Cruelty Free: A Novel by Caroline Glenn | Horror Fiction Audio Review

 This one was a little too cruel for me.

My 2 Cents for Free!

Cruelty Free by Caoline Glenn

Released February 3, 2026

Source: Netgalley

See more @ Goodreads

“You’re not ugly you’re just poor”

Ok, then.

“Cruelty Free” is a pretty hilarious title for this one because the book is filled with grief, torment, and cruelty! It is filled to the brim with cruelty. I mean, the whole thing is based on a woman’s pain and mental collapse after a tragic event. And, I feel this must be said, if you dislike reading about the death of an innocent

SPOILER

dog

there is one here and, yes indeed, it is still bothering me many hours later. Of all the awful scenes in this book, I am struggling to get that one out of my head. It came out of nowhere. It was too descriptive for my liking, and it was kind of unnecessary. There are two things I prefer knowing ahead of time. That was one, the other is suicide, and a heads up is always appreciated. I wish I’d had it here. Maybe you’ll get a warning in the print copy. If not, feel free to read my spoiler if you want to know.

With all of that out of the way, this story started out SO interesting. It wasn’t your typical “I’m going to start a beauty company, but things just happen to go awry” story. Ok, I guess it IS that but it’s also so much more. Almost a mystery/suspense/thriller. Lila was once an A-lister in Hollywood, but everything fell apart when her baby was kidnapped and, of course, the public turned their judgy little fingers towards Lila because she had been suffering from postpartum depression. She retreated and became a haunted shell of herself. Who can blame her? But now ten years or so have passed and she’s hoping to get her life back on track by starting an affordable beauty company in honor of her missing daughter. And, naturally, things go very grossly awry.

Lila is a very sympathetic character, and the backstory of that horrible evening kept me hooked and hoping Lila would find her sweet revenge on all of those grasping people who did her wrong. But then she finds success again with her company she inexplicably calls GLOB, an unexpected new lover and partner, becomes stunningly beautiful again and things go a little off the rails which would be totally fun except for the fact that it wasn’t. Lila becomes an abhorrent person in this process and I kind of hated reading her POV by the end.

What else to say about this one? It was a whirlwind for sure and because it started out setting expectations high for an excellently motivated rage and revenge tale but eventually turned itself into something else, a very mean something else, I ended up enjoying the last 1/4 a little less. There was some wicked dialogue and several darkly humorous bits but, in the end, it became more about Lila’s all about me-ism which I didn’t find as satisfying. And the big reveal at the end was simply messy in this time of

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dna testing

Or maybe I’ve just watched too many movies and true crime tv shows, lol. You cannot like main characters like these (or who am I to say, maybe you do?), but they sure are readable. Even though I felt some rage and sorrow near the end, I was never even for a moment bored and perhaps that’s how it was supposed to go.

Narration Notes: The narrator Jaime Lamchick does an incredible job with all of the characters, changing tone just enough to sound natural for the male characters and differentiate one female character from another. Sylvie sounds unhinged from the start while Lila becomes increasingly unhinged as things escalate. An excellent performance with no complaints from me.

Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Publisher Plot Synopsis 

A disgraced movie star returns to Hollywood 10 years after the kidnapping of her young daughter intent on seeking revenge, for fans of Monika Kim and Rachel Yoder.

NOTHING FEELS BETTER THAN REVENGE.

Ten years ago, Lila Devlin was an A-list actress with a movie star husband and a beautiful baby girl, Josie. When Josie was kidnapped out of her home and never seen again, Lila’s previously pristine public image twisted into that of an Unfit Mother. Driven mad by the hungry press, incompetent cops, and relentless true crime–obsessed “fans,” she disappeared into anonymity.

Now, Lila Devlin returns to LA with a grand vision for a radical new skincare brand to reinvent herself and honor Josie’s legacy. She's prepared to move into the next chapter of her life with forgiveness in her heart, when an encounter with a parasitic blogger ends with him dead. Lila suddenly discovers forgiveness isn’t nearly as satisfying as a body hitting the floor.

With the help of her devoted publicist Sylvie, Lila begins a relentless, blood-soaked hunt through LA. Giving her skincare the edge it needs, they introduce a secret ingredient—revenge-sourced—from the bodies piling up. But as the company’s success skyrockets and Lila begins unraveling the truth behind her daughter’s kidnapping, her murderous side hustle threatens the life she’s painstakingly rebuilt.

Both a striking portrayal of grief and womanhood, and a twisting, cynical satire on celebrity and toxic beauty standards, Cruelty Free is an ambitious debut from a talented star on the rise.