My Favorite Terrible Thing

A Novel

By: Madeleine Henry

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

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.

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

Surprise ending

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!

It had so much potential

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.

Great story. But narrator is the wowsr!

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!!

Keeps you guessing.

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.

Couldn’t keep going

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…