Entertaining, immersive, and expertly narrated. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and thrillers are popular.

This debut thriller wasn't for me at all! Told in a stream of consciousness style from the POV of the sister who survived and is determined to discover whether her missing sister is actually dead or living somewhere else in secret. I got to the point where she kills her own dying dog by shooting him in the face and I just couldn't. Dark and kind of all over the place. I wasn't a fan but this isn't my fav style of book so others may enjoy it much more than me. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I took the description of this book at face value and was therefore expecting a "dark and twisty" thriller. Except, this isn't really a thriller. It's more like a character study in which we watch our MC spiral due to grief over her father's suicide and the ongoing mystery her sister's disappearance. The book was really, really sad. The writing is solid but I do think the blurb isn't doing it justice because it sets incorrect expectations. If you enjoy this element of true crime, you may enjoy this. But I'm not much of a true crime girlie and it just wasn't for me in the end.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

🎧RABBIT HOLE is a fascinating debut from Kate Brody and narrated by Rebecca Quinn Robertson.

This did feel a bit like the proverbial train wreck: I couldn't look away as Teddy (Theodora) our main character loses herself after her fathers death when she discovers his connections to a world of theories about her sister's disappearance a decade earlier.

I still feel conflicting emotions after reading this story! It was a definite dark dive into its namesake. True crime fanaticism, grief, trauma, blurred lines in relationships are all explored in this story. I am not a true crime fan, nor do I delve into the reddit-holes, so some of this was lost on me. That said, I was still so curious what was going to be revealed, and there was more than I expected!

The audio was a great way to consume this story! Thank you to @netgalley & @recordedbooks for the ALC. I thought Robertson did a phenomenal job making Teddy sound reasonable when she clearly was not.

I think this will be one of those books that I appreciate more than enjoyed. It was a fascinating look into an unraveling and yet, so much felt real and raw and as I said earlier, reasonable. The writing of the characters was done well. It will be one of those books I will think about for a while.

Got this for review on netgally.

2.5 stars, rounded up for the audiobook version. The narration was very good but unfortunately I didn't like the way the story was told. Felt very much like being inside someone's head that is having a bad time with nental health and the ending just didn't work either. Didn't feel like it was moving forward with the whole mystery more a downwards spiral of a family.
I feelt very bad for the dog and didn't really understand the point with that whole thing.
It wasn't a story for me unfortunately

My first book of 2024 and while I for sure finished it, it was just an ok book from my point of view. A book that could be described as much more character driven then plot and had a very slow roll. I have found over my years of reading that I tend to lean and enjoy those books where the characters are great, but there is definitely some plot movement with great pacing.

Teddy Angstrom's father has committed suicide and this is the second mystery that she is trying to solve. The first is the ten-year-old mystery of her older sister's disappearance. Teddy wonders if the two are related and why her father has chosen now to end his life. She heads to reddit, the chat boards, and old school sleuthing to try to gather the clues to solve it all.

For me, when I read the synopsis I felt as though the book was leaning towards the real mystery of it all and while that is the heart of the story, this book is more literary fiction and coming of age as Teddy is really trying to find herself without two of her family members in her life.

The book was very raw and real, and to warn the sensitive readers, this one had some scenes that while appropriate for the book, could make you blush. I personally don't have someone that I would recommend this book to, but I hope with describing it this way, a reader could find it for themselves.

As for the audiobook, the narrator was great, it felt as though Teddy herself was telling her story and I enjoyed listening to the story. I did have the ebook version and was glad to read in that medium also, and especially enjoyed the reddit parts in "print" was it was easier to follow the flow of the chat.

Teddy’s sister has been missing for ten years. On the ten year anniversary, Teddy’s father drives his car off of a bridge. In getting his affairs in order, Teddy discovers that he’s been looking for her sister through psychics and Reddit threads. Soon, Teddy is falling down the rabbit hole herself, and she’s taking those who care for her down with her.

The plot will draw mystery readers in, but this book is not a typical mystery. The mystery of what happened to Teddy’s sister is the line that brings all of the characters together, but this is more about Teddy’s life and how she slowly becomes obsessed and loses herself along the way. Also, at the risk of spoiling the ending, there is no satisfying conclusion. It just ends with more questions.

If I believed in trigger warnings, this book would have a few. You never know what could trigger a person, but if suicide, highly dysfunctional families, use of the R word, and dead dogs bother you, this isn’t the book for you.

Also, if you dislike morally gray characters, this book isn’t for you either. Teddy devolves throughout the story until she is totally unlikeable. She forms a friendship with a 19 year old college student who is weirdly obsessed with Teddy’s sister’s case. Their friendship grows more and more toxic throughout the story.

The narrator of the book talks very slow, but changing the speed of the audiobook helps with that. She gives each character a distinct voice, and her overall performance is good. However, any book with online chatroom conversations doesn’t translate well to audio, this book being no exception. The narrator reads every username before the text, and it’s monotonous and annoying.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced audiobook copy of this title from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a bizarre story, but not in a bad way. I felt oddly interested in what was happening to our MC. Her narration has sort of a fever dream quality to it and she comes across as an unreliable narrator. I was a bit nervous that this was going to be overly twisty and unrealistic, but it actually was fairly realistic. There were definitely some unusual things, but nothing that made the plot terribly unrealistic which is a huge win in a thriller. I would consider reading Kate Brody again.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

A well-written and at times almost a love letter of a novel, Rabbit Hole describes the incredible pain and loss of what happens when a teenager disappears, with no eventual resolution, you are left to always wonder what happened to him or her.

I keep thinking of people who state that there is no hell, because the world is more than cruel enough. Reading about the 2023 war in Israel and the unimaginable torture occuring there certainly supports this supposition.

This isn't an uplifting novel, but it does make you think, feel, and imagine the almost impossible situation numerous families deal with annually - that of a loved family member being there one day, gone the next, with no answers ever forthcoming.

Also included is the inevitable judgement (and parasites) lurking on social media, the rubberneckers who dwell vicariously in other people's pain and loss.

A quality novel, it is just heartbreaking due to the subject matter.

4.5
This is about mainly about how our main character Teddy falls apart after her dad kills himself 10 years after her sisters disappearance.

I really loved this book. The dysfunctional family and some of the other dark elements the scene where she kills her sick dog felt authentic and really connected for me. I love when we get a clear picture in dark or disturbed psyches and we get that in Rabbit Hole. Teddy's decisions were very often the wrong ones to make, but I could always see why she made them and why things turned out the way they did. There is some commentary on true crime but it feels subtle and no overbearing like some other books I have read.

I will say there was a little too much sex and this book could of been 10% shorter.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

Gritty. That's the best word I can think to describe this entire story. God, there were some parts that were so good, and then there were parts that I hated with all my being, but they made me feel so much, so did I really hate them? This story also had the overarching plot of you never truly know anyone, no matter how wholeheartedly you believe that you do. Violence is also a big part of the book. Both on page and off, just showing how all aspects of life contain violence and brutality. This was a really good story. It had so much more to it than just a mystery. I do kind of wish there had been some better closure between Teddy and her brother and then again for Teddy and Mickey, but that lack of closure just added to the gritty feeling.

This book was marketed all wrong, and I would suggest fixing the marketing or the blurb before it gets really bad reviews.

I picked this up thinking it could be many things. It said it was a thriller. It mentioned true crime, conspiracy theories, the title is rabbit hole. I expected maybe some of those things.

What I got was an unlikeable MC, who has awkward sex scenes with what seems to be a “gross old man” sorry for lack of better wording, I’m tired and over it. There is unnecessary animal cruelty. (Yes, I consider neglecting your dog at end of life because you’re selfish and cannot let him go, animal cruelty). This was all under the guise of “how different people deal with grief” which whatever, market it as that. Then I would’ve avoided it, and thus saved myself time, and saved the author a negative review.

There is very little conspiracy in the form of a few instances where the MC reads a couple Reddit threads. Very few for how you’d expect someone to become obsessed enough with a topic to warrant “going down a rabbit hole” She went nowhere even near a rabbit hole. I’m sorry, I’m just upset with books pretending to be something they aren’t. Don’t mess with my feelings.

Narrator was pretty good considering it was a depressing book, and she read it as such.

DNF at 35%. I think this book might be suffering from the way it is described. Even though I saw a review before and went in knowing it was more of a slow burn book about grief than the thriller that the description made me expect - this still didn’t work for me. It was too slow and ultimately decided to stop. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook and audiobook to review.

This was my most anticipated read and of 2024 and it kind of didn’t live up to the hype in my head. That being said this book was good for what it was! I really enjoyed it, BUT I think it was a huge injustice for the author for it to be pitched by the publisher as a mystery thriller…or something in that general direction. When in reality, it was more of a study of death, grief and the lives of those left behind in its wake. I think I’d classify it as more of a slow-slow-slow burn literary fiction book, because in the end nothing really happened.

The grief roller coaster that the main character(s) goes through is raw, saddening, but very real and authentic towards the human experience!

Overall if this book was marketed in a different way so I was more prepared for a literary fiction I think I would have rated it around 4.5 or 5⭐️


3.25⭐️

Special thanks to NetGalley, RB Media, and Recorded Books for the ALC in exchange for my honest reviews

Here we are, three days into the year, and I have my first one star book. This one was not for me at all. I wanted to like it, I expected to like it--I love true crime and going down Reddit rabbit holes. I was all in.
First off, this is NOT a thriller. It is a character study about what happens when you're dealing with grief in multiple ways. Don't go in expecting a thriller despite the blurb.

And then we had two gruesome cat deaths in the first THREE PERCENT of the book.
And we spend most of the book when Teddy is not making horrible choices talking about the slow death of the dog, culminating in a horrific ending for said animal. Let this serve as a warning, if you are sensitive to animal death, this is NOT the book for you.
Enter at your own risk if you decide to read. Some people have liked it. The one positive I can point out is that the narrator for the audiobook was really good. She kept me listening even though I wasn't vibing with the plot. I would have quit otherwise.

"Rabbit Hole" by Kate Brody follows Teddy, a faculty member haunted by her sister Angie's unsolved disappearance a decade ago. Their father, Mark, obsessed over Angie's case in a Reddit community until his untimely death, leaving Teddy to grapple with the aftermath.

Narrated by Rebecca Quinn Robertson, the story explores loss, an unresolved "true crime" mystery, and the emotional toll of obsession. Brody also delves into the complexities of family dynamics and the impact of unexplained tragedy. I enjoyed the narration more than the 11-hours it took to finish this story. Wish it would have been a bit more tied up.

Thanks to RB Media, via the NetGalley app, for an advanced listener copy!

Teddy becomes obsessed with solving her older sister’s disappearance from ten year ago. Her sister’s case is still unsolved and now their dad has killed himself. With his death, comes resurfacing secrets, and Teddy finds herself succumbing to erratic behavior and falling down a rabbit hole.

Rabbit Hole has me completely captivated and I found myself also succumbing. This book isn’t so much a thriller as it is very much a character study. I received this book as an ALC and the narrator was perfect for it, exactly the Teddy I’d imagine. If you’re expecting this to be a thriller, you might find it to be slow but trust me when I say… go into it without an expectations. This skillful narrative allowed me to delve into the innermost workings of Teddy’s mind, giving me a profound connection to her character. I’d recommend adding this book to your 2024 TBR… prepare yourself to be captivated and yearning for more from this talented author.

Thank you so much NetGalley and RB Media for the advanced copy and the chance to review it honestly.

Happy reading!

TW: Language, death of parent, death of spouse, death of child, mourning, animal death, death by suicide, drug addiction, alcoholism, toxic parent relationship, eating disorder, bullying, sexual assault, rape, graphic sexual scenes, animal cancer, death of dog (graphic), use of r-word,

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book: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.
Release Date: January 2nd, 2024
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 380
Rating: ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Liked how the story was written
2. Ohhhh livejournal ❤️

What I Didn't Like:
1. Every thriller has a romance
2. Very little happens that moves the plot forward
3. Repetitive
4. More sex scenes then thrilling things

Overall Thoughts:
"His breath smells like hotdogs and whiskey."

Ew that sounds absolutely disgusting.

It's so weird how in your face Mickey was.

So I guess it's Bill who killed Angie

I didn't know that teachers bring dates to a school dance. I've never heard of this before. How weird. Seems unsafe.

There is a lot of trigger warnings in this book.

There was a moment where they are watching You've Got Mail. How weird because I just watched it two days ago.

Sorry I think Mickie is the one who is all these people and she keeps pushing everyone to find her sister. She doesn't even try to hid her last name when it was well known and attached to a drug dealer that Teddy's sister would get drugs from.

We get a whole oral sex scene that adds nothing to this book. What is the point. We're 270 pages in and this the kind of things we are getting as a readers.

I skimmed the ending because I was desperate for anything to happen that lead anywhere.

We then get all these random different thoughts of what could have happened.

Final Thoughts:
There were moments where this didn't feel like a mystery because when Teddy finds out about it so many people already had some elements solved.

It was completely underwhelming. It was so boring and so monotone. This is not a thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book took a while for me to get into because as an audiobook the formatting seems off since there are not chapters. I was curious to find out what happened to Theodora’s sister and could not believe all that happened to her through out the book. This book really does show the bad side of the internet and the rabbit holes we can fall down.

2.5★

Labeling this book as a twisty thriller definitely did it a disservice. I feel like the description does not accurately portray the vibe of the book as it was definitely more slow paced. My expectations were set for a certain feel throughout the book but it was never met. While the story was interesting, it was heavy with no payoff in the end. I thought about dnf’ing it but I continued through - I wish I would have just put the book down though. Definitely check the TW before reading as there are talks of suicide and animal death.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.