This is definitely one where the audio version hurt, rather than helped, my impressions along... I was intrigued by the blurb and love the cover. I started listening and thought it would be right up my alley, but over time I must confess that the narration really lost me. It was very over the top and if you listened for cadence and voices it was more like a YA or middle grade book than a serious thriller about an accident and a disgraced cop... To be fair, I'm not sure I'd have loved it even in book form. It was fairly unevenly paced for my taste, with bursts that felt monotonal followed by dramatic action. All in all this just wasn't a good fit for me...

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I found the narrator to be poor on this audiobook. To me, the narrator's voice was irritating and didn't seem to go well with the story. Also, all the characters seemed to sound the same. Thus, it was hard t pay attention and figure out who was who because it didn't hold my attention. I finally gave up and did not finish at about 20% of the book. I think it might be good in book form or with a different narrator.

Told in a split timeline, pre-party and post-party, this mystery brought all the drama and kept me guessing!

Premise - Susan Grey is determined to throw an absolute blowout bash for her fiftieth birthday party. By the end of the night, the extravaganza takes a hard left when Susan is found at the foot of her grand staircase.

As Susan lies in a coma she may never wake from, detective Grace Roth races to piece together the events preceding Susan’s fall. Her career and the safety of the other party guests are at stake.

Audiobooks are my favorite way to make errands, housework, cooking, and workouts something I really look forward to. This book made me want to mop the whole house just to have an excuse to keep listening!

The story is perfectly paced, so there was never a point when I wanted to hit pause and yet I still got plenty of character development for the colorful acquaintances of Susan Grey (and Susan herself, through the pre-party timeline).

DI Grace Roth is a great character herself and never commits the detective cardinal sins, possessing neither superhuman intuition nor unrealistic naïveté. The colorful band of shady characters in Susan’s life kept me guessing and I loved how the two timelines played out in alternating chapters.

Natalie Sammons is yet another author I’ll have to add to my ever-growing must-buy list 😅 and the narrator, Danielle Cohen, did a great job with the read.

Thanks, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.