I wouldn't call this a thriller... it was more literary, and we still don't get an answer on what happened to Angie at the end, when we would get those answers in a thriller. A lot of Teddy's actions were totally bizarre to the point I gasped multiple times while reading lol. I think it was well-written, and the train-wreck of the plot was very fun to read—I couldn't put it down. Reading the whole thing, though, to then not have a straight answer about Angie at the end was a huge letdown, so I took off one star.

An absolute firecracker of a book. Compulsively readable, haunting, and emotional. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for this review.

This book was harrowing. Dark. I read a review where someone stated that nothing happens in the book. I wonder what book they read...?

From Amazon:
Conspiracy theories from Reddit seduce a disaster-prone woman into an obsession with solving her older sister’s cold-case disappearance

Ten years ago, Theodora “Teddy” Angstrom’s older sister, Angie, went missing. Her case remains unsolved. Now Teddy’s father, Mark, has killed himself. Unbeknownst to Mark’s family, he had been active in a Reddit community fixated on Angie, and Teddy can’t help but fall down the same rabbit hole.

More from me:
Many things happen in this novel. There is a central mystery to the plot. The story does take a second to get it footing, but not long. The novel is more of a character study of the main character, Thea, and how the grief of losing her sister and her father break her down. It's depressing and bleak. Dirty. It was a lot. And it was very good.

Thank you to NetGalley and Soho Crime for the digital advanced copy. The novel will be published on
January 2, 2024. I predict it will get picked up and adapted as a limited series for one of the major streaming services.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND SOHO PRESS & SOHO CRIME FOR THE ARC OF THIS BOOK TO READ AND REVIEW.

If you ever watched all 7 series of Pretty Little Liars only to be absolutely FURIOUS with the ending then you'll know that this is the exact feeling that I got from finishing this book.

The crescendo of the story and the ending just baffled me, I really don't feel like we got any answers and more so as if I'd just wasted my time reading it.

Which is a real shame because this book had so much potential... The whole idea of a teenage disappearance and a sibling who falls into a rabbit hole of trying to find the truth through subreddits and the use of the internet? It could have been so good, but unfortunately it missed the mark.

I felt really disappointed with the plot in general really, it felt as though there were far too many strands that the author was trying to pull together and make a story out of, and unfortunately it just didn't work, we were left with more questions.

And character wise, I felt that Teddy (and the other characters too) were really unlikeable, and borderline irritating, making it hard for me to feel anything for them in what could have otherwise been quite an emotional story.

Sadly, this book just wasn't for me. I kept reading it because I had hoped that we would be rewarded with answers and clarifications, but this wasn't the case and the rest of the book certainly didn't make it worthwhile.

Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody is a gripping mystery debut. After reading the description I was so eager to jump in and start this book.
What a tense and compelling story.
I truly enjoyed devouring this book. Everything about was entertaining and very interesting.
The writing sucked me in almost immediately which I loved and the characters kept me engaged throughout the entire story.
This was a page-turning mystery that ended up being an addictive read.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Soho Press for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

The title, Rabbit Hole is a clever play on words. In one it refers to the mother rabbit pulling fur over the nest to keep the kittens (yes, kittens) safe and out of view. The other meaning would apply to someone chasing an answer to a burning question and thus following it down the rabbit hole. Both of these aptly apply to this slow burn of a thriller.
Teddy is still haunted by her sister's complete disappearance ten years ago. After her father kills himself near the anniversary of the disappearance, Teddy ends up following the same trail down the rabbit hole of clues that her father apparently had been on without anyone's knowledge.
Reddit, trolls, online buddies and amateurish sleuthing begin to take over her life. The characters that she encounters could so easily have been pulled from real life both in her daily job as a teacher or the online crazies.
Great parallels to the world in which we live nowadays. The idea one can just hop on a computer and find out all they need to know is exploited within the characters. More than that, finding out doesn't necessarily make things better or bring closure, either.

Thank you to SoHo Press for access to an early copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Debut author and one-time English teacher Kate Brody pulls us into the mind of the sister left behind in the enthralling novel Rabbit Hole, to be released by Soho Press in January 2024.

Theodora “Teddy” Angstrom doesn’t know what to feel when her father drives off a covered bridge in Maine. His life was haunted by drugs and family drama, but he was especially troubled by the disappearance of Teddy’s older half-sister Angie ten years earlier. In putting his affairs in order, Teddy learns about his obsession with finding his stepdaughter, who also had her share of issues. And though you never see an official start, Teddy slowly takes up the mantle, retracing the many leads he left behind.

Teddy makes for a gloriously flawed and unreliable protagonist, fueling an entertaining sense of dread. Through a haze of depression which seems to worsen on every page, she makes one maladaptive decision after another. She drinks far too much, acts inappropriately in her role as a teacher at a Catholic school, and starts a sketchy relationship with a man once employed by her father. I’d say Brody does a marvelous job of challenging her main character, but she goes even further: Teddy tortures herself. There are points I just wished she would drink less, not hurt herself so badly, but then again, the self-destruction is the point.

Though Teddy isn’t a murderer (spoiler alert), her journey brought to mind Edgar Allen Poe, specifically his famous short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Brody’s choice of first-person narrative is brilliant: we almost can’t see her downward spiral, since we’re trapped inside. Teddy never comes out and explains why Angie and her father cause her so much turmoil; instead, we’re witness to the people she hurts and lives she disrupts in her slow frenzy. The good in her gradually slips away as she questions the wrong people and turns the wrong corners.

Mickey, a college student who worked with Teddy’s father in searching for Angie before his death, makes for an excellent accomplice. Her goth appearance and youthful nonconformism intrigue Teddy, and it’s her ideas and savvy that drive Teddy to act on impulses she would never have employed before. Mickey is the “id,” shoving the action down the track with teenage abandon, infusing this internal psychological drama with out-of-control passion.

There’s a bleak, seedy feel to the scenery here, even as we’re in the majestic Maine forest. We get descriptions only from Teddy, so it stands to reason she sees everything as a little dirty or damaged. Brody displays a keen eye for detail, but especially for human movement. Clare, Teddy’s mother, might brush a hand along her hair on the way to bed, and the action is infused with meaning. A character walks across a scene, swinging her arms just so, and somehow the tension, the anxiety, the pressure is conveyed. That’s quite a talent.

The work is billed as “sexy,” and if your heart isn’t ready for it, stop right here. Given the overall theme of the book, the scenes are less romantic than an escape from sadness. Bill seems like an OK person, and to an extent Teddy seems to be just using him. But again, maybe that’s the point: given her state of mind, we can’t expect her to have a healthy relationship.

For a book with a lot of inner monologue, the pace was surprisingly fast. It was driven by the “No, don’t do that!” style of writing, the subconscious wish for Teddy to get it together, knowing she probably won’t. The ending was about what I expected: if you got to know Teddy, it makes total sense.

Also, this might just put you off social media for good. There are several pages of Reddit interactions that I hope are fictional but feel far too real. I’ve seen my share of nasty posts, so it’s safe to say the author nails the vitriol. Yeah, it sucks, but you can’t deny the reality, can you?

It’s about as character-driven a mystery as you’ll get from this genre, the action pushed ahead mainly by the mind of the protagonist. I see it as a “psychological misadventure,” a journey down a, well…rabbit hole of regret and loss. The writing is strong and enticing, and I’ll be looking for more good things from this author…and in full disclosure, a former colleague. Congratulations to Kate Brody for a fantastic debut!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This enthralling literary work is teeming with suspense that will hold your attention from the very opening lines. Its characters are profoundly captivating, each one richly developed and intriguing in their own right, making it impossible for readers to resist becoming deeply invested in their fates. The narrative itself is a tapestry of intricate plot threads masterfully woven together, creating a storyline so compelling that you'll discover it's a true challenge to put the book down.

From the very first page, this novel casts its spell over you, drawing you into a world of mystery and intrigue that refuses to let go. As you immerse yourself in the narrative, you'll find yourself unable to resist the urge to turn each page, driven by an insatiable curiosity to uncover the secrets that lie within. The storytelling is so engrossing that the thought of parting ways with the story becomes increasingly difficult to fathom, as you'll become emotionally connected to the characters and deeply invested in their journeys. In short, this book is an experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat, yearning for more, and reluctant to bid farewell to its captivating tale.

I loved this twisty, deeply felt mystery novel about a suicide, a lost sister, and the two women left behind in the wake of those disasters. When her father commits suicide and leaves behind the mystery he's spent ten years trying to piece together, his daughter follows the threads he left behind to uncover the secrets they left behind. Plus, lots of "delayed adulthood" soul searching and mother daughter figuring-each0ther-out, combined with the deeply heartfelt journey of pet loss (TW death of pet!!)--- a winning book, but not an easy one.

I'm going to keep this one short and sweet. This book wasn't for me.
I'm not sure if it's just because I read so many different thrillers but this didn't seem to live up to the thriller name. It did however fit perfectly into the women's fiction selection. The idea is good, but executed in a way that was not expected. This read like a story of a women who explores her grief after the loss of her father and sister in extreme ways. Then as you sit waiting for the climax, you realise we hit the end and it's all over and one with. The positive for me, was the use of social media in this kind of setting. It's been wonderful to explore the new realm of reads introducing the deeper and darker side of internet.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy - I will be holding off reviews on social platforms until after the release.

A deliciously twisty literary thriller, I inhaled it in one gulp. Rabbit Hole is a tautly plotted story, yes, but it is also a meditation on the lives of women and relationships: mothers, daughters, sisters and ourselves. Loved it.

Going in to Kate Brody's Rabbit Hole, I thought I knew what to expect because the novel's promotional material describes it as "a sexy debut novel exploring the dark side of true crime fandom and the blurry lines of female friendship..." For sure all of that is there, but for me Rabbit Hole is much more a study of the destructive impact that longterm grief can have on survivors and entire families than it is anything else.

Ten years after the mysterious disappearance of her high-school-senior sister, Teddy Angstrom is still obsessed with finally learning what really happened that night. Angie's disappearance tore a hole in the family fabric that can never be mended now that her father, as a consequence of his own personal grief, has killed himself. Teddy understands that this second family tragedy has largely undermined her mother's ability to cope with life, but still she fails to recognize her own obsession for what it has become, the single thing she can focus on anymore. While attempting to reconstruct her father's final few months, Teddy falls into a deep Reddit rabbit hole filled with true crime fanatics who, when they are not making personal attacks on each other, spout one false lead or new conspiracy theory after the other. Now Teddy doesn't know know what to believe or whom to trust, especially after her internet life and her physical life begin to collide.

Teddy needs a knowledgeable guide, someone to lead her through the dark world she's entered, and she hopes that she's found one in the form of Mickey, a teenaged internet detective as obsessed with Angie's disappearance as Teddy is. But who is Mickey, really, and why does she always seem to have all the answers Teddy needs?

Rabbit Hole is a very good debut novel, and I think its ending is particularly strong because of the insights that Teddy gains concerning her own mind and the fallibility of human memory. Has she been an unreliable narrator from the beginning, or did things happen as she remembers them? Will she ever know for sure? Will we?

Cold case detective work, unreliable and unlikeable characters, grief, and a twisty road to the truth abound in this novel about a woman trying to find out what really happened to her sister who disappeared a decade earlier. See my full review at GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5877909147

Many thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for providing me with an eARC of Rabbit Hole in exchange for my honest review!

Rabbit Hole ended up enthralling me, even with its misleading marketing. It had been promoted very much as a fast-paced and twisty-turny thriller, but the narrative itself is executed as much more of a slow-burn and somber mystery that's bold enough to leave us with unanswered questions at the end. This isn't necessarily doing anything groundbreaking, but I like how Kate Brody was able to humanize these deeply flawed characters and keep me compelled throughout the deliberately paced plotting. Sometimes, I like slow-burn stories, but other times, I get too impatient for them, so I'm glad Rabbit Hold falls in the former category. And sure, this book boasts some twists, per se, but they're quieter than you'd expect. They're not the big swings you'd anticipate from your typical psychological thriller. Again, that's why I think the marketing should have been adjusted.

Overall, I'm officially rating Rabbit Hole 3.75 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding up to 4 stars. I'll certainly be interested in checking out more work from Brody in the future.

The older I get the more I devour stories about the messy lives of 20-somethings who seem to be perpetually teetering on the brink, or maybe perpetually trapped in free-fall. Wildly careening out of control, numbing with sex, drugs, and dangerous, stupid scenarios, it seems like they never quite hit bottom, yet it's always too late to stop from tipping over the edge. They fixate and fuck up and fail spectacularly--out of school, jobs, relationships--they can't seem to get a grip on the messiness of their lives and it spirals ever further into chaos over the course of the story. I might be so obsessed with these characters because, in my late teens and early twenties, my life was practical and predictable;  I held down jobs while attending school and paying rent. I didn't always get it perfect and my family had its own issues, but my life looked nothing like these books. Then again, my sister did not disappear and become an unsolved cold case, and my father did not die by suicide, consumed by grief and guilt, ten years later. That's a lot of loss and trauma, and that is what our main character Teddy is dealing with. Teddy begins to piece things together from Reddit threads and accounts she finds on her father's computer, she falls into an uneasy friendship with an amateur internet sleuth, and becomes involved in a fraught relationship with an older man that she suspects had something to do with her sister's disappearance. Her job performance as a teacher at a local private school becomes more and more erratic and her life is basically going to shit --and she's not doing anything to stop it. It's such an uncomfortable, unrelenting study of a grieving person that it feels almost exploitative in a morbidly fascinated "I can't look away from this train wreck" kind of way. It wraps up confusingly and abruptly, and I am a little embarrassed to say that toward the end I had no idea what was going on. It's not that it seemed all that complicated or twisty, and yet I still couldn't really figure out what was happening. Up until that point though, I couldn't tear myself away.

I DNFed this one at 25%. I was really excited for it, but after 25% I can honestly say I have no idea what was going on. And I don't know how to review that because I don't know if I am the problem here (was I just ADD, was it not a good reading month), or was the book just not good, or were we both just not working for one another.

The title of this story fits like a glove. Theodora (Teddy) Angstrom’s older sister Angie went missing ten years ago and left a gaping hole where she used to be. In many ways, the rest of her family never moved on after Angie’s unsolved disappearance. As a further insult to injury, the hits just seem to keep on coming. Teddy needs closure and she seeks answers to sew up her gaping wounds, but only seems to find more questions. Someone online claims to have new information about the night that Angie didn’t return . . . and that’s a dangling carrot that Teddy just can’t ignore.

If a good book is determined by its ability to extract emotion or to make you contemplate an aspect of life from a different, much less flattering, angle . . . this narrative accomplished that for me. I’m on the spectrum and have always struggled with understanding certain mindsets and desires, or even the darker frailties that manifest cruel manipulations of others and self-sabotage. I never quite grasp the motivation and energy that is uselessly funneled into such activities. Like if witnessing the twisted aftermath of a bad accident . . . I’m so curious to know the fate of those trapped inside and can’t look away.

I'd like to thank NetGalley for an advanced copy of Rabbit Hole for my unbiased evaluation.  4 stars

This was much darker than I expected and I LOVED it! This was such a fun and captivating premise - a young woman goes down a rabbit hole of reddit theories looking for her sister who disappeared about 10 years ago. On the way, she gets mixed up with some sketchy people who know a little too much, and you're not sure if you should trust them.

I loved the main character's, Teddy, POV and thought she was fascinating as a character. She had a super relatable but sometimes dark thoughts and her actions were easy to understand at most times. You get a very intimate look into her descent into madness.

While I loved the character and the read itself, there were some parts that felt out of place. It really had me hooked the first 90% but near the end I started to get confused on wtf was happening. It felt like they "solved the mystery" but the story kept going and it didn't seem to end with a satisfactory ending. I also don't think everything was answered in the end, and felt a bit underwhelmed when I finished.

Overall, solid thriller and I would recommend! 3.75/5 stars

*4.5 STARS* Wheeeww where to begin with this book?! 😮‍💨 The vibes of this book/the story line in general gave me dank, dark, musty vibes the entire time, but I loved it in the best way. This is an insane look into grief, intense hurt and deception, internet culture, addiction, sex, and so much more. This book was psychologically twisty and gripping, and definitely kept me guessing throughout. the format of this book was super strange, and I’m not sure if that was intentional, or if it’s solely based on the book an ARC, so i won’t say too much about that- but I will say this; if it was in fact on purpose, it was a brilliant move, as the lack of chapters or breaks in the story makes you feel like you’re spiraling down the rabbit hole with Teddy, becoming lost and obsessed and losing all sense of time and direction.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing this ARC for me to read and review. All opinions are my own!

Thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: January 2, 2024

The premise of this book is really intriguing. Ten years ago, Teddy’s sister Angie disappeared. No one knows where she is, whether she is dead or alive. Now, Teddy’s father, Mark, kills himself, leaving Teddy and her mother with a heavy burden and grief. The story follows Teddy falling down the rabbit hole, trying to solve the mystery of her sister’s disappearance.

What I liked about the story is the way it explores grief and how it can turn into an obsession and how destructive it can be. The story gets more twisted and our main character gets more unhinged with every page. I also really liked the writing. It was really captivating!

However, I think I went into this one with the wrong expectations. I kept waiting for something to happen that would lead to the climax and expected a satisfying resolution to the story. It didn’t happen, unfortunately. The ending was disappointing for me, and I truly wished for a different one.

I have to note this was a really disturbing read at times. So, make sure to check trigger warnings if you decide to pick it up!