Zoe and Kim Nolan are identical twins who have recently enrolled at Manchester University. They’re housed together in a flat in a hall of residence, and the narrative revolves around them and their flatmates, and some other students they befriend. Most important is Zoe’s boyfriend, Andrew Flowers, her course mate, Fintan Murphy, a flatmate of the twins, Liu Wai, and one of Andrew’s housemates, Jai Mahmoud. Other friends and flatmates appear in the narrative but are less central. Soon after the term begins, just three months into their time at university, Zoe Nolan goes missing and is never heard from again.

True Crime Story is written as a true crime book (hence the title) and includes emails between the author, Evelyn Mitchell, and a character called Joseph Knox (yes, THE Joseph Knox), who in an act which kind of breaks the fourth wall, appears in the narrative of his own novel. There are even references to Knox’s brilliant Sirens trilogy. Evelyn is obsessed with the case and interviews all the surviving participants - Andrew Flowers, Fintan Murphy, Liu Wai, and Jai Mahmoud, and Zoe and Kim’s parents, as well as the police liaison officer and some other people who become involved in the case.

The case became a media sensation, with Andrew Flowers, Kim Nolan and Jai Mahmoud in particular, coming under suspicion. Evelyn pulls on these threads, and on others, and soon exposes the dark underbelly of this story. For example, the twins' dad is quickly exposed as a repellent piece of work, as are others.

This is an innovative crime thriller that will keep readers guessing until the end and is not like many books on the market. It’s well worth a read.

Firstly I absolutely loved the layout and style of this book. The story is told via transcripts of interviews with each character along with copies of emails sent between Evelyn and the author Joseph Knox.

This is one of those books that will have you questioning whether what you are reading is actually real or just a work of fiction. It was just so well executed and the way the author placed himself within the story of the book really brought the whole thing to life and definitely gave it that ‘non-fiction’ / true crime vibe. I’ll admit I even googled to see if what I was reading was true it was that convincing.

I loved the pace of the book as I always find interview style books easy to read and there was also the added layer of not knowing who to trust. At times I felt like this could have been a Netflix documentary and will have you in full detective mode trying to figure out if you can spot anything from the interviews or if you can pick up on any discrepancies with some of the retelling of what happened that night.

It’s full of secrets, twists and kept me guessing until the very end. The only reason why it missed out on 5 stars was because of the ending unfortunately – after all the suspense throughout I was hoping for a complete jaw dropping or explosive reveal / ending but I just didn’t feel like it did that. I would have preferred a different ending.

Apart from that minor niggle with the ending, overall this was a refreshing, compelling and unique take on the crime thriller genre that I thoroughly enjoyed.

True Crime Story is a very clever, unique story, written as a factual investigation in to the disappearance of Zoe Nolan, a 19 year old fresher at Manchester uni just before christmas in 2011 we follow the accounts of the people closest to Zoe when novelist Evelyn Mitchell picks up on her story several years later and interviews them all in a bid to find out what really happened to Zoe. Joseph Knox weaves his himself in to the story, which gives the story an added level of reality.

The twists and turns will keep you guessing, the format also has you questioning if it is an actual true crime story, I even googled Zoe Nolan when I started reading it as it was so convincing!!!

My book of 2021 so far.

I was given a copy of True Crime Story by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

True Crime Story is a truly original and unconventionally written book, and although this chilling, disturbing and riveting story is penned in an intriguing true-crime documentary format, I found that this uniqueness, and the fact that Knox even permits himself a role in the fictional narrative within these pages, made it all the more difficult to put down as well as categorise accurately. In the early hours of Saturday, 17 December 2011, Zoe Nolan, a nineteen-year-old Manchester University student, walked out of a party taking place in the shared accommodation where she had been living for three months. On the surface, Zoe had everything in the world going for her; intelligence, beauty, a supportive family. In September of that year, she’d travelled from Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester, realising a long-held ambition to live in the city. She moved into a high-rise student apartment with her twin sister, Kimberly, and two other girls who quickly became her closest friends. Singing had always been the great passion of Zoe’s life, and she’d moved to Manchester to more seriously study music, finding herself unexpectedly popular with coursemates and around campus. Her contemporaries found her talent and dedication impressive and she soon met the young man who would become her first serious boyfriend. She passed three seemingly happy months in this state, right up until 17 December, the day her parents arrived to take her home for the Christmas holidays, only to find that she had vanished without a trace. Never to be seen again.

Evelyn Mitchell, a fellow writer who Knox meets at his book signing and later becomes a friend, had been investigating Zoe’s disappearance and had spoken to her family about the surrounding circumstances and relayed much of it to Knox in meetings at coffee shops or via email. There were rumours that the book was the death of Evelyn as she passed away, creating a profound sense of unease, before she could complete it leaving Knox to continue her hard work. In a fragmented and convoluted style, the narrative comprises emails, pictures, newspaper clippings, interview transcripts and the thoughts, feelings and memories of Zoe’s friends, her twin sister, wider family, the police investigators, the media and those who were with her the fateful night she vanished without a trace. While the format can take a little getting used to, I found it was the perfect way to tell an immersive, all-encompassing story focusing on the victim and accumulating the experiences and feelings of those who knew Zoe as a person; by the end you feel you know her, too. Suspicious characters emerge as do a plethora of twists and turns as the many secrets, lies, jealousies, betrayals and infatuations unravel and pave the way for the explosive and shocking conclusion. It's a compulsive, claustrophobic feeling novel, and I must say, Knox has excelled himself once again. Never anything less than scintillating, his ideas are always dark, unsettling, totally original and refreshingly different in a genre becoming increasingly indistinguishable. Highly recommended.

Joseph Knox has shown from the first of his Manchester based trilogy what a brilliant writer he is and this superb book takes him to a new level. Original and intriguing, it turns the true crime genre into a work of fiction. Joseph himself is a central character in the book as he is in touch with a writer who is investigating the disappearance of Manchester University student Zoe Nolan and the truth gradually emerges from the testimony of those closest to her. Unique and utterly engrossing.

I couldn't get into this book at all. The style of so many characters telling their version of a young girl's disappearance in first person became monotonous and I lost lost interest.

This happened with another contemporary novel written in a similar format last year.

My thanks to Random House U.K./Transworld Publishers for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘True Crime Story’ by Joseph Knox in exchange for an honest review.

This highly original crime novel presents itself as a true crime book focusing on the disappearance on Saturday 17 December 2011, of Zoe Nolan, a nineteen-year-old Manchester University student. She walked out of a party taking place in the shared accommodation where she had been living and was never seen again.

Seven years after her disappearance, writer Evelyn Mitchell finds herself drawn into the mystery. She interviews Zoe's friends and family, and begins piecing together what really happened in 2011. She becomes aware of troubling inconsistencies in the reports and also uncovers evidence of Zoe’s secret life.

Finding herself stalked by a shadowy presence, Evelyn reaches out to crime writer Joseph Knox to help her make sense of the case. No further details to avoid spoilers.

Every now and then I like to read true crime books and so felt that Knox was quite clever in writing a novel using a style that imitates a work of true crime nonfiction including interviews, emails, and reports.

This was an unusual and totally absorbing work of untrue crime. Simply brilliant!

I feel that this will be a novel that will appeal to readers of both crime fiction and true crime. Highly recommended.

An interesting take on the murder mystery, which keeps you guessing all the way to the end. A must read for anyone who’s ever binge watched a true crime show.

I honestly didn't know what to make of this book to start with, it didn't grip me from the start as it took me a while to get used to the layout....but once I did I loved it! I love a good "whodunnit" so this was right up my street. It feels like it's a true crime book but it's a fiction that misleads you....it's a clever blend of fact and fiction and I loved it....absolutely brilliant and so so clever ❤

I found it really hard to get into this book, and although the blurb sounded great, the story didn't work for me. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the ARC.

Where do I start...? For me, this book was a bit of a cross between Daisy Jones and the Six and The Word is Murder, although, that said, it was also wholly unique...
Let me explain. The DJ resemblance is in the delivery -in the format of cleverly spliced together interviews with the main players (and a few extras) which make up the majority of the book, and tell the story. The Horowitz resemblance is in the fact that the author takes a front seat in the investigation.
That aside, I am still not sure what to think about this book other than I really loved it!. It's a cracking book about a crime being investigated, by a writer; the police having long since unofficially given up. It's about the disappearance of a young university student who had only just started her course. Set some seven years after this time, the "author" Evelyn Mitchell, whose own career is flagging, decides to write this book. To try and figure out what happened to Zoe. But she struggles a bit making sense of it all so turns to crime writer Joseph Knox to assist her. Every so often throughout the book there are emailed correspondence between the two. As well as the odd newspaper article. But, for the main, the text is made up of snippets of interviews.
So, we go back to that night, that fateful night, and actually the days leading up to it. We meet our cast. The scene is set. We have contradictory versions - well, no one remembers the same event in the same way. But is there someone who is holding back the truth. Most people lie about things, especially when the police are involved. But there are lies and LIES.
I do have to admit that it did take me a wee while to really get into this book. Mostly cos I was a bit confused about what I was actually reading! But, once I had it all straight in my head, I was totally cooking on gas and pretty much read the rest all the way through in just a couple of sittings.
I hung on every word spoken - which reminds me to set a reminder to get my hands on the audiobook when it comes out - by each of the family, friends and acquaintances along the way. I gasped at some of the contributions from others, delivered in just the right places for maximum shock value - but never for shock tactics! We also heard quite a lot from the FLO assigned to the family but pretty much nothing from the police who, I guess, frown on this kind of dredging up.
And the ending, when we eventually got there was wholly befitting of what had gone before.
Having read and loved this author's Aiden Waits series, I recognise that this is quite a departure for him. Whether it's a one off or, like Horowitz, he is going to make a series of books like this, I am not sure. But I'd kinda like to read another...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

If Daisy Jones and the Six was a murder mystery, this is the book that you would get.

This book was so deeply gripping from start to finish as slowly we try to unravel the mystery of what happened to Zoe Nolan after she mysteriously disappeared almost a decade ago through interviews with those closest to her.

From start to finish there was a large amount of intrigue and I appreciated the creeping sense of foreboding Evelyn (the author investigating Zoe's disappearance) starts to receive mysterious phone calls and unexpected visitors to her home. I also loved how deeply flawed and thus so completely believable the cast of characters were to the point that throughout the book I was certain that I knew what had happened to Zoe or at least who had done it.

The ending took me completely by surprise and shook me, it was so clever and, whilst breadcrumbs were left throughout the story, they were incredibly subtle ones.

True Crime is a relatively familiar story - about the disappearance of a young female student at Manchester University - but its execution was clever, and certainly had me convinced its origins were in truth.
The book begins with a rather strange note from the publishers to Joseph Knox, the author, indicating that this book is problematic. Of course you want to know why.
We then hear about Evelyn Mitchell, the actual writer, and how she meets Knox. Both are trying to think of a great idea for their difficult next book and Evelyn thinks she’s hit upon a gem of a story...the disappearance of Zoe Nolan.
Last seen on the night of a party at Owens Park, Zoe went missing and has not been seen since. Police say her case remains open but they have no clue what happened to her. Family and friends of Zoe were interviewed at the time but to no avail.
After some years Evelyn decided this case is worth re-examining. Her interviews have, she insists, thrown up new information and suggest some aspects of the police investigation were not as thorough as they might have been.
From the outset I found myself invested in this. Having studied in Manchester it was a bit of a trip down memory lane to be reading about places that were so familiar...but what really endeared this book to me was its sense of self-awareness.
Knox inserts himself wholeheartedly into the story and this offered us something a little different in what was a story that, at its heart, moved forward little.
From start to finish we are offered insight into the Nolan family and the dynamics between the new group of friends starting their lives at Manchester University. Some of the characters are quite unlikeable. All of them have things they’d rather stay hidden, and I was constantly looking for clues as to what the missing pieces of the story might be.
I genuinely did not want to stop reading this once I’d started. There are twists and turns, and not all the scenarios are (if we’re being honest) wholly credible, but with the villains of the piece hiding in plain sight it was a lesson in keeping your eyes open and not trusting everything you’re told.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this in advance of publication.

A very clever book, which had me hooked from the start. Full of twists, and surprises, and very well-written, this book is definitely one I would recommend.

A fascinating look into the case of Zoe Nolan disappearance. Transcript of meetings with all the key people and the overlaps and contradiction of their recollection.
Updated post humously.

I enjoyed the format of the book, in fact it was so real that I googled Zoe Nolan to read more! I didn’t guess ‘who done it’ either, very clever! However, for me, the book only picked up about halfway through.

I planned on starting this tonight.

Really wanted to read as the other reviews sound incredible - unfortunately the download has disappeared from my kindle.

Real shame - I can only base my ‘review’ on the cover and blurb.

This is a story about a young woman named Zoe who disappears from Manchester Uni and is never seen again. I knew that it was fiction but it is so cleverly written and plotted out that I started to think I was reading true life crime story!

I'm going to keep this short because the promotional blurb tells you all you need to know about the supposed plot. The real story is how it's delivered. The author has come up with a cleverly constructed narrative that blurs the line between fiction & true crime, a genre that has exploded in recent years.

Knox starts off by telling us how he met a woman named Evelyn Mitchell at one of his book signings. Also an author, Evie gently dismisses him as another attention-seeking writer whose books focus more on the salacious details of killer than the victim(s).

Evie is currently doing research for her next book, one she hopes will balance the scales. It's definitely about the victim....a Manchester university student named Zoe Nolan who disappeared in 2011.

Knox & Evie begin to correspond & the majority of the book is composed of their emails, transcripts of interviews with people from Zoe's life & the odd paragraph from Knox explaining how he got involved.

On the surface, it's a detailed investigation into a cold case with some great twists. But the author takes a satirical approach, poking fun not only at the genre but himself. The opening letter from his "former" publisher sets the tone & lets you know you're in for suspense delivered with a wink & a nudge. It also has something to say about social media & its dodgy relationship with the truth.

The format can be a challenge. It's not always clear who was sending an email & who was receiving. Also, there's a section devoted to transcripts of duelling statements from Zoe's friends that basically consists of he said-she said-oh no you di'int. You learn a lot here about events leading up to her disappearance but I thought it went on a bit too long. At about the 40% mark Zoe has vanished & police join the conversation. That plus a couple of twists meant I was fully invested from there on. The pace picked up & a story that was already very readable became compelling.

I've read a couple of other books this year where authors have inserted themselves in the story. It's the literary equivalent of breaking the fourth wall & usually done with a self deprecation that adds to the story. Knox clearly doesn't take himself too seriously as he gently mocks his process & profession but the thriller writer inside is never far from the surface, ensuring the reader is gripped by Evie's investigation.

So perhaps we need a new genre label for this mash-up....true fiction? Doesn't really matter, all you need to know is it's a clever & innovative take on crime fiction that will keep you entertained.

I haven’t read anything from Joseph Knox before but was intrigued when I heard him talking about this new book during the online Locked Up Festival.

From the outset I really thought this was a true story, it reads brilliantly like one and the very original format is genius. It has to be said it can be confusing at times to remember who is who and who said what but it was very intriguing. I think it will probably be easier to read in hard copy format rather than kindle and also being pre publication I think the formatting and order of interviews was incorrect at times but I’m sure that is being corrected for publication.

I enjoyed the read but it did take me some time to get through 4🌟 definitely for it’s originality.