Alison Gaylin's Novel "The Collective": A Gripping Tale of Mystery and Suspense

Amazon Customer: this book is so captivating! very twisty, and an interesting concept! I couldn’t put it down and i didn’t expect how things turned out

United States on Nov 24, 2023

Lcoit: The twists in this book were very well done and I didn’t want to put it down! Definitely a must read.

United States on Nov 07, 2023

Stace: I highly recommend this book the twist and turns had me on the edge

United Kingdom on Oct 01, 2023

Sam hatton: Pages felt cheap but the story itself was good

United Kingdom on Sep 23, 2023

dp: This is an ok book not a great one. There are a lot of ok books out there.

United States on Jul 05, 2023

Kamilla: Liked the book, but wasn’t quite as good as everyone made it seem.

Germany on May 09, 2023

damppebbles: I am a huge fan of Alison Gaylin’s books (also written under A.L. Gaylin), The Collective being the fourth of her standalone thrillers which I’ve read. And in all honesty, if I wasn’t already a fan, there would be no way on this earth that I would be able to resist the pull of this book! That striking red cover with the silhouettes, that utterly intriguing tagline on the US version (it’s ‘no killer goes unpunished’ if you haven’t already seen it) and that ‘grab you by the throat’ blurb. Getting hold of a copy of this book became a priority!

Camille Gardener is a woman consumed by grief following the death of her 15-year-old daughter, Emily, five years earlier. She blames high achieving college student Harris Blanchard for Emily’s death but Harris is the college’s golden boy and has never been held to account. When Camille is approached by a stranger and given information about a Facebook group called Niobe for grieving mothers, she signs up. But the group is different to others she’s joined in the past. Their anger matches her own, the women openly discuss the most horrific deaths they can imagine for those they feel are responsible for their...

United Kingdom on Aug 15, 2022

Katherine Y: This thriller is a story about a group of vigilante women who go after guilty parties who have not paid for their crimes. The group is formed of mothers whose children have been killed, and the culprit responsible has escaped the justice system. Calling themselves the Collective, the women invite a new woman, Camille, to join their ranks.
Camille’s fifteen-year-old daughter Emily was raped and killed by a privileged college boy several years before. It could never be proved that the boy was the one who killed Emily, but Camille is convinced of his guilt. When the boy is presented with a humanitarian award, Camille is at the ceremony and causes a scene, screaming out “murderer.” She is escorted outside by security while the boy’s family shakes their heads and says Camille is a sick woman.
The news picks up the award disturbance. Shortly after that, Camille, who has existed in a state of torment since Emily’s death, is invited to join the Collective. They promise justice. The group can only be contacted through the Dark Web. Camille wishes she had someone to talk things over with, but her husband has left her, and her therapist was killed in a tragic accident. The...

United States on May 02, 2022

Pilgore: 2.5 stars rounded up

TW: Child death, suicide

Camille’s daughter was brutally murdered by a fellow classmate. As the teenaged killer gets off seemingly scott free and moves on with his life with accolades told about him, Camille’s daughter’s reputation is besmirched leaving Camille to seethe with rage and wanting revenge. Her wishes are granted when she is brought into The Collective - a group of grieving mothers who take matters in to their own hands to take down the people they deem responsible for the deaths of their children.

While I loved the idea of this book it just didn’t live up to my expectations. It seems like I may not be in the majority so do take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I found the book slower paced, and pretty far fetched in most regards.

The story kept hinting that Camille’s daughter wasn’t as innocent as Camille wanted everyone to believe but nothing came from those hints.

There were a few suspenseful twists and some of the schemes were pretty elaborate. There were some aspects to the plot that were so crazy that it may actually work in real life.

I disliked the ending so much. Just out of...

Canada on Jan 28, 2022

RSW Kindle Customer: This 3.5 Star thriller had some high points but in the end it left me wanting; kind of sad, unsettled and unsatisfied.

<b>SUMMARY</b>
Camille is devastated. If fact, being devastated is pretty much her full time job. She dabbles in her actual paying job as a web designer, but mostly she spends her time being devastated. You can't blame her; her only child was raped and left to freeze to death by an entitled fraternity boy. The boy went to trial, was acquitted and is currently living his best life. He never admitted any part of the blame, lied through out the trial and never suffered any consequences. He is a golden child of wealthy parents, is about to graduate from college AND somehow left the trial with people seeing him as sympathetic and wrongly accused while Camille, her husband Matt and Emily, their fifteen year old daughter, took a PR beating. Camille and Matt were painted as bad parents and Emily, as loose. It really doesn't get much more unfair than that. Matt and Camille's marriage failed under the strain of losing Emily. Now Camille is alone in a big, lonely house which was once filled with so much life. She is angry, bitter and looking for a way...

United States on Nov 15, 2021