Ooh time goes by and if i don't write the review right away...sigh. I'm trying to be better. The best i can do right now is give a star count...

Hello, Transcriber offers a great character study in small town Black Harbor, Wisconsin, where drug abuse keeps the local police department busy. Hazel, a promising writer, takes a midnight shift job as a police department transcriber, and soon is pulled into the daily rhythm of the various personalities. Readers will meet Tommy, Hazel's husband and high school sweetheart; Elle, Hazel's popular Milwaukee radio-host sister, who on to her second engagement; and Nik, the lead detective on a current run of drug deaths. Also add in all the catty women who work police office jobs and keep busy observing everyone's business. Hannah Morrissey's book is for readers who enjoy small town thrillers, novels about writers, and police procedural stories. Readers will also get a bit of an education about life in Wisconsin.

Hazel, a writer, gets to shadow a detective in the middle of a crime scene. All she is hoping for is a successful novel, but gets more than she bargained for. Now her life, her family, her marriage, are all threatened. I didn't really love this book. It was hard to get into and a little slow and predictable.

This was a RIDE - I stayed up way too late trying to finish this one. The writing is beautiful and I couldn't stop turning the pages.

Police transcriber Hazel Greenlee is supposed to simply type, but not absorb or register the words, as Black Harbor police detectives describe their investigations. Despite this fact, Hazel is compelled to write a novel about at least one such case. Hanging onto every word uttered by Detective Nikolai Kole, Hazel inserts herself into the case and other aspects of the man's life. Married, but unhappily so, with secrets to keep, will Hazel take her desire to escape her situation too far?

Hello, Transcriber dives deep into a crime-ridden small city in Wisconsin, with a robust drug trade fueling many of the incidents that plague the town. Hazel is not a likable person, nor are any other characters in the book. The young woman has a serious issues and this fact is definitely reflected in her dialogue, as well as her inner thoughts. I like the concept of the book more than the finished product, as the idea of a police transcriber trying to help solve a crime is interesting to me.

The book was good, but just not quite there, so I would be hesitant to recommend it to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Hello Transcriber by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to read and review this book was entirely my own.

This book did not deliver for me like I had hoped. The character development was flat and I didn’t buy into any of the relationships. I had high hopes for a story told from a police transcriber, but we actually got very little from that perspective. It was too vulgar and too predictable and almost read like a gritty romance with a mystery thrown in from my perspective. I wish I would have liked it more but just wasn’t a story for me.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I enjoyed this book. I was kept on the edge of my seat, but I do feel Ike some parts could use a little more explaining or have more backstory. I also felt it was a little grey and depressing. Overall it was a good read though, and a storyline that is different than a lot of the other ones I’ve read. I will definitely recommend,

What a terrific premise—a police transcriber privy to confidential case reports watches investigations unfold almost in real time. She feels drawn to participate in solving some of the crimes. Initially I thought this would be more of a procedural in which a protagonist with a unique perspective conducts her own investigation, with or without the collaboration of the assigned detectives. In one sense, that’s what it is, but the novel feels more like a psychological thriller featuring a main character with, to put it mildly, issues. Hannah is unfulfilled in her life, living in a depressing place and holding a series of uninspiring jobs not helping her reach her potential as a writer. When we meet her, she is standing on a bridge giving in to her strange compulsion to throw meaningful objects into the water below. She’s married to a man with a disturbingly poor understanding of consent.

As she transcribes police reports, Hannah finds herself increasingly drawn to one of the detectives-—who doesn’t like a guy who uses commas correctly? While their collaborative investigation and personal relationship develop, the secrets they keep from each other could ruin everything.

This debut is well written and highly original. If you are in it for a police procedural featuring a uniquely positioned main character, you night be surprised to discover that this novel also has such a strong focus on Hannah’s psychological state, her relationships with others, the secrets the characters keep, trust issues, etc. This could be an unexpected bonus or a liability, depending on your preferred balance of police investigation and personal drama.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital advance review copy.

Very noir, and atmospheric, I really enjoyed this story. I had a hard time figuring out where it was going next, and unpredictability is always a fun treat in a novel. There are quite a few plot points that never get fully explained, however, they were so deftly woven into the narrative that they contributed to the forward progress of the tale rather than detracting from it.

Review:
Evenly paced, atmospheric and tense, Hello, Transcriber is a great read for thriller enthusiasts! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced egalley!
Summary:
Hannah Morrissey's Hello, Transcriber is a captivating mystery suspense debut featuring a female police transcriber who goes beyond the limits to solve a harrowing case.


Every night, while the street lamps shed the only light on Wisconsin’s most crime-ridden city, police transcriber Hazel Greenlee listens as detectives divulge Black Harbor’s gruesome secrets. An aspiring novelist, Hazel believes that writing a book could be her only ticket out of this frozen hellscape, but her life isn’t exactly brimming with inspiration. Until her neighbor confesses to hiding the corpse of an overdose victim.

With an insider’s look at the investigation, Hazel becomes spellbound by the lead detective, Nikolai Kole, and the chilling narrative he shares with her. Through his transcription, she learns that the suspicious death is linked to Candy Man—a drug dealer notorious for selling illegal substances to children—and when Kole invites her on a covert operation to help take the dealer down, the promise of a story calls to her. As the investigation unfolds, Hazel will discover just how far she will go for her story, even if it means destroying her marriage, her career, and any chance she has of getting out of Black Harbor alive. Because if she’s learned one relentless truth about this place, it’s the fact that everybody lies.

Hello, Transcriber by Hannah Morrissey was a dark, enjoyable murder mystery. I enjoyed the writing style of Morissey. I enjoyed getting to know Hazel Greenlee and I felt for her. I like the sexual tension between her and Nikolai Kole. I enjoyed the ending as well, one that I did not see coming. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

I had to put this one down because for one, I just couldn’t get into it. My initial issue was that while I understand that the weird way police report narrative is recorded may be necessary for the transcriber, it is horribly off putting to read for any length of time. Then, Hazel just seemed like the most insufferable person imaginable, and yet her husband was also horribly toxic. I found myself wavering between bored and offended and didn’t keep going.

a very dark and atmospheric small town mystery! not as suspenseful as id hoped but I really enjoyed it! Following Hazel along on the investigation was such a fun and creepy adventure. Connecting with her was a bit of a struggle though. As the reader you wonder why she would continue to stay in both a town and marriage that she hates. And the "romance" portion of the book was not my favorite. Infidelity is never a good look. The final reveal of candy man wasn't someone I expected but I hoped for a bit more from the ending.

Hazel Greenlee has just moved to Black Harbor, WI - a small city with big city crime - and taken a job as a police transcriber. Her marriage to her high school sweetheart is a disaster, so when she hears detective Nikolai Kole's voice, she gets sucked into an investigation that hits very close to home.

I loved this book. The crime angle plus Hazel's insane sexual tension with detective Kole was a fun combo. This book was gritty and dark, and I'm dying to read the next installment.

HELLO, TRANSCRIBER by Hannah Morrissey was a dark, enjoyable murder mystery. I loved Morrissey's writing, her characters, and the setting! Of the thrillers/mysteries I've read recently, this was a top pick. A fun read with resolution I didn't see coming. I am excited to see what Morrissey writes next!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, which I received in exchange for my honest review.

This was a dark, serious but slow burn mystery. I finished it quickly but felt a little disappointed in some of the characters' choices and the predictability. Thankful for the ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital ARC to preview for our library!

Interesting read where you weren't sure which characters to like, which ones to hate & which ones to feel sorry for! Morrissey's work as a transcriber comes thru in the developing relationships! It was easy to see how of an opinion can be formed sometimes only based hearing one's voice alone.

This is a somewhat broody story surrounding a young woman named Hazel, who having just moved to the dead end town of Black Harbor, has taken a night job as a police transcriber. Considering, she can type at the speed of lightning and she is a budding author, she finds herself right at home translating oral reports into written reports for the city’s police. Whatever happiness she finds is fleeting; however, when Hazel’s neighbor interrupts a normal day by tapping on the glass outside Hazel’s office, with a finger that isn’t his. This leads to the discovery of a young boy, who having overdosed, was dumped in the trash can in the apartment building across the street from police headquarters. Now with a spate of overdoses, the pressure is on to unmask and apprehend the dealer known as the Candy Man. Perhaps because of her somewhat miserable life, Hazel Is drawn in closer to the investigation than is perhaps safe for her. There is a sadness to this story, a certain darkness that kinda made me sad. The author gets an A for atmosphere, painting the cold, desolate town of Black Harbor as the last place I’d want to find myself. The story did become a little slow for me in the middle section, but it does a good job of finishing strong and closing all the open ends, so we aren’t left wondering for anything. Review posted to Amazon, Litsy, LibraryThing, Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram,.

I think my issue with this one was ultimately expectations. I expected a police procedural and an interesting look at a fascinating career but instead I got a dash of that with a lot of uninspired romantic suspense (including cheating). The mystery was interesting but felt a little exaggerated and unbelievable at most times and the prose was fairly distracting when it came to descriptive terms. Just wasn't for me.

“Hello, Transcriber,” builds slowly with several layers of mystery. There are the homicides and cases that the detectives are investigating and like voyeurs the reader and the transcriber learn detailed accounts of them.. Then things get complicated as the story and mystery of the transcriber herself unfolds. It all comes together in an explosive conclusion. Not a typical mystery,