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    Not Bad People: A Novel
    Not Bad People: A Novel
    Not Bad People: A Novel
    Audiobook16 hours

    Not Bad People: A Novel

    Written by Brandy Scott

    Narrated by Candice Moll

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    A clever, compelling debut novel with a unique premise of what happens when three best friends engage in what seems to be a harmless act, but instead results in tragedy, leading the women to confront buried resentments, shattering secrets, dark lies, and the moral consequences that could alter their lives forever.

    Three friends, thirty years of shared secrets, one impulsive gesture…and a terrible accident. When friendship goes bad, someone has to pay.

    It's New Year's Eve. Three thirty-something women—Aimee, Melinda and Lou—best friends for decades, let off sky lanterns filled with resolutions: for meaning, for freedom, for money. As the glowing paper bags float away, there's a bright flare in the distance. It could be a sign of luck—or the start of a complete nightmare that will upend their friendships, families, and careers.

    The day after their ceremony, the newspapers report a small plane crash—two victims pulled from the wreckage, one a young boy. Were they responsible? Aimee thinks they are, Melinda won't accept it, and Lou has problems of her own. It's a toxic recipe for guilt trips, shame, obsession, blackmail, and power games.

    They're not bad people. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMay 14, 2019
    ISBN9780062894854
    Author

    Brandy Scott

    Brandy Scott is a former senior producer on Radio New Zealand's Morning Report. Before her radio career she worked as a print journalist, including contributing from the Middle East to the Economist and serving as features editor for a daily national newspaper, Emirates Today.  She is currently based in Dubai co-hosting a popular breakfast show called The Business Breakfast, on the UAE's only talk radio station, Dubai Eye 103.8.  Not Bad People is her first novel.

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    Reviews for Not Bad People

    3.5/5

    30 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Not Bad People by Brandy Scott is a character driven novel about friends who live in a small Australian town.

      As part their New Year's Eve celebration, lifelong friends Aimee Verratti, Melinda Baker and Lou Henderson release candle burning sky lanterns. Not long after, they see a flash and bright fire burning in distance. The next day, Aimee learns Pete Kasprowicz and his teenage son Lincoln were injured in a small plane crash the evening before. She is certain their paper lanterns caused the crash but Melinda and Lou do not take her worries seriously.  As Aimee grows more and more anxious about the crash, Lou is focused on a crisis with her sixteen year old daughter, Tansy. Meanwhile, Melinda is at a crossroads just as her business is about expand internationally. While the women wait for the results of the plane crash investigation, stunning revelations and shocking decisions will threaten their friendship.

      Aimee and her husband Nick are happily married with two teenagers. Aimee is very involved in the local community while Nick works hard running their family owned vineyards and winery.  Convinced she and her friends are responsible for the plane crash, Aimee inserts herself in the middle of the investigation. She is not thinking clearly as she becomes consumed with obsessive thoughts about their culpability. As the end of the investigation nears, will Aimee make a decision that will ruin her and her friends lives?

      Melinda has worked hard to make her direct sales jewelry business a success. On the verge of expanding her company, she is quite reflective as she realizes her window for having a family is beginning to close.  More concerned with preventing a public scandal, Melinda is not at all sympathetic as Aimee begins a downward spiral as she becomes convinced they caused the plane crash. What impact will Melinda's efforts at damage control have on their friendship?

      Lou is a single mother who has struggled financially for years. She is also trying to maintain control over Tansy who defies her at every turn.  After a shocking discovery, Lou focuses solely on her daughter as they pull together to weather their latest storm. Facing a precarious future, will Lou's outrageous decision destroy her support system?

      Not Bad People is an interesting novel despite being a bit slow-paced. The characters are well developed with realistic flaws that make them all too human as they deal with life-altering situation. With a final plot twist, Brandy Scott brings the novel to an unexpected conclusion as the cause of the plane is finally revealed.  Despite being overly long, fans of the genre will enjoy this well-written debut.
    • 3/5
      I have no expectations when I started this book but became enamored with the story being set in Australia as well as the intricacies of the relationships of three long time friends whose lives intersect in various ways with many folks in their communities.The people seemed real and the characters were well developed and seemed very authentic, including a somewhat debilitating mental illness suffered by one of the primary characters.Without giving anything away, I also loved the ending. Nice job by a first time author.
    • 3/5
      A story about a small town, a plane crash, three long time friends and their convoluted relationships. This is a story about friendship, fear, love and betrayal. A little long but quick read. Good character development
    • 2/5
      Rather rambling account of three women, friends from childhood, and how a plane crash brings out the worse in them and their friendship. The book takes place in Australia which makes some of the references foreign.
    • 4/5
      I love when I start a book with no expectations about it and come out just loving the book. That is what happened to me with author, Brandy Scott's debut novel Not Bad People. This book did not feel or read like a "debut" novel but a novel from a seasoned author. In the beginning, when Aimee, Melinda, and Lou were hanging out writing their wishes for a new year to send off in the lantern ceremony, I was not a fan of any of the three women. However, shortly after I was a little ways into the story, I actually found myself warming up and liking the women. Actually, it is kind of funny as Aimee may have been the only one that was really concerned about the victims of the plane crash and that it was her, Melinda and Lou's fault but she was the one that I would put last out of the three women. It was Melinda that I loved the most. She was at a major crossroads in her life and it seemed that everyone just laughed Melinda off. Finally, there is Lou. She too was ready for a change and to branch out in her life but than "life" had other plans for her. This is a slow burn book. The pacing Is slow and steady to get to the conclusion. Yet, it is made possible because of the three women. Due to the fact that I was drawn to the characters really made me enjoy reading this book. You have to make sure that Not Bad People by Brandy Scott is in your shopping cart.
    • 3/5
      Unlike the book I’m reading now, this one had only one crazy person; Aimee. Luckily Lou and Melinda were there to dilute her inane ideas, delusions and really bad conclusions. It’s billed as a story about a friendship coming unglued, but it’s not intense enough. Even though they’re having spats among the three of them, I never got the sense that it was irretrievable. No woman went too far, although I think Lou pushed it. There are some good hooks in references to past incidents and the fathers of the various babies (one is easy to identify, the other not so much) and of course the plane crash itself as the central mystery. Overall though I wanted it tighter. There was too much quotidian detail and most scenes were too long. Trimming needed. About 200 pages in I noted that the plot felt like it was going nowhere. Each woman’s story meanders too much even though they are connected. Anyway, not a bad first novel. A little soft and unharrowing, but good. I especially liked this bit of insight - “And grateful. That was the other thing with being a single mum - you had to be so grateful, all the bloody time, for everything anyone did for you, no matter how unwelcome. The invitations to seminars on how to fix your life. The set-up dates with deadbeat single dads who’d never paid for a diaper. The “thoughtful” gifts. Last year, Melinda and Aimee had bought her a massage voucher that cost as much as her monthly power bill.”
    • 4/5
      Follows the lives of three friends living in a small town in Australia. It's really not about the accidental crash of a small plane that they may or may not have been responsible for, as the book jacket says. All three main characters are realistic and likable and as the plot moves along they learn they are more connected than they knew. Good plot, a page turner to find out is Aimee really crazy, will Lou's daughter stop hating her, and will Melinda's company be successful even though she is not paying it the attention it needs.