Who is Maud Dixon?

A Novel

By: Alexandra Andrews

Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer

“Part Patricia Highsmith, part All About Eve and pure fun.”―Maria Semple

Florence Darrow has always felt she was destined for greatness, but after a disastrous affair with her married boss, she starts to doubt herself. All that changes when she sets off for Morocco with her new boss, the celebrated but reclusive author Maud Dixon. Amidst the colorful streets of Marrakesh and the wind-swept beaches of the coast, Florence begins to feel she’s leading the sort of interesting, cosmopolitan life she deserves.

But when she wakes up in the hospital after a terrible car accident, with no memory of the previous night—and no sign of Maud—a dangerous idea begins to take form. . .

A Best Book of the Year: New York Times, NPR, New York Post, Entertainment Weekly, CrimeReads

Happened upon this and am stunned by the hold the characters, plot and performance had on me

Reminiscent of the Patricia Highsmith thrillers... there was never a point in this novel I could have predicted or outsmarted either Helene or Florence—addictive, with a compelling literary style.

very clever

“Who is Maud Dixon” is a clever story where the two main characters are highly unlikable, even sociopathic. Yet, it’s an engrossing story. Florence is a woman trying to break through the literary field. She’s written short stories, none in which a publisher is interested. She gets a job as an assistant at a publishing house in NYC. She has questionable morals and feels that life has given her a bad shake. All those other successful people got lucky and she has only bad luck.

A highly popular novel has just been released by the mysterious author Maud Dixon. Maud Dixon is a pen name, and the true name of the author is unknown. It’s the talk of New York: who is Maud Dixon?

After Florence stocks the family of a married lover, she is fired from her assistant job. Through unforeseen events, she’s offered the job as the assistant to the mysterious author of the Maud Dixon novel, Helen Wilcox. Helen Wilcox turns out to be a somewhat crazy woman living in the Catskills.

For research purposes, Helen wants to travel to Morocco. Helen is writing a story about an American woman who drops everything to work for a childhood friend. Helen and Florence go to Morocco and begin a somewhat madcap journey. After a strange car accident, Helen goes missing and Florence assumes her identity. While Florence dreams of taking over Helen’s life and garnishing the life that she truly deserves, she learns of the questionable history of Helen. The more Florence learns of Helen’s past, the more Florence questions if she really wants to assume Helen’s life.

Helen and Florence are two conniving individuals who leave the reader wondering who one should root for. They are both despicable. Yet, it’s funny as well. Helen seems a bit of a kook, maybe a murderous kook. Florence is a blackmailing deceitful scoundrel.

This is a clever character driven thriller. I kept wondering how author Alexandra Andrews is going to tie up this crazy story? I listened to the audio performed by Therese Plummer. Plummer is fantastic.

Pretty good thriller.

Cause I enjoyed this easy lesson. It didn’t demand too much of me and even though I was able to predict the shockers and reveals a little sooner than I would have liked, it was a fun and relaxing story for me. It reads like it’s already for its adaptation into a film which I’m sure is not far behind. I chose this book because I needed a break from the heaviness of some of the non-fiction I’ve been reading in the heaviness of life in general these days. A great escape and probably a fantastic beach read/listen. I will recommend it for sure.

Meh

This book was just meh. Pretty predictable in my opinion. Narrator was okay. Story was so-so.

loved it!

Ghis was a book of exquisite details and surprises, plot twists. clever writing. listened to audio book