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HAVOC

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HAVOC

By: Christopher Bollen
Narrated by: Maggi-Med Reed
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About this listen

The New York Times' #1 Thriller of 2024

'Highsmithian… highly readable, twisty and shrewd' HANYA YANAGIHARA (on Instagram), author of A Little Life

'Atmospheric, diabolical fun' LUCY FOLEY, author of The Midnight Feast

'Disturbingly enjoyable' EMMA HEALEY, author of Elizabeth is Missing

'A taut, wicked masterpiece' MONA AWAD, author of Bunny

Five years ago, 81-year-old Maggie Burkhardt fled her native Wisconsin in suspicious circumstances. She has come to rest somewhere she can imagine staying forever: the Royal Karnak Hotel in Luxor, Egypt.

Maggie is no sweet little old lady. She has a nasty, nosy habit: she spies on her fellow guests and manipulates situations to 'liberate' them from what she sees as unhappy relationships.

Wrongly assuming eight-year-old Otto and his well-meaning mother will be easy targets, she is soon locked in a death-spiral with her young prey. Has she finally met her match in a child one-tenth her age?

Crackling with the perceptive, acid wit of The White Lotus and haloed by Shirley Jackson’s cruel, dark magic, HAVOC is a decadent and ghastly delight.

©2025 Christopher Bollen (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers Crime Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Psychological Thriller & Suspense Hotel

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Absorbing realisation of life in a hot desert climate, of living in a grand hotel, of Luxor, of growing old, and of the madness of the COVID restrictions…. And of the madness of two manipulative people, one a boy and the other an old woman bringing havoc to everyone around them. It would funny if it wasn’t so tragic, I might read it again sometime just to enjoy the cracked voice of the old lady and the atmosphere that it wraps around you.

Funny if it wasn’t so tragic

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I'm unsure how to review this. it was a long and twisted tail which took the first 25 chapters to start heating up. I found myself so intensely drawn in for the last few chapters but the first period was a struggle. The twist is exceptional and the end is very well done. I was left with more questions than I think the writer intended. Some clarity surrounding the co-main character would have improved the ending.

Exceptional character development of the main

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It was a long winded tedious plot. Very little character development other than the leading lady.

Havoc

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