Break Me Down by Anna Downes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up **
Break Me Down is a Macmillan Audio Original from popular Thriller author, Anna Downes. This is told via an exceptional full cast and features mixed media elements that work very well in the audio format.
The story follows a former child star, Georgia Lane, after she moves to L.A., determined to make a career comeback.
Georgia quickly learns, however, that behind the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles life lies a cutthroat entertainment industry not for the faint of heart, and her past success doesn’t promise anything in the now.
She meets a man named Henry, also an aspiring actor, who ends up inviting her to audit a class at the elite acting school he attends. The school’s head teacher soon takes a special interest in Georgia, and offers her a spot at The Studio.
Marianne’s teaching methods are very unconventional, but Georgia sees it as a potential path to unlocking her true potential. The deeper Georgia and Henry go with their involvement in The Studio, the further it pushes them apart.
Are Marianne’s bizarre teaching tactics actually helping her students, or is it actually her own perverse form of psychological warfare against them?
The content of Break Me Down was good, it was solid, though it didn’t contain anything Earth-shattering. Long-term, I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to recall of the story.
I do feel like watching Georgia fall deeper and deeper into The Studio was compelling, but yeah, not particularly mysterious, suspenseful, or thrilling. It was more interesting because it was so much of a train-wreck.
I also wasn’t crazy about Georgia and Henry’s relationship, so wasn’t connected with that aspect. It never felt like he had the right intentions to me. He was hard to read.
My enjoyment of the story itself is closer to a 3, or 3.5-star, however, I’m rounding up simply because the audio production was so good. The full cast, the various sound effects, it was really, really well done.
If you’re an audiobook fan, and enjoy things that have sort of a docuseries feel, such as Daisy Jones and the Six, this is absolutely worth the listen. Thank you, Macmillan Audio, for providing me for a copy to read and review!