
The Hot One
A Memoir of Friendship, Sex, and Murder
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Narrated by:
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Hillary Huber
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By:
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Carolyn Murnick
About this listen
A gripping memoir of friendship with a tragic twist - two childhood best friends diverge as young adults, one woman is brutally murdered and the other is determined to uncover the truth about her wild and seductive friend.
As girls growing up in rural New Jersey in the late 1980s, Ashley and Carolyn had everything in common: two outsiders who loved spending afternoons exploring the woods. Only when the girls attended different high schools did they begin to grow apart. While Carolyn struggled to fit in, Ashley quickly became a hot girl: popular, extroverted, and sexually precocious.
After high school, Carolyn entered college in New York City and Ashley ended up in Los Angeles, where she quit school to work as a stripper and an escort, dating actors and older men, and experimenting with drugs. The last time Ashley visited New York, Carolyn was shocked by how the two friends had grown apart. One year later, Ashley was stabbed to death at age twenty-two in her Hollywood home.
The man who may have murdered Ashley - an alleged serial killer - now faces trial in Los Angeles. Carolyn Murnick traveled across the country to cover the case and learn more about her magnetic and tragic friend. Part coming-of-age story, part true-crime mystery, The Hot One is a behind-the-scenes look at the drama of a trial and the poignancy of searching for the truth about a friend's truly horrifying murder.
©2017 Carolyn Murnick (P)2017 Novel Audio Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Featured Article: The Best Audiobooks on Friendship to Deepen Your Bonds
Friends are the family we choose. When we’re going through hardships or have something to celebrate, our friends are often the people we turn to first. So much of literature, art, music, and film is dedicated to romantic love, but the love between friends can be just as (if not more) rewarding. Of course, plenty of authors "are" writing about friendship, in all its many forms. Here is our list of the very best audiobooks about friendship across genres.
Relatable
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Although I didn't get what I had anticipated, I really liked listening to this one. Hillary Huber is always a fantastic narrator and her voice lent well to this material. I found that the author was putting into words many thoughts I've had but haven't been able to articulate; especially those regarding female friendship stemming from childhood. A lot to think on.
Surprising
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I received a free copy of this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The Smart One
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"The Hot One follows this trend and yet manages to subvert the genre and typical narrative arc of true crime — violence, then investigation, then conviction — by exploring the long-term implications of the way violent crime reshapes memories. It also leaves the reader without an easy resolution, as the book is upfront about the fact that Ellerin’s accused killer is still awaiting trial and has yet to be convicted. The book is often explicit about the horrific details of Ellerin’s murder, but these details aren’t what propel the narrative. For this reason it feels different from some of the other more formulaic projects currently making up the true crime zeitgeist.
In the The Hot One, Murnick explores the idea that, as women, we shouldn’t need to be “the hot one” or “the smart one”. By telling the story of a lost friend, she successfully argues that the perception and judgements that relegate women to one box or the other are harmful and all too common. This is a book about murder — it is a central fact of the story — and in that way it’s part of the true-crime phenomenon. But The Hot One is also an elegy to female friendship and the ways it shapes us, even as we grow older and grow apart. Most women, even those who have not lost someone to violent crime, will relate."
I'm surprised more people don't like this
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A Meditation on Female Friendship, Loss and Reconciliation
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Carolyn Murnick Nails it in This Heartwarming and Heartfelt Story of Friendship and Honor.
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Couldn't even finish.
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Any additional comments?
Self-indulgent author tries to explain how her friend’s murder affects her own life. Should not be listed in True Crime section.Not True Crime
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Narcissist Author
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Self absorbed, disingenuous, meandering style over substance
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