4/5 stars
Who is Maud Dixon?, by Alexandra Andrews (2021)
WOW this was fun. Totally entertaining! But there's also VERY little I can say about it without spoiling something! So this will be a short review. The less you know the better - even the book jacket says too much, I think!!
The book begins with a short preface. In Morocco, a woman lies injured in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there, though she's told she survived a car accident. A man says a name - a name she is meant to respond to but that clearly confuses her. Then she fades and falls asleep again.
Part I begins with Florence Darrow, a Florida-born, small-town girl living in NYC. She works as an assistant in the publishing industry, but knows she's destined for better. She wants to be a famous writer, like Maud Dixon. And who is Maud Dixon? No one knows. She wrote one best-seller under the Maud Dixon pen-name, and everyone has a theory about who she - or maybe he - really is. Florence is ambitious, judgmental, and covetous. She knows she deserves what everyone else has, and is desperate to make something more of herself. When she makes a series of ill-advised moves that end up meaning she's booted from her company, it seems like a blessing in disguise because she is given the opportunity to work as an assistant to THE Maud Dixon (whose real name she will learn later).
And a lot of craziness happens after that. It's a bit of a slow burn at the beginning as the characters are introduced, but there's definitely a feeling like things aren't quite right. The manipulation of the narrative will have you questioning what you think you know, and who the "good guys" are.
There were a few "too coincidental to be plausible" moments, and some side characters that didn't add much to the story, but it didn't really bother me. I just enjoyed the ride!
UP NEXT: Weyward, by Emilia Hart
