A review by books_and_things
The Collective by Alison Gaylin

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Whew! What. A. Ride. 

I do want to provide some trigger warnings ahead of this review. This book deals with murder, rape, depression, suicide ideation, overmedication, and violence. Please do not continue with this review or the book if any of these things are going to be detrimental to your mental health. 
 
I tell you this book was wild. Camille is aimless after the death of her daughter. She is fully swept up in grief, overmedicated, and overall a shell of the person she was. One evening Camille attends an event honouring the boy who Camille believes r*ped and killed her daughter. She snaps at the thought of this boy thriving while her daughter no longer lives and ends up getting arrested. After this, Camille starts receiving business cards and eventually finds her way to a Facebook group of grieving mothers. Not only does the group have grieving mothers, but all the mothers have yet to get justice for their kids. 
As Camille finally starts to feel a sense of belonging, she is invited to the dark web to join an exclusive group where she is free to express her most violent hopes and wishes. Upon expressing for the first time all the dark details she envisions for her daughter's murderer, she is met with acceptance, with encouragement, with women supporting her dark desires and adding their own. Needless to say, Camille has found her place. 

Things get a bit dicey after Camille decides to join the Collective, slowly taking small actions that play a much bigger role and eventually lead to the murder of someone. 

Camille has to decide. Does she stay in the Collective or are the secrets and weight of the Collective too much to bear? 

Oh man, this one was dark but I was expecting wayyyy more. IDK, I saw so many reviews saying this is dark, dark so I guess I was expecting more? Maybe I am just depraved. Anywho, I loved the way this ended. I was captivated to see how it all came together. I thought for sure Wendy was going to be the person in charge but man, I was wrong. 

What I really did not see coming was Camille being the target of the Collective. WHAT?!?! I personally don’t think a phone call at the wrong time and some strong words warrants murder but eh what do I know? 

All that to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I especially loved the look at grief. It is dark and raw and totally consuming.
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