Compelling enough story and quick to read, not sure if it was the ease of the writing style or because I was trying to squeeze one last book into 2023.

I didn’t always like the MC Teddy, she made very questionable choices and was judgmental or toxic a lot of the time. Which she’s going through it with so much loss. I don’t mind unlikeable characters but make it interesting, not unlikeable for the sake of being unlikeable. There was also zero character development unfortunately.

Also hated the romantic aspect of the novel due to the age gap (and more so when they met) that was 🤢

The transitions are very abrupt and jarring. One minute we are at the mom’s house and the next Teddy is at school texting Mickey? It made things really confusing.

More crime than mystery/thriller and not at all what I expected from the synopsis. It’s also marketed as “twisty and sexy” and it’s anything but- it wasn’t predictable but it also didn’t shock me if that makes sense? Things were revealed and it was like an “oh okay, moving on” feeling. As for sexy…suicide, missing sister, a creepy older dude that knew you as a kid, and mistreatment/death of animals is not sexy?!

And going back to the mistreatment/suffering of animals; Why is the dog having cancer and being put through misery and slowly starving to death necessary? What was the point? It was completely unnecessary to the plot or characters and was just there. Sorry I just don’t like books that have gratuitous descriptions of animal suffering to try and make some weird symbolism or representation behind the story/characters. It was disturbingly graphic.

Finally the ending doesn’t give us concrete answers and felt rushed. We get a sort of picture of what might have happened but it’s quickly passed over.

Overall I’m giving it 3 stars because I was intrigued and entertained enough to finish. Less a mystery/thriller and more a deep look at obsession, grief, unhealthy relationships and a woman with severe mental health issues. If you know that going in and don’t mind graphic descriptions of animal suffering and death, you may enjoy this more than me.


TW/CW: animal death, cancer, suicide, infidelity, drug abuse, death of parent, sexual content, animal cruelty, body shaming, stalking, toxic relationship, self harm, blood, gun violence, ableist slur (brief mention),

Brilliant book that's a dark exploration of grief while also a riveting mystery. The parts about reddit rang true and the opioid addiction was covered well similar to Liv Moores long bright river novel. This is accessible literary fiction at its finest!

Thank you to Netgalley, and the publisher for a chance to review this.

I was really excited for this book. The whole idea is amazing. The execution for me wasn't the best. I guess I expected more. It had some really wonderful parts, then other parts were extremely slow, and I struggled to get through. If you don't like animal deaths, then pass on this book. There is a scene near the end that deals with it. It was a tough scene to read, and I read a lot of extreme horror. As a debut, I think this worked well, and look forward to what Kate Brody comes up with next.

Rabbit Hole was a ride. But I don’t know if it was a ride I necessarily wanted to be on….

I really wanted to like the story and I did find that it was hard to put down once I got in but I was so unsatisfied with the characters and the ending that I skimmed the last few pages.

The story itself felt disjointed and all over the place. It didn’t help that the galley I had didn’t have actual chapters or even realistic breaks to symbolize we had moved on and it made it so hard to follow.

Teddy, the main character, is incredibly self destructive. While it makes sense considering her older sister went missing 10 years ago and her dad has just killed himself, I just couldn’t get past how awful she could be. Then you have Mickey, who is just as jaded and damaged and the whole relationship between the two was weird and messed up. I kept thinking why does Teddy keep this obviously insane person around. It was so odd to me.

I wish that everything had wrapped up a little nicer. I like ambiguous endings but this one was so off. I just couldn’t get behind it.

I’m sure that other people will love this book, I just couldn’t do it.

This book is for anyone who has spent hours scrolling through true crime content, convinced they can piece together a mystery from the comfort of their couch.

Ten years after her sister’s disappearance and days after her father’s suicide, Teddy is barely holding it together. Then she discovers her dad’s secret life as a Reddit sleuth and she falls down the same rabbit hole - to the detriment of her last bits of sanity.

Read if you like: messy characters, Unsolved Mysteries, women versus the void

Missing sister, father dead by his own hand, and a metric ton of family and generational trauma. This book had lots of twists and strange familial ties.

Teddy’s father just drove off of a bridge and as she’s going through his office she realizes he’s been investigating the disappearance of her sister 10 years ago. It’s a cold case. No one has seen her. Teddy picks up where her dad left off, with a new partner, Mikey. Mickey is young, impulsive and looks like Teddy’s sister.

I really liked the character of Teddy. Very genuine. The family tree is a little crazy in this tale so you might need to pay attention. I did not guess the entire twist, only part of it so bonus points.

If you like thrillers, complex family dynamics and lots of amateur crime investigation you’ll like this one!

I am not always a huge fan of books that have unreliable narrators as the protagonists. Teddy just kept annoying me with her wishy-washy decisions and inability to stay away from people/things that were going to get her in trouble. It isn't the worst book I have read in this style, but I didn't overly enjoy it either. I give Rabbit Hole 2.5/5 stars. But people should try it themselves since it was mostly the character I didn't enjoy. Not the writing style itself.

This made for a nice break in my holiday reading to read the devolving case of the missing sister. Tragedy strikes Teddy's home at the suicide of her father that takes her down the rabbit hole that he was visiting frequently. I thought this was a new and fresh idea of a mystery/character development type book. I was invested in Teddy and her life as things started to slip for her and she went further down the hole.

Thank you to NetGalley and SoHo Press for the advance e-copy of this book.

I enjoyed this debut novel by Brody. The book opens as Teddy and her mother learn her father (Mark) has suicided, ten years to the day after her sister Angie disappeared. He'd been obsessed with her case, refusing to believe she was dead.

After his death Teddy finds the debris of his obsession and falls down the rabbit hole of Reddit and other websites and chat rooms dedicated to Angie's case.

We learn Angie was a rebellious teenager but Body avoids the cliched and obvious suggestion of her being a runaway by giving Teddy's family a lot of complex baggage. Angie's father (a descendent of prominent local family) died before she was born and his brother Mark, in an attempt to comfort her mother and support baby Angie, fell in love with his widowed SIL, leaving his own wife and young child. Teddy came soon after and her whole family was disowned by her in-laws. And later in the novel Teddy ponders Mark’s life, wondering if he felt he’d borrowed that of his brother.

Teddy picks through her father’s contact lists and the Reddit threads about her sister. As well as a potential love interest in Bill (a landscaper who’d worked for her family a decade earlier) she meets Mickey, a young college student who helped Teddy’s father with his research. Mickey's interest rivals Teddy’s… attracting suspicion of we readers, but (interestingly) not Teddy. Having said that Mickey obviously reminds Teddy of Angie - who’s suspended in time, eternally 18 in her mind.

Slowly they backtrack through Mark’s investigation and Teddy becomes obsessed in the same way her father had been (and in a way her mother is not, the latter seemingly having accepted her daughter's death). The question Teddy pauses to ask herself eventually though is, 'What is she seeking? The truth, closure, or perhaps confirmation of her own memories and her own perception of Angie. And… at what cost.'

I enjoyed this read, though found myself impatient with Teddy’s lack of suspicion of Mickey’s motives and a tad frustrated at how she allowed herself to go against her better judgements several times…. in search of the truth.

And finally, we do learn more about Angie’s last hours though readers will have to decide for themselves how satisfied they are with the answers provided.

A very engrossing mystery. While I really enjoyed reading it, I found the plot to be a bit convoluted and hard to follow at times. That said, I loved the Reddit aspect of the story, and the relationships between the characters. It kept me on my toes, but also left me a bit confused.

I'll start off by my only negative about this book, and it could have just been the ARC but there were no chapters. I love chapter breaks (not excessive) because when you are trying to squeeze in reading all the time, it gives a good place to pause. Regardless, the lack of chapter breaks made several scenes seem like they were changing characters and locations out of nowhere leading to a lot of re-reading. But I got past that and I ended up loving this book. I can't wait for more from this author! Definitely add to your TBR!!

Rabbit Hole comes out next week on January 2, 2024, and you can purchase HERE!

By twenty-five, you've given up all your hopes and dreams, your novel-in-progress, your hot body, your plans to travel to Japan. By twenty-five, you have a steady job and you're right on track for your panic-inducing suburban middle age. But what is so bad about that? What is so horrible about a warm bed and a softening body and the properly-timed tragedies of living? What could be so bad about giving birth and getting divorced and burying your elderly parents? That's what you're supposed to get.

True true-crime junkies will appreciate the *ahem* Reddit rabbit hole Teddy dives into to try and figure out what happened to her sister, Angie. I liked how the online forum was one of the main characters-- the book takes place in 2015 (honestly not sure if Reddit is still popular, I've never really indulged) so the online experience was definitely a little different back then and it really played an important role within the story. Thinking about how society consumes true crime today compared to how it was not too long ago had me thinking a lot about how I approach it. I'd consider myself a fan but I am definitely guilty of treating it as entertainment only instead of thinking about how these are real people who have left real people behind. Although this is obviously fiction, the reader gets a first-hand look at how this dysfunctional family deals with their daughter/sister/friend's disappearance and I just thought it was really interesting.

The writing is so dark and intelligent and just well done. Teddy is such an unreliable narrator, so I found myself internally yelling at her while also rooting for her at the same time. Her behaviour gets more and more erratic the further you read, but there's something about her that hooks you in.

Thank you to Soho Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

TWs: suicide, grief, references to underage sexual advances

This was a dark, gritty and tough read. I always love a cold case and I was immediately drawn to the mystery of what happened to Angie. None of the characters are particularly likable but Brody does a good job giving them dimensions and making you interested in their actions. This has been compared to SHARP OBJECTS by Gillian Flynn and there are definitely similarities with the characters and overall vibe. This is a perfect book for any true crime fan!

Thank you to NetGalley, Soho Press & Kate Brody for a digital ARC of Rabbit Hole.

With that said, I am only sharing my feedback here through NetGalley because it is not good and I don't like to make bad reviews on social medial or Goodreads.

This title had been getting a lot of interest and sounded compelling to me. However, what I got, was anything but.

The story was so drab and monotone, so much so that it bored me to tears. I almost DNF'd it several times, but didn't. I really wish I had. What sounded interesting in the synopsis didn't come through in the actual story.

This was just such a drab and pessimistic story as well as the characters. It moved at a snail's pace making it even worse.

But none of that is the most egregious thing about this book. I was downright PISSED OFF at the way Wolfie was handled. I am a huge animal lover and advocate of animals and typically do not read books that deal with animal cruelty or death. Brody gave us some horrendous animal death right from the get-go and then further, let this poor dog, riddled with tumors, suffer. Yes, they took it to the vet, but didn't have it put down. They took it home and traveled around with it, while Wolfie whined in pain. THEN to top it off, when it was finally decided Wolfie should be put out of his misery, he was taken into the woods and shot. What the ever-loving HELL????

I'm sorry, but I can't get past that. Yes, that may be a real life scenario for some people, but I can assure that readers DO NOT want to read about that or any other animal cruelty or death. Authors, please leave that out of your novels!

I would rate this Zero Stars, if I could. I will not be recommending this one on my IG or to anyone. I will refrain from turning anyone against it unless specifically asked of my opinion.

This one was bad enough that I doubt I will ever pick up another Kate Brody title in the future. The "badness" of this book is just a bit much to overcome to give this author a second chance, for me.

A perfect parable for true crime lovers everywhere! When you go looking... are the answers you find really ever worth it?

Rabbit Hole is a prime example of what happens when you allow yourself to be waylaid by something you don't really want answers to. Your life, relationships, and job might start to really fall apart if you don't let things go...

THOUGHTS:
- Rabbit Hole definitely felt like one of the saddest books I had read in a long time. Perfectly detailing what happens when someone is in a full-on downward mental spiral - it's almost a painful read. I think for many, though... if you've ever gone through a rough patch and you couldn't seem to get out of that perpetual grey.. this book details exactly how that feels.
- THE CONTENT: This book is dark - but not so dark that someone who likes psychological thrillers but can't handle slashers couldn't read it. My feelings while reading tended more towards morose and sad - not shock and revulsion lol BUT - if you love true crime - you'd really love this! (I'm not a true crime gal and I still really enjoyed what K.Brody was trying to create. )
- CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: Our main character Teddy was crafted perfectly! If you've ever been around a friend/family member - or even an acquaintance - that's quite literally ruining their own life -- you know that helpless feeling of wanting to shake them to do better? It was almost cathartic to read because there's nothing the people around Teddy really could've done.

↑↑ Update - Finished December 22nd, 2023 ↑↑

This is gritty and sad in the beginning... crazy what people will do to each other!

↑↑ Update - Started December 12th, 2023 ↑↑

NOTES:
- Family drama
- CWs: add!ction, depression, broken families, adultery

**Thank you to Soho Crime & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

Theodora (Teddy) Angstrom’s world is shattered when her father deliberately drives his car off a bridge into a river, choosing the tenth anniversary of her sister’s disappearance for this tragic act. This new sorrow, layered upon a decade of unresolved pain, reveals the fragility of the life Teddy has built. Her quest for the truth threatens to unravel everything she holds dear.

Set in an era where true crime and technological advancements are unearthing long-buried secrets, Rabbit Hole masterfully blends modern tools with the timeless elements of a murder mystery. The novel highlights the significant role of platforms like Reddit, illustrating their profound impact on Teddy’s life. Teddy navigates the investigation both virtually and through face-to-face interactions, confronting the challenges of an internet era where privacy is easily breached.

Kate Brody presents a thriller that is also an insightful examination of grief. Teddy has lived for ten years with the constant ache of her sister’s absence, but the narrative begins with the fresh wound of her father’s suicide. Brody skillfully depicts the contrasting and intermingling forms of grief, showing how they lead to unpredictable behaviors. As Teddy dismantles her own life in pursuit of the truth, we learn more about her character—a woman pushed to her limits for the sake of love, regardless of whether those she loves can witness her efforts.

This novel, while heartbreakingly sad, is a hauntingly beautiful read. Its poignant exploration of loss and resilience leaves a lasting impression, stirring anticipation for Kate Brody’s next work.

RABBIT HOLE shares some DNA with genre novels like GIRL ON A TRAIN or WOMAN IN THE WINDOW--a female protagonist spirals as she tries to solve a mystery and deal with her repressed trauma--and the marketing copy for this book seems to be appealing to that audience. However, plot twists and big reveals aren't what this book is about. I'd call it literary fiction with a dash of crime! The writing is terrific; Brody shares a lot of insight into loss, love, and the human condition; and realistic character development is far more important than plot.

Teddy's 18-year-old sister Angie went missing 10 years ago. On the anniversary of her disappearance, Teddy's father (Angie's stepfather) commits suicide. That's where the novel begins, and we've also got a beloved, cancer-ridden dog to add to the pile of Super Hard Things Teddys Must Deal With. (I normally can't read about dogs in pain, so it's a testament to Brody's writing that I kept reading! I trusted her to deal with that emotionally triggering element in a worthy way, and she did.) In a different author's hands, this might have been too much early onset sorrow, but Teddy is the reader's instant friend, callous and honest and perceptive, and we're hooked into the unravelling of how Angie died, or if she died at all.

Teddy helps her mom by going through her dad's office, and because he was trying to solve the mystery of Angie's disappearance, this leads Teddy to some clues. She meets Mickey, a wayward girl who becomes almost a surrogate sister but who got mixed up in the case with Teddy's dad, and Bill, a hot sex-and-maybe-actual relationship guy who might also be lying about his involvement with her dad.

The crime-solving aspect of the story starts off strong but wanes for the middle of the book. (Some red herrings here that didn't hold my attention.) In its place, however, we get plenty of airtime for the compelling and complex (and toxic!) relationships Teddy has with Mickey, Bill, her mom, her half-brother's family, her students--she's a high school English teacher--and ultimately, herself.

Brody isn't afraid to make her protagonist suffer, and it's satisfying to watch Teddy's spiral into self-destruction as she becomes more obsessed with the case and develops an unhealthy but tight relationship with Mickey. In the end, it's Brody's attention to the specific experiences of grief and the unknowability of the people we love that makes this a must-read.

Her debut novel, Rabbit Hole (2024) by Kate Brody is an amateur sleuth tale of a young woman’s investigation into her sister’s disappearance. Upon the death of her father, Teddy discovers a Reddit page on true crimes and decides to pursue it down the rabbit hole of internet true crime blogs. The more Teddy discovers, her fixation spirals her into ever-deepening grief. Supposedly a crime fiction tale, this is more a bleak character study that includes a disturbing scene of Teddy euthanising her pet dog. This book is not for everyone as it includes explicit sex descriptions and attempted satire which debase its overall value as a reading experience. So overall, its publicity blurb is falsely optimistic, giving it a most disappointing two stars read rating. With thanks to Soho Press and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I sometimes wander into the loved one trying to solve a murder or disappearance genre, and this was a particularly depressing take on it. The narrator kept making wildly inappropriate choices that made her very unlikeable. I wanted to see if there was true resolution so I kept going, and in hindsight I wish I hadn't.

10 years after Teddy’s sister, Angie went missing (and presumed dead), Teddy’s father, who is still consumed with grief, kills himself. His suicide brings Teddy into the world of unsolved true crime and into the Reddit rabbit hole while she takes over her father’s compulsion to solve her sister’s disappearance and in doing so, brings her back to the depths of her own unaddressed grief and come to terms with the loss of her sister. The obsession with her sister’s case takes over her life leading to Teddy make some questionable choices.

✨✨My Review
I found this an incredibly readable (and the audio engaged me from the first minute) novel and I finished it in a day going back and forth between the audio and the book. I think this novel is a balance between a mystery/thriller (while the reader learns the facts behind Angie’s disappearance) and a novel about dealing with the effects of grief and trauma (leaning more towards the latter). Either way I couldn’t put it down because while I didn’t personally love the characters (and I don’t think you’re supposed to, they are not entirely appealing) I still needed to know what happened.

4.25

Thank you NetGalley, SoHo Press and SoHo Crime for the ARC to review