The Crazy One

By: Rebecca Markus

Narrated by: Jacq Ainsworth

Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

From devoted fan to celebrity stalker: The Crazy One is the most unique stalker novel you'll listen to this year.

Joel Ruskin is a B-list celebrity barely famous enough to warrant extra security. Which is why Lucy has no trouble tracking him down on social media and following him to a secluded mountain town. Nothing will stop her from turning her fantasies of Joel into reality. Not even Joel’s pesky new girlfriend can get in her way. The power of Lucy’s mind is unstoppable as she resolves to finally be part of Joel's life and exterminate the other woman.

Rebecca Markus’ sophomore stalker-suspense novel allows listeners to witness a unique unraveling of the human psyche that will leave you questioning your own reality.

©2018 Rebecca Markus (P)2019 Rebecca Markus

off her rocker

When the book first started I got confused and didn't have a clue what was going on. As soon as I caught up and figured out how the story was being told I was waiting for something to happen and it never did. it was interesting in some parts but if you didn't listen carefully than you would get lost.

Imagination Gone Crazy

The start of 'The Crazy One' finds Elijah, a real-crime writer, interviewing Lucy from her prison cell. Elijah is interested in ferreting out the true story from Lucy of what landed her behind bars. In an attempt to get her to open up, he suggests she write her story down in a notebook that he has given her. From that point the story breaks up into different versions of what Lucy did to land herself in prison.

Author Rebecca Markus weaves 4 different versions of the progression of events that lead to Lucy stalking Joel, a popular TV host. The first, and smallest, is Elijah trying to dig up information about the case that's not publicly known. The story is also told as it happens in real life. And Lucy's POV is shown twice--one, her imaginings of events as they happen and the other, the story she writes in the notebook.

Each version is woven with the others to give the reader a picture of how Lucy slowly descends into complete delusion. She becomes more willing to do things that she knows are wrong in an attempt to bring her imaginings to life.

The method the author employs for the storytelling is intriguing and effective. The tension builds throughout the book until the explosive climax.

I haven't read many psychological dramas like the one in this book. It piqued my interest after seeing it on a review list and I requested a free copy. I agreed to post this voluntary review of it.

The performance by Jacq Ainsworth is good. Her narration fits the tone of the story nicely.

Recommended.

An odd book about an odd woman

This is the story of Lucy who imagines she has first a famous rock star then a famous TV personality as her boyfriend. Her dreams aren’t just your run of the mill daydreams. She imagines elaborately detailed stories about them to the point they take over her life. The book begins with Lucy in prison being interviewed by Elijah for his book. We then witness the unraveling that landed her there. I didn’t love this book but I didn’t hate it either. Like Lucy, the book was strange. Thanks to StoryOrigin for giving me a copy of this thought provoking book.

Weirdly sympathetic stalker

I thought the overall story was good, but what really surprised me was how the narrator made the main character seem like two different people. When you see the character through others’ eyes, you see what she’s really like, but when the narrative switches to first person, she becomes confident and sympathetic and you almost believe she’s doing nothing wrong.

I was given a promo copy of this book so that I could review it.

Strange strange lady

Gosh, I actually havnt listened to a story like this one before.

Lucy is a stalker.
Who 100% believes in the story she’s got going on in her head.

It was an interesting listen.
Stalker/crime/unreciprocated romance.

3 star listen
Gifted audio in exchange for an honest review

Great and Intriguing novel

This book follows Lucy who was obsessed with wanting to be with a celebrity. First it was rock star named Beau Castle, then it was a guy named Joel Ruskin. The story starts off with Lucy in the present with a reporter trying to get the scoop to create a story with, and then it drifts into the past. It flowed in quite nicely.

With the information you get, you can tell that she has at least a touch of OCD. She is a girl who pretends things like any child would, but she is no child. As an adult that pretends so hard and wants things to be real, there are lengths that she takes to makes things real.

The author did a great job getting into the mind of Lucy and giving you a feel of what Lucy is feeling. You won't want to miss this book, it was so intriguing.

Narrator did a great job on the reading. She has a nice soft voice and it kind of flowed well for the book.

I received a free review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving am honest review

Baskerville Book Reviews

The Crazy One can be a bit tedious to follow in audiobook format if you’re not paying close attention. It alternates between a present-day true-crime writer’s version of events, and a psychotic woman’s perspective. I only ever noticed it saying “Present Day” at chapter headers or in between. I think it would have been useful if it included whose perspective it was currently. The only way I could tell was if it was saying “She” or “I”. It’s an interesting story and concept but poorly executed.

At the start of the audiobook, I noticed some hissing audio. My phone was close and I didn’t pay attention to it for the rest of the book, so I don’t know if it continued. The narration, much like the execution was extremely lacking. The narration is mostly done in the same tone of voice, making it sound dull and lifeless. Two things I will always find annoying are the narrator’s inability to tell “O” apart from Zero and her mispronouncing the word envelope. “Onvelope” isn’t a word. If somebody came to me saying “I ontered the room, where I ongaged with my guests, ontertaining them for hours, before flicking the light switch, onveloping the room in darkness.” I’d assume they didn’t know proper English or something.

NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval

Still waiting ...

... for the shoe to drop. I listened to this complete book and while parts were interesting, I was expecting a big twist. It never happened. Otherwise, a good book - but I need at least one twist to make it more enjoyable and give it more stars.

Celebrity Stalker

This was an entertaining book and I enjoyed listening to it. Lucy Bonneville is obsessed with celebrities, first a rock star named Beau Castle, then a B-list host named Joel Ruskin. The book is loosely divided among three POV: Lucy's real life, Lucy's fantasy obsession and a journalist who wants to write a true crime story about the whole situation.

It did take a little time to be able to follow these different POVs since the book switched between Lucy's fantasy and real life frequently throughout the book. I am sure if you were reading a physical/e-book, the author would have done something to let you know when these two views switched. In the audiobook, there wasn't really a way to tell what was going on until you heard a bit of the story.

The author has done a good job with describing Lucy's obsession and some of the things she did were truly chilling. I hate to think that a person would become so obsessed that they would do the things she did in order to make her fantasy real.

The narrator did a good job and added a lot to my enjoyment of this book. I was given the chance to listen to this audiobook through Story Origins and chose to review it.

Crazy!

Lucy doesn’t live in the real world. In fact, she’s annoyed when she comes out of her fantasies and looks at her life. The people around her don’t know what to think. Lucy insists she has a boyfriend, but no one has ever seen him. To Lucy, reality and her reality are two very different things.

I really loved the way the author went about showing Lucy’s madness, showing what depths her brain was willing to go. At the same time, it wasn’t confusing because the author added glimpses of what Lucy’s life was really like. The escalating crazy behavior was spot on.

The narration flowed well with the story.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.