What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Name: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Author: Jodi Taylor
ISBN: 9781472264442

St Mary’s · Novel 6 · 2015

Book 6 of 15 in The Chronicles of St Mary’s · 14 published; 1 announced

AI-generated illustration inspired by What Could Possibly Go Wrong?; not a book cover.

What it’s about

What Could Possibly Go Wrong? gives Max responsibility for five trainee historians, turning the past into a classroom where errors can have serious consequences. The new role lets the novel explore the gap between knowing the rules and helping someone else apply them under pressure.

Max must lead as well as investigate, while the Institute’s assignments continue to demand care, judgement and a steady nerve. That shift in responsibility changes the group dynamic: experience is no guarantee of an easy answer, and teaching becomes another form of risk management.

The story keeps the team’s familiar energy but gives Max a fresh challenge that is easy to understand even if the series’ world has grown more complicated. It is also a natural place to notice how the Institute passes knowledge from one generation of historians to another.

Readers who have followed the previous novels will recognise how Max’s confidence and responsibilities have developed, while new trainees offer different ways of seeing the established routines.

Listen or read

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Can I start here?

This is book 6 in its series. Start with the first novel for its clearest introduction.

Reader questions

Do I need to read the earlier books first?

Yes. This novel is novel 6, so begin with the earlier numbered books. Follow the sequence to meet the returning cast in context. Their original introductions appear in the preceding books. Short stories are optional additions along the way. They complement the novels in this reading route.

Source: joditaylorbooks.com

Who narrates the What Could Possibly Go Wrong? audiobook?

The listed unabridged UK recording is read by Zara Ramm. Its Audible page identifies this novel and the narrator together. Check that product before selecting an edition. Continue listening through the numbered novels. Add the companion pieces when their placement suits your route.

Source: audible.co.uk

Where this fits

Read this sixth in the St Mary’s sequence, after No Time Like the Past and before Lies, Damned Lies, and History. It follows Max’s growing place in the Institute and adds a new group to the established cast.

The short stories around this point can be fitted in by order, but the numbered novels carry the central continuity.

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Why readers love it

Our view

The trainee group brings a fresh source of friction and warmth into a series already built around a lively workplace. Readers can enjoy Max attempting to be the responsible one while still facing the same unpredictable demands as everyone else.

The book’s humour grows naturally from differing levels of experience, and its central question—how to teach someone to act well when conditions are imperfect—gives the adventure an appealing human thread. It is a particularly good instalment for readers who like ensemble stories with mentorship at their centre.

Listening notes

The unabridged UK audiobook is narrated by Zara Ramm and lasts nine hours and eleven minutes. The recording gives the trainee group and the established staff one consistent narrator, rather than assigning each character a separate actor.

That makes the audiobook a straightforward continuation for anyone already listening through St Mary’s. The short prequel The Very First Damned Thing has its own recording, read by Jodi Taylor.