Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Collective

I have had this book on my Kindle for a while but it just never made it to the forefront of my mind. I honestly thought this was going to be some cliche story about a grieving mother who makes peace with her daughter's death. This was *not* the case, in the best way. This is sinister, dark, and twisted in the best way. This book is wild! I read some reviews that said they didn't like the ending, but I thought it was unexpected and different from the norm. I'll definitely be looking into the author's other books! If you haven't picked this one up yet, I highly recommend doing so.

Favourite quote: "I'm a human being. I am not your entertainment."

Content Warnings

bowlingforboots's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Grief is an endless cycle.

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chasingpages1's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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kayalynne's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Spoiler

there's no justice at the end

Spoiler

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brenbrown's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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catinseas's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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smixter88's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It's just ok. Once I knew the plot, I thought 'ohhh this is going to be good.' It wasn't. I knew the twist before it came, which is ok, but I wanted to be wrong. Check the trigger warnings because this does have sensitive subjects in it.

How I rate my books:

⭐️ wasted my time
⭐️⭐️ not terrible but not great
⭐️⭐️⭐️ good, but wouldn't read again.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ really liked it and recommend it!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ absolutely loved it! Move it up on your TBR

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danaslitlist's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First I have to say the premise of this book is so intriguing and well executed by Alison Gaylin. I was a bit worried I'd find it either too out there or too safe but stays steadily grounded in just enough realism and "what if"s that it works. I also appreciate the lack of on page violence when it was something that the author could've easily written in and had it "work" in theory. I think this book benefits from the idea and threat of violence, from the knowing that it happens, but without making that the focus of the narrative.

Instead this is thriller that puts the focus on grief and the many ways it can present itself. Self destruction, the destruction of others, regret, anger, and so much more. And while this is still a suspenseful and tense book I found this to be a much more emotional journey than I had expected. I really appreciated the commentary on victims of violence at the hands of those who have the means to escape justice (whether that is because of their race, financial or social status, or just utter incompetency of the system).

The Collective spends a good portion of itself discussing how the world views these victims in life and in death and how that extends to the surviving members of the victims' families. One of the most powerful and gut punching moments occurs when justice (in theory) is finally attained for one of the main characters and we see how quick the world is ready to reinvent the narrative they spent so long pushing and benefiting from. And how fast everyone is to move on immediately after, how that doesn't sate the feelings of rage and pain that linger for those still wronged.

I really enjoyed our main character, Cam, she's a beautifully flawed (and who wouldn't be given the circumstances) character that I wanted to both shake some sense into while also root for her to keep going. The mysterious supporting cast that names themselves The Collective are equally fascinating and I really love that even in the end we know very little about who they all are and how this system works. Again, the premise is just genius and terrifying. I also appreciate the deviating from the young lover with Luke, I tip my hat to Alison Gaylin for that little twist.

The only reason that I'm removing a star from this book is because of the ending. This is a book that builds up and up, a dam about to break, but instead of a shattering of that dam we get someone poking the wall with a stick to create a leak that completely ruins the spectacle. Now, I'm not saying that we needed to have a guns blazing ending or anything but it was very anti-climatic and that I think it could've been fixed with some little changes. One of those being the pacing; the majority of the book has great pacing however the last 100 pages or so goes by very quickly with a lot of reveals and twists given to you all at once. This didn't quite work out for me the way I think it was intended especially given the reveals we were receiving. They were quite vital for Cam and her character and instead of having any time to ruminate on them we're forced to go, go, go. The other change I would make would be to make the stakes at the end a bit higher. I think the ending is where the author finally played it too safe for me because there was never a question of what decision she would make.

I do need to get into some spoilers for more detailed problems I had:

Spoiler

Whew, okay. I think the author may have written herself into a corner with this book and wasn't sure how to get out of it. There are very few options for Cam in the ending and none of them really are endings that would've been super satisfying. I'm glad we were able to avoid involving the police or FBI, because in my thriller experiences that tends to slow the books down even more.

But having the ultimatum just be "pick between Luke or yourself" was a bit of a cop out. There's no question at all that she was going to pick Luke over herself, especially with Cam having contemplated suicide so frequently towards the ending of the book. I also found it a bit contrived that it was Joanne's mother the entire time. I wouldn't go as far as to say it doesn't make sense, but it does feel like a reach. Am I meant to believe that she's set up the entire Collective just to target Cam? Because Cam yelled at Joanne and caused her to fall by accident? Were Joanne and Cam supposed to be an romantic item or was that just my gay brain imagining things, and they just had a very toxic and unprofessional relationship? I was left with so many questions and not that kind that you're
supposed to have.

I'd still recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller and honestly might pick it up again in the future for a reread!

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