Amina AkhtarBesprekingen

Thank you to NetGalley and Mindy's Book Studio for an Advanced Reading Copy of Almost Surely Dead.

What initially drew me to this book was the cover. The colors are super alluring and made me want to know more. This book sucked me in from the first few pages. I immediately wanted to know what happened to Dunia, who she was and why she was missing. Dunia was a well-developed, yet questionable character as she even doubts herself what is going on in her life. I mean why would a total stranger that she only sees on her subway commute try to kill her right then and there in the subway station? Why do more weird things keep happening? Why is Dunia so estranged from her family?

One big draw for me is when books are genre spanning. I love a good mystery, yet this also had elements of family drama, mysticism and folklore with multiple timelines. I felt completely sucked into Dunia's world of her friends, not boyfriend and family. You know that there has to be a mole in the group, but gosh you'd never guess how deep that mole goes to get to Dunia. The writing has you second guessing who to trust until the very end of the book.

I also loved the descriptive elements that Akhtar uses to describe the different things her friends wear, the scenery, their features, etc. I could picture each event and person perfectly while reading.

As for the here and now timeline, I actually really liked the podcast element as it showed the truth behind what some of our favorite pods may be like with reaching into the worst moments of some people's life and fictionalizing it enough to be audience grabbing. My god, did I find the two podcasters absolutely heinous people. They were infuriatingly callous about Dunia actually being a person who is still missing and what her friends and family members might be going through. This was very much a love to hate scenario for me.

As for the ending- this is where we went down to 4 stars over 5. I felt the ending was somewhat lackluster compared the rest of the book. It felt like it just kind of ended without wrapping up quite a few storylines. If you don't mind this type of ending, then you'd love it.

Interesting enough but seemed a little juvenile.

I'll read anything by this author but this one didn't work for me quite as well as her first two books. I did still enjoy the story and the writing but some of the more satirical elements just didn't click for me this time.½

A girl keeps getting attacked but then her spirit guard kills the attacker. Pakistan

Recommended by a couple of friends. Cover reminds me of a mural here in Philly, though the story has nothing to do with it. Some good cultural info in the story, as well. A little let down by the ending-- like the author needed a quick out (or a second book.)

I enjoyed Amina Akhtar's 'Kismet', a clever, witty gothic thriller that kept me turning the pages, so I was keen to try 'Almost Surely Dead', especially as it was described as a psychological thriller with some supernatural elements.

The opening scene, which was an attempt on the life of the main character, Dunia Ahmed, was beautifully done: immediately immersive, exciting, tense and intriguing. If this opening had been a series pilot, I'd have signed up to binge-watch the next three episodes immediately.

I liked the interweaving of the story of five-year-old Dunia with the Dunia in her thirties timeline. The 'voice' given to young Dunia was engaging and the events, filtered through the perceptions of a child, were intriguing.

Initially, I thought the addition of a present-day podcast taking a retrospective view of the events being described in the older Dunia story was a good way of increasing the tension by planting doubt and foreshadowing. Personally, I dislike true crime podcasts and this podcasting pair reminded of all the reasons I don't listen to them.

For the first third of the book, things were going reasonably well. There'd been a second attempt on Dunia's life, she was surrounded by people who were hard to trust and everything I learned about her childhood suggested that I'd be bumping into the supernatural or at least the very strange, pretty soon.

By the halfway mark, things were going less well. For me, the tension dissipated. I should have been turning pages more eagerly than I was. Partly, that was because I wasn't invested in the grown-up version of Dunia. There didn't seem to be much about her to hold onto. She was passive, dependent and insecure. That matched well with her backstory but it didn't make me cheer her on. Shortly before I abandoned the book, Dunia was taking self-defence classes and telling herself she was a survivor, not a victim. But I didn't believe her. Maybe, in the second half of book, she comes into her power and takes control of her life but I wasn't sure that I'd believe that either.

The podcast also started to irritate me. To me, it felt like a tease that was interupting the story and slowing it down. The effect on me was to lower the tension in the story.

I hesitated to set the book aside when I had less than half of it to go. I'd have liked to have found out if was right in my guesses about what was going on and who the bad guys were but I found that I didn't care enough about what happened to Dunia to stick around and find out.

This is a book with a lot of potential and your reading experience may be different than mine. If you read it and enjoy it, please share your thoughts here or send me a link to your review.

Won't Get Fooled Again
Review of the Amazon First Reads Kindle eBook edition (January 1, 2024), released in advance of the official publication by Mindy’s Book Studio in hardcover/paperback/eBook/audio formats (February 1, 2024)

It was surreal to listen to your own life become entertainment fodder. I guessed that was the best anyone could hope for in this life. That people found you to be interesting enough to make a podcast about you.

This is my second encounter with the celebrity imprint publisher Mindy's Book Studio (fronted by writer/actress Mindy Kaling) via Amazon Prime First Reads and also the second time I have been deceived by the advance promotional materials. Both books were promoted as "Mystery" but in fact belonged in other genres. I reviewed I'll Stop the World (2023) as YA Stephen King-lite. Almost Surely Dead instead of being "Mystery" is in the "Supernatural Fantasy" genre.

The book does start off with an intriguing premise with pharmacist Dunia being targeted with murderous attacks on the subway and on the street. Then she disappears. Much of the story is told in hindsight by some attention seeking exploiters who deliver cringe-worthy commentary in their "Finding Dunia" podcast. There is also a 5-year-old Dunia backstory which gives an earlier perspective. Instead of a real-world explanation, the solution comes out of the supernatural realm and even with that revelation it still requires an Unsatisfactory Ending Alert™.

Much of what goes on is quite banal and involves a lot of wine drinking and whining. The final culprit reveal is easy to forecast based on Ebert's Law of the Economy of Characters. That the police would actually go on a podcast and reveal details of an ongoing investigation is completely unbelievable. Anyway, I hope to not be fooled again. The cover art was quite striking though and that did draw me in.

Trivia and Links
Amazon Prime First Reads advance reading copies (ARCs) are available to Amazon Prime subscribers. They offer advance reads of books in Kindle eBook format one month before the date of official release. The current month's selection is available here (Link goes to Amazon US, adjust for your own country or region).

I find it humorous that it ostentibly took two people to write this book.

If you need a book that requires zero brainpower - if you're in a hospital waiting room, for instance - this book wouldn't be a bad choice.

I'm guessing that Kaling wrote the true crime podcasters dialogue, which was laugh-out-loud funny. She captured the vapid, dingbat-though-mercenary tone PERFECTLY. There was a bit about the podcasters sponsoring a stun gun company after one of the characters obtained a stun gun, which was genuinely funny.

Otherwise I'm not sure if this was supposed to be suspense or horror or comedy.

I identified a lot with Ronnie but as the novel progressed and I was kept guessing about who the serial killer was, I began to have my doubts about all the characters. I didn't see the ending coming but it also wasn't surprising. The ravens as another character was an interesting addition to the novel.½

this was a horrible book. Mostly written with catch phrases like: jelly, brekkie, totes, OMG, & WTF. The author was so lazy that the characters don't even talk in sentences. Not one character was likable & everyone was so catty & backstabbing. Anya is main & is psycho & kills people who stand in her way of becoming a "bestie" with Sarah who she obsesses over. Part mental health issues & low self esteem to be in an in crowd that treats you like shit. Drivel & wasn't worth the time

So, this one was weird, so, so, weird, bizarre, creepy, dark, and disturbing - it was too disturbing once I figured out the twist and the ending. Also, the ravens were creepy too - gave me a whole new perspective on ravens.

This was a very different mystery/thriller type book. It's about Ronnie, who's ready for change and to leave all her old life behind and become a new person. Ronnie follows her life coach, Marley in a big move across the country from New York to Sedona, Arizona and they move in together to live a healthy life with yoga, crystals, healing, and everything. The relationship between Ronnie and Marley is a bit strange, to say the least. I mean, who picks up and moves across the country with their life coach and then moves in with them? Then there was mention of Ronnie's past life with her aunt, who was very nasty, mean, and abusive and it seemed like Ronnie realized the unhealthy nature of her aunt and their relationship - can we say codependency, etc and then went and repeated it in her leaving that past life.

Once they get to Sedona, AZ, things get weirder with how murders start happening and other things with Ronnie, Marley, the ravens, and Caroline - a new 'friend' they make and also the twins with the store where Ronnie gets a job. Ronnie tries to figure out what's happening some, stay safe and keep Marley safe, but then things take a turn with the twist at the very end and it gets very bizarre, dark, and disturbing.
If you like unreliable narrators, dark, disturbing, a bizarre mystery, thriller, and suspense books, then you'll like this one, but I am not a fan.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for letting me read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

So, this one was weird, so, so, weird, bizarre, creepy, dark, and disturbing - it was too disturbing once I figured out the twist and the ending. Also, the ravens were creepy too - gave me a whole new perspective on ravens.

This was a very different mystery/thriller type book. It's about Ronnie, who's ready for change and to leave all her old life behind and become a new person. Ronnie follows her life coach, Marley in a big move across the country from New York to Sedona, Arizona and they move in together to live a healthy life with yoga, crystals, healing, and everything. The relationship between Ronnie and Marley is a bit strange, to say the least. I mean, who picks up and moves across the country with their life coach and then moves in with them? Then there was mention of Ronnie's past life with her aunt, who was very nasty, mean, and abusive and it seemed like Ronnie realized the unhealthy nature of her aunt and their relationship - can we say codependency, etc and then went and repeated it in her leaving that past life.

Once they get to Sedona, AZ, things get weirder with how murders start happening and other things with Ronnie, Marley, the ravens, and Caroline - a new 'friend' they make and also the twins with the store where Ronnie gets a job. Ronnie tries to figure out what's happening some, stay safe and keep Marley safe, but then things take a turn with the twist at the very end and it gets very bizarre, dark, and disturbing.
If you like unreliable narrators, dark, disturbing, a bizarre mystery, thriller, and suspense books, then you'll like this one, but I am not a fan.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for letting me read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Utterly ridiculous and beyond far-fetched.

The major reason why I picked up Kismet is its setting. I visited Sedona several times in the past and found it to be a magical place, especially as I explored offroad trails and Indian ruins. But even then, I could see that the influx of tourists and people coming to live there was a genuine threat to everything that makes the place so special. Kismet proved that I was right, and it was disheartening.

With its Greek chorus of ravens, the book skewers the whole wellness industry under the guise of up-and-comer Marley Dewhurst. Ronnie's best friend soon shows her true colors: she's much more focused on social media likes and followers and is so intent on her brand and becoming an influencer that she actually starts doing harm rather than the good she espouses.

Ronnie Khan is a vivid, likable main character. Throughout the book, readers are given glimpses of Ronnie's life pre-Sedona, and the vicious cruelty of her aunt guarantees Ronnie a sympathetic audience even though some readers may begin to wonder how reliable she is. Watching this shrinking violet blossom in her new life is a joy. Her descriptions of hiking and other activities in the Sedona area made me smile. Ronnie is a city girl through and through, and her reactions to the landscape and wildlife reminded me of hikes I took with another city girl. (FYI: Not every hole in the desert floor is a snake hole; no, all rocks and trees do not look alike.) Ronnie is Pakistani, and as a person of color, she often makes comments about the predominantly white population of Sedona. Her comments are true and didn't bother me (and I'm so white I glow in the dark), but I can see her remarks bothering some readers who need to develop thicker skins.

I liked Amina Akhtar's gift of characterization and setting, and the mystery is a very good one; however, one thing bothered me. In all the blurbs and synopses of Kismet, I was repeatedly told how funny the book was. Granted, there were some amusing bits here and there, but I didn't find it anywhere close to being as "wickedly funny" as it is described. That's the trouble with humor. It's so subjective that, while some people may roll in the aisles with laughter, there are going to be others who remain in their seats and wonder what on earth is wrong with those people on the floor.

Regardless of my reaction to the humor (or lack thereof), I still found myself liking Kismet and Ronnie Khan, and I enjoyed trying to solve the mystery.

There are some books that you know, from the first few pages, are your sort of book, in the same way that you recognise when you've met one of those rare individuals whose company you will enjoy because you share a way of looking at the world. For me, Kismet was one of those books. Here's what I wrote when I was only 15% in:

"I think this is going to be fun. I like the storytelling style - light touches, swift impressions, a bit of humour, a bit of angst. The set up of a newly self-empowered American Born Pakistani woman, raised in New York by her abusive, predatory aunt and now following her new, rich white friend and Life Coach to Sedona to become part of the 'Wellness through crystals, yoga and mediation' culture, provides fertile ground. And those ravens..."

To my surprise, the book had a lot more to it than I'd expected and was a lot stranger than the publisher's summary suggested.

At the start, I thought I was reading a well-observed, low-key satire giving an American-born Pakistani woman's take on being the only brown woman living in a town obsessed with mystical energies and wellness but where, despite Rumi quotes on the wall and the ubiquitous use of namaste (usually mispronounced) as a greeting, explaining that you are Muslim and Pakistani and not Hindu and Indian earns you suspicion (Are you one of the bad Muslims?) and confusion (There's a difference?).

O.K, the opening scene did involve the discovery of predated, dismembered body parts, displayed like a piece of art within decomp smelling distance of a hiking trail, but I was more focused on our heroine, Ronnie's, discomfort at being in the outdoors and having to hike up hill than I was with the whole severed head thing.

It was only when I got to the first passages in the Before timeline that described Ronnie's life with the tyrannical, unloving aunt who raised her after the sudden death of both Ronnie's parents, that I realised that this wasn't going to be just a comedy of manners. Ronnie was more than a mirror to hold up to a town that didn't recognise either its privilege or its prejudice. She was a woman with scars and secrets and a lot of practice in hiding both from the people around her.

Then there were the ravens amping up the woo-woo factor into something that you'd expect to find in a horror novel rather than a thriller. If the ravens work for you, the book will work for you. If you can open your imagination wide enough to let the ravens in, you're in for a great read. If they just press your WTF? button and get in your way, this probably isn't the book for you. What I liked most about the ravens was that I started off seeing them as possible portents or maybe signs of mental illness and ended up seeing them as, well, ravens. You know - smart birds with sharp beaks and wicked talons that mob animals and people that they don't like.

Kismet is a decent thriller that ticks the boxes for a serial killer story: highish body count, gruesome and varied ways of killing, tension around who the next victim will be and tantalising hints at who the killer is. The pacing works and the ending is a doozy.

It's also an amusing satire: a witty fun read, that holds that holy trinity of unconscious entitlement, cultural insulation and racism up to the light and makes fun of it without diminishing its inherent nastiness or its violent consequences.

Best of all though, Kismet is an unashamedly gothic book. It thinks big, dark, bold thoughts and dares you to keep up.

I had a great time with this book. I hope it finds an audience who will love it as much as I do.

I think I liked this? Very different than what I was expecting because I knew almost nothing going in but very interesting.

I think I found out about this book on Crime Reads so I think I was expecting a bit more of a traditional mystery or thriller. That is not what this book is. The tone of this is quite satiric and overwritten in a way. There is no traditional mystery here really. Luckily, I enjoyed what I did get from this book so this mismatch of wasn't an issue for me. I think a lot of people wouldn't like this book but I imagine that an incorrect expectation might be part of why this book has such a low rating.

Some of the critiques I saw of this book is that the characters are horrible people and that Anya, the main character, is completely unlikable. I don't disagree with those statements but they didn't make me dislike this book. I read the horrific nature of basically everyone in this book as very intentional by the author. I think in order to enjoy this book you do have to kind of appreciate being in the head of someone horrible in order to experience that through a work of fiction. I do like that experience. To be a bit crass briefly, I like to read about fucked up shit happening in my fiction so the fact that these characters were such airheaded caricatures of typical mean girls was a plus to me, not a negative.

I liked how this frame also allowed the author to do something really different than most mysteries. There is a character in this book who is the detective in these murder cases who you can also imagine being the main character in a more typical mystery. I don't know if this was intentional by the author but I loved this element because I could so clearly picture the way twists would have played out from the perspective of this detective.

Even though this wasn't a typical mystery, I thought the twists were well done. I personally would have liked a different ending I think this book would have been better if Anya had actually killed herself at the end rather than her surviving. I think you could have gotten the same conclusions and ending but I would have been more satisfied if Anya had died , but I was still satisfied.

If you are going in expecting a typical mystery, you most likely won't like this book, If you don't like being in the head of really messed up characters, you probably won't like this. If you don't like satirical writing and characters that are mostly caricatures in order to make some point about some industry, in this case fashion, you won't enjoy this. I really like all of these things, so I did enjoy this. If you go in with the right expectations and you like those same things, I think this could be a book you would really enjoy.

TENS ACROSS THE BOARD.

Holy SHIT. this is THE year for awesomely psychotic (and fashionable) serial killer books. first #Murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil (which i loved, see review at our blog), and now September's #fashionvictim. Anya St Clair would do ANYTHING to be best friends with Sarah Taft -- even if it means killing anyone who gets in her way.

Guys, this book was amazing from start to finish. Snarky AF, Anya is deliciously delusional. The body count keeps rising as she fights to get a promotion at LA VIE, the magazine where she works. I loved her conversations with Dr. M. I loved her fantasized relationship with the detective investigating the murders. I loved that the people she killed kept showing up every where she went (especially Mulberry....!). Seriously, if Dexter were a woman who loved fashion -- you'd have Anya St. Clair. She's 100 percent diabolical and someone you do NOT want to cross.

If you're looking for an engrossing, not so much of a mystery but murder book -- THIS IS FOR YOU. also, i love Jack. he's so freaking shady!

I purchased this book in my @bookofthemonth box and read it with my bestie @mycornerforbooksand. All opinions are my own. 🌟🌟🌟🌟 #fashionvictim by Amina Akhtar. Who knew the world of fashion was such a cut-throat industry. 😂😂 The cover of this book says it all Bitches get stitches........people die.......heads will roll....and magazines will still get published and publicity the more of it the better the sales. So even bad publicity is better than none. Anya is obsessed with Sarah and Sarah is obsessed with being Queen Bee and Celia had to manage them all. What a shocking story of twists and turns and death. Review posted on Instagram @borenbooks, Library Thing, Go Read, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Amazon, Twitter @jason_stacie and my blog at readsbystacie.com

Anya St. Clair is one of the up and coming fashion editors working for La Vie. She has worked hard to get where she is. Changed her name. Bought a wardrobe worth thousands of dollars. Enhanced her resume. Stepped up her social media game. Killed a few people.

Sarah Taft sits the next desk over from Anya and instead of working to get the same position, it was given to her just because of who she is. Sarah comes from a wealthy, prominent family. She was destined for life in the limelight since birth with her perfect hair, perfect body, and perfect ability to work the crowds. Anya desperately wants to be her friend. Her best friend. BFFs.

When their boss, Celia, throws out a competition between Anya and Sarah for a promotion, Anya can feel her destiny coming true. This is her chance and she’s willing to do anything for both the promotion and her friendship. The problem is in order to win the competition, she must beat Sarah and the only way to beat Sarah is to become Sarah. Just how far will Anya go? What will happen to those who stand in her way?

#FASHIONVICTIM is being promoted as American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada and I cannot think of a better comparison! Anya leads the reader through the book as the narrator, but you never can be sure of Anya’s point of view. Let me make this clear, Anya is not the unreliable narrator you’re thinking she might be. She’s so much more! Anya is calm, cool, and completely murderous. She’s exactly what I would dream up as a female version of Patrick Bateman. Akhtar does a fantastic job of dropping the reader into Fashionlandia and life as a magazine editor. Everything from frenemies, to the Lauren-bots, to Instagram, to Botox. Each detail is incredibly well done that you feel like you’re watching a movie while reading. It’s so rare to find a comedic aspect to crime fiction, but #FASHIONVICTIM delivers the goods! There are absolutely laugh out loud moments within these pages without being overdone or detracting from the story. Once you pick this one up, be prepared to binge read!

A special thank you to Crooked Lane Books for providing me a free copy of this book!

Anya St. Clair is clawing her way to the top of the fashion industry as a writer. She needs to be just a little bit thinner and prettier to make it to the next level, being invited to the most exclusive parties and fashion shows with front row access. The person she simultaneously puts on a pedestal and identifies as a rival is the flawless and beautiful Sarah Taft. Success and fame come to Sarah effortlessly while Any works hard to fall short. Anya wants to be her best friend, be her, and destroy her all that the same time. To claw her way to the top, she has to take the cutthroat nature of industry literally.

#FashionVictim is kind of like You meets The Devil Wears Prada with the dark humor and social commentary of American Psycho. Everything is pitch perfect, hilarious, and biting. Anya St. Clair seems like a struggling fashion writer at first. Her name is never recognized or found on a list right away and her seat is never in the front. She's tagged in hideous Instagram pictures and constantly teased about her weight. I thought I knew what to expect until she had visions of an assistant with a shard of glass in her eye that turned into a real murder. Anya decides to solve her work problems with murder. Toss in her very unhealthy love/hate obsession with Sarah, the woman whose every move is front page fashion news, and things couldn't be more uncomfortable.

As she spirals out of control, Anya still completely follows the fashion industry and their ridiculous expectations. She doesn't really fit in, but she's willing to break herself to do so. Over the course of the novel, Anya's troubled background and delusions become more apparent. It starts with small comments like her recognizing the sound of bones breaking to more obvious things like being annoyed with typical police questioning. Her delusions include hallucinating her victims around her and considering the police investigator an interested suitor. The story bounces from her normal work experiences to her creating obsessive collages to her carrying out her planned murders. It plays out like a slasher film from the perspective of the killer with a large dose of black humor. Every detail drew me in and proved to be different than other killers.

The fashion industry comes out looking pretty terrible here. Everything is extremely superficial and nothing is based on merit. People only care about weight, fashion labels, and accessories. Conversations are riddled with backhanded comments, cruel gossip, and vapid subjects. All out screaming is only acceptable at very top along with outright abusive treatment. The book also touches on institutionalized racism within the industry that has companies not wanting to be branded "ethnic" and hiring one person of color per department to basically not be sued. When the body count piles up, most people aren't bothered. Sarah makes particularly cruel comments about the murder victims, which makes me root more for Anya even though she's a literal murderer.

I read #FashionVictim in a day because the story just grabbed me and ran. The world of fashion felt alien and cruel, not too different from Anya's twisted mind. With both, certain people have no value and are treated accordingly whether that's screaming and basically being treated like a slave or murder. This book worked for me on every level. It's a biting commentary of the fashion industry that brings in pitch black comedy. I would love to see it as film because it's untreaded waters and could be super fun. Highly recommended.

#FashionVictim by Amina Akhtaris a book I requested and the review is voluntary. This book has Mean Girls marries Dexter and you get the main character in here. It is a dark, odd, but good book but....it does have murder (gory scenes), racism, fat shaming, and bullying. There is dry humor, dark humor sprinkled through the book. It is a strange subject, fashion, to have murder going on but it works. Interesting and disturbing, funny at times and hated it at times, a one of a kind!

This is a book that I wanted it to work. In fact, I held out hope as each page was turned and I got further and further into the story. However, I just got more frustrated by the characters. Both Anya's boss and her co-worker Sarah were both horrible. They were true "mean girls". Which I might have been able to brush aside if the rest of the book had been great. Yet, it was not.

Anya, herself was not impressive. She was not such a go getter as she is a follower. The fashion world I imagine can be tough and maybe full of some fake and catty people but if they are all like the ones in this book, I would be running as fast as I could out the door. There was really no joy for me in the characters that I wanted to keep reading. Therefore, I put the book down.