Wow! At first, I wasn't really feeling it and thought it would be a bit of a slog, with there being a large cast of characters and many plots and sub-plots, but I soo got absolutley gripped by this twist tale! Some of the twists I worked out and some I could never have seen coming! An inventive twist on your regular crime thriller, that hurtles towards a shocking ending. This book is utterly compelling and I can't wait for my friends to read it!

I was really intrigued by the concept of this book. The whole thing is written as a series of texts and emails between the characters, focusing on fundraising for a sick child and an upcoming local theatre performance. I was very unsure of how this format would work as although I love mixed formats (in the style of Cara Hunter) I couldn't really imagine how a whole book would work in just email conversations.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the way the book was written. I worried that I wouldn't be able to connect with the characters but it was actually a very good way to get to know them. Isabel was such a well-written character, I would hate to know her in real life but she was unfortunately all too believable. I would say there were probably a few too many unnecessary characters to keep straight. Near the beginning the reader is offered four pages worth of characters' names, ages and relationship to one another and you are a better person than me if you can retain all of that information!

On to the story itself, I thought it was very original and there were so many elements to it that it would have been impossible to see where all of it was going. Some parts of the plot I did guess very quickly but others came as a surprise. I felt that the ending happened very quickly and there were a few threads that were not fully resolved, but I would still say that it was a very good story.

I would absolutely recommend this book if you are looking for something a bit different.

Unique, Satisfying Suspense....
Unique and satisfying suspense. Several story threads, a death, a conviction and a full presentation of the evidence for the reader. Can the truth be uncovered? Well plotted and intriguing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this where the reader is put in the role of investigator along with two law students who are tasked with going through various sources but mainly emails to discover who was the real killer rather than the one that has been imprisoned.

The sources reveal many characters who are either directly a part of the Fairway Players, a local dramatic society, or indirectly connected to these people in the small town of Lockwood. The narrative takes a turn when a child of one of the members of the Fairway Players, Poppy, is diagnosed with a brain tumour. The community decides to crowd fund for Poppy to receive experimental but possibly life-saving treatment in America.

As readers of these documents, we gain an insight into the relationships between the characters as well as their thoughts and feelings. In between the two law students discuss their theories of likely suspects.

I will look for other works by this author as this narrative was expertly woven together and difficult to guess who was in fact guilty.

Thank you Netgalley for my advance copy. The whole story unfolds with emails and text messages from all the suspects for the murder. Set around a local ameatuer dramatics society The Fairway Players and their production of All My Son's. When the family start a appeal to fund urgent medical drugs from the US to save their young Cancer stricken daughter the real drama starts! A unique way to tell a story that works well. This thriller turned out to be a real page turner and is highly recommended.

Imagine, a quiet little town where everyone gets on. A drama group central to the town. But we encounter a Murder, every member of the town is suspect. But who is guilty? 
Wow! This is definitely a unique and quirky book, completely different to anything that I've read previously.
Initially, I was completely unsure how a novel in this layout would work. This is one of my most anticipated January Gems so I have been absolutely determined to lose myself in the pages of this book. 
I adore that a drama group is central to this story, it's definitely something I have never encountered within a book before and is integral in this particular plot. This has made this both fun, but increased the suspicions of characters, I mean we all know how competitive some people can be. 
The author has very cleverly intertwined all characters and gave the reader a real sense of each individual personality that has been involved. There are many characters that you can't help like and others who will arouse suspicion from the very beginning. 
Out of the characters, I have found the doctor particularly suspicious. As well as Martin Hayward. For some reason, these have made me feel particularly uneasy. Although, I haven't been able to work out why. 
The only element of this book I have disliked is the sick child. However, I can completely understand why this has been a central part of the story. I've found the links with cancer treatments difficult to read but I think this has been due to being personally affected, as many people are. 
This is definitely a very clever novel. The mystery continues to build as you read on. I have found myself completely and utterly captivated by this one. The author has made me second guess my own instincts and not trust any of them. Definitely a clever read! 
I completely adore how enticing and cute the cover of this one is. Although, fairly simple the books just screams out to be read. The cover is stunning and the plot is completely addictive. This is definitely a book which needs to be on pre-order ASAP. 
This is a book which has been captivating, engaging, addictive and completely unpredictable. I have been completely unable to put this book down and have been guessing at the turn of every page. 
This is definitely a must read for anyone who likes a book which will keep them guessing. This is also a book I personally would recommend to lovers of true crime, I have had many moments where I could imagine this being a documentary and discussing the differing characters. 
I cannot believe that this is a debut thriller. I am extremely excited to read more by this author and look forward to upcoming releases. This is definitely a book I will be recommending and despite my initial reservations of the layout. This is most definitely a five star read.

Janice Hallett takes a rather different approach to the crime genre that I think will appeal to many a seasoned crime fiction reader, a chance to turn investigator. Roderick Tanner QC, of Tanner and Dewey LLP, gives law students Olufemi Hassan and Charlotte Holroyd a bundle of papers, emails and messages for them to go through. There is a client in prison for murder, a murder they are believed to be innocent of. The real killer can be found within this bundle of papers, papers that the reader has too, thereby being offered the opportunity to identify the killer too. The narrative comprises of these papers and the discussions and theories considered by Femi and Charlotte. I am going to admit upfront that it took me quite a while to get immersed but once I did, I found it intensely riveting with its twists and surprises.

Set in the small town of Lockwood, the family around which much of the community revolves around are Martin and Helen Hayward, running The Grange Gold and Country Club, leading figures in The Fairway Players, an amateur dramatic society in which Helen always plays the lead, currently in the process of putting on Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Their daughter, Paige is married to Glen, with a 2 year old daughter Poppy, and their son, James, is married to the pregnant Olivia. There are two nurses, recent volunteers from Africa, joining the community, Sam and Kel Greenwood, Sam has secured a position in a geriatric unit at St Anne's Hospital, Kel is a psychiatric nurse. Matters are thrown into disarray when young Poppy is diagnosed with a brain tumour, which leads to crowdfunding efforts and a campaign to raise funds, an appeal for lifesaving experimental drugs from the United States, with the support of Clinical Consultant Oncologist, Dr Tish Bhatoa.

There are a wide range of characters and suspects, with missing papers from certain people, all we know about them is what we learn through others. After what initially seem a series of anodyne messages that form the narrative, its slowly emerges little is as it seems. The reader becomes acquainted with what seems normal aspects of small community life that is throwing itself into raising money that then extends to murder, the gossip, the judgementalism, the grudges, resentments, obsessions, the lack of control over and problematic finances in fundraising, the suspicions, the relationships and more. This is for all you crime and mystery readers looking to enliven your normal crime reading fare, particularly if a challenge is something that you are looking for! Many thanks to Profile Books for an ARC.

I really loved this book! The characterisation was excellent, the twists twisty, the form interesting without being a gimmick. A really unusual thriller, with a great setting and satisfying conclusion.

2 year old Poppy is sadly diagnosed with cancer, her family, together with their amateur dramatics group rally together to raise vital funds for new treatment, however are the family being entirely truthful? Tragedy strikes as one of the group members is murdered, who was the culprit?

Wow! I really enjoyed the style in which this book was written. Its unlike anything I have read before. You are presented with a file of evidence consisting of emails, texts, police reports etc and you read it alongside two law students, Femi and Charlotte. You need to spot the clues within the evidence which become clearer as Femi and Charlotte come up with their own theories. I am sure you will find yourself saying 'ahhh yes!' in parts. A very cleverly written book with strong characters and a great storyline.

I would reccomend!

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Thank you to netgalley and viperbooks for an advance copy in ecahange for my review

Absolutely loved this book.

I was hooked from the get go. So original, told entirely through correspondence. Beautifully drawn characters, a twisty, turny plot that keeps going right to the end and a very satisfying conclusion.

#NoSpoilers this is a difficult book to review without ruining it for future readers, but it's a cracking story and an excellent read.

Highly recommend.

I absolutely LOVED this book. It is without doubt one of the most unusual and clever mystery novels I have read this year. The unique aspect is the way the mystery is presented to us as the reader: it comes crafted entirely in the medium of writing between the characters, be that emails, text messages, crime reports, or posters. At the very beginning this is a bit disconcerting, as we are thrown into emails without much context, however I was quickly completely gripped by the interactions between the characters, the mysterious missing points of view of some, and for over half the book a crime hasn’t even happened - so unlike most mystery novels, here we have something extra to work out - what is going to happen and to whom? It was terrific.

We read alongside two law students (Charlotte and Femi) who are reading the case notes for the first time, and also don’t know where they are leading. Charlotte and Femi discuss the case occasionally via text message, and make some conclusions I wasn’t able to get myself, but there are plenty of clues throughout allowing the reader to solve it more or less at the same time Charlotte and Femi do. This absolutely worked for me - the story was gripping and the interactions between the characters absolutely fascinating - we could see when certain characters were lying, the large differences in writing styles, the inconsistencies. All this gave something more that is usually not easy to see in novels, and allowed the reader to be a real part of the investigation. Loved it. Give me more like this one!

My thanks to #NetGalley and Serpents Tail / Profile Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The plot of this book looked very promising but unfortunately it failed to deliver. I struggled to stick with it and could not get in to the writing style. The story was weak and the characters were difficult to relate to.

I liked how it didn’t give much away in the blurb but have to admit was a bit disappointed.i had thought it would go a bit further and maybe we the reader chose the paths .
I have read before similar themed novels and style however I still enjoyed it and it’s always good to try something new and challenging but this somehow lacked the substance for me
Lots of unlikable characters lots which I do enjoy I just found it all a bit childish and at the heart of it was a sort of confusing concept which was original in a way just sooooo many threads and toooo many possibility’s almost and I got quite confused with all the characters and their backstorys ....did we need the amount of in laws and children really
Then there was a con and another con to con the Conner or was it just another con
Then somet happened somewhere in the past that’s connected to a few characters from different angles and a good few coincidences or were they
I not sure what I’m trying to articulate really just I wasn’t as sold on this as others and not easily sold just cause it’s a variant of style .in fact I demand more as see as a very clever gimmick but still a gimmick if it’s depth is lacking somehow in more rounded characters .
It still needs to be good and grip me and I just wasn’t sadly
However I will give it three stars for trying something new ish and creating such unlikable characters which i did enjoy bar the main female as she was just so insipid people pleasey and I cringed a lot .
Thanks a lot netgalley and publishers for this advanced copy

Hmm, I'm not too sure about this book. I was very much looking forward to the it due to the different style of writing, but it took a long time to get into. Still an OK book

Oh my goodness, my head is spinning after reading The Appeal, what a story, I couldn't stop thinking about it!

The plot centres around an amateur dramatics group who are the centre of a village's social scene, with friends and family members variously involved in the theatrics. The family's 2 year old grand daughter is sadly diagnosed with cancer, and the am dram group rally round to raise funds for ground breaking treatment. But underneath it all, all is not as it seems.

The story is presented as a file of evidence of emails, phone transcripts and newsletters. Hidden in amongst them all are the clues you need to put together to solve a murder- because yes, there's a death in the middle of the book, although for the first half of the story you almost forget that it's coming, you're so engrossed in the other storyline.

If you like Cara Hunter's style of writing, this will appeal to you. I really enjoyed hearing the various characters' voices and thoughts firsthand and trying (and failing!) to spot the clues

Well worth a read, thanks so much to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read the story!

I have to admit as I started reading this book I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy how it was set out, however after the first 50 pages I was hooked. There is a large cast of characters involved, with a great deal of plot twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing. In fact if you read the emails and messages correctly you may even figure out who the killer is, but then again you may not.

The Hayward’s are one of the most respected families in the area of Lockwood, they own and run The Grange Gold and country club. The Alpha family, the closer you can get to them the better your social standing. As well as owning the gold club. Martin Hayward and his wife Helen run the local Amateur dramatics club where they regularly put on plays for the locals and visitors. They are currently working on Arthur Miller’s, All My Sons, Helen seems to normally get the leading role and Martin seems to run most of it, also involved are their daughter Paige and her husband Glen, as well as their son James and his wife Olivia although she is not taking part in this play as she is heavily pregnant with twins.

New to Lockwood are Sam and Kel Greenwood who have just moved into the area after working as volunteers in Africa. Both are nurses, Sam has just started working at St Anne’s a geriatric nursing hospital where she has the fortune or maybe misfortune of meeting Issy, who has become totally obsessed with Sam, she is constantly emailing her, wanting to do yoga with her, go jogging with her, work the same shifts, Issy has no friends, she is socially isolated, she has a part in the play but only a small part and no one hardly speaks to her. There are times you feel sorry for her but other times you just want her to stop.

The Hayward’s have just found out that their granddaughter Poppy has a brain tumour and the only new treatment is in America it hasn’t been approved in the Uk. So the family with the help of friends start a crowdfunding page to try and raise money to at least pay for the first treatment which is £250,000. Sarah Jane MacDonald is a whizz when it comes to organising events and she throws herself fully into it, along with having a part to play in the play and lines to learn. She does a lot of planning of events.

But there is more going on here than these people know, the dr in charge of Poppy’s care seems a little suspicious, and why did Sam and Kel have to come home, Sam is doing some digging into things as she suspects some of what she has learnt doesn’t seem to ring true. As you read some of the messages and emails some end up like Chinese whispers as they gradually get changed in small ways, some become pure gossip. There are a great mixture of characters.

But these emails and messages contain all the answers into who the murderer is. The reason the messages and emails are shown like this is because Olufemi Hassan, known as Femi, and Charlotte Holroyd, known as Charlotte are tasked with reading all of the emails, texts and any other information given to them by Roderick Tanner QC Senior Partner of Tanner & Dewy LLP as he has a client currently serving time in prison for a murder he believes she didn’t commit. All this paperwork holds the key and answers as to who the killer is. Can you work out who it is from reading all of the information?

There are some emails missing as some that have been sent there are no replies so you don’t know what the answers are to those, but they do contain a lot of information and clues. This is a thoroughly enjoyable, engrossing read, with lots of twists and turns and red herrings. It’s not just about murder, but deceit, fraud and people not being who they say they are. The answers are all there if you can work it out.

At around the three quarters mark the format changes slightly as Femi and Charlotte come up with some theories of who they think it is and motives etc. The. They have some more paperwork to go through. But will they get the answers they need to put the real killer away and release the innocent party.

This is definitely a 5⭐️ Read, I would like to thank #netgalley and #viperbooks for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

I read a bit of this and wasn't sure I liked the way it was laid out.
Gave myself a few more pages to try though...

Two hours later I'm completely infuriated by Issy,quite frankly ready to slap her,and still have no idea of the who and where.
But have MANY MANY suspicions.

The whole am dram thing added much amusement to me.... as I'm sure it's meant to.

Cleverly done,with a whole bunch of people youd never trust.

Nice work!

This was an amazing book, full of twists and turns. It's told by emails and texts, you must answer some questions about a crime and a possible fraud, reading about all the players involved. It's an original way to immerse the reader in a case, I was hooked and couldn't stop reading. I'm going to read more books by the author for sure.