Save Yourself

A Novel

By: Kelly Braffet

Narrated by: Michael Goldstrom

A gripping novel full of suspense and pathos that Dennis Lehane calls an "electrifying, tomahawk missile of a thriller."

Patrick Cusimano’s life can’t get much worse. His father is in jail, he works the midnight shift at a grubby convenience store, and his brother’s girlfriend, Caro, has pushed their friendship to an uncomfortable new level.

On top of all that, he can’t shake the attentions of Layla Elshere, a goth teenager who befriends Patrick for reasons he doesn’t understand, and doesn’t fully trust. The temptations these two women offer are pushing Patrick to his breaking point.

Meanwhile, Layla’s little sister, Verna, is suffering through her first year of high school. She’s become a prime target for her cruel classmates, and not just because of her strange name and her fundamentalist parents. Layla’s bad-girl rep casts a shadow too heavy for Verna to bear alone, so she falls in with her sister’s tribe of outcasts. But their world is far darker than she ever imagined…Unless Patrick, Layla, Caro, and Verna can forge their own twisted paths to peace—with themselves, with each other—then they’re stuck on a dangerous collision course where the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Kelly Braffet has written a novel of unnerving power—darkly compelling, compulsively addictive, and shockingly honest.

©2013 Kelly Braffet (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"This summer’s must-read.... Braffet expertly captures the suffocating confines of small-town life and the desperation of its outliers, with prose that simmers and thrums.... The tension Braffet generates becomes nearly unbearable, and the conclusion, when it comes, feels satisfying and thoroughly earned." (Laura Miller, Salon)

"Kelly Braffet is the real deal. Save Yourself is an electrifying, tomahawk missile of a thriller with honest-to-God people at its core. It rocks the house." (Dennis Lehane, author of Live by Night)

"Kelly Braffet’s Save Yourself is that rare and beautiful thing - a novel that takes us to dark places not just through vivid storytelling but also through keen emotional force. It’s a tale of damaged families and the perilous weight of the past, and as the action rushes toward its chilling conclusion, you’ll find yourselves breathless, shaken, moved." (Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me)

Compelling

A horrifying yet compelling read. Hopelessness pervades the lives of these characters. With the exception of Verna there are no characters to really like or identify with, yet still I was compelled to read till the very end.

Dark but good ending

Starts out depressing turns really dark and twisted, ends well. Well written and performed just not for the faint of heart.

Unfortunate story subject, needed more closure

What did you like best about Save Yourself? What did you like least?

I read this book because I saw somewhere that it was comparable to Girl on a Train - it wasn't. I was looking for that mystery, twisty turny, character development kind of story, and this had good character development, but a depressing story line with an obvious finish.

Not what I was expecting

The book was not a murder mystery or anything similar. It involved characters that were hard for me to relate to or like.

The worst book I've ever listened.

This book got some rave reviews. Someone said that "if you liked Gone Girl you will love this!" NOT!! It was sooo boring and slow but I kept listening thinking that any minute it would get better. It didn't. It was one long depressing train wreck. "Save Yourself" should've been named, "Save Your Money".

Just Depressing!

What would have made Save Yourself better?

I kept waiting for something to happen. The characters just keep making poor choice after poor choice. BORING!

Have you listened to any of Michael Goldstrom’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No but the narration is fine it was the content that disappointed me.

Skip it.

A story about very screwed up people doing a lot of really screwed up things.

From cutting to statutory rape to drinking blood. A story about horrible people doing dumb and bad things. I never really found any point to the story.

Well read, that is about it.