Part of my bid to clean out neglected (see: old) ARCs from my Kindle - I recently bookmarked some of the suspense titles I had languishing where I can score audiobook copies via one of my library cards. Next up on the hit parade of this challenge is The Collection by Alison Gaylin, a book I was very excited to read when it was released back in 2021 and...here we are. Holy crap y'all, this book was a RIDE!
Camille Gardner is a woman spiraling. Four years ago her 15-year-old daughter, Emily, went to a frat party with a boy and was found barely alive, raped, abandoned on a cold night in the woods near the exclusive private college. On her deathbed Emily tells her mother that the boy, Harris Blanchard, is the one who did this to her. When Emily dies there's a trial and Blanchard's white, privileged, monied parents buy their son's innocence by smearing Emily's name.

Camille's marriage disintegrates, therapy gets her nowhere, and Harris Blanchard continues to live his best life, even receiving a prestigious humanitarian award from his university. Camille attends the event and, naturally, there's a wee bit of a kerfuffle. It's after that very public meltdown that a mysterious woman passes Camille a business card - a private Facebook support group where women share their grief and rage over the death of their children. It's from that group that Camille gains entry into The Collective, a splinter group on the dark web who spill out their darkest fantasies against the people they feel are responsible for the death of their children. Camille thinks it's role playing, a twisted form of therapy that is actually helping her get out of bed in the morning - and then she comes to the terrifying realization that The Collective is not mere role playing. The Collective are vigilantes. A truth that Camille is realizing far too late...

This is most definitely a book you need to prepare yourself for prior to reading because Gaylin practically holds the reader's head under the water that is Camille's grief and rage. It drips off the page. It's in the crevices between the sentences and smeared in the margins. You wonder how Camille is getting through her days, only to realize that it's her grief and rage that are propping her up. It's smothering to the point of suffocation and one of the more emotional stories I've ever read. It's just that the emotion here is blind hatred and rage.

Stories about vigilantes seldom have any heroes, and that's certainly the case here. As the bodies start dropping it's hard to feel sorry for the victims who definitely get what they deserve in an eye-for-an-eye sort of way. The people you do feel sorry for are the ones who make the mistake of crossing The Collective. People who step out of line and threaten the group's ability to exist and operate in the shadows. This makes Camille an eventual problem because while, in the beginning, she does follow assignments and instructions with blind obedience, her curiosity gets the better of her. That's when she discovers how much danger she truly is in.

I'll be honest and say I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the ending. What I do recognize is that it pushes the book firmly into thriller territory and it also features one hell of a twist. Y'all the twist is SO. GOOD! Is it a happy, sunshine ending? Honestly? No. But it's not like the author was making promises that there was going to be one. The raw emotion in this story, the depiction of rage, grief and hatred - to expect skipping through a wildflower strewn meadow at the end and Camille finding some peace would be unrealistic for the story the author is telling. Gaylin lays zero groundwork for this kind of thing, so it's not like I felt that I, as the reader, was being lied to, manipulated, or that a promise was broken.

It's a dark, and in many ways, challenging read. There's a lot of unpack in this one, landing it on my short-list for thrillers that would make a dynamite book club read.

Final Grade = A

I really liked this story. It had a unique storyline that kept me engaged and in suspense from beginning to end.

This is such an interesting thriller and I enjoyed the unique plot line. It makes you think about what causes people to cross the line between right and wrong and what happens when we take justice into our own hands. I loved the big twist at the end and did not see it coming. I listened to the audiobook and the narration is very well done. A great way to enjoy this thriller.

This was a story that gripped me from the premise and didn't let go. I actually gasped out loud at the ending. I thought Camille was very well written. Her grief and how her life fell apart after her daughter's death felt very real and was heartbreaking. I loved the dream sequences that gave extra insight into her mind and her feelings. I absolutely could not put this book down. I kept asking myself how it was going to end and feeling a sense of dread and panic as it got closer to a resolution that I had not completely predicted. Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced copy of this book.

I'm catching up on some reviews so... thanks to Net Galley and William Morrow for access to this book. This was a very quick read but that might be because the characters didn't feel fully fleshed out and it wasn't terribly exciting. It's a short, easy to read filler between other books. Not something I'd read again or recommend.

This was so good! I loved the characters and all the twists and turns. Never saw the end coming! I hope to see more by this author soon.

The cover drew me in, and once I opened this book, I could not turn the pages quick enough. I loved this book! Disturbingly great!
Recommending it for book club selection!

I wish this book had gotten the attention I feel it deserves but I think that it's yet another title that slip through the crack of the continuing unrest both with illness and politics in the United States. I recommend it as often as I can!

I really liked this story about a distraught mother who ends up finding solace in a very strange place. I liked the twist at the end and did not see it coming. Be careful of people giving you what you wish for...you might get more than you bargained for. I want to thank the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for giving me an e-copy of this book, in return for an honest review.

Nope this book was not for me. Very predictable and boring. I really had to push myself to finish this one

Yes!! Such a good book!! I couldn't put this one down! I really enjoyed every page. I had never read Alison Gaylin before, and I was eager to read this one. I had seen it and thought why not. I'm so glad I read this!! One of my favorites of the year, for sure!!

*Thank you @williammorrowbooks for the copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Camille is still grieving five years after losing her daughter when she makes a scene at a very public event honoring the young man who caused her death. Her outburst draws the attention of a secret group of similarly suffering women. While Camille thinks she has found the community she has so desperately needed, she soon realizes that this group is so much more and she’ll have to decide if she is willing to do what it takes to keep her place in this very exclusive group of women. This was quite a ride! I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I first started it, but I was pulled into the story very quickly and even switched to the audiobook when life got in the way because I didn’t want to stop reading it.

How far would you go to right a wrong? That's the question grief-stricken mother Camille asks herself when she is approached by The Collective, a secret group that invites her to join them on the dark web. The Collective is a group of mothers whose sole desire is to take revenge on the people that caused the deaths of their respective children. Camille’s own daughter, Emily, was killed at the age of 15, when she fell for an older boy, a college freshman that brought her to a frat party, got her drunk, sexually assaulted her in the woods near the college campus, then left her to die. As with many real-life cases, Emily’s assailant - a wealthy white guy - faced no legal ramifications, while Emily was tried in the court of public opinion after her death. When she is initally approached by the group, Camille believes that it is a form of immersion therapy, where these angry women “play act” revenge fantasies against those who harmed their kids. She soon learns that none of it is fake and begins to wonder just how far The Collective will go to exact revenge and keep their group a secret.

The Collective is a fast-paced, twisty, jaw-dropping thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. This was truly a wild ride and I devoured it in one sitting. While there is not a lot in the way of character development, as with most books of this genre, the plot is incredibly engaging and will keep you guessing the entire way through. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this story and would recommend it to anyone looking for the book equivalent of a highly entertaining, “popcorn” action movie. I am looking forward to seeing what Alison Gaylin comes up with next. 4 stars!

Thanks to Net Galley and William Morrow for this early read. I didn’t read it early but probably wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise so am very thankful I received it. What a wild ride! Camille is a grieving mother that gets sucked into the dark web group of other grieving mothers. She’s trying to sort out her own thoughts about the group, and it’s full purpose at the same time as sorting out her own life after her daughter’s passing. It’s full of twists and turns and an unexpected ending. Definitely recommend, but don’t read it at night.

A woman whose daughter is murdered joins a group of mothers seeking justice in order to seek revenge on her daughter’s killer. I found this to be a unique and unexpected, quick moving plot. At first it seemed like the group was doing the right thing, but as time progressed, things went south quickly and innocent people were being victimized. It is impossible to know which characters are trustworthy. The ending was completely shocking and blew me away. A strong work of psychological fiction by Gaylin.

A secret society of mother's who take justice into their own hands? Yes please, sign me up. The Collective is a story filled with grief and revenge. It was fast-paced and kept me interested during the whole ride.

I have found life is too short to read books that don't work for you and this was one of those books. The writing style was interesting and the characters just didn't draw me in and make me want to like them or learn more about them. Unfortunately, this was not a win for me.

I normally love Alison Gaylin's books, but this one was a little too off the rails for me. I look forward to seeing what she does next and will chalk this up to a one off!

Revenge, Wow! Interesting plot, I couldn't stop reading. A bit of violence but nothing over the top. Although it slowed down a bit in the beginning it picked right back up and kept me captivated until the end.

Alison Gaylin is the most underrated phenomenal author I know. Her books are thrilling from start to finish and so unpredictable. In The Collective, a grieving mother must figure out how far she's willing to go for justice. When Camille's obsession with a young man she believes is responsible for her child's death catches the attention of a secret group of grieving mothers with similar stories, Camille is intrigued. But when they all come up with revenge fantasies, Camille begins wondering if they're actually fantasies or actual plans to act out. In this story, Camille will find out just what kind of person she is. Highly recommended!!