What Remains of Me audiobook

When Kelly Lund was seventeen years old she shot and killed director John McFadden. She went to prison and served thirty years. Where our story picks up, she has been out for five years and lives with her husband Shane. When Kelly’s father-in-law gets murdered in the exact same way John McFadden did, she immediately becomes a suspect. Her father-in-law also happens to be famous movie legend Sterling Marshall. Would Kelly really have done this? Or is she getting framed?The story alternates between dual timelines. One is set in 1980, when Kelly Lund is seventeen years old before John McFadden is murdered. The other is set in 2010, thirty years later. We get numerous perspectives throughout, but mainly we follow Kelly in both timelines. There’s Shane, a detective on the case, and a couple others added throughout as well. In 1980, our story picks up about 4-5 months before the murder. We see Kelly’s life leading up to it, which starts with her just wanted to blend in and come out of high school unscathed. She slowly makes friends with the cool, rich daughter of a famous actor, succumbs to peer pressure and starts doing drugs, skipping school, doing things she never would have done before. And her life changes forever.Sporadically, there are articles, news/TMZ reports, excerpts from a book, etc. This helps add insight as to how the public views the murder cases and Kelly Lund. I enjoyed the format of this story and found it made the book more of a page turner. Both timelines constantly left me wanting more making it hard to put down.I’m not particularly happy with the Gillian Flynn comparisons even though she is one of my favorite authors. I see where they come from with the murder mystery. Other than that, I found it to be entirely entertaining, just not in particularly the same way if that makes sense. Flynn’s are a lot less Hollywood.This is a full blown Hollywood murder case that made me feel like I was watching one of those E! True Hollywood Story murder episodes. Yes, I spent my teenage years well. Seriously, though! It covered that whole guilty pleasure side of me, while also really pulling me deep into the mystery. I constantly found myself flipping back to reread passages I’d already read seeing how things matched up. I was pretty hell-bent on solving this mystery. I admit..even though I had my suspicions, I did not solve it. There were plenty of twists and red herrings. Good luck :)If two murders playing out next to each other in glamorous Hollywood appeals to you, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick this up.

"People don't need to know you're a murderer. They just need to think you could be....."Not until you finish this highly captivating and atmospheric book that you realise the true meaning to that blurb sentence."What Remains Of Me" by Alison Gaylin is a highly entertaining and absorbing thriller that keeps you on your toes to the very last page! I thoroughly enjoyed this and once started could not put it down.There are two timelines running through the story, flashbacks to Kelly in 1980 and the more recent 2010, 5 years after her release from prison for the murder of a famous movie director. I love dual timelines and I was addicted to the 1980 timeline reading about Kelly's younger years and the build up to the murder she is accused of. It's not until the very end of the book that we learn all the true facts relating to the murder but on the way - oh my! - the twists and turns are unbelievable, first sending you one way then sending you the other! I'm the same age as Kelly is in 2010 and personally loved all the references to the music in 1980 bringing back memories from that time. I also enjoyed the newspaper articles and interviews interspersed throughout, very much reminiscent of Minette Walters books that I so enjoy.It is a complex storyline that does require the readers attention and although the characters aren't really likeable you still have empathy for them, and I was particularly moved by one of the characters at the end. There is a slight dip in pace in the middle of the book but maybe it was just the calm before the stormy twists!I would happily read more by this author, I like her style of writing, and if you like good solid thrillers with plenty of twists then you will certainly enjoy and appreciate "What Remains Of Me"I won this book in the Goodreads Giveaways.

It isn’t what you do that makes you lose people, she reminded herself. It’s what they think you’ve done. What they think 17-year-old Kelly Michelle Lund did was shoot famed Hollywood director John McFadden dead. And they thought it strongly enough that she would spend the next 25 years of her life in prison. Kelly became a cause célèbre of the wrong sort when the paparazzi caught her in what they called a “Mona Lisa Death Smile,” putting her on par, at least in public perception, with sociopathic murderers like Charles Manson and Ted Bundy. But when, five years after she served her time, a-list movie star, and Kelly’s father-in-law, Sterling Marshall, turns belly up with some lead-generated aeration, all eyes look her way again. Did she or didn’t she? inspiration came from several news stories where the press created a persona because the accused didn’t act according to some prescribed script. The trial of Amanda Knox comes to mind. That story inspired me. If your exterior isn’t viewed as likable, or if you don’t seem as contrite as people think you ought to be, a narrative builds up around you, and you become a ‘monster.’ - from the Mark Rubinstein interview in Huff-PoBe careful how you smile. Not all publicity is good publicity, even in Tinsel Town. Allison Gaylin - from her Myspace pages You might want to fasten your seat belts for this one. There are hairpin turns, and changes of direction that will put you at risk of whiplash. But that happens mostly at the back end. The ride up the coaster is somewhat more deliberate. There are two narrative lines. We follow Kelly in 2010 as she contends with fresh accusations. And Gaylin shows us how Kelly was drawn into the glitterati world of A-listers and their families in 1980. We follow her through her friendship and adventures with several Hollywood kids, the kind her mother had warned her to stay away from, the kind her glitzier sister Catherine couldn’t resist, and maybe the kind that drove Catherine to suicide. I am an only child and because of that I keep writing about sisters. Maybe I always wanted a sister. By having Kelly a twin, I was able to have a strong part of Kelly’s life where she feels loss. I thought what better than a fraternal twin whose shadow Kelly lived in, since she was more glamorous. - from the Crimespree interviewGaylin may live in Woodstock these days, but she started out on the other coast. I’ve always been fascinated by pop culture and crime. My mom was very interested in pop culture, and was a huge reader, followed all the stars and celebrities in Hollywood Reporter, Variety, People,” says Gaylin of growing up in Los Angeles. And, while no one in her family was in the movie business, its allure took hold of her, too. “When I was seven years old, I was reading Army Archerd’s column. My parents weren’t policing my reading so, at 10 years old, I read Helter Skelter. I thought it was about The Beatles, but it was so fascinating to look under that rock. I’ve been a big fan of true crime ever since then.” - from the Woodstock Times articleGaylin adds a bit of true crime feel by tossing in occasional faux news pieces. So, we have a woman who may or may not have committed a murder thirty years ago, just trying to live her life now, when she gets dragged back into some old miseries, and finds herself in the spotlight again. This makes her pretty bloody sympathetic. This is one maybe-killer you really can root for, without making her all innocent and gooey.The supporting cast is pretty interesting. Kelly’s pals from adolescence cover a range, from total tool, to surprisingly interesting. Kelly is pretty clearly an innocent (well, relatively) among wolves. Seeing how she gets caught up in the madness is fascinating. There is a chainsaw sculptor, some commune-dwellers, an exposee writer, a cop with a fixation on Kelly’s original case and enough extras to keep the moving parts lubricated. Gaylin will keep you guessing. About identity, for example. Could this person in 2010 have been that person in 1980? People cannot be relied on to tell the truth, making them unreliable witnesses if not necessarily unreliable narrators. And she offers you a talisman to follow through the tale in the form of a necklace of mysterious origin and significance. Gripes? Few. I would have liked at least something about Kelly’s life in prison. I am not 100% convinced that Kelly would have held on to the secret she kept all those years. It takes at least a hop of faith to accept that the shifting identities would have gone undetected for so long. And there is just no accounting for such poor aim. None of these are close to deal-breakers.What Remains of Me is not just a page-turner of a thriller, it has things to say. Sniping at corruption among the A-listers is pretty low-hanging fruit, but there are more serious considerations in play. Gaylin’s take on the impact of flashbulb media on public perception of guilt is spot on, and her look at how good writers can impact how criminals or the accused are perceived is also astute. I have always been fascinated with pop culture and having crimes tried in the media. I even wrote into the plot the journalistic character Sebastian Todd’s interview with the killer, Kelly Lund. It is based on an interview I read that Truman Capote did with Bobby Beausoleil, a former associate of Charles Manson, at San Quentin Prison. Beausoleil came across as very articulate. It seemed quite clear to me that Capote took poetic license to say and phrase things for this thug. What I wanted to get across is how an esteemed writer can put words in the killer’s mouth - from the Crimespree interviewShe looks at how secrets can define one’s life, something we can probably all relate to, although hopefully to a lesser extent than the characters here. Gustave Flaubert may have been right when he wrote “There is no truth. There is only perception.” Whether the world’s perception of Kelly Lund turns out to be of the keen or mis variety, it is very easy to perceive, quite accurately, that What Remains of Me is an outstanding thriller of a read. Alison Gaylin is ready for her close-up now. Published – February 23, 2016Review posted – May 27, 2016=============================EXTRA STUFFLinks to the author’s personal, Twitter, and FB pagesActually, Gaylin has had a few close-ups already. Her first novel, Hide Your Eyes, was nominated for an Edgar award. And her Brenna Spector series has landed her on the best-seller lists both in the USA and abroad. What Remains of Me is her 9th book.Interviews-----Huffington Post - ‘What Remains of Me,’ A Conversation with Alison Gaylin - by Mark Rubinstein-----ALISON GAYLIN: THE WHAT REMAINS OF ME INTERVIEW - by Elise Cooper-----From Gaylin’s Q&A with Laura Lippman on Author InterviewsAnd check out this article in the Woodstock Times - Gaylin dishes True Crime and Hollywood glamour by Debra Bresnan – 2/26/16

Seventeen-year-old Kelly Michelle Lund shot and killed director John McFadden at a party 30 years ago. Kelly is now living with her husband, Shane Marshall, after being released from prison five years earlier. But then her father-in-law gets shot in the same way as John McFadden was shot and the public and the police seem to think that Kelly is the one behind the murder.I was instantly captivated by the story when I started to read the book. I liked that as we follow Kelly in present time we also get flashbacks to the past, to 1980 when she was just a young girl who had lost a sister and felt outside in school. As the story progress in the present time, it also progresses in the past as we slowly learn what really happened 30 years ago when John McFadden was killed. Nothing is as it appears. Everyone seems to have dark secrets. I was surprised to find out who killed Sterling Marshall. I had my thoughts set on another person, to be honest. But the ending was really good.There are a lot of twists in the story, some easier to figure out than others. To be honest, there weren't really any big surprises in the story, but that didn't make the book less interesting to read. On the contrary, it was satisfying to be able to figure things out before it happened, to have one's suspicions proven right. It's like a jigsaw and all the pieces are falling into place. I loved the fact that the story took place in Hollywood among actors and directors. A privileged world, but among all the glitter and fame are there people with dark secrets...This is the first book I have read written by Alison Gaylin, but I will keep an eye out for other books by her. I enjoyed reading this book very much and if you like thrillers is this a book for you.I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review.

This review can also be found at https://carolesrandomlife.com/I thought that this book was really well done. I have had this book for years but somehow never got around to reading it until now. I thought that story was really interesting and I couldn’t wait to see how things would work out. I am so glad that I finally decided to make this book a priority.There are really two main mysteries in this book. As a teenager, Kelly Lund shot and killed a famous Hollywood director. She went to jail for twenty-five years and has been free for the past five years when her father-in-law is found dead. Kelly is immediately a suspect in the new murder but there are questions about what really happened when she was a teen. It was really interesting to go back and see what happened in the past and its impact on everyone connected to the events.I think that the two timelines worked really well to tell this story. There were plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing throughout the book. I wanted to know all of the secrets that this group of characters was keeping from each other and I couldn’t wait to find out what really happened to both of the men that were murdered. There were a lot of layers to the story and smaller questions to be answered that kept things really interesting.I believe that this was the first time that I have listened to Ann Marie Lee’s narration work. It did take me just a bit to adjust to her reading but I ended up really enjoying her narration. I thought that she brought a lot to the story and handled the voices of the different characters very well. I feel like her narration added to my overall enjoyment of this story and wouldn’t hesitate to listen to her work again in the future.I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a rather complex mystery that captured my attention early on and never let go. I definitely plan to read more of Alison Gaylin’s work in the future.I received a digital review copy of this book from William Morrow via Edelweiss and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.

Being a fan of contemporary American crime fiction, and particularly those featuring ‘damaged’ female protagonists, such as Jax Miller’s Freedom’s Child and Emma Cline’s The Girls , I’m incredibly pleased to report that the trinity is now complete with this truly compelling novel from A.L. Gaylin, What Remains of Me.Front and centre of this tale of redemption, revenge and murder, is the figure of Kelly Lund, convicted of murder at a young age, but now having served 25 years for the crime, still battling with her readjustment to life on the outside. Lund is a powerfully constructed and multi-faceted character who gets under your skin, and toys with your empathy as the tale unfolds. Her naivety as a seventeen year old girl, finding herself enveloped in the starry world of Hollywood and its nefarious temptations, is beautifully balanced with our view of her post-incarceration, and the damage this has wreaked on her emotional make-up. The barren emotion and dark shadows of her marriage is set against the frail and tentative emotional connection she makes with her neighbour Rocky, as she struggles with her past actions coming to impact on her new life. I found the lines drawn between the teenage and adult Lund with those connected to her past and present lives, with some particularly nasty skeletons emerging from the closet, were never less than utterly believable, and emotionally engaging throughout. The frailty and imperfections of Lund, as she seeks to make sense of the deeds attributed to her, drive the plot on, and her surrounding cast of characters, and their own failings both in their actions towards her, and their own pernicious acts are constantly surprising, and sometimes deeply disturbing. Gaylin’s fearless and uncompromising eye on the world of celebrity, and those that grow up in its shadow with their attendant emotional problems, is crucial to the playing out of this twisted tale, and grips the reader as our alliances to the main players shifts and changes.What I liked most about this book is the control of pace and reveal that Gaylin uses, echoing the central theme of the seedy underbelly of the Hollywood crowd, who lie at the centre of the book. There is a real sense of zoom and focal adjustment, as Gaylin seems to anticipate perfectly how closely to bring the reveals into focus, and when to leave the reader hanging slightly by pulling away from certain story strands at exactly the right time. and then bam, another twist socks you right in the kisser.Equally, Gaylin’s description of location, offsetting the glamourous Hollywood world of Lund’s teenage cohorts, against her new existence in the barren desert flats is beautifully realised, and providing another surreptitious reference to the morally bankrupt excesses of the movie fraternity, against the cleaner moral life of frugality, and engagement with the natural world. There is also a wonderfully dispassionate style to Gaylin’s writing, so it feels that the moments of revelation and emotional intensity are slightly dampened down, to add to the overarching feeling of sadness that permeates the story. In this way, the book exhibits the twin attributes of a nod to the best of hardboiled noir, fused with the emotional sparseness and literary prowess of contemporary American fiction.So with its blend of strong characterisation, assured plotting, attention to location, and moral ambiguity, What Remains of Me, ticked every single box for this reader. It loitered in my head for some while after finishing it, and that for me is further testament to how good it was. No hesitation in the Raven’s mind that this is one highly recommended read. Excellent.

A page turner from start to finish! 2016 is definitely shaping up to be the year of the psychological thriller!

This was a good psychological thriller, with lots of great twists... up until the very end. The story unraveled through past and present experiences and the web of secrets and lies kept me engrossed.

Mi-a plăcut acest roman, a fost construit bine, iar finalul fost bun. Foarte întortocheat, multe personaje, fără să fie niciunul neglijat, multe detalii, secrete, minciuni, trădări. O lume dominată de oameni influenți, bani, droguri și abuzuri foarte bine redată. Nu pot să spun că mi-a plăcut de Kelly, personajul principal, însă acțiunile ei sunt scuzabile. Toate personajele au acționat din motive bine întemeiate, însă niciunul nu și-a asumat răspunderea. Relația dintre părinți și copii e prezentată într-o manieră dură și realistă. Greșelile părinților îi bântuie toată viața și devin moștenire copiilor. Mi-a părut rău de ei că au fost prinși în plasa asta de minciuni și manipulări. Evident că nu au știut cum să iasă din ea și s-au afundat și mai tare. E un roman ce merită citit, pentru că prezintă o lume reală, la care mulți tineri visează, fără să știe cât de distrugătoare ajunge să fie. O industrie a filmului plină de abuzuri, în care nimeni nu e ce pare a fi și banii controlează totul.

This review was originally posted on [www.125pages.com] What Remains of Me made me think of what could have been for Marissa on the O.C. I loved me some twisty drama on that show and I could picture the characters at place in that world. A teen party girl on the fringes of Hollywood society, Kelly Lund enters a party and shoots a prominent director three times. Thirty years later she is free and another man, this time a famous actor, is shot in the same manner. Is Kelly up to her old tricks, or is someone setting her up?I enjoyed the world Alison Gaylin created in What Remains of Me, a glittering eighties Hollywood world of excess countered with a modern Hollywood full of TMZ and bloodthirsty reporters. The plot was unique and I enjoyed the guessing games created. Gaylin's writing was crisp and each line made sense within the scope of the story. Descriptions were just enough to enable you to picture the scene but not bog down the action. The characters were well thought out and most fit extremely well in the world created. A few side characters seemed placed for no real reason, but they could mostly be overlooked.I enjoyed the ride Gaylin took me on in What Remains of Me. A nice twisty thriller that kept me guessing what was real and what was imagined till the end. A few things I guessed before the end, but most I did not and I really enjoyed the guessing game created. A dark version of a True Hollywood Story, What Remains of Me played out like one of my favorite soapy nighttime dramas. Favorite lines - Amazing how many stars you could see out here in the desert, the sky crowded with them like rhinestones on a black velvet shawl, every night here so beautiful it bordered on gaudy. To this day, it was hard for Ruth to wrap her mind around the fact that at this moment, this very same sky was starless in Hollywood, rendered a dull purple from bright lights and automobile emissions. Those same stars that took Ruth’s breath away now had always been out there. Biggest cliché - As long as I never open up, I'll be fine. Have you read What Remains of Me, or added it to your TBR?

I was looking forward to this stand-alone novel by Alison Gaylin. I am a big fan of the Brenna Spector and always look for an opportunity to recommend that series. I waited patiently to see if an ARC would appear at work, but alas the book appeared on the shelves at work. While this book is classified as a mystery, and it is, I felt like I was along for this ride between times of Kelly Lund's life. As a teenager, Kelly is convicted of killing a famous director. She serves her time and a few years after her release, a famous actor is found dead under the same circumstances and Kelly becomes a suspect. You follow along and bear witness to Kelly's life as a teenager and present times as a convicted murderer. This is a story of secrets. So many secrets to tell and I don't think that is too much of a spoiler as many a story is filled with secrets.And I have to talk about one sentence in the book. Yes, one sentence. As my friends know, I'm always a sucker for that WTF moment in a good suspense novel, that's what sells me on a book. But this was one sentence. Page 328, bold print to begin the new scene ... "You guys have no idea how much of this story you're missing ..." I felt like in that moment the narrating stopped and the author came out of the story to tell me this and it is so true. With this novel I didn't spend my time trying to solve the mystery but follow the events, past and present, and how they unfold to reveal this story.

I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this story with thanks to Netgalley. I will start by saying that this book took me forever to read and I was going to award it three stars at first. BUT, wow did this book pick up towards the end and I raced through it which is why I awarded four stars instead. What Remains of Me is cleverly written and I would say an average, good story as I personally wasn't blown away by the story. But the twists and turns and how everything unwinds is very clever indeed and I did not expect any of it! A story that start off dragging for me turned into one I enjoyed! The story is written well, contains short and medium length chapters and flicks from Kelly's younger teenage years to the present Kelly's life. Set out very well. What Remains of Me is the ideal story for readers who enjoy a thriller, suspense and mystery with plenty of unsuspected twists and turns ahead! Enjoy.