Spoilers included- Not so much a twisty thriller, but following the spiral of the main character after her father commits suicide on the 10th anniversary of her sisters disappearance. The book follows her grief, and discoveries of her dad’s obsession with Reddit and trying to figure out what happened with her sister.

I have to say, expecting a thriller and getting a more sad contemporary fiction…was not my plan, but I was pleasantly surprised. The writing is good, Kate Brody brilliantly weaves the story and spiral of grief as the main character dives into the aftermath of her situation. The fallout of work, community, self care, and things that come with it.

I saw a lot of people complaining about the dog part of the story line, and I get the importance of the dog. It was the last remaining link to her sister…and I think the reason Teddy hung on to the dog in its condition was hoping her sister would return to the dog. The description and ultimate demise though was a bit tough on this animal lover.

I would ultimately give this book a solid 3.75 stars but I’m bumping up as a 4 star read for the extra playlist on the Q&A with aardvark that added to the reading experience. And the writing and plot tie up is golden. Not all stories have a clean ending…sometimes things continue to be missing and leave you wondering.

Good story! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the audio ARC. The narrator gets 5 stars from me too! Excellent book!

This book was sent to me way back in the summer of last year. I love it when a book from a smaller press gets some buzz and I could feel the excitement around this one, so I picked it up although it is not my typical read. Rabbit Hole a dark and gritty mystery that explores internet sleuthing and the culture of true crime. The story centers around Teddy, a young woman in her mid-twenties whose sister Angie disappeared ten years prior. After her father commits suicide, Teddy discovers how deep he was in the Reddit pages of Angie’s unsolved disappearance and she herself becomes entangled with this rabbit hole. I decided to pick this up because I’ve been much too distracted to enjoy anything introspective or literary, and (as someone who reads very little of this genre), I think this was a well-done book. I cared about Teddy’s character arc both within the world of the mystery and in other aspects of her life. Teddy is a high school English teacher at a Catholic school, and I think Kate Brody nails the depiction of that career. I found the ended to be satisfying without having to rely on a big twist or massive coincidence, and I thought the commentary woven into the story was compelling without being over done. While I didn’t love it, I know that’s because I just don’t love this genre, even especially well-done versions of it. This book kept me reading and distracted, which I greatly appreciated, and it was a great diversion to dip into something completely different. Trigger warnings abound for this one. Check Storygraph or message me if you want to know more.

I so badly wanted to absolutely love this read, but it was a bit too slow burn for me. Rather than being a “twisty thriller” like I anticipated, it was much more an exploration of grief, relationships, and deteriorating mental health. The book was well-written with unique bones to the story, but it just wasn’t quite what I hoped it’d be. (I hoped for a redeeming ending, but found myself very disappointed in how it wrapped up.)

I read the audiobook version and really liked the narrator!

Thank you NetGalley, Soho Crime, and Kate Brody for a free audio copy in exchange for this honest review.

Thanks to RB Media & NetGalley for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is less a thriller or a crime novel than it is a character study in grief. Teddy Angstrom, triggered by her dad's suicide on the 10th anniversary of Teddy's older sister, Angie's, disappearance, slowly implodes in this well-written but ultimately frustrating novel. Teddy starts by going on her father's phone and reviewing the call history, beginning a chain of events that could be considered self-destructive. Teddy's dad, Mark, clearly felt that 10 years was long enough to go without answers, and so Teddy starts following up the reddit threads about Angie's case. Teddy's mom seems content to go through the remainder of her life in a haze, having gotten over Angie's disappearance way better than Teddy, but not wanting to really work to keep the house up or participate in her life in any way. Likewise, she doesn't seem overly concerned as Teddy semi-moves out, takes leave from work, and vanishes with Angie's elderly, decrepit, dying Irish wolfhound (TW for pet death and it's a doozy).

Teddy winds up befriending a redditor that her dad had been in contact with, and trusting this person way too much, finding out (sort of?) not-great info about her dad along the way. In the end, Teddy hasn't really found out much more about Angie's disappearance, but has taken her life for an unfortunate joyride that it will be tough to pick her way back from. This is why the book is frustrating (but I suppose realistic): no answers, and an indeterminate end.

Still, it was a good listen and I was definitely invested in the characters. Rebecca Quinn Robertson did a nice job with the voice acting (I'll forgive her not-good Irish accent), and my quibbles with the writing are more about continuity than quality (a previously broken fridge is suddenly full of fresh, tasty ingredients waiting to be whipped into a meal when Teddy is 100% a frozen TV dinner-level person).
3.5 stars rounded up

I though that this novel would be completely different, I thought it was a thriller but it was more of a dark domestic tale of a woman.

I did enjoy the book, quite difficult to read at times as the content was quite sad but a good book, maybe not for the summer when you want a really nice and light read.

We meet main character Teddy, she has had a dark and not happy life with her sister Angie going missing and something her father, who has just ended his life, could never get over. It transpires that Teddy's father has been on reddit website who are fixated of what happened with Angie.

Teddy finds herself on a path that is fairly dark and disturbing and we get an insight as to Teddy's mental health and its not a nice place to be.

An interesting tale that is one for the dark and gloomy days.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kate Brody and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

💻BOOK REVIEW💻

Rabbit Hole - Kate Brody

Thank you @recordedbooks for my ALC and @soho_press for my printed copy!

“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.

Teddy’s investigation quickly gets her in hot water with her gun-nut boyfriend, her long-lost half brother, and her colleagues at the prestigious high school where she teaches English. Further complicating matters is Teddy’s growing obsession with Mickey, a charming amateur sleuth who is eerily keen on helping her solve the case.

Bewitched by Mickey, Teddy begins to lose her moral compass. As she struggles to reconcile new information with old memories, her erratic behavior reaches a fever pitch, but she won’t stop until she finds Angie—or destroys herself in the process.

A biting critique of the internet’s voyeurism, Rabbit Hole is an outrageous and heart-wrenching character study of a mind twisted by grief—and a page-turning mystery that’s as addictive as a late-night Reddit binge.”

I am so torn on this one. I LOVED the writing style and immediately was drawn into the story. I loved the character driven story and the Reddit/true crime aspect. I found the relationship between Teddy and Mickey very odd and slightly predatory. The ending was so unsatisfying and unresolved though! Which I guess is the honest hard reality of some missing persons cases.

Also CW: there was a graphic unnecessary death of a pet that almost made me stop reading.

Recommend if you like:
- True crime rabbit holes
- Character driven stories
- Unsolved mysteries
- Unreliable narrators
- Exploring grief/unanswered questions

🎧Audiobook review 2/5 🌟🌟

I am not a good fit for this book. I wouldn't have finished it if I hadn't agreed to review it in exchange for the ALC from NetGalley. The synopsis may suggest that this is a twisty thriller or true crime genre, but it's actually a very slow-burn.

The majority of the book follows a woman, Teddy, who is managing her grief following the loss of her father and the disappearance of her sister 10 years prior. The suspense aspect is there, I suppose, as Teddy tries to figure out what happened to her sister. My guess is that is where the name 'Rabbit Hole' comes from and what I thought we would get. I was under the impression that the book would lead us through the maze of unraveling the mystery of her missing sister Angie. Sadly, Teddy's spiral through several poor decisions was the primary focus of the majority of the book.

I found the audiobook to be mediocre. The slow speed required me to use 1.25 speed, which was usually a struggle for me to maintain, but there were times when it still felt slow. The monotonous delivery and one-note inflection made it hard to distinguish between characters, and also made it easy for my mind to wander throughout. This could also be partially due to the issue with the speed.

The book seemed really long. The level of detail is excessive. Overly descriptive of the most mundane items to the point where I just wanted it to move along and be over. I think that a lot of it could have been removed from the book and streamlined a lot. Maybe removing some of that could have improved the overall pace. The plot was not significantly affected by the details, which caused the book to drag.

The plot could have been tighter and Teddy's character development could have been less focused because I just got sick of her. I will say that the last 10% moved along at a faster pace than the first 90%, but I hoped we would at least find some answers in the end. Instead, I'm wondering what the point was and questioning the nine hours spent listening to it.

****SPOILER****
Generally, I love when authors include dogs in their books, but I think this time it just didn't work. First, we have to listen to a dog suffering throughout the entire book from cancer, but they keep him alive despite it. When he finally succumbs, she takes him to the woods like Old Yeller instead of back to the vet like she should have. The whole thing was so sad, disturbing but also lent nothing to the story. I would have left it out and made the book shorter.

I'm sorry to say it, but I promised to provide an honest review. It was difficult to get through this one. Hopefully, people who read the ebook had a better experience. 🫣

Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Let me just say: "The Rabbit Hole" swallowed me up as well as Teddy and her father!
Ten years ago Theodora’s, Teddy’s, sister Angie disappeared without any trace. Nobody could ever find her again.
The story starts with Teddy's father commiting suicide out of desperation to not beeing able to find his missing daughter.
Teddy takes on his search on Reddit and finds herself down the same Rabbit Hole as her father!

Everything in this book added up for me from the narration by Rebecca Quinn Robertson up to the ending!

Thank you #NetGalley #RB Media, Recorded Books for this audiobook!!!!

3.5 ⭐️ overall

This has atmospheric and dark writing with a gripping style and prose. This was completely unhinged but unfortunately this has a non-ending, the mystery doesn’t get solved. However, being inside of the main character’s head and experiencing her grief with her and the way her trauma has wrecked her life was powerful. This was written really well, even if I’m left unsatisfied. I would have given this four stars if not for the excessive animal gore & the animal death. It was a bit too much for me.

This is a great character driven novel that deep dives into the internet and how people online forget that those who disappear/are victims are real people, or simply don’t care for their own entertainment. The Reddit threads were well done and particularly memorable. I don’t see the comparison to Gillian Flynn due to the ambiguous ending, but the unsettling nature of this book truly kept me reading.

All in all, my thoughts are all over the place because I just finished it, but I thought it was a really enticing read and hard to put down. It’s something that’ll disturb you and intrigue you.

Please be aware this isn’t a thriller, it’s more of a mystery, or even a character study, and there are more triggers than just animal related ones. If you can handle a tough read that tackles mental health, family drama, addiction, death, and more - give this a shot.

Thank you NetGalley & RB Media for this ALC. The narrator did a decent job, but she was a bit too monotone for my taste, so I preferred this as a physical read.

This was a sad story about grief, and also a pretty good mystery. I enjoyed the ride and wasn't constantly trying to figure out what happened. The characters felt real, I especially liked Teddy's mom. The narrator of the audiobook was great, and the final reveal surprised me!

This book was a character driven, slow burn about grief. I would not consider this a thriller so don't go into it thinking that, you will be disappointed. The story was very sad and shows what someone in a full blown mental downward spiral is like. I think true crime lovers would devour this book. I listened to this on audio which I don't recommend. There are a lot of reddit screen names that the audio makes it confusing.

If you like true crime, family drama and slow burn stories this book is for you!

Thank you netgalley and RB media for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

I would not recommend this book on audio. It's twisty and I found myself wanting to flip back. Also, the narration is slow, even at a faster speed, which doesn't match the pace of the book.

I might try this one again in print.

Thank you, NetGalley and publishers for this audiobook.

I was excited for this story. Using Reddit to help solve her sister’s disappearance and murder? Yesssss. Personally, there were some graphic moments both sexual and gross bodily things that were hard for me to handle. I think it might have been due to listening on audio versus reading the text myself.

As a Mainer, I find authors not from here tend to create stereotypical touristy and inaccurate narratives but Kate Brody did not disappoint. Every time I wanted to criticize the portrayal of Maine and Mainers, I couldn’t because the author did a great job getting the details right. I loved the line “Mainers have long memories”.

I was disappointed in this one. The story was so-so for me. But what turned me off was how the end of the dog’s life was handled. After that, I lost care and was completely disinterested. I feel that was not necessary and really upset me.
Thank you, Kate Brody, RB Media & netgalley for my #audiobook! All opinions are my own.

A book about mental health and grief.
Strongly written and I wanted to know what would be said next.
However, the narrator wasn't for me - nothing wrong with her, we just didn't gel.
I feel for me, it would have been better as a physical book, not the audio copy.
But good book, well written.

Thank you NetGalley and SoHo press for an eARC of this book. I follow Ardvark book club as well so I was aware of the trigger warnings but I just could not connect with this book. It wasn’t a thriller to me but more of a mystery of the true crime obsession on the internet. This to me was more of a character study in how people cope with grief, mental illness, addiction, and death.

This one was honestly hard for me to rate. I enjoyed a lot of the first half of the book, but it lost me a bit towards the middle and to the end.

I really liked the incorporation of the Reddit threads because it helped create a distortion of reality so you really felt like you were going down the “rabbit hole” with the protagonist. Her downward spiral was palpable to the reader, which was hard to read, but impactful. The characters were also intriguing and there were so many layers to unpack with all of them. This book definitely does a good job of making the reader uncomfortable, which I think was the intention.

I want to mention the fact that I did love the narrator but that while reading the Reddit entries it got annoying with the repeating of the handle names - no fault of writer or narrator just a thought for the future.

Rating: 2/5 Stars
•
This review is a hard one for me to write because I’m not really sure what exactly was the point of what I just read. I think in the long run it’s supposed to be about grief but the road that thus one takes in order to get there is a bit confusing and if I’m being honest – pretty odd. Told in a single POV following Teddy as she gets caught up in the disappearance of her sister after her father commits suicide on the tenth anniversary of her vanishing. I figured there would be way more suspenseful/thrilling moments in this one as Teddy gets closer and closer to the truth. However, this story is more of just a girl with severe mental health issues continuously making poor decisions and hurting those around her. I don’t really think any of the characters are likeable and I didn’t really care what happened to any of them (except for Wolf). I feel like this story just runs round and round in one big giant circle until there is the most anticlimactic ending and then even more unanswered questions and bad decisions.
•
A HUGE TRIGGER WARNING but also a sort of spoiler – even though there was absolutely no reason for this side story…. I’m super salty about the entire aspect of the sick dog and everything that happened there, really felt like there was no need for it except that Brody was going for some kind of shock factor? Either way, she got it and I thin I dislike this book a bit more because of that…
•
I will say that the writing is very good and that I think Brody will definitely be an author to keep an eye on. I think some people will enjoy this one, but I think maybe I just was not the targeted audience for this one.
•
I listened to this one via audiobook and Rebecca Quinn Robertson knocked this one out of the park. This had to have been a difficult one to narrate and I’m going to be honest, if I didn’t have this one audio, I’m not too sure that I would have finished it.
•
Rabbit Hole was released on 1/2 – be sure to check it out. Huge thank you to NetGalley, Recorded Books Media and Kate Brody for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

📖: Rabbit Hole
✍️: Kate Brody
🎙: Rebecca Quinn Roberston
⭐️: 2 of 5
🎧: 3 of 5


Trigger/Content Warnings:
- Language
- Graphic Sexual Content
- Suicide
- Death of Parent
- Death of Pet
- Drug/Alcohol Addiction


This was not what I would mystery, nor is it true crime as the blurb insinuates. I mean, I guess it was a mystery of how and why Teddy's sister disappeared, but it didn't feel like a mystery. It was just weird overall and was not for me. It was very monotone and did not keep my intrested. I was honestly turned off by the hooks ups of the FMC and didn't find any characters likable. I ultimately ended up DNF'ing at 50%. Although I was not a fan of the book, I did enjoy the audio performance.
Thank you, NetGalley, RB Media, and Recorded Books for the opportunity to listen and review this advanced copy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2-Format: audiobook, Genre: mystery, thriller, suspense, TW: Suicide, Animal Violence

The Angstrom family has seen enough loss and grief for an entire lifetime. From her sister going missing 10 years ago, her father’s death, and very twisted family dynamics, the family has been a constant source of gossip for their small Maine community. Teddy picks up where her father left off searching for answers about her missing sister, Angie. First, she meets Mickey, one of the sources her dad used in his research, and the two of them work together to get to the bottom of Angie’s disappearance. They meet some seedy characters during their internet sleuthing that could put them both in danger. Teddy is careful to protect herself, but Mickey seems to have an agenda of her own.

I had to stop and really think about this book after I finished listening to it. I enjoyed the story and would recommend it, but I’m not sure that I would recommend the audio version. I’m not sure it translated well to audio. Teddy and Mickey do research on Reddit and message each other online. The narrator read each character in the subreddits and instant messenger including ‘slash’ and ‘underscore,’ and I found it a bit distracting. Rebecca Quinn Robertson did a good job setting the tone for Teddy’s character. I enjoyed Kate Brody’s writing style and character development. Overall, I do recommend trying the print version of this book!

Thank you @NetGalley and @KateBrodyAuthor for the opportunity to listen to this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

I loved the whole idea of going down an internet rabbit hole, because I think we've all been there with some weird or obscure topic. So it was interesting to flip that on its head and see what it would look like when applied to such a deeply personal situation.

The whole thing was so, so beautifully written. I lost count of all the times that I stopped while listening to admire a description or metaphor. There were a couple of plot points that seemed like a bit of a stretch. Like why Teddy had no other friends who reached out to her when her dad died by suicide. Or why she didnt seem to take part in any activities outside of work. There was nothing to really help flesh out her character. I also found it odd that the catalist for the whole story was Mark's suicide, but the focus was mostly on Angie's disappearance a decade prior. Though I guess that could be a comment on how easy it is to distract yourself from your present reality with the help of the internet.

Book marketing is weird because the cover copy definitely makes it sound like this is going to be leaning toward the thriller side of things; a page turner with breakneck pacing. Really it's a singular exploration of grief, lonliness and finding a way forward. A commentary on the addictive and all too familiar experience of getting lost in a story that may or may not be true.

I will say that the narrator's delivery was a little flat and monotone, including when different voices were used for different characters. That may have been a conscious decision because of the subject matter, but it did make the listening experience a bit tedious and clausterphobic.

The use of the first person made sense in some ways, but I almost would have preferred this in the third person so we could have been slightly removed from Teddy. I would have loved to hear more from Mickey or even the mother. The detail about her being Irish was great, but never fully explored or explained.

All that to say that I think Kate Brody has a long career of writing ahead of her and will continue to impress. I am definitely a fan, and I look forward to reading more from this talented author.