Scan barcode
A review by lovelymisanthrope
The Collective by Alison Gaylin
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I selected this novel as my book of the month pick last year, but I kept putting off reading it for no other reason than I kept finding books that interested me more. When I finally picked this up, I could not put it down until I saw how everything played out.
This novel follows a grieving mother, Camille Gardner, trying to seek justice for her deceased daughter. Five years ago, Camille's high school age daughter was found alone in the woods, and she unfortunately died shortly after. The lead suspect was a charismatic college student who claims the relationship was consensual and he had no part in the young girl's death. To Camille's horror, the man gets to live his life, and thrive, while she is decimated by her loss. In her depths of dismay, she stumbles across a group of grieving mothers who connect on the dark web and spill their darkest thoughts of revenge against those who have taken their children from them too soon. Camille quickly finds herself in a scheme of revenge against all the bad people who have hurt their children.
I thought this book was going to be a pretty straight forward case of heartbroken mothers who are seeking vigilante vengeance however, that is not the case. This novel has many twists and turns that I did not see coming. Everything, every action, every character, is connected in this grand scheme of revenge that I did not begin to piece together until I was almost at the end. Camille was such an interesting character to read from because she does not come across as this harden criminal that you would suspect to be involved in revenge, but losing her daughter changed her. I do think the ending is very polarizing. I can see why some people would hate it, and it would ruin the book for them. I personally really enjoyed the ending and I thought it was poetic and full circle. The epilogue is where the book started to lose me a little bit, but I still enjoyed my time with this book immensely!
This novel follows a grieving mother, Camille Gardner, trying to seek justice for her deceased daughter. Five years ago, Camille's high school age daughter was found alone in the woods, and she unfortunately died shortly after. The lead suspect was a charismatic college student who claims the relationship was consensual and he had no part in the young girl's death. To Camille's horror, the man gets to live his life, and thrive, while she is decimated by her loss. In her depths of dismay, she stumbles across a group of grieving mothers who connect on the dark web and spill their darkest thoughts of revenge against those who have taken their children from them too soon. Camille quickly finds herself in a scheme of revenge against all the bad people who have hurt their children.
I thought this book was going to be a pretty straight forward case of heartbroken mothers who are seeking vigilante vengeance however, that is not the case. This novel has many twists and turns that I did not see coming. Everything, every action, every character, is connected in this grand scheme of revenge that I did not begin to piece together until I was almost at the end. Camille was such an interesting character to read from because she does not come across as this harden criminal that you would suspect to be involved in revenge, but losing her daughter changed her. I do think the ending is very polarizing. I can see why some people would hate it, and it would ruin the book for them. I personally really enjoyed the ending and I thought it was poetic and full circle. The epilogue is where the book started to lose me a little bit, but I still enjoyed my time with this book immensely!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Murder, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, and Car accident
Minor: Terminal illness and Pregnancy