After a couple chapters, I decided if Denny wasn't really someone else in the book, then I'd eat my AirPods. Luckily, my AirPods are perfectly safe as this book was perfectly predictable in a way that I wanted something to happen that I wasn't expecting or didn't see from a mile away. Alas, you don't always get what we want, but also you don't always get what you need, either (sorry The Rolling Stones).

The characters, while frenetic, weren't quite compelling in their stories. I understood why they committed every action, mostly because they told you why did what they did through dialogue or inner monologues, so there doesn't feel like any mystery here!

I think the best part of this novel would be the locations, which honestly makes me want to visit North Folk Long Island's wine country and stay at a pretty little bed and breakfast and drink my day away by the water's edge, and of course, avoid getting murdered (finger's crossed).

Narration by Rachel Fulginiti provided a lovely sense of urgency throughout the novel, with a variety of "voices" for each character. I believe she truly did the best that she could with the material she was provided. Good for you, darling! There were similarities to one of my all time favorite narrators, Julia Whelan, so take that as you will.

Thank you to CamCat Books, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks for the advanced audiobook copy for reviewing purposes via NetGalley!

Jenna Sinclair is a rookie investigative reporter. Unfortunately, she made a tragic mistake when she outed Denny Dennison, the illegitimate son of an executed serial killer. It’s decades later, and her life still is in the pit. She feels betrayed by her husband and resented by her teenage daughter. So let’s just go back to the old ways. Jenna decides to resurrect her career and returns to the city.
Unfortunately yet again for Jenna, her former lover is brutally assaulted outside her
NYC apartment building. Jenna wonders if Denny has inherited his father’s psychopathic gene and is out for revenge. Her new mission is to track him down before he can harm his next target… most likely, her daughter.
As if that’s not enough bad life experiences, her estranged husband, Zack, fears that her investigative reporting skills will unearth his own devastating secret he has kept buried in the past.
Whatever the case, Jenna comes to realizes her own investigation may save or destroy her family,
I give this one five stars for the unexpected plot twists.

I’ve never heard of this author before but my days, what an incredible storyteller!
I loved this book, jam packed with twists, turns and chills, pages upon pages of thrilling revelations and shocks with an outstanding ending that I certainly didn’t see coming.
If you love crime thrillers then you HAVE to read this amazing scribe.
I highly recommend it, written beautifully and keeps you reading, turning each page with trepidation and breathtaking hesitation.
Thank you for such an excellent story.

This is such a great book. I actually read the book on kindle before and just experienced it for a second time on audiobook. I enjoyed both but I liked it more on audiobook. The narrator had a nice voice and read at a perfect pace.
The plot is unlike any other book I’ve read and it was refreshing to read a new and interesting plot!

Fool her Once - Joanne Elm

Many thanks to Netgalley and ComCat publishing for providing an eARC of this novel.

First, a bit about myself so you can judge if this review and the associated novel are a good match for you. I read 10-12 novels a week, a large percentage of these are psychological thrillers.

I am so excited about this novel and the author who wrote it! Without exception, there is not a thing I would change about this story, it is brilliantly written, and the pages (and time) fly by almost too quickly while under this talented author's spell.

Everything you are looking for in a top-notch thriller is there: a captivating storyline, awesome dialogue,

I am reviewing the audiobook version of this novel, and the narrator does an excellent job ratcheting up the tension as the plot advances.

Until next time, make sure you KNOW those who are closest to you..

There isn’t much to go on with the ‘blurb’ for Fool Her Once:

Investigative reporter Jenna Sinclair, convinced that the man who attacked her former lover is now stalking her family, must find the man she exposed as a serial killer’s illegitimate son, and follows a trail that leads to a devastating discovery.

It was enough, though, to intrigue me – in fact, it sounded right up my street. And it was. There was plenty intrigue – lying, cheating, stealing, double-crossing – to keep me interested and the story moving along.

Jenna is an interesting character. I really couldn’t decide if I liked or loathed her. She is completely self-centred and self-absorbed and makes some rather dodgy choices – often with little regard for other people. At the same time, she is strong and resilient, willing to put her neck on the line for those she loves.

The other main characters – Zach (her husband) and Dolly (her daughter) are equally unlikeable in a lot of ways – though I decided to forgive Dolly as she was a teenager. Zach is a little (a lot) harder to forgive – and (without giving away too much) – for good reason (when the book opens Zach and Jenna are estranged so that might give a bit of a clue to at least one of his short-fallings).

Often, I don’t like a book when there isn’t anyone I connect with. The story here, though, kept me going – keeping me engaged and (if it wasn’t an audiobook) turning pages. My only real complaint – and it’s why it doesn’t get 5 stars – is it goes on too long. There is one too many twists and one too many missed opportunities to bring it all to a much more timely (and in my humble opinion) enjoyable conclusion.

Whether I would have felt differently had I been reading vs. listening I don’t know. I think not. I actually enjoyed the narration. Rachel Fulginiti’s voice fitted my image of Jenna perfectly and she did a brilliant Dolly (the male voices weren’t as convincing, but this is an issue I have with audiobooks in general).

So, where does that leave me? Would I recommend it? Yes, I would. Would I read another Joanne Elm? Yes, I would (though I might check the page count first!).

Fool Her Once is an average suspense novel, not exactly the "thriller" it was purported to be.

This novel was weirdly constructed, where we basically knew from the first page who the bad guy was, and spent the rest of the novel waiting for the unlikeable and fairly naïve Jenna to figure it all out. I can't say I enjoyed getting to know any of the characters, but none of them were really given much depth anyway, so surface knowledge worked out as a win-win.

I guess the biggest issue for me is just how important it is that there might actually be a serial killer gene. In genetics, there might be propensities handed down, but having a genetic predisposition does not mean an individual will develop the disease. Everyone in this book was overly obsessed with this potential, but it was much ado about nothing.

JFC, I am more than over the "what if?" obsessing, and very glad this tedious book is finished so I don't have to hear any more about it.

This book kept me guessing and worried for Jenna. I love that she figured things out in the end and did what she needed to do to protect herself & daughter. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author!

#FoolHerOnce
#NetGalley

What happens when a columnist, who wrote an article 20 years prior that destroyed lives, decides to reach out to those people involved at the time and what happened to them.  The serial killer expose she uncovered has repercussions she never expected two decades later.
   Jenna’s life now revolves around her husband, a lover who she never quite removed from her life and a sullen teenage daughter.
   The underlying story is the question of  whether serial killer activity is carried in the genes. This killer she exposed years before had a son……did he show this proclivity? Jenna wants to find this son and do a follow up. Not so easy and definitely not what she wanted to hear.
   Lots of twists that the reader figures out along the way but there’s always something we missed.
   Audio book was well read with definition of all the characters involved.

There were enough twists, turns and a drip feed of the characters lives in flashbacks to build suspense. And an under lying question of ‘are we destined to lead a particular life because of our mothers and fathers’. Worth a listen crime thriller, where the narrator pulls you into the story. Initially I sort of ignored when things happened and just enjoyed the story. I like flashback stories, but it took me some time to understand the way the chronology was being presented here, but I think that was just me. (Eventually got it.) Thank you to CamCat Books and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine freely given.

Book Title: Fool Her Once
Author: Joanna Elm
Narrator: Rachel Fulginiti
Publisher: Com Cat Books
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Pub Date: March 1, 2022
My Rating: 3 Stars

Story alternates ‘Then’ and ‘Now’.
Now: Jenna Sinclair, an investigative journalist finds she is being brought back to story she wrote twenty ago about a serial killer.

Then: Jenna got the big scoop on the family of a serial killer; her story in the tabloid ‘Sun” was a big hit. She didn’t give names but a picture of their house was printed. Sure enough neighbors figured out who lived there. This article ended up causing harm to a mother and her child. Jenna felt so guilt she decided to leave her current job and work on less sensational topics.

Now, someone she loves is assaulted, Jenna is sure her past is back to haunt her.

I almost felt like this title was referring to me!
Story is long and slow. I was drawn to this topic since reading [book: Defending Jacob] years ago.

This story had me curious even thought I found the nasty mouth characters unlikable.
The ending was a surprise.

Want to thank NetGalley and Com Cat Books for granting me this eGalley.
Publishing Release Date was March 1, 2022

Thank you Netgally, Publisher and Author for the #gifted alc in exchange for an honest review. The narration was done well. I went into this with moderate expectations and it fell flat for me.it gave me ick and nearly DNF it Asa result. I was jot invested in the characters or story.

What a great twisted thriller, I listened to the audiobook and it was easy to follow the narrator who brought the words to life.
The story did not not unfold the way I thought it was going to and the twists and turns were well done. The story touches on the thought “does criminals DNA pass to next generations” is it possible for a father who kills to pass that on to a child? The story takes its time in the beginning to establish all characters but as you get farther in the story it picks up speed and has you wondering what happened. I really enjoyed the book and will be recommending it to my family , friends and book group.

I voluntarily received a free copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own

Years ago Jenna wrote an article on a serial killer and his son, Denny, which still haunts her today. She’s married to Zack an owner of an inn and restaurant, but still has deep feelings for her editor Ryan. Jenna starts going down the rabbit hole and investigating where Denny is because Ryan gets hurt and someone goes missing.

The beginning was a bit slow, then all of a sudden it started to pick up. I like how the story would flip from present day to different timelines.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy

Oh my goodness - lost a day as just had to keep listening it was that good. I loved the twists and turns they so worked - Oh dont want to say anything it just works so well. I need to find more by this author plus the narrator (the narration really really worked).

Not going to say anymore due to spoilers but so well written and like someone else said - yes need a sequel

I was given an advance copy by the publishers and netgalley but the review is entirely my own.

This is the first audiobook I’ve listened to in a while and it was good. In the last one, the narrator’s voice was so irritating that I couldn’t possibly enjoy the book. Jenna Sinclair is a tabloid reporter when she writes an article about the son of a serial killer - Denny Dennison. The article has catastrophic consequences for Denny and his family. Jenna realizes that she’s not cut out for this kind of work and becomes a food and travel writer. Twenty years later, Jenna is in a rocky marriage with a teenage daughter. After she has dinner with her ex-lover Ryan McAllister one night, Ryan is brutally attacked. Jenna suspects that it could have been Denny seeking revenge against her. The story goes back and forth in time and shows the impact that Jenna and Denny have had on each other’s lives. The big twist was pretty easy to figure out, but the book was still totally enjoyable. Thanks to #netgalley #camcatbooks and #joannaelm for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5

With all the mystery/thrillers out there, it's very easy to see the repeated tropes that most books in that same genre have. So, I am very surprised to see how different this book is from the ones that I have read before.

Every chapter of this book kept me on the edge of my seat, making this book hard to put down. The alternate point of view of the characters and the different timelines added to the thrill of what's to come next. Reading this book felt like a rollercoaster ride with a big surprise right in the middle.

I am ready to give this book a 5-star rating after that big plot twist. I was utterly surprised and mindblown, not expecting things to turn in that direction. But it also intrigued me how the story will play out that after the plot twist at 41%. The author kept my interest after that, though it kind of dragged on a little bit at 73% of the book.

It's nearly perfect. The plot, the storytelling, the characters, the twist. I just wished the story ended differently. I was kind of hoping for a different ending but I also understand the direction that the book has taken. I also lowkey didn't like the affairs even though I understand how that plays out with the story.

All in all, this is a very fun read! Highly recommend it to people who have been so fed up with the usual mystery/thriller. Plus, this audiobook is great.