Bad Habits

By the author of the best-selling thriller GOOD AS GONE

By: Amy Gentry

Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman

AN APPLE BEST BOOK OF FEBRUARY

"It is almost impossible to find the words for a truly original novel such as Bad Habits, a primal scream of a book that could be written only by this author at this time. Amy Gentry is in utter control of this anaconda of a story as it twists, squeezes and lashes out at the reader. And all the reader can do is stare helplessly back, mesmerized. In case it’s not clear, I loved it.”
—Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of The Sunburn and Lady of the Lake

A whip-smart psychological thriller from the author of Good as Gone (a New York Times Notable Book), in which a grad student becomes embroiled in a deadly rivalry that changes her into someone unrecognizable to her struggling family, her ambitious academic friends, and even herself

Claire "Mac" Woods—a professor enjoying her newfound hotshot status at an academic conference—finally has the acceptance and admiration she has long craved. But at the conference's hotel bar, Mac is surprised to run into a face from a past she'd rather forget: the moneyed, effortlessly perfect Gwendolyn Whitney, Mac's foil, rival, and former best friend.

When Gwen moved to town in high school, Claire—then known as Mac, a poor kid from a troubled family who had too much on her plate—saw what it meant to have. Money, sophistication, culture, the very blueprints to success. Mac had almost nothing, except the will to change. Change she did, habitually grinding herself to work as hard as straight-A Gwen, even eventually getting admitted into the same elite graduate program as Gwen. But then Mac and Gwen become entangled with the department’s power-couple professors and compete head-to-head for a life changing fellowship. The more twisted the track toward success becomes, the more Mac has to contort herself to stay one step ahead—which deception signals the point of no return?

Jack-knifing between Mac's world-expanding graduate days and the crucible of the hotel and its unexpected guests, Bad Habits follows Mac's reckoning between her hardscrabble past and tenuous present. What, exactly, did Mac do to get what she has today? And what will she do to keep it? With taut, powerful prose, Amy Gentry asks how far we'll go to get what we want--and whether we can ever truly leave the past behind.

Meh

Overly dramatic, contrived plot of academic back stabbing competitiveness. Do academics really murder to get ahead? Are grad students so naively gullible as to be drawn into a dysfunctional marital web of psychopathological control? Please don’t waste a credit.

Suspense

the suspense was real, the class struggle was real

this was the first book in a while. I had to listen to piece by piece.

Weird

Yeah idk what I just listened to, but I’m confused! Love Rebecca Lowman, and that’s all I enjoyed of this story

Outstanding!

A fiendishly clever plot that never disappoints. Could not put it down. The well developed characters and excellent story make it a very well written book that is also a ton of fun.

Couldn’t do it

I tried. No doubt Amy Gentry can write. There are some really beautiful picture painting scenes. That being said it was wayyyy too convoluted and definitely written for academics. I couldn’t finish and audible isn’t letting me return it 🤬