARC.

I loved this book. I loved the detail that was given for all things in this book. The Alzheimer’s research, Cate and Hunter and the Institute. I love a good dark secret between folks in the morning!

Dr Cate Winter is a neuroscientist and head of a corporation in Seattle which has just discovered a cure for Alzheimers and which is about to make her very very rich. But Cate has a secret. As a young child, she was diagnosed as a psychopath and lived much of her early years in the Cleckley Institute, a research facility which tries to teach children like her to control their impulses to assimilate better into society. It fails in almost every case and Cate has believed she was the only success story for most of her life until she learns of another outlier, someone with much the same story as hers and she is determined to find him. She has one of her employees search for him and traces him to Baja, Mexico. After the sale of her company, she heads to Baja to find him. At the same time, in Baja, scores of dead fish are turning up with strange gouges on their sides and Luciana, a marine biologist, is trying to discover the source. Cate’s ex boyfriend, Gabriel, a fisheries researcher, is also there to help uncover the cause but also, at the urging of Cate’s mentor, to reluctantly try to keep Cate safe.

The Outlier is the debut novel by Elisabeth Eaves and it is one slow burning but compelling psychological thriller. Told from several different viewpoints including Cate in first person voice and Luciana and Gabriel in the third person. Eaves combines science, ecology, and psychology with a morally ambiguous but likeable female protagonist and a complex, tense, and twisty plot, to create a very entertaining debut, one guaranteed to keep the reader on the edge of their seat throughout.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honedt review

I'm so glad that I read this book! I was recommended it by Kelley Armstrong and I'm glad I saw that recommendation and got an opportunity to review this his book! It was such a gripping story and I couldn't put it down!

The whole premise of a school that treated a bunch of kids with psychopathic tendencies but that in adulthood most aren't law abiding citizens or done well for themselves, to have one or the only outliers searching out the other, yeah, it was really thrilling to read!

Cate has created a drug that helps people with Alzheimer's, she's rich and successful but given where she was schooled, and the outcomes of most of the other residents, has her concerned for her own future. Finding out that there was another success story, she has to seek him out.

We did get a few other perspectives, and I wondered how they would all connect. As the story progressed, seeing all these pieces that seemed separate stories come together in the big picture, was so fantastic! It so clever and well done and I just had to keep reading and see how it resolved!

Loved reading this book and I'd love to read more by Elisabeth Eaves!