3.5 stars

Rachel Krall hosts a true crime podcast, and is heading to the small town of Neapolis, NC to cover a rape trial on her show. She keeps her face out of the public eye though and is only recognized by her voice. When she finds a note on her car windshield addressed to her asking for help, she wonders how this person knows who she is. These letters keep showing up until Rachel gets involved in solving this mystery from 25 years ago which seems to have connections to the rape trial she’s covering.

I had a hard time with my rating. I went between 3 and 4 stars so ended up giving it 3.5 stars. I received the audiobook ARC to review, and I think that had something to do with my rating. I probably would have preferred to read it myself. The narrator who voiced Rachel spoke very slowly, and I didn’t get a lot of emotion from her. With a book about two different rape cases, you would think the main character would be more emotional, but she was very flat.

The book goes back and forth between Rachel’s narrative, snippets of Rachel’s podcast, and another narrator, Hannah Stills. Hannah’s sister drown 25 years before, but she believes it was murder. I did prefer her storyline and narration. Most of her chapters were a flashback leading up to what happened to her sister. I found her more invested and these chapters more intriguing.

There is a very strong storyline of sexual assault and violence against women. If this is a trigger for you, I would avoid this book. I do think this is an important topic to focus on, and I thought the author did a good job of showing us a rape trial and how the victim can be unfairly judged by the lawyers and public.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.