Kate Myles' debut novel, The Receptionist, is a tense, compulsively-readable domestic thriller with a surprise ending that I read, re-read, then read a third time the next day, just to let it sink in. Where Myles shines brightest is her ability to lay bare the complex inner workings of her characters, which she does with a dexterity and authenticity that drew me in like its own gravitational force.

There's Chloe, an aspiring actress and the titular receptionist, whose volatility cuts to the bone of how urgent every second of every day feels in your 20s. Reading Chloe made me question if we're all a little sociopathic at that age. Here is a young woman who wants desperately to escape the toxic cycle of anger, contrition, and guilt she feels, but the hole she's dug herself is just too deep. And when someone reaches out a hand to help her up...well, she's liable to pull them down with her.

There's Emily, the composed, conniving talent agent who lights up the page with her single-minded devotion to achieving her own ends. Emily is smart and driven but wounded in equal measure, haunted by who she's been in the past. Her determination to remake herself into someone unassailable is derailed by the pesky fact of her own humanity.

And there's Doug. Doug, a portrait of white male entitlement and privilege, whose familial wealth and cultural mores make him feel invincible. Like so many men like him, Doug believes he's allowed to operate outside the social, moral and legal codes everyone else has generally agreed to abide by, and while that should make him exceedingly easy to hate, he's also an addict falling headlong down a slippery, cocaine-dusted slope.

All three characters demand that we question who among us can be saved--or if salvation is even possible once we've fallen from grace.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for providing a free advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, wow, wow! What a book! Love revenge, angry characters that you absolutely hate, but cannot get enough of reading about? This is your book! Thrilling, chilling, twisty as heck, and shocking! Not quite what I thought it would be about, but unputdownable and fast paced! Well written, characters nailed, making it absolutely one I had to finish! I highly, highly recommend this thrilling thrill ride!

Will buzz around platforms and use low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

Just love this Author. She can write no wrong.. Simply BRILLIANT. I highly recommend this unputdownable book. Run, do not walk, to get your hands on this!!!

was able to read this book thanks to NetGalley. It was great! I found it super entertaining, fast paced. It was a quick read and a solid thriller. I was very invested in the characters and their stories. This is a must read for those who enjoy thrillers and I will be recommending it to my friends. I hope to see future books from this author in the future. Thanks again to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

Loved this! So good, so exciting, so gripping and great story. Can't wait to read more by this author - absolutely brilliant.

Wife, husband and the receptionist/Psychological thriller
Wife Emily believes husband Doug is having an affair with Chloe the beautiful receptionist.
I am a big psychological thriller fan so although this doesn’t seem like an original plot, I was sure there was going to be more to this story.
The characters are unlikeable which also can be a sign of fun twists and turns.
However, I am neither a fan of f-bombs nor any profanity. So in Part One, first sentence in Chapter One, an f-bomb is dropped ~ I thought ”Hmmm this just may NOT work for me ~ not a good sign”.

I want to support a debut author; unfortunately this was not a wow read for me. Rounded up to 3 stars
I did enjoy reading the author’s Bio and will give Ms. Myles another try as she certainly seems like a talented writer!

Want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for professional review purposes only.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for July 6, 2021

This book was a slog to get through. I almost put it down many times, but made myself finish it. I was curious to see what happened but also wanted to give a completely honest review based on the entire book. It was drawn-out and anticlimactic, and even though it was incredibly chaotic I was somehow still bored reading it. I didn’t like any of the characters, and found myself cringing in a bad way for most of the book, especially in scenes with Chloe’s weird performance group. I was not a fan.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. This was a great debut by Myles. The story is about philandering Doug and his poor wife Emily. When Doug gets involved with Chloe his new receptionist thats when everything starts to go down hill. I hated all the characters, but that made me love the story even more. I didnt see the end coming1

The Receptionist by Kate Myles is a book peopled with self absorbed, uninteresting characters who are constantly telling lies - to themselves and to others. They lie about pregnancy, business affairs, sexual affairs and even about a dog! There is not a sympathetic character in the book and it is extremely difficult for the reader to care what happens to any of them. The novel meanders through the lives and thoughts of many of the characters and their relationships. There is no mystery here and no reason to continue reading on to the very unsatisfactory conclusion of an epilogue. I would not even classify the novel as a summer read and would only recommend it to anyone who suffers from insomnia.

This novel has a single sympathetic character: Grace, born late in the story. Poor innocent baby Grace has two monsters for parents. Her father, Doug, is a dishonest marketing researcher and a constant womanizer who gets by on his looks and surface charm. Grace's mom, Emily, a celebrity agent, knows what Doug is but marries him anyway because she thinks they'll make a ton of money with their combined talents and live in the fabulous style she craves. The birth of the baby is an unplanned inconvenience. Into all their lives comes Chloe, a beautiful but not quite sane receptionist at Doug's company who jumps into bed with her married boss without hesitation.

Despite the title, the receptionist is not the driving force in the story. She's just one person who gets caught up in Doug and Emily's wreck of a marriage. Doug's dishonesty in business, which also affects Emily's business, is what does them all in. A jumble of mistakes and dreadful decisions leads to a truly horrific climax. The book's saving grace is, indeed, the barely seen Grace, who survives the carnage in good shape. If you're looking for characters you can cheer for, this may not be the book for you. If sympathetic characters aren't required, you might enjoy the ride.

The Receptionist is a seedy, gritty, creepy doemestic thriller that makes go into reading frenzy mode. It is set in the unforgiving world of LA in the uber exclusive class of the Elite. All the people in the book are quite ruthless and bit mental to be honest. It makes you wonder how far people are willing to go for a bit of money and fame.

The story is about Emily and Doug who are married to each other. Emily is an agent for a compny and Doug has his own successful start up company. On paper, they are perfect. But their relationship is completely toxic. Doug cheats on Emily all the time and she knows it. But she just stays with him because it's better than being alone.

Doug's newest affair is with his receptionist, Chloe. But little did he know, she is not like the others. She has legit issues and she is going to ruin his life. Emily, Doug and Chloe end up in malicious and vicious cycle. All hating each other and conspiring against each other. Things change for Emily after she gets pregnant and gives birth to Grace. She wants to keep her child safe from scandal. How does she escape? What does Chloe do? Read to find out!

The ending was terrible. It made the whole book bad. I reduced the rating of the book because of that. So many things happen at end all at once and some of it was just not logical.

Overall it was really exciting thriller full of surprises. If you are okay with irrational endings, you can go for it because the rest of the book is excellent.

This was a very good book, even though I couldn't bring myself to like any of the characters. Easy read, keeps you wanting to see where in the world it goes.

I’m more into mysteries than thrillers, but I found myself unwilling to put The Receptionist down. I’d be in bed, my tired eyes wanting to close. But I had to know what was happening next. Reading Myles’ novel is like being a fly on the wall, watching those co-workers you despise get themselves into trouble. Chloe is that receptionist who got the position because of her looks. She is terrible at her job but is obviously sleeping with the boss. You can’t help yourself from wanting to see her and the other characters self-destruct. The Receptionist takes you on a satisfying rollercoaster ride of sympathy to disgust and back again. The twist in the epilogue is astonishing. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories about people-you-love-to-hate.

*Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Myles and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Previously published on https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/the-receptionist/

In Kate Myles’ debut, The Receptionist, almost every character is vying to win the prize of the most psychopathic or unlikeable; and it is fabulous. It is the perfect maelstrom of revenge, crazy and absolute rage.

The Receptionist has it all.

Emily is a talent agent, foremost. She has complete control over every aspect of her life, including her eating, skipping breakfast so she can have an extra splash of vinaigrette on her salad. She is ruthless, corporate, and professional in every aspect of her life, and doesn’t mind being brash to make a point. Married to Doug—a data engineer and serial philanderer—they form a powerful partnership to manipulate data on Emily’s most important client. Additionally, she is four months pregnant, and hasn’t told Doug yet. She suspects her husband of cheating, but chooses to ignore it in favor of her privileged life. Until everything unravels right after her beloved dog, Bella, goes missing.

Enter Chloe, Doug’s receptionist, who he has been having an ongoing affair with. Chloe is as conniving as Doug and Emily, and coupled with rage issues, is a character to watch and fear. She slowly becomes unhinged when Doug no longer has a use for her. The reader looks on in horror, helpless to stop this downward spiral.

When Emily partners with Chloe to put an end to her husband, thrills become horror. They represent an even more dynamic duo than Emily and her husband. At first, Chloe is confused as to why Emily is seeking her out. But she soon suspects Emily is up to no good. Chloe is no fool and realizes she is being used. It is fascinating to watch them play each other.

The shocking conclusion is perfect. There has never been a more à propos bait-and-switch. The epilogue is one to savor as we see who has gotten their due process, and sadly, who has not. Mostly, the reader is assured that their newborn baby has grown up to be a loving and normal child, despite her early beginnings.

Again, The Receptionist has it all. Though none of the characters are even remotely likeable, except the newborn baby, there is suspense, mystery, and an amazing story. All the characters, despite being awful people, are well developed. It is hard to believe that this is Kate Myles’ debut novel. She is definitely one to watch.

What an amazing thriller! The shenanigans the characters were involved in were truly outrageous, and I absolutely loved the ending!

Witness the slow, agonizing decent into crazy, as the three protagonists/antagonists bounce off each other, as life throws lemons and they drink the sour, unaware, as they are, of their own contribution to their fall. Follow the gorgeous young woman, the lady CEO and her entrepreneur husband, as their infant becomes the football in this Hitchcockian thriller to the end, with no bath towel for cover. We are there.
Review by Jan Shure-Hurwitz

I had been hearing so much hype to this book and guess what, it was great!! Definitely a page turned!! Thanks to netgalley, pub and author for this gem of an arc.

A book which presented quite a different read to the synopsis, but one I enjoyed.

The story revolves around three very unlikeable characters, and chapters alternate between their individual point of view. We have Emily the talent agent. We have Doug, her husband, CEO of a brand building company and aspiring into the tech area. And we have Chloe, the receptionist at Doug's company. Set in LA, the three characters become intertwined. All totally self interested, all prepared to hurt the other two, or in fact anyone, to get what they want.

Which of the three will come out on top?

Human drama with thriller aspects make for an unusual read.

The story centers on Emily and her husband, Doug, a power business couple in Los Angeles. Enter Chloe, who works in Doug’s office and is an aspiring actor. The book features their three different points of view. This is a good story with a very slow burn and I couldn’t put it down. No spoilers! Recommended.

Really enjoyed this and couldn't put it down. I liked the plot and while the characters weren't 'likable' as such, they were really well done. One heck of ending too!