I thought this would be an interesting story but I got to 50% and I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t connect with the story and the overly animated voices at certain points took me out of the narrative. If a book is a thriller the timeline should move quickly I feel. This book dragged for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
So if you think this one starts out a bit slow, hang in there. It gets really good.
So many surprises woven into this story about Rebecca, Larry, a brewery and a murderer. This was a great book that is a bit of a slow burn. Totally worth the slow burn though. Great setting. Great narrator. Awesome audiobook!

The premise really intrigued me. I tried to get into it, the beginning started off well, but then I found myself uninterested and the pacing was really slow. Also, I had a hard time with the narrator. I had to DNF unfortunately.

3⭐
Genre ~ historical psychological fiction
Setting ~ England, 1979 ~ 1981
Publication date ~ July 1, 2024
Est Page Count ~ 352 (p+ 79 chapters +e)
Audio length ~ 8 hours 51 minutes
Narrator ~ Henrietta Meire
POV ~ 3rd
Featuring ~ suicide, serial killer, slow burn

Rebecca knows how to pick em...or not.

When I hear there's a serial killer, and one based on the real life, Yorkshire Ripper, I expect killings to be a main focal point of the story, but that's not really the case here. I mean I don't need to read about the attacks in a gruesome way per say, but this is mostly about Rebecca and her relationships with 3 men. As you can probably figure out by the way the blurb is written one of these 3 is our killer.

Overall, I do think it was well written for what it is, but I was just expecting something more chilling and thrilling. I remained fully in the middle of my seat the whole time.

Narration notes:
She did a good job. She gave each character a distinct voice. She even did an American man accent pretty well.

A somewhat uneven, (too) slow burn for me.

Rebecca, a successful, self-made business woman in her mid-thirties, is a brilliant character, even more so since the novel is set mostly in the late 1970s in England, a time when feminism and women's rights were once again at the forefront of many women's minds - not least because of the danger posed to them by the (real) Yorkshire Ripper, leading to fear and uncertainty in the female population, but also "Take Back the Night" marches. I liked that Rebecca was smart, no-nonsense, and a great business woman, although I could not understand some of her (personal) decisions in the last third of the book.

After a prologue that takes place in 1961 and gives Rebecca an interesting personal backstory, "The Company She Keeps" spans two-and-a-half years - from the Spring of 1979, just after the Yorkshire Ripper claimed his tenth victim, until the Fall of 1981 - and follows a now grown-up, unmarried Rebecca who - as the book's title suggests - is not exactly great at picking her romantic partners. After a string of failed romantic prospects (yay Rebecca for standing up for herself and wanting more for herself!), she seems to finally find love and happiness - until one former suitor expresses doubts about her most recent partner. Just a case of jealousy, or is her fiancé hiding something sinister?

It felt as if the novel couldn't really decide what it wanted to be - social commentary, historical novel, serial killer mystery, domestic thriller, or even romance. While the book contains all of these elements, it never really seemed to find its true form, and ultimately, I could never really get into it. It didn't help that all the other (more interesting) aspects often took a backseat to Rebecca's love life.

That being said, the book is well-written, so maybe it was just me - or the format of it. I listened to the audio version, which definitely did not sound like the very thrilling story the cover and blurb made it out to be, even when things picked up at the end. I definitely think this is one book where reading the actual book may have been preferable (side note: the narrator definitely lent her most annoying, high-pitched voice to children. It was completely distracting).

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"The Company She Keeps" is slated to be published on July 1,2024.

Thanks for #NetGalley and #DreamScapeMedia for the book #TheCompanySheKeeps by #JamesWoolf. Rebecca is a wealthy businesswoman in 1980 and she has three men in her life. Simon, a married policeman, Mervyn, a journalist obsessed with Rebecca, and Larry, an American whose wife has died. After she agrees to marry Larry, she starts to things something is wrong, especially regarding his ex wife. As she digs deeper, she finds things aren’t what they seem. Is he dangerous?

The Company She Keeps by James Woolf
Narrated by Henrietta Meire

Successful business woman, Rebecca, leads a risky life. But it's her life and she's free to lead it as she sees fit. The men in her life right now are a married man who she sees off on and on, a stalking journalist that she decided she didn't want to date before even their first date, and an American who lost his first wife in tragic circumstances. Once she's seeing the American, Larry, things move quickly and it's not long before he moves in with Rebecca and they are planning their wedding.

It's the late 1970s and the the Yorkshire Ripper is always in the news as he keeps killing women and the police are having no luck catching him. Women are scared but many woman are also not going to change their lives for him. He's very much on the mind of Rebecca, especially because some of her employees are living in fear on a daily basis due to their long commutes.

All three of the men play a part in the life of Rebecca as she begins to have her doubts about one of them. Rebecca even has concerns about her decision making after her car breaks down in a remote, rural area and she deals with the situation in a dangerous manner. Things aren't right at home anymore and Rebecca decides to dig deeper into Larry's past. Once again, all three of these men are involved in Rebecca's doubts and fears but she's heading into danger all on her own. It was very hard for me to understand her actions so I just sat back and watched in trepidation. I also read about the Yorkshire Ripper and his reign of terror and I can see why women were so frightened during that time.

Henrietta Meire's narration is spot on for this story. The story is brutal and it will take me a while to forget what I read. Almost from the beginning there is a feeling of unease which never lets up.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ARC.

We join Rebecca, a successful business women, whilst she try’s to improve her romantic and personal life all whilst the Yorkshire ripper is running riot.
Great premise.
The opening gripped me right away but the pace soon slowed down and although there was plenty of opportunity for suspense it never really came. I never felt on the edge of my seat and the need to turn the page as quickly as possible to find out what happens. It was all ok and a ‘fine’ book.
Narration was fine also

Wow. I’ve been on a streak of good audiobooks lately. This one hit the mark. I enjoyed it a lot. Pick this up on publication day.

I was so invested in Rebecca's life and the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper!

Premise - Set in England in 1979, this story follows Rebecca, a successful single woman who struggles to build healthy relationships. She's in a situationship with a married police officer and avoiding Mervyn, a creepy journalist who can't understand 'no.' When Rebecca meets Larry, a charming American with a murky past, she falls head over heels. But as the Yorkshire Ripper, a serial killer of women, continues to terrorize her area, Rebecca begins to worry he might be a lot closer to home than she'd originally believed...

I suspect this story wouldn't pass the Bechdel test, but most (not all) of the men in Rebecca's world sucked massively and Rebecca was a very real, 3D character with inner strength, an inspiring adherence to her own morality, and enough weakness to not feel like a 2D superwoman. It felt like a feminist thriller to me, despite the trope of men hunting women.

I listened to the audiobook version while doing some errands and the time flew by! The reader was great, very engaging. I seriously wonder what I was doing hold out on audiobooks for so long - I was really missing out. I love reading physical books, but audiobooks are a delightful supplement.

Thanks, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In this thriller that takes place during the unsettling times of the Yorkshire ripper, Rebecca meets all the wrong men. And they aren't wrong because they're incompatible, they're truly disturbing. A great read and thanks to NetGalley for the arc/audiobook that will stay in my head for some time.