Magpie

By: Elizabeth Day

Narrated by: Tanya Reynolds

Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

For fans of The Last Mrs. Parrish comes a twisty psychological suspense novel about motherhood, obsession, and just how far some will go for the perfect family. “Great, plain and simple” (Stanley Tucci).

Marisa and Jake are a perfect couple. And Kate, their new lodger, is the perfect roommate—and not just because her rent payments will give them the income they need to start trying for the baby of their dreams.

Except—no one is truly perfect. Sure, Kate doesn’t seem to care much about personal boundaries and can occasionally seem overly familiar with Jake. But Marisa doesn’t let it concern her, knowing that soon Kate will be gone, and it will just be her, Jake, and their future baby.

Conceiving a baby is easier said than done, though, and Jake and Marisa’s perfect relationship is put to the test through months of fertility treatments and false starts. To make matters worse, Kate’s boundary-pushing turns into an all-out obsession—with Jake, with Marisa, and with their future child. Who is this woman? Why does she seem to know everything about Marisa and Jake?

In her quest to find out who Kate really is, Marisa might destroy everything she’s worked so hard to create—her perfect romance, her perfect family, and her perfect self.

Jake doesn’t know the half of what Marisa has created—and what she stands to lose.

For fans of Gone Girl and The Perfect Nanny, Magpie is a “tense” (The Guardian), “gorgeous” (Lisa Taddeo, bestselling author of Three Women), “completely, terrifyingly brilliant” (Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups) novel about mothers and children, envy and possession, and the dangers of getting everything you’ve ever dreamed of.

©2021 Elizabeth Day. All rights reserved. (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

I wanted more!

it's a great story, I wanted more craziness and sinisterness from both main characters.

Fantastic

This book grabs you from page one and does not let go.
The narration is honestly some of the most exquisite work I’ve ever heard on audible.
Tanya Reynolds has such a gorgeous voice and knows how to use it…
The story is clever, creepy, atmospheric, and thoroughly engaging.
I finished it in one night and was sad when it ended.
To me that’s the most satisfying thing about finding a really great book.
Give this book a shot, it’s incredibly well written and asks some important questions along the way…
The ending will have you baffled, when you see what’s truly going on it is absolutely stunning.
I could not believe it!
So glad that I bought this one.
It’s a book I’ll revisit in time for sure.
It’s certainly worth a credit.

WOW

I really enjoyed this listen! The narrator was wonderful! You might think halfway through you will know the ending but you don't. And I enjoyed the ending and feeling like it was a complete story. I like to know how all the characters end up.

Dumb ending

This book dragged on so much I didn’t think I could even finish it. But I finally did and I found the ending very disappointing.

Got mommy issues?

This book explores all the mommy issues. Very suspenseful and intense. Trigger warning : sexual assault

Great twist

I loved the narrator. She shifted seamlessly among the characters and was just as good being “high brow” as she was being “cockney.” The story had twists that were never annoying—just added to the growing confusion between the female protagonists. I thoroughly enjoyed this and will definitely read more by this author.

Misdirection in the best way

I love being surprised by the ending. Towards the middle I was ready to shelf this book as being too predictable and overly contrived. Glad I finished it, I now feel completed and put to rights.

Good but dragged in the middle

I thought it was pretty good but it really dragged in the middle. I thought the beginning was good and right when it switched to Kates POV was good but shortly after it became a little boring until the end.

Entertaining read

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. It's not a super profound book but it definitely keeps your attention and is entertaining. I had not read any reviews before buying (because I just adore Elizabeth Day so I am forever compelled to buy anything she writes) so I was definitely surprised by the twists and turns of the story. My only quibble with narrator is the audible sighs at the end/beginning of sentences.

Good performance, bad story

This book had an interesting concept, but it’s just dull and forgettable. The performance was well done, but the story just doesn’t have much heft.