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The Collective
The Collective
Alison Gaylin | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Camille Gardner lost her daughter five years ago and is still angry and grieving. After a public incident, she joins a Facebook group for grieving mothers. From there, Camille is drawn into the dark web and a collective of women who seek revenge on those who killed their children. Unsure if this group is real or not, Camille finds herself pulled into the group, unsure if its members are survivors or murderers. And finding out the truth may lead to her own demise.

This was such a dark thriller--it pulled me in immediately. It's twisted and a little crazy in its plot, but it's so mesmerizing and keeps you guessing the entire time. Camille's grief and anger seeps through the pages, and the themes of loss and motherhood are prominent throughout the story. It's such a tense tale, as you keep reading and wondering, along with Camille, about the collective and its intentions. The book makes you question yourself and how far would you go to protect or avenge your family.

Overall, this is a twisty and dark thriller with an original and emotional plot. 4+ stars.

I received a copy of this book from William Morrow and Custom House and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
  
Three... Extremes (2004)
Three... Extremes (2004)
2004 | Horror
Miike's segment is the best - just this viscerally atmospheric showcase in artsy horror from someone who clearly has an intimate knowledge of all the ins-and-outs of the genre (and features a mack daddy score from Koji Endo, who has a career full of them). Chan's is second place - just as brutally gross as everyone else has already mentioned. Wook's is my third favorite (I refuse to call it the worst, since they're all pretty awesome) - a good ole' fashioned exercise in mental torture with expectedly cool camerawork and a deeply weird tone that always keeps you on your toes. The kind of simple, nasty, and twisted histrionics you can always count on - if this were made today in the tired 'elevated horror' age it would either be 81 minutes or 3 hours long and be a monotonous, purposefully unsatisfying, rote, blatantly obvious metaphor for trauma or some similar bullshit. Meanwhile this is the type of film to show you a fetus getting chopped up in the first ten minutes then following it with Lee-Byung Hun being forced to dance in his underwear and a woman making out with her father in a Circus Big Top. Just plain sick and I loved it, speaks for itself.