This novel is the adult debut by author, screenwriter, and journalist Eliza Jane Brazier. I’m always intrigued by psychological suspense novels and especially when they feature a true crime podcast. The book had a similar feel to I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle MacNamara (albeit this book is fiction).
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail.
About the Book:
When her favorite true crime podcast host goes missing, an adrift young woman sets out to investigate and plunges headfirst into the wild backcountry of Northern California and her own dangerous obsession.
Sera loves true crime podcasts. They give her a sense of control in a world where women just like her disappear daily. She’s sure they are preparing her for something. So when Rachel, her favorite podcast host, goes missing, Sera knows it’s time to act. Rachel has always taught her to trust her instincts.
Sera follows the clues hidden in the episodes to an isolated ranch outside Rachel’s small hometown to begin her search. She’s convinced her investigation will make Rachel so proud. But the more Sera digs into this unfamiliar world, the more off things start to feel. Because Rachel is not the first woman to vanish from the ranch, and she won’t be the last…
Rachel did try to warn her.
My Thoughts:
I gave this book 3 stars
This is…an odd book.
If you just go with it and dive deep into the swirling paranoia and bizarre story of a missing podcaster, you will probably like it and you’re in for a topsy turvy ride. And if you can really start thinking about the overall premise of Sera looking for herself as well as trying to find out what happened to Rachel, the book does offer some unique storytelling.
However, there were some gigantic plot holes and other things that just didn’t make the story work for me overall, namely that I didn’t get a real sense of Rachel (except through Sera’s eyes, which was the point I suppose) but I wanted to know more about her to understand why Sera was so obsessed. Also, the second person point-of-view was really awkward (Sera is telling the story to Rachel) and made it not flow as well as it could have. The plot holes aspect is a huge spoiler, so I’m not going to put it here. You can check out my Goodreads review (with hidden spoiler) if you’re interested in my take.
That said, this is a twisty book with suspicion thrown everywhere. Nothing is as it seems and the reader doesn’t know who the good guys or the bad guys are until the end, and even then it could be debated. I liked the book and it definitely kept me up late reading to try to puzzle out what exactly was going on.
I may be an outlier, because I know many in the reviewing community absolutely loved this book. I encourage you to give it a try because it’s a very creepy story and well worth reading if you like psychological suspense novels where you’re kept on the edge every moment wondering what is going on!
