Susanne’s Review:
Twisty, Turny, and Captivating.. yet, this novel left me unsatisfied.
The reason, however, isn’t what you think!
What I’ve come to realize through the onslaught of documentaries and podcasts about murders and crimes that have taken place over the years is that I’m not a fan of either, thus I didn’t love this book, for that very reason.
Here we have Sidney Ryan, a popular true-crime documentarian who decides to create a documentary about Grace Sebold, currently incarcerated in St. Lucia for murdering her fiancé Julian Crist. Incarcerated for the last 10 years, Grace maintains her innocence.
An intriguing storyline with interesting characters – had this novel been told differently, I think I would have enjoyed it more. Further, when I got closer to the end, I had an inkling as to who the culprit was. Between that and not loving the documentary-style format, I was left wanting. All that aside, I am an outlier here as most reviewers loved the way this mystery was told. Though this wasn’t my favorite Charlie Donlea, I think he is a fantastic writer and look forward to reading the few books of his I have yet to read.
Thank you to my local library for loaning me a copy of this audiobook.
Published on Goodreads and Twitter.
Books are a Girl’s Best Friend.com 
Thanks for your differing perspective, Susanne💜 It’s insightful to learn what didn’t work for others about a book that I enjoyed. I don’t listen to podcasts or much in the way of documentary mysteries on screen so the format presented in books is still rather fresh for me, especially on audio. I’m glad you still enjoyed it and I’m also a fan of Donlea as a storyteller.
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Thanks for sharing your perspective Jonetta. I appreciate that you really liked the story even though you don’t listen to podcasts etc. Perhaps it’s just that sometimes a story’s format works for one person and not the other? That said I’m glad we both found things we liked about this! I do really like Donlea and can’t wait to read his next book. 💕. So glad you’re a fan as well!
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I also enjoyed this one and could probably ditto Jonetta’s comments. I don’t listen to podcasts or true crime things (my daughter loves them) so this was different for me. I agree, every book is not for every person and I love that you shared why this did not work for you. Moving on, I hope you love your next book.
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Thanks so much Carla! Like you said, not every book works for every person – that said, I love when we talk about the reasons why, because sometimes it’s not necessarily the storyline, it might be the way it was told or the character development or the writing style or simply our own personal experiences. A lot goes into it. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!
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