My Favorite Terrible Thing Audiobook By Madeleine Henry cover art

My Favorite Terrible Thing

A Novel

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My Favorite Terrible Thing

By: Madeleine Henry
Narrated by: Angela Dawe
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The world’s most famous author has vanished. A thrilling hunt of mind games and twisting suspense begins when a detective sees evidence written into her novel.

Detective Nina Travers is so good at her job that she blends in like a benevolent Tom Ripley. She can be anyone. She can be no one. Nina wants to be someone. Her new case will finally get her noticed.

Bestselling author Claire Ross has disappeared from the Hamptons on her wedding day. How tragic that the author of an epic romance that captured the heart, soul, and imagination of the world should suddenly vanish on the happiest day of her life. Claire’s distraught family and friends, her mystified fiancé, and her zealous online fans all have their theories—from the sinister to the hopeful. Nina’s job is to find the truth, and she’s pursuing an angle that no one else has explored. She’s looking for a trail of clues in Claire’s novel.

Reading between its haunting lines, Nina follows a spiraling path of secret love, obsession, and death. What Nina finds is so shocking even she never saw it coming.

©2024 by Madeleine Henry. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Mystery Psychological Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Exciting Heartfelt

Critic reviews

“[A] cunning debut thriller…Just as Henry seems to be leading readers down one path, she veers in a wholly unexpected direction, delivering a welcome jolt to an already effective mystery. Sharp observations on toxic fan culture and a basketful of literary easter eggs are icing on the cake. This delivers.”—Publishers Weekly

“Fans of twisty psychological suspense, especially those who enjoy literary references, will find it hard to put down.”—Booklist

“My Favorite Terrible Thing is one of my favorite books of the year! Insightful, emotional, and utterly surprising, I devoured this deeply psychological novel in one sitting and immediately wanted to read it again. Madeleine Henry is brilliant!”—Wendy Walker, bestselling author of What Remains
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This was an interesting story. Unusual, really. The plot was complicated and well written. Part way through I decided there was going to be a surprise ending. I suspected a couple of endings. But the resolution was unexpected. If you like books with surprise endings, you’ll be amazed at this ending!

Surprise ending

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First- the issue is with the book, not the narrator she was fine.
About 1/2 way through the story takes a major left turn and never recovers. It gets completely unrealistic, the protagonist is an unreliable narrator and the story lacks enough information to allow any form of truth to show through. None of the characters are likable nor are they relatable. The “twist” was easy to see from a mile off.
The only thing good about this experience was that it was free so I didn’t spend any money on it.

It had so much potential

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Loved the book. But had to switch from Audible back to regular book. The narrator had the most annoying breathy-affect. Couldn’t handle the dragging out at the end of every sentence with an exaggerated breath. Otherwise, great read!!

Great story. But narrator is the wowsr!

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I thought I had this book firugred out a couple of times. But it surprised me. It was a little meandering at times, but it was beautifully written, and the narrator did a pretty good job.

Better than most of the "mystery" books being made today, where there is no mystery at all.

Keeps you guessing.

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The plot was interesting and I wanted to get to it, but the high level of sentimentality and lack of self awareness on the part of the narrator was too much to take. Stopped listing at chapter 7…

Couldn’t keep going

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It made me want to read more classics. The end wasn't set up well at all. I feel like the plot was weak, with unnecessary details that never tied in, but the writing was good. several things left you hanging. The sister fell off the cliff in the end, figuratively. I might read the author once more because her writing has potential, the story was ehh.

The love of literary art.

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I purchased this book because the great Angela Dawe narrated it. I think I’ve passed on this author before with other narrators, but because Ms Dawe was narrating this book l decided to give the author a try. What a mistake. Eg:
Orange juice that was aggressively, bright! Pepperoni coins.
The author was trying to portray the wealthy with adjectives that l personally felt were ridiculous.
Mr. Dawe does not do that many Mysteries anymore hence me trying this author out. I have over 125 of Ms Dawes books and l am going to re listen to those to re capture the joy of a well edited book.
Were my comments of help?

Bad Word Choice!

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First time reading/listening to this author and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went into it blindly because I wanted a ‘surprise’. At first I had no idea where the story was going but the author did an amazing job of dropping little hints which made the reader have to think. This is what made it a 4 star for me. Pushing to a 4.5.

Ok, I was impressed!

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I'm a bit conflicted with this book. It was good in parts and weird in others. I had to reread portions thinking maybe I'd missed something only to discover that I hadn't. It's just, well, weird.

Ummm... this was weird.

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Loved the twists and turns. Great character development. Who really is Claire Ross? Enjoyed this well written story.

Unique

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