Evil Genius

Thank you HarperAudio Adult/Ecco and NetGalley for the audio ARC.

3.25/5 Stars.

The premise of Evil Genius hooked me. A phone company operator in 1974 San Francisco, a controlling husband, and a murder that gets the protagonist testing how far she can push against her marriage.

Readers (like me) who love "weird girl" literary fiction will find lots to enjoy here. The novel is dark and wandering, so go in expecting more of a character study and less of a revenge thriller. Celia spends much of the book inside her own head, but the dark prose keeps the momentum going. In my opinion, she lands as mildly eccentric rather than the genuinely unhinged narrator the novel seems to be reaching for.

And then there's the voice. The audiobook performance shines, and it matches the genuinely funny voice Oshetsky gives Celia, though this ended up being not quite as darkly comedic as I was hoping it would be.

Still, even though Evil Genius covers familiar ground, it's an entertaining listen, especially for readers who like offbeat literary fiction.