Tangerine

Written by Christine Mangan

Narrated by Laurel Lefkow and Lucy Scott

The perfect listen for fans of Daphne du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith, set in 1950s Morocco, Tangerine is a gripping psychological literary thriller.

The last person Alice Shipley expected to see since arriving in Tangier with her new husband was Lucy Mason. After the horrific accident at Bennington, the two friends—once inseparable roommates—haven't spoken in over a year. But Lucy is standing there, trying to make things right. Perhaps Alice should be happy. She has not adjusted to life in Morocco, too afraid to venture out into the bustling medinas and oppressive heat. Lucy, always fearless and independent, helps Alice emerge from her flat and explore the country.

But soon a familiar feeling starts to overtake Alice—she feels controlled and stifled by Lucy at every turn. Then Alice's husband, John, goes missing, and Alice starts to question everything around her: her relationship with her enigmatic friend, her decision to ever come to Tangier, and her very own state of mind.

Tangerine is an extraordinary debut, so tightly wound, so evocative of 1950s Tangier, and so cleverly plotted that it will leave you absolutely breathless.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Little, Brown (Hachette UK) Audio
• Release date: Mar 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781405539944

Christine Mangan

Christine Mangan is the author of the national bestseller Tangerine and Palace of the Drowned. She has her Ph.D. in English from University College Dublin, with a focus on 18th-century Gothic literature, and an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Southern Maine. She lives in Detroit.

Reviews for Tangerine

[carmenere_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A psychological thriller taking place in an exotic and mysterious location .Unfortunately, stupid and ignorant people abound making it frustrating for the reader. If you enjoy screaming at characters, you'll be doing it often with this one. Still, I liked it.

[amcheri-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Holy shit that was terrible on so many levels. Seriously. Complete crap. Flat characters, an insane amount of gaslighting, and my bullshit meter exploded. I wouldn't have finished it at all except it was my suggestion for the upcoming Cocktail Hour show and I subjected two of my friends to it so I felt it was my duty. Ugh. At least we'll have fun talking about it. So there's that...

https://youtu.be/FbLPEvCQ_N0

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent read - very much like Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley) combined with Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca. Not understanding Joyce Carol Oates' comparison to Gillian Flynn or to Donna Tartt (other than the location in Vermont). Also - why yellow and not orange/tangerine for the cover art? Yes, I'm a really opinionated reader.

[baileybrown-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Christine Mangan's first novel is a stunning feat of multiple narrators weaving a story so convoluted and deceptive that I often felt like I was caught in a spider's web. A large spider's web. Lucy Mason and Alice Shipley are two women inextricably bound together, first at a college in Vermont, then in Tangier, an exotic locale that thrills one and dismays the other. Alice is a damaged character, seemingly weak and always under the thumb of someone: her aunt, her husband John, Lucy. And then there is Lucy, or should I call her The Talented Miss Mason, a nod to Patricia Highsmith's Ripley. She would do anything for Alice, absolutely anything. They bond at college, but then Lucy becomes murderously jealous of Alice's boyfriend Tom. When Tom dies in a car accident, Alice leaves Bennington and Lucy behind. Years later, Lucy tracks Alice down in Tangier, where she lives with her unfaithful husband John. Mangan is skillful in feeding the reader just enough information to whet the appetite until the end, where the finish is not as much satisfying as it is sound, reasonable and yet horrifying. She deftly creates two very different but tethered personalities in Lucy and Alice, to the point where I want to shake the other, well-drawn characters, and scream at them: "Can't you see what is happening?!" Two first-person narrators is not easy to pull off, but any other rendering of the story would have been less thrilling. There's nothing like being in the head of a sociopath or in one of someone being driven crazy.Mangan's rendering of volatile Tangier in particular, but also of the other places in the novel (wintry Vermont, sunny Spain), is vivid, so well-drawn that I was inclined to brush hot dust off my clothes after reading a few chapters. The places, again, particularly Tangier, become characters in this story, or at least, observers. She fixes the story in the 1950s, a time long before cell phones and other technological advances that would have unraveled this story too soon. If you enjoy psychological thrillers with a slow burn, then read Tangerine.

[thiscatsabroad · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's annoying when nothing really happens for the first 70% of a book. I was eager to dive into this one but I was quite disappointed. I would have thought that gaslighting a vulnerable female was a trope that has been done to death. To quote Amadeus, this novel had "too many notes".

[karatenursemary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Someone raved about this one and I was excited to start it. I'm still over the potentially unreliable character thing so this was just alright for me. A bit twisting and a bit predictable.

[reallifereading · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wasn’t expecting this plot line. I thought it would just be a more generic expat story and what attracted me was its setting – Morocco. Instead it has echoes of The Talented Mr Ripley, an obsessive friendship told in alternating viewpoints. Dark and twisted, this book was a bit uneven and I wish the women were more distinguishable and the Morocco setting utilized more. Still, a decent read. .

[purple_pisces22 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Tough to get into this one. I just couldn’t relate and kept confusing the two female characters. Maybe it was just me and my current mindset, or maybe that was the whole intention, as I am thoroughly confused as to who is who at the end now!

[betsy_crumley · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

So much promise...not quite right...did not compare to the beauty of the cover or the descriptions of Tangiers. Disappointing

[techeditor_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

TANGERINE has been compared to an Alfred Hitchcock movie, and I guess you could say that throughout most of the book. The last few chapters, however, spoil that likeness. Alice has been living of late with her husband in Morocco, Tangier, specifically. She is English and isn’t comfortable there, to say the least. Throughout the book the reader will learn in flashbacks how she has come to be so unhappy.One day, her old college roommate, Lucy, an American, arrives unannounced at Alice’s door. Through the flashbacks we learn more and more about Lucy and why she has come to Tangier.I have to be careful about divulging too much about the flashbacks because learning about these characters little by little adds to the anticipation and is how, I’m sure, the book is meant to be read. But suffice it to say that the reader will come to understand the evil of one and the complete naïveté (or, as some may come to feel, stupidity) of the other.The last few chapters of TANGERINE are difficult to read. So much is left unsaid that the reader just may feel like throwing the book across the room. Maybe a sequel is coming to explain all the loose ends.

[bdartnall_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well crafted dual narrative, with the voices of the two main characters-Lucy & Alice- alternating, and a sultry, foreboding atmosphere (Tangier, Morocco, 1956) and a shift back & forth, from the present to the past. Joyce Carol Oates comment describes it perfectly: "As if Donna Tartt, Gillian Flynn, and Patricia Highsmith had collaborated on a screenplay to be filmed by Hitchcock--suspenseful and atmospheric" (back flyleaf). A twisty psychological tale that slowly unravels, revealing only a clue here or there, but as the intentions of each character become clearer, the pace quickens and we readers are hit at the end with a triumph of Machiavellian proportions for one of the two women. This is her first novel? Wow.

[cdyankeefan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a read! Alice Shipley returns to England following a traumatic event at her Vermont college. She impulsively marries and follows her husband to Tangier. She is visited by her college roommate Lucy and that’s when the gun starts. Slowly but surely things begin to happen that make Alice question her sanity. When Alice’s aunt Maude falls under Lucy’s spell, Alice realizes all hope is lost.this is deliciously creepy and creepily delicious

[carolfoisset · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The back story and build up felt laborious, but when I got to the end it felt like it was needed to build up the tension. However, it made the book feel slow moving me to me. I also felt like certain parts needed more information - they weren't "fleshed" out enough. I found the book heartbreaking.

[bluelagoon-3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Could have been a great story, but found it very repetitive and characters flimsy. I struggled to the end, but found it disappointing - perhaps it will make a better film.

[erratic_charmer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Got a very strong Daphne DuMaurier vibe from this one! The discomfort and tension build slowly throughout, with some fascinating and creepy instances of gaslighting. I enjoyed the narration switching back and forth between villain and victim, with the same scene sometimes being told from different perspectives. I was disappointed though that the ending was given away at the beginning of the book, and even without that it would have been very predictable.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

As so often, (when will I ever learn?) I was lured by the plaudits strewn all over the cover of this book that promised so much. Sadly, I wonder whether those critics had read the same book as me. It wasn’t even slightly ‘unputdownable’. I just wish I had put it down immediately after picking it up in Daunt Books last week.On a side note, I was intrigued at how many of the critics quoted cited similarities to the works of Patricia Highsmith – I think there were seven mentions of her name in the encomia on the edition I read. Did all these critics identify this apparent similarity entirely independently, or was this a case of someone sticking their neck out with a reference to her, and all the others deciding that it sounded good and thinking they could join in too? Sadly, whatever the reason behind all the references to Highsmith, I should have paid more heed, as I have never enjoyed any of her books either.

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tangerine is a tightly woven thriller of obsession and deception.

Alice Shipley and Lucy Mason are college roommates at Bennington College in the mid-1950s. Alice's parents have died in a terrible accident, and Alice's guardian, Aunt Maude, handles her trust fund.
Lucy's parents have also died, but Lucy comes from a very poor background.

Alice and Lucy meet at college and become fast friends, doing everything together. Then, something terrible happens. Fast forward several months, now Alice is living with her husband John in Tangiers. Lucy comes to visit them.

Terrible things begin to happen. Promises that were made during college are broken. Memories surface and the horror of knowing what truly happened takes over. Obsession, madness, and cunning deceit are all part of this debut novel.

#Tangerine #ChristineMangan

[tangledthread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the spirit of Daphne DuMarier's Rebecca and the movie Gasligtht comes this novel of obsession, deceit and suspense. Set in the 1950's, featuring two women who were roommates at Bennington College a matriculation that did not end well. The backstory:Alice is a young woman, raised in Britain and orphaned by a housefire, attends Bennington, the alma mater of her deceased American mother. Lucy is her roommate. They become quite close in an asymmetrical relationshop where Alice reveals all and Lucy reveals very little.Fast forward to the beginning of the novel, where Alice has married, moved to Tangiers and Lucy shows up on her doorstep unannounced. From there a story of suspense and intrigue unfolds.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set in Morocco in the 1950s, Tangerine alternates between two unreliable narrators, one woman who may be losing her mind and another who is obsessed with her. This noir-ish thriller hearkens back to the writing of Patricia Highsmith and Dorothy B. Hughes. While it does exhibit some signs of being a first novel, this was a refreshing change from the twisty, unbelievable thrillers that are the trend right now. I'll be looking for future novels from Mangan.

[katherinegregg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Set in Tangier in the 1950s, Tangerine is a thriller.

[japaul22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was fun - a well-done suspense novel set in Tangier in the 1950s. It involves two young women, Alice and Lucy, who have a past together as roommates at a women's college in Vermont, Bennington. Alice is unhappily married and her husband has moved her to Tangier, where she basically hides in their apartment. One day Lucy shows up and the past is slowly revealed as the present crumbles. It's one of those books where who is telling the truth is confusing - a double unreliable narrator book. I enjoyed this and I thought the story and setting was compelling enough to keep me interested, but the book does have some faults. It's told by alternating voices of Lucy and Alice and they weren't very easy to tell apart. I had to keep reminding myself whose voice I was hearing - a more experienced author would have done that better. And the plot, while entertaining, was familiar - a little too similar to Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. But if you're looking for an entertaining summer read, I think this fits the bill.

[brangwinn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There’s nothing like an unreliable narrator and when there are two in the same book you still won’t perceive reality at the end. For me it was frustrating. I love nice clean clear endings. But when I think about a book long after I’ve read it puzzling over what I might have missed, this book proves to be a success with me.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tangerine is the wonderfully atmospheric noir by Christine Mangan set in the Moroccan city of Tangier in the 1950s. Alice and Lucy were college roommates and inseparable until Alice dating a boy strained their friendship. After an incident they no longer spoke, but after Alice moves with her husband to Tangier, Lucy shows up and tensions quickly rise to a boiling point. Tangerine is deliciously noir, with an ending that fit the novel perfectly, while also being unexpected. Tangier, hot, humid and confusing, is present in every moment set within it, the markets and Kasbah and the people. The chapters alternate between Alice and Lucy and while the book appears to be about figuring out which of the two narrators is the one telling the truth, something else, something more interesting is going on. This is Mangan's first novel, and not all of her risks pay off, but most do and the result is just a lot of fun.

[ethel55_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There are not one, but two unreliable narrators in this story set in Tangiers in the 1950's. Lucy and Alice met as freshman roommates at Bennington College and now, a year has passed since they saw each other. When Lucy arrives, uninvited at the home of Alice and her husband John, many things are set into motion. With two narrators, the story unfolds through both their eyes and the past story of what happened in Vermont is slowly revealed. Gaslighting isn't a new term, but aptly fits. It takes some close reading in the beginning to determine for certain the 'bad guy' and their motivation. Love and money are generally the root of most crimes.

[maneekuhi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

CRITICS SUGGEST 5.O, READERS SAY 3.4 - WHY THE DIFFERENCE?First let’s talk about the plot. Tangerine begins in Tangiers, Morocco in 1956. There is a prologue and epilogue, both in other locales, and the outcome is not revealed until the epilogue. Two former Bennington roommates re-unite in Tangiers when uninvited Lucy shows up at Alice’s door. Husband John arrives soon after and is not pleased to see that they have a guest – their quarters are somewhat cramped and John quickly deduces that this stranger will be cramping his life style as well. John is a leach of Alice’s Aunt Maude generosity and while he works – doing what is never made clear – he apparently is unpaid. Alice is nice, but a doormat; Lucy is not nice and speaks her mind. The sun hasn’t set before sparks begin to fly, and fly, and fly. Clearly, this would have made a great black and white Bette Davis uberdrama.Lucy and Alice narrate alternating chapters. Sometimes, Alice will give her view of something Lucy has described in the preceding chapter; other times the story will just move on. Always in the background is Tangier or Tangiers or the other 4 or 5 names history has used for this amazing city with narrow passages through the Casbah, broiling sun, hot mint tea – and the occasional tangerine. So, what’s a tangerine? Someone whose home is Tangiers, a woman, not Moroccan, a user of people – it is not complimentary.There are flashbacks to Bennington days, a hint of past trouble, the incident. A growing relationship between the two woman, despite two polar opposites in background, in personalities, in almost everything. Jump back to Tangier and we begin to meet some locals. Lucy is advised to stay away from Youssef, a warning akin to telling a teenager to drive at the speed limit and never experiment with drugs. The tension continues to mount. We learn what it was that happened that night at Bennington and why one of the young women ran away. Identities become blurred. And then there is a murder.Why 1956? The story wouldn’t quite work at much later dates. Shortly after, Morocco becomes independent, crime solving becomes more sophisticated, travel advances shrink the globe. And what about that blurb on the cover suggesting what a great Hitchcock movie this would have made? I don’t agree. I loved Hitchcock. But Hitchcock used female roles as window dressing; his films were always about the hero guy. Hitchcock did not make movies about women. There is no hero guy in “Tangerine”; actually there is no heroine either.And that is why I think there is such a disparity between most reader reviews and critic reviews. After reading critics’ reviews, one might expect 5 stars from readers. But most readers, including myself, want a hero, someone they like, someone to pull for, someone to save the day or just survive. This is not that book. Nevertheless “Tangerine” is excellent – for its great story telling, for transporting the reader to an engrossing time and place, for creating two excellent characters, for great tension and plot. So I highly recommend this book though I realize it is not for all tastes. (Reviewer personal note - this is my 600th LibraryThing review)

[jfe16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review of Advance Reader’s E-Proof from HarperCollinsAlice Shipley, now married to John McCallister, lives in Tangier and has not spoken to Lucy Mason, her long-ago Bennington roommate, in more than a year. Estranged since an accident, Alice is stunned when Lucy unexpectedly turns up on her doorstep. However, living in Tangier has not been easy for Alice and Lucy helps her step outside and explore.But is Lucy truly the friend she claims to be, or is Alice imagining things? Things don’t seem quite right; Alice begins to wonder . . . and then John disappears.Strong characters populate this narrative of manipulation and obsession; Tangier, vivid, haunting, and exotically described, takes on the role of a character in the telling of the tale. Tension mounts with each new reveal and the slowly-unfolding backstory is unnerving in its incongruities. Told alternately by Alice and Lucy, the revealing narrative creates a growing sense of uneasiness that puts readers on the edge of their seats and keeps the pages turning in this unputdownable book.Highly recommended.