Are You Sleeping is a good choice for those who enjoy mysteries with a touch of psychological suspense. If you're looking for a fast-paced read with a unique exploration of identity and the impact of true crime podcasts, this book might be a good fit. However, if you prefer deeply developed characters and highly surprising plot twists, you might want to consider other options.

Josie Buhrman is living her new life in New York with her boyfriend Caleb, she is ok with her current life though she has had a really worrisome past - she has lost a parent to murder which was witnessed by her twin sister Lanie.
When all seems to be going well, Josie learns about a new podcast by investigative reporter Poppy Parnell which reopens the case of Josie and Lanie's father Chuck Burman!

Right when the sisters are dealing with this exploding podcast they learn that their mother committed suicide in the cult that she had joined after losing her husband!
The story revolves around who killed Chuck and what exactly did Lanie witness that night.
A very well written book, thanks to Netgalley, Kathleen Barber, Pan Macmillan for approving the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Omg talk about a roller coaster read wow this book kept me on the edge of my seat threw out I just couldn't put it down this writer keeps you hooked and once your hooked your not letting go I found this book thrilling the characters were fantastic and well thought out and the little clues all the way threw keep you guessing until the end this book stays with you long after you close the book this book is well worth the read I promise you wont be disappointed

"Josie Buhrman has spent the last ten years trying to escape the tragic events of her dark past: after her father's murder, her mother ran away to join a cult, and her twin sister Lanie, once Josie's closest confidant, betrayed her. Now, Josie has a new life in new York with her boyfriend Caleb.

The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past – starting with her last name."

I had high hopes for this thriller, and although I enjoyed it, the storyline was not as gripping as I was hoping for. Yes, there were some edge of the seat moments, and a lot of backstory to wade through to get to the truth of what happened that night.

I enjoyed the inclusion of social media to highlight how out of control things can get once a reporter gets their teeth into a story, and this made the book much more current.

The clues were there all the way through the book, so the ending was not a great surprise to me.

Unbelievable, underwhelming and obvious. Did not like any of the characters and I will hesitate before reading any more books by this author

Poppy's poking opens up a huge scab in Josie's life- a background she's been hiding from everyone, including Caleb. It's a good read.

Book Review
Title: Are You Sleeping
Author: Kathleen Barber
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Rating: ***
Review: The opening to Are You Sleeping was interesting, we are introduced to Josie living a domestic life in New York with her partner Caleb, who is away working in Africa. One night at 3 a.m. Josie gets a phone call and she believes it to be a Caleb, when she says she misses him a female voice answers saying that she misses Josie too. She puts this down to a bad connection and puts it out of her mind until Caleb responds to her email saying he never called her. Josie on the train hears about a podcast that is investigating the murder of her father 13 years before and Josie is rattled as she has lied to everyone in New York about her past, even her last name in order to distance herself from the event. She realises that the phone call might have been from her twin sister Lanie, but she is warned by her cousin, Ellen, not to listen to the podcast and they are trying to get it shut down but curiosity gets the better of her and she ends up listening to the first 2 episodes. In them we meet the supposed killer, Warren Cave who has been in prison from 13 years because one of the twins said they saw him committing the murder but it also came to light that Josie’s father was having an affair with Warren’s mother but the case was circumstantial at best.
We learn that Lanie was the one that said she saw Warren kill their father but this wasn’t the first statement she gave the police, in her first statement both twins had said they were sleeping and were woken up by the gunshot. In the wake of the podcast, Jo is overcome by paranoia which doesn’t settle until Caleb returns home from Africa. At this point, Ellen is pleading with her to come clean to Caleb as she won’t be able to hide the truth forever, especially with the podcast becoming a sensation and her mother suddenly committing suicide which means she has to return to her childhood hometown. We also learn that for 5 years, Jo travelled the world trying to outrun her father’s death eventually leading her to Africa where she met Caleb but the pressure is rising for her to come clean to him but she can’t bring herself to do. Her mother abandoned them after their father’s death opting to join a cult instead and her death just makes Jo angry but she knows she has to go back from her Aunt A and the other members of the family left behind.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we learn a lot not just about Jo but the family she left behind all those years ago and the emotional scars she has buried long before her mother’s death. As she waits to return home, she has become obsessed with the podcast and reading anything related to it but she also begins to drink in order to sleep and forget. Upon returning home, she is immediately bombarding by the memories of the happy life she has before her father’s death but despite Ellen and her Aunt A basically pleading with her to get in touch with her sister, Jo refuses. The relationship between the sister’s took a nosedive after their father’s death but it only got worse as Jo prepared to leave for college and then the contact was cut completely with Jo refusing to acknowledge her sister and banning any of her family from even mentioning her name. Despite her learning her sister still lives in their home town and got married, this only fills Jo with anger as she has suffered much more than Lanie and doesn’t seem to feel like her sister deserves a happy life and the paranoia only intensifies when she begins listening to the third episode of the podcast which starts to examine who else had motive to kill her father besides Warren Cave which include her own mother and Warren’s father.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Jo isn’t adjusting to be back home especially with everything going on but it is made worse knowing that her sister is going to be at the visitation. As the day dawns to view her mother’s body, Jo desperately wants to tell Caleb everything but something keeps holding her back. The day does not go well, the first issue is that Jo doesn’t believe the body in the coffin belongs to her mother, then she finds out her sister married the man she loved, Adam Ives, and has a child with him which may be the betrayal that was mentioned in the synopsis. The day gets even worse when Poppy, the investigator running the podcast turns up followed by Melanie Caves, Warren’s mother. She mistakes Jo for Lanie and starts ranting about how she lied and the truth needs to come out for her son to be free. She leaves with the threat that she is watching Lanie and my suspicions over her being the murderer are heightened when we learn she left their father a message the night he was killed saying he would answer for the problems he had caused, namely the breakdown of her marriage.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, tensions are rising but we are no closer to finding out the truth of what happened that night other than Lanie was telling the truth when she said she witnessed the murder but signs are pointing to her also being the potential killer. Very soon the past and the present begin to collide when Caleb turns up unannounced and Jo is forced to explain she has lied about her entire life which might have changed their entire relationship but he does turn up for the funeral and supports her when she needs it the most. We also get scenes from the past that show how unhinged Lanie was and might still be, the night before their mother left, Lanie was at the movies at the same time Jo, Adam and Ellen were but when the movie ended with a wife shooting her husband Lanie freaked out. Jo being the responsible sister took her home only for Lanie to try and smoother their mother forcing Jo and their Aunt A to restrain her. Lanie verbally abuses Jo until she lashes out violently and the next day their mother was gone but Jo can’t forget Lanie screaming that it was their mother’s fault over and over, but to this day she has no idea what her sister meant by that but I have a feeling we are going to find out.
As we cross the halfway mark in the novel, Jo begins mending the relationship that were damaged long ago with her cousin, her aunt and most importantly her sister. Caleb despite the lies Jo told is still by her side helping through this exceedingly difficult time in her life as best he can and honestly he is the purest character in this book. We also get some truth revealed when we learn that Jo and Lanie’s relationship starting to break down the night she slept with Adam at a party who was Jo’s boyfriend at the time. It turns out that Adam was drunk and Lanie was high but he knew what he was doing and his defence that he thought Lanie was her are utter crap as Caleb puts it. We also see Jo getting the chance to build a relationship with her niece and things seems to be going great but something is building as Lanie hasn’t slept in days and the podcast is causing her to start to unravel to the point where she might be hurting herself. The podcast is writes off Erin as a suspect as she wasn’t aware of the affair and she already struggled with mental health issues which led to her joining the cult in the first place and now it begins to look at Melanie Cave as a suspect and one twitter user might be Melanie.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Jo and Lanie seem to be on the road to mending their relationship even though there is a lot of bad blood between them but when Ellen asks Jo if she ever considered that Lanie killed their father she can’t even consider it. Poppy makes another appearance pleading for the sister’s to join the podcast and tell their side of the story but even with their strained relationship they stick together which Jo even lying to cover up the fact that Lanie stole her boyfriend all those years ago. When the new episode of the podcast drops, Caleb and Jo are making plans to return home but she has to listen to it and Poppy points the finger at Lanie, claiming that at the time she said Warren killed her father the images of them and the truth were reverse. Lanie was seen a good girl when she was anything but that and Warren was seen as an outsider and loner possibly capable of murder when in reality he couldn’t even kill a spider and Poppy has a witness from the night of the murder saying that Warren was telling the truth about getting throw into the lake but they never came forward because they thought it was possible that he could have made it back to Chuck’s home and killed him. The questions I have are rapidly building but with just over 70 pages in the novel left I don’t know how it is going to end, and I have no idea who really killed their father.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, things really heat up when Lanie goes off the rails sending her daughter Ann to Jo with what seems like a suicide note. Everyone rushes to try and find Lanie but Jo is the only one that understands her sister and the only one who knows where she would retreat when she felt threatened or frightened. When Jo finds her Lanie tells her that she did lie about Warren killing their father because she couldn’t believe who killed him and while she doesn’t announce who did it, Jo jumps the conclusion that it was Melanie. Upon returning home they go to bed only for Lanie to wake Jo up in the early hours of the morning and together they put together the pieces of the puzzle. The first clue was the references to pearls, not the precious stones but a woman named Pearl who their father had an affair with, the shooter was left handed and bore a resemblance to Warren which Melanie doesn’t but their mother did. The final piece is the cupcakes they made as children, Jo had been sick and ate a piece of the bigger one only for her mother to storm in and make her spit it out telling her it was meant for their father. It seems that Lanie knew about the affairs and that their mother was planning something, she initially tried to poison him but didn’t get the chance because of Jo and then shot him. This is confirmed by a note their mother wrote in her beloved copy of Anna Karenina and it seems the mystery is solved.
Overall, this wasn’t the most original reveal with the main suspects being the wife or the mistress, I would have been more shocked if Lanie had killed her father but as this was more about he relationships between the characters I can see how Erin’s unstable mental health and Chuck’s cheating behaviour could have pushed her to do what she did and her retreating to the cult was a way of hiding what she did from the world and protecting her daughters from it if it ever came to haunt her. Are You Sleeping was a suspenseful novel but it was okay at best.

In this novel, when Jo was a teenager, her father was murdered. Her mother then abandoned Jo and her twin sister to join a cult, and Jo later became estranged from her twin as well. Now in her 20s, Jo has changed her name and tried to put that life behind her, but finds herself drawn back in when a podcast takes up the case of her father's murder to consider whether the teenage boy convicted of the crime really did it. The narrative from Jo's point of view is interspersed with transcripts from the podcast and tweets and forum posts discussing it. There were only so many people it could have been so when you find out who the killer is, it is not exactly shocking but the book did keep me guessing up until that point. The end wrapped up perhaps a touch neatly but it was definitely a book that kept me reading. 3.75 stars.

I received an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley. This book had me from the very beginning. I love that it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I would highly recommend this book to my fellow readers. Thank you for the chance to review this book!!!!

This is a clever, suspenseful, gripping, but perhaps also a somewhat predictable psychological thriller novel. The story is told in a fairly unique way by using podcast excerpts, and Facebook and Twitter feeds throughout the book. I loved the way that the story was told, and I loved the idea of the podcast episodes intermingled with the normal story and chapters. I found myself turning the pages quickly in the hope that the next podcast chapter would only be a few pages away.

This novel is more of a character driven story rather than a twisty psychological thriller. The book is well written, and trying to solve the murder of Josie's father kept me interested all the way to the end. Being a frequent ID and Crime & Investigation channel viewer, I found it interesting to read how the murder captivated the attention of the media, and how one journalist took it upon herself to start questioning the facts around the murder. I could easily see a story like this being a series that I would watch on TV.

This book isn't what I would call fast-paced, and I wasn't really ever totally gripped or absorbed by the story, but I did enjoy it. It was a book that I looked forward to reading every evening when I went to bed. I really enjoyed the characters of both sisters, I enjoyed reading about a once perfect family and how they fell apart, and I enjoyed trying to figure out the murder mystery. If truth be told, I did figure out who the murderer was fairly early on in the story and that was a pity, but I suppose not every book can have you totally flummoxed at the end.

I would recommend this read to people who like character driven thrillers, with complex family dramas, and difficult relationships, and stories that are generally lighter with less violence or darkness than some thrillers have. Overall, this is one that I enjoyed and that I do recommend.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

The only thing more dangerous than a lie . . . is the truth
Josie Buhrman has spent the last ten years trying to escape the tragic events of her dark past: after her father's murder, her mother ran away to join a cult, and her twin sister Lanie, once Josie's closest confidant, betrayed her. Now, Josie has a new life in new York with her boyfriend Caleb. The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past – starting with her last name. Then investigative reporter Poppy Parnell sets off a media firestorm with a hit podcast that reopens the case of her father’s murder and Josie’s carefully constructed world begins to unravel. Forced to return to her hometown she must confront the lies from her past – as well as those on which she has staked her future.

*3.5 stars*

Let's start by talking about the presentation of the book - told primarily from Josie's POV, it also includes podcasts, interviews, newspaper stories and social media posts that was such a refreshing change, that I couldn't help but think this was one of the best presented books I had seen in quite a while.

The story itself? Well, it was nothing new - in fact, I have seen plenty of reviews say "predictable" or "unoriginal" and that may very well be true. However, there aren't a lot of new ideas getting around so you have to find the writers who take the old ideas and package them differently. Which this book does in a good way - it had me flipping the pages pretty quickly. Just because it isn't fresh and original, doesn't automatically mean it is going to suck.

My reason for not scoring this higher? Josie herself. Written as a tough-as-nails protagonist, that kinda worked...but as soon as she got near a male, she turned into the biggest cliché ever. It was such a disaster:

"...you are the only thing that means anything to me in this entire world, and I would die if I lost you...

Gag!

Such a shame cos Josie is the one character who should have been the star, not the problem.

Anyway, I will certainly give this author a second crack - I am sure there is plenty of 5-star stuff to come from her.


Paul
ARH

I have an embarrassing affinity for reality television programing.

The more salacious the better.

My attachment is so profound that an episode of the cringe-worth Botched was actually playing, on mute, as I gave birth to my second son (Mainly because he was born quite quickly… not because I selected that high-quality program as an appropriate birth-time viewing option).

Though the siren’s call of reality TV is just too tempting for me to resist, I, like many viewers would like to assume, have taken some time to consider the societal ramifications of this type of programing.

What do these programs ultimately do to the people featured on them?

And, perhaps more importantly, what impact do they have to those in the periphery?

Those whose stories are being told – or rehashed – despite the fact that they personally have not agreed to participate in the retelling.

This question is central to Are You Sleeping the stellar debut from Kathleen Barber.

Josie, the protagonist of this novel, has spent the majority of her life trying to escape her troubled past.

She dedicated a meaningful period of time to backpacking around Europe (which is probably the most glamorous and enjoyable way to forget, TBH)

She even traded her tarnished family moniker of Burhman for a brand-spanking-new last name.

Josie had been surprisingly successful in leaving her past behind. That is until a podcast pops up that draws new attention to what is pretty much the most significant incident from her past that she was trying to escape – the murder of her father.

It seemed to Josie that she should be able to put this incident behind her. After all, the crime was solved and a killer convicted.

But though the once-emo-teen neighbor, Warren Cave, still remains behind bars, serving time for this murder, podcast runner Poppy Parnell (a former investigative journalist who I basically pictured as Nancy Grace but younger and ever so slightly less crazy) asserts that Warren is actually innocent and that justice has most certainly not been served.

Unfortunately for Josie, this podcast, catapults to Making a Murderer levels of popularity pretty much overnight.

This leaves her bathed in limelight and forces her to face her complicated past.

You see, unfortunately for Josie, her father’s murder isn’t the only skeleton in her closet.

As you would expect, things weren’t exactly roses and sunshine after his death either.

Following his murder her mother, who always had a precarious grip on her sanity, lost it completely and ran away to join a cult. Meanwhile, her twin sister, Lanie, floated through her teen years in a cloud of drug usage and promiscuity.

Making matters even more complicated (as if it’s not already fucking complicated enough), Josie’s current live-in boyfriend knows absolutely nothing of this past, as she has always told him that both of her parents died in a decidedly benign manner.

So she just needs to prevent him from hearing the podcast, right?

That can’t be that hard.

Well, not quite.

Before Josie can even craft a simple plan like this something-fucking-else happens, literally forcing her to go home and actually face the demons she has, despite her best efforts, failed to outrun.

Complexed and layered, this plot grabs you from the start and – like Josie’s past – hangs on tight.

From chapter one, readers are immersed in Josie’s life and invested in her as a flawed-but-real character.

To my delight, the prose in this novel was beautifully lyrical. This is one of those books that it just feels wonderful to read (which is seriously like the unicorn factor I am always seeking in a book, so thanks for that, Kathleen Barber)

When it comes to faults, I can identify only two.

One is, admittedly, miniscule.

Josie – who works very part time at a bookstore and her boyfriend – who does something Peace-corps-ish – live in New York City in an apartment that, at least it would seem, isn’t super shitty.

I mean, okay… I guess… there was just a part of me (probably the part that was always fearful of becoming a starving artist and literally subsisting on a diet of stale bread and toilet wine) that really questioned whether this level of living would be possible with the level of salaries our protagonist and her gentleman love would be bringing in.

But really, my NYC experience begins and ends with Real Housewives of New York City, so my perception might be a little warped.

My other issue is a bit more significant.

The ending.

Listen, I’ve had the worst luck with endings lately.

And, admittedly, this one wasn’t horrible.

But it also wasn’t amazing.

I felt like the climax just wasn’t quite climactic enough.

As readers, we were going up-up-up on that roller coaster (which felt really good) but then we never went down that big hill.

We just sorta… coasted.

It fizzled.

Which sucked.

That said, however, the ending was logical and the answer to the driving question of “Who done it?” was pretty believable.

It was just that the way in which this key question was answered – and how quickly the book came to a close after – left me wanting more.

Were it not for the ending, this would have easily been a five cocktail read.

As it stands, however, I would still entirely recommend this book. (In fact, I probably will foist it upon friends and unsuspecting strangers for quite a while – especially now that I hear that it will be a movie starring the amazing Octavia Spencer).

All considered, I give it 4 out of 5 cocktails.

Great thriller. I'm a bit obsessed with books that use a podcast format. It makes the story so much more readable and interesting and unique, in my opinion. This book isn't podcast format the whole way through, like Matt Wesolowski's Six Stories, but there was still enough. That being said, I would have enjoyed this without the podcast formatting. The story was well thought-out with a mystery I was compelled to keep reading into the night. I didn't love any of the characters (I absolutely HATED Poppy Parnell), which usually ruins a book for me, but I didn't mind Josie and some of the other minor characters. And even though I really disliked Lanie, I wish we had been given her perspective or that her character (and the mother's) had been more developed in depth. I think this would have been a 3-star book if it wasn't a debut. I'm really impressed with the author and am excited to read more of her work as it comes out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Publishers for a free digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

'Are You Sleeping' follows the story of Josie Buhrman and her attempts to escape her family's tainted reputation; her father was murdered, her mother ran away and joined a cult, and her twin sister has questionable loyalties. Over a decade on, an investigative journalist decides to start her own podcast looking into Mr Buhrman's murder, for which someone has already been charged and imprisoned. Are You Sleeping tells the story of Josie's life and how she finds out what really helped, whilst the chapters are cleverly interspersed with transcripts of the podcasts. If you are a fan of the 'Serial' podcasts on a similar subject matter, then I think you'll love this book.

I read this book in less than 24 hours because the style of writing had me absolutely gripped; being able to read the transcripts as well as type-outs of internet forum messages and tweets gave a good rounded perspective of the crime and allows you to really play detective yourself and work out what happened. Throughout the book I had an inkling of who was guilty, but this did change a few times and I was pleased that the ending actually took me by surprise.

On the whole, this is a really well-written book using a novel and interesting concept. I'll certainly be looking out for more from Kathleen Barber - what a great debut this was!

I read this one along with my Traveling Sisters and enjoyed our short discussions. Time wasn’t really in our favour with this one and we mostly read it on our own. So for this review, I will focus on my thoughts.

Are You Sleeping was a nice surprise for me and I really enjoyed the lighter side to this story yet a little chilling and unsettling at the same time. It’s a story with hidden family secrets and betrayals that has caught the attention of the media. I really enjoyed what I called the Poppy Pods (podcasts) and liked that unique twist to the story. I thought Kathleen Barber gave us a good look into how the media and their audience can latch on and become obsessed with their views and how their reactions can affect a person. I could really see how that affected our main character Josie in this story and I could really feel for her.

I had a love/hate relationship here with Josie and I have to say she was not my favorite twin sister in this story. I really felt more for her sister Lanie and I thought Josie was not the best sister either. Josie had me so angry at her at times and I really wanted to shout at her to change her behaviour to her sister.

Like Norma’s thoughts, I didn’t find this story gripping or fast-paced. I did enjoy the story and found it quite interesting. I recommend for an interesting lighter read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books and Kathleen Barber for the opportunity read and review this book.

ARE YOU SLEEPING by KATHLEEN BARBER is a clever, suspenseful, creative, and a somewhat predictable psychological thriller novel that was uniquely told with podcast excerpts and social media feeds which added a very interesting aspect to this storyline for me.  The way that this story was told and the format of this book is what I found most enjoyable.

KATHLEEN BARBER delivers a well-written and character-driven novel here that takes us on a journey of solving the murder of Josie’s father from 13 years ago that has attracted the attention of the media. I really enjoyed Josie and Lainie’s characters.  

This isn’t particularly what I would call a fast-paced or gripping thriller but KATHLEEN BARBER wrote a very readable story here and I really enjoyed and found the dysfunction of the family quite interesting and it was hard to put down. Would recommend to anyone that likes a thriller on the lighter side with lots of betrayal, secrets, lies, and familial dynamics within the storyline.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher and Kathleen Barber for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I was intrigued by the mystery but not compelled to keep reading. I didn't like it very much, sadly. I was so excited for this.

Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber is her debut mystery novel. I am sure we will be hearing more from this author. She shows real promise!

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Has the wrong person spent 12 years in jail for a crime he did not commit? When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell delves into the cold case murder of Chuck Buhrman, her podcast will bring out the worst in some. In others, it will bring back nightmares. It will also bring back horrific memories for Lanie and Josie, Chuck’s twin daughters, not only of their fathers murder, but of the loss of their mother as well. For Erin Buhrman did not handle the murder of her husband well. She left her 16 year old daughters in the hands of their aunt, and ran off to join a cult. In their own ways, both girls tried to bury the past. Lanie struggled through high school, and got in with the wrong crowd. Then she ruined her relationship with her sister Josie. Josie ran from the small town and her troubles, not really knowing what she was searching for. Now Josie is in a loving relationship, living in New York, and relatively happy. But she lied. Her boyfriend, Caleb doesn’t know her about her past, or even her real name. This podcast is going to shine a light on a lot of secrets. The past never really stays buried. Neither do lies.

This was a really entertaining, fast read. I liked how the author told the story from Josie’s point of view, but threw in the podcasts, and some twitter feeds. It kept the whole story fresh. I felt that the characters showed depth, and I loved them all, well, except Poppy, but you aren’t supposed to like her. From the first page, it grabbed you, and you had to hold on for the ride. Even though I had my suspicions, it wasn’t until the end that they were confirmed.

Great book!

When Josie's father, was shot and killed thirteen years ago, her entire life changed. Her mother ran away to join a cult, her twin sister, Lanie, who once her bestfriend, betrayed her. The tragedy she endured convinced her to spend the last ten years far from the family she once had. Now she's settled in New York with her boyfriend Caleb. But when Poppy Parnell, a radio personality, who hosts a podcast called 'Reconsidered' re-opens the case, it threatens everything that Josie had accomplished in the past decade since that she didn't tell Caleb everything about her past.

With the unexpected death of her mother, Josie was forced to go home, not only facing the family and the tragedy she left years ago, but maybe also the TRUTH.

I'm not that familiar with podcast, but it sure was one of the reasons why I requested this book. I want a new touch in my usual mystery genre but  I ended up having mixed feelings about 'Are you Sleeping '. The author, obviously has a talent for it, but as the story goes on, I found it dragged and losing the thrill. And with that i found the whole plot, the whole book less interesting.

I begun guessing everything before the second half of the book ended and in the end, turned out my guesses were correct.

About the characters, sadly, the only character I found real was Poppy Parnell. She acts like a real reporter. The others were all mediocres. Josie, herself, is an unreliable character, and though it sometimes adds to the thrills, it makes me scartch my head most of the time. And Caleb? He is a little unrealistic.

But overall, it was an okay read for me. This won't be the last book I'll read from the author.

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved all of the characters and felt attached to allow them. Josie and Lanie were twins but complete opposites..which I think worked well in this book. It was hard to put this book down as I wanted to find out all that happened, past and present. The following of the podcast really added to the story and gave a great perspective. Can't wait to read more by this author. I highly recommend this book if you like a good mystery/thriller!