Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

We will be starting a buddy read of The Breakdown on August 7th. Everyone is welcome to join. Please mark your posts with where you are in the book and use spoiler tags as needed.



If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?

Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods, on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, with the woman sitting inside―the woman who was killed. She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she’d stopped.

But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing: where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby.

The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt.

Or the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her…

Planned reading schedule:
August 7th - Day 1: beginning up to Friday, July 24th (13%)
8th - Day 2: Friday, July 24th up to Sunday, August 2nd (25%)
9th - Day 3: Sunday, August 2nd up to Sunday, August 9th (37%)
10th - Day 4: Sunday, August 9th up to Saturday, August 15th (53%)
11th - Day 5: Saturday, August 15th up to Monday, September 21st (64%)
12th - Day 6: Monday, September 21st up to Wednesday, September 30th (82%)
13th - Day 7: Wednesday, September 30th to end

Please continue to use spoiler tags, as some people may read faster or slower than planned or may want to join the discussion later. Just add the book date you are referring to for reference.

Looking forward to it. Shall we make a reading schedule?

We can. I'll add it here if that's what everyone wants to do. I have a kindle version, so I'll take a peek at it later to see if there are good breakdown parts.

I just checked, there are 29 chapters.

Oh geez. Thanks, Savanes! I completely forgot about this. I'm just heading home from vaca. I will post a breakdown tomorrow. :)

Good choice of words Kristie! ;)

Breakdown the Breakdown...
Break it on down...

Haha. I worded it like that in my to do list too. Lol It just says Breakdown breakdown. Haha

Ok, I have a breakdown. I will post it in the first post too. I have listed the chapters as "up to" not through. It was easier for me that way, using the Kindle edition. If anyone has the paper edition and wants to give me the page numbers, I will add that to my post as well.

Day 1: beginning up to Friday, July 24th (13%)
Day 2: Friday, July 24th up to Sunday, August 2nd (25%)
Day 3: Sunday, August 2nd up to Sunday, August 9th (37%)
Day 4: Sunday, August 9th up to Saturday, August 15th (53%)
Day 5: Saturday, August 15th up to Monday, September 21st (64%)
Day 6: Monday, September 21st up to Wednesday, September 30th (82%)
Day 7: Wednesday, September 30th to end

There were less stopping spots towards the end and I figured people may not want to stop as often at that point anyway, so the sections are a bit longer the last couple of days. Let me know if the schedule works for you. Of course, people can always read more or less, just make sure everyone is still using spoiler tags.

Sounds good to me!

Ok with me

Me too!

So I started this one today pas we planned. So far I like it. :)
I don't like Matthew though. We'll see!

I'm still planning to start this one tonight when I have a bit of time. I've started so many books lately and not stuck with them. A bunch that I want to finish too. I'm hoping to stick with this one.

I'm a day behind, but I made it to 13%. I'm interested, but not enthralled by this one so far. I'm hoping (view spoiler)[ the murder isn't quite as simple as it seems. I currently have two thoughts on the subject.

The alzheimer's isn't quite as simple. Is she really forgetting all that stuff? Is her husband drugging her and it's affecting her memory? (hide spoiler)]

Kristie wrote: "I'm a day behind, but I made it to 13%. I'm interested, but not enthralled by this one so far. I'm hoping.."

Kristie, I made it to 25% and I've been thinking about (view spoiler)[the husband drugging her. I just don't know how he would do all of it like (don't read until you've been to 25%) (view spoiler)[signing the alarm papers, faking a man walking away without her recognizing him, the gift idea when he wasn't even there. Would that mean Rachel is in on it? (hide spoiler)] but I still have a very bad feeling about him. (hide spoiler)]

Savanes - part of my spoiler shows up indoor last comment. Could you remove it? Don't want to spoil anything for anyone that hasn't started yet. Hopefully, I'll get to your spoiler tonight.

I'm at 64%. (view spoiler)[Nothing much happens in this book but itbis soooo tense. Pfffffiou scary! The way the book is written makes me think the husband is doing to get a hold of the money. She could commit suicide or be deemed incompetent. However, you never know if there's not going to be a twist a few pages before the end, right? (hide spoiler)]

Savanes wrote: "Kristie wrote: "I'm a day behind, but I made it to 13%. I'm interested, but not enthralled by this one so far. I'm hoping.."

Kristie, I made it to 25% and I've been thinking about [spoilers remove..."

I just got to 25% and I agree (view spoiler)[ it's getting more difficult to blame it all on her husband. I was thinking that she made the plans for the birthday gift with Rachel, then maybe her husband put something in her drink before bed and she forgot about the conversation from the night before. That works for several of the times she forgot (as they seem to have a drink often), but not all of them. For example, the man she saw outside of her window. I would assume that she would recognize her husband from behind. I keep trying to make it him though. like thinking that he may have invited their friends and said that they called about the bbq or he may have forged her signature, opened windows, called and not spoken, etc. But the more the story goes on, the more unlikely it becomes. It's just a bit too much to be believable.

Originally I was thinking that Matthew was having an affair with Jane or Jane knew of an affair or something and he killed her and that's why he told his wife not to take that road because he was meeting Jane there.

I also questioned Rachel when she was saying that she forgot the gift. I was thinking it could be a twist where Rachel killed Jane because of some weird friendship jealousy. I hope not, but you never know with these types of books. It could be that Jane and Matthew are in it together! (I really hope not!) As of right now, I really don't know for sure what's going on. (hide spoiler)]

Sorry I'm so far behind! I just haven't had much reading time lately.

Kristie about your spoiler (view spoiler)[what if Rachel is in on it because she's jealous of Cass about her parents. She wanted to be their daughter. Plus she doesn't have any money. I guess we both agreethat Cass is being manipulated but doesn't have early onset of dementia. (hide spoiler)]

I finished this weekend. I have to say this author has gift for building up tension. (view spoiler)[Nothing much happened in the book but I was so scared and tensed. I figured most of the things that were happening (Matthew and Rachel being lovers and acting together for instance) so this is not a wow book but I couldn't put it down. 3 stars (hide spoiler)]