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Animal

The ‘compulsive’ (Guardian) new novel from the author of THREE WOMEN

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Animal

By: Lisa Taddeo
Narrated by: Emma Roberts
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Bloomsbury presents Animal by Lisa Taddeo, read by Emma Roberts.

'Joan is an unforgettable anti-heroine. I don't think I'll ever stop thinking about her’ Elizabeth Day

'So insanely good and true and twisted it’ll make your teeth sweat' Olivia Wilde

'Like a series of grenades exploding' Marian Keyes

I drove myself out of New York City where a man shot himself in front of me. He was a gluttonous man and when his blood came out it looked like the blood of a pig.

That’s a cruel thing to think, I know. He did it in a restaurant where I was having dinner with another man, another married man.

Do you see how this is going? But I wasn’t always that way.

I am depraved. I hope you like me.

——————

A 2021 Highlight for: Guardian – Sunday Express – Independent – New Statesman – Evening Standard – Cosmopolitan – Red – Grazia – Daily Mail – Daily Express – The Week – Irish Times – i – The Sun©2021 Lisa Taddeo Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Romantic Suspense Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime Scary Emotionally Gripping Heartfelt
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Critic reviews

One of my favourite authors of all time (Dua Lipa)
Few writers can match Taddeo’s swagger on sentence-level. She has a knack for the unexpected, shocking phrase that feels nonchalantly tossed, like dynamite to a fire
A compulsive read. Taddeo’s prose glitters with all the dark wit and flashes of insight that readers and critics admired in Three Women . . . Like Coel’s I May Destroy You, Animal is unafraid to wrestle with big questions about sexual empowerment and consent, and doesn’t pretend to have found neat answers
American Psycho for the #MeToo generation
Propulsive, fiercely confident . . . Joan’s voice is so sharp and magnetic that the reader will follow her anywhere
Joan’s fury feels fitting, in a new age of righteous rage and brave honesty in female-driven and female-penned art, from Promising Young Women and I May Destroy You, to Raven Leilani’s Luster
An explosive, visceral story about childhood trauma, sexual violence, sisterhood and grief. In vivid, unforgiving prose, Taddeo charts the fate of its unforgettable antiheroine, Joan
A raging, funny and fierce thriller with a protagonist whose life force, against extraordinary odds — always in the gaze and sometimes the grasp of predatory, abusive men — is a thing of wonder
This summer’s most-hyped book and more than lives up to the buzz . . . A dark, disturbing masterpiece, full of righteous female rage – every word roars right off the page
A fever dream of a read . . . Intense, disturbing and provoking, it’s also a book that’s filled with humanity, sensuality and, in the end, love and hope . . . Read, give to your friends and discuss at length
Wow. Dark, hypnotic and horrifying, with a central protagonist in Joan who demands your deepest empathy despite every transgression, it’s brilliantly written and expertly done. I loved it (Harriet Tyce, bestselling author of Blood Orange and The Lies You Told)
An outstanding novel, unnerving but brilliant (Samira Ahmed, BBC Radio 4 Front Row)
I don’t think there is a writer alive who writes about the interior lives of women with the raw truth and intensity [Taddeo] does . . . Fearless, sexy, brutal and just forensically observed. She is extraordinary (Jojo Moyes)
Raging, hilarious and utterly addictive
Scorching, unforgettable, stunningly beautiful, Animal blew my mind and has left me reeling (Clover Stroud)
[An] audacious debut novel
Reeling. Stunned. It is ablaze with rage and beauty. You’ve captured all the rage every woman has been suppressing her entire life. Mary Gaitskill eat your heart out (Sam Baker)
Riveting . . . Propulsive, erotic, emotional . . . Joan is almost impossible to look away from on every page
All stars
Most relevant
The narrative is seamless, a book I wanted to never end. Characterisation so finely tuned.

One of the most astonishing books of 2021

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The raw and ugly truth of what it means to be a woman in a man's world, dressed in well executed fiction. Not for the faint of heart, hard to stomach and absolutely bingeable - like a raw cooked steak oozing blood at a fine restaurant.

Raw, brutal, perfect.

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Emma Roberts’ reading of this dark story made it worth staying until the end.

The story went too far in places - the wolves scene and the murder…. Jumped the (dark) shark to demonstrate how “depraved” Joan was. For that reason, I would be embarrassed to recommend the book to anyone - which is a shame because I found Joan compelling until then.

Dark, well written

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May be the second book is always the hardest to write. I certainly could hardly imagine how she could eclipse such a mind shocking first book.

Her first book was SO much better.

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Which doesn’t sound like a load of laughs but if that’s what you want then go for Marianne Keyes! This was a visceral, disturbing journey by an extraordinary writer who understands the complex minds & lives of women (as we also saw in her brilliant “Three Women”). A story of a child psychologically damaged by a violent episode in her childhood which stunts her ability to feel love & so she goes through womanhood taking on the role of the abuser & the abused. Sex is an important thread in this book and written in an original way revealing the main character’s dark thoughts that maybe we all have harbouring within our shadow side. Really, it’s all about the giving away and taking back of power & control in ones relationships. An important study on this and how a damaged child never really heals without help and love. But at the end of this sad & tough tale, this beautiful woman comes to understand the greatest love of all.…… I cried but would not have missed this experience. Only recommend to those who are interested in the depths of depravity in which some may be forced to sink…..

A story of fragile desperation, revenge & the search for connection.

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