The Appeal

This was an amazing book, full of twists and turns. It's told by emails and texts, you must answer some questions about a crime and a possible fraud, reading about all the players involved. It's an original way to immerse the reader in a case, I was hooked and couldn't stop reading. I'm going to read more books by the author for sure.

Absolutely loved this book.

I was hooked from the get go. So original, told entirely through correspondence. Beautifully drawn characters, a twisty, turny plot that keeps going right to the end and a very satisfying conclusion.

#NoSpoilers this is a difficult book to review without ruining it for future readers, but it's a cracking story and an excellent read.

Highly recommend.

I absolutely LOVED this book. It is without doubt one of the most unusual and clever mystery novels I have read this year. The unique aspect is the way the mystery is presented to us as the reader: it comes crafted entirely in the medium of writing between the characters, be that emails, text messages, crime reports, or posters. At the very beginning this is a bit disconcerting, as we are thrown into emails without much context, however I was quickly completely gripped by the interactions between the characters, the mysterious missing points of view of some, and for over half the book a crime hasn’t even happened - so unlike most mystery novels, here we have something extra to work out - what is going to happen and to whom? It was terrific.

We read alongside two law students (Charlotte and Femi) who are reading the case notes for the first time, and also don’t know where they are leading. Charlotte and Femi discuss the case occasionally via text message, and make some conclusions I wasn’t able to get myself, but there are plenty of clues throughout allowing the reader to solve it more or less at the same time Charlotte and Femi do. This absolutely worked for me - the story was gripping and the interactions between the characters absolutely fascinating - we could see when certain characters were lying, the large differences in writing styles, the inconsistencies. All this gave something more that is usually not easy to see in novels, and allowed the reader to be a real part of the investigation. Loved it. Give me more like this one!

My thanks to #NetGalley and Serpents Tail / Profile Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my goodness, my head is spinning after reading The Appeal, what a story, I couldn't stop thinking about it!

The plot centres around an amateur dramatics group who are the centre of a village's social scene, with friends and family members variously involved in the theatrics. The family's 2 year old grand daughter is sadly diagnosed with cancer, and the am dram group rally round to raise funds for ground breaking treatment. But underneath it all, all is not as it seems.

The story is presented as a file of evidence of emails, phone transcripts and newsletters. Hidden in amongst them all are the clues you need to put together to solve a murder- because yes, there's a death in the middle of the book, although for the first half of the story you almost forget that it's coming, you're so engrossed in the other storyline.

If you like Cara Hunter's style of writing, this will appeal to you. I really enjoyed hearing the various characters' voices and thoughts firsthand and trying (and failing!) to spot the clues

Well worth a read, thanks so much to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read the story!