Say My Name is a mind-blowing blend of true crime and fiction, intertwining a midlist mystery writer's personal struggles with a decades-old unsolved case in his hometown. The small town's secrets and the author's relentless pursuit of the truth blur the lines between fact and fiction. This fast-paced novel with realistic characters will leave a lasting impression. The atmospheric setting and growing tension make it a compelling and engaging read. The title perfectly captures the psychological impact of the story. With an unexpected resolution and thought-provoking writing style, this book stands out from the rest. Reading an advanced copy through NetGalley was a fantastic experience.

Joe Clifford's writing style is out of the ordinary. His first person narration offers a more intimate view and understanding of the protagonist and it sucked me right in. The main character, recently divorced, returns to his hometown in Connecticut to write a True Crime book about the disappearance of twin girls. As he investigates, his "meta" riffs reveal more and more about who he is, his past and current relationships, and gives glimpses onto his seemingly self-distructive behavior. "Say My Name" is a page turner, but also a smart book that gives the reader access to a close-up view of the main characters' psyche. I loved the twists and turns and found the ending to be an excellent surprise. I know I will be twirling "Say My Name" around in my head for a long time. Thank you for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I didn’t not finish this book due to the poor writing style. It was extremely difficult for me to get into and story did not captivate my interest

A mystery writer returns to his hometown and finds there is a new crime that is similar to one that happened when he was in high school. He gets involved, trying to investigate in the hopes of writing a true crime novel like In Cold Blood, but things unravel and as a reader I couldn't tell where it was going. What is reality and what is fiction?

Say My Name by Joe Clifford

This was a strange book. It may be strange because I am an author and it was a book about an author talking to himself. I do that a lot too. He was telling a story but also talking about being an author. This purports to be a true crime story about a crime that never happened. Returning home after a decades-long hiatus reminiscing about the Rodgers twins and their disappearance, the author does a wealth of soul-searching.

Again, part of the strangeness, I, too, had a heartthrob on a set of twins as a preteen. Since the story has the author being very strange, personality disorder strange, you can imagine why I struggled not to find parallels with my own life. Of course, the author in the story sold far more books than I have so the parallels aren’t one hundred percent.

The book has arrogance, nostalgia, some action, and lots of treachery with bounteous confusion.

Finished this last night. Had to read the ending twice.
The is different and somewhat confusing. Writer tracking down what he believes to be an old murder case. A recent crime seems related. More clear writing would have made a better read.

A 2* ok read for me. The main character returns to his hometown to teach, having written several successful crime novels. Two twin girls disappeared when he was a teenager and upon his return, two more disappear.
Unfortunately, for me, the writing was disjointed and the protagonist really frustrating and irritating. I struggled to finish it, but, persevered. Just not for me, but, an ok read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

Good story. Lots of action and twists and turns. Well worth reading.


Looking forward to more from Joe Clifford
Many thanks to the author and publisher for the ARC and opportunity to enjoy this wonderful book

This was my first introduction to author Joe Clifford who has written a series of mystery novels. Say My Name is a unique book that combines clues in researching a forty-year-old cold case with an unnamed author's process in writing a true crime story about that case. I felt I might have appreciated the novel more if I had known about Clifford and his books. His series was mentioned several times. Is the writer a version of Clifford and his writing experiences or a fictional invention?

Returning from California to his hometown in Berlin, Connecticut, this fictional author believes he has a job teaching writing at a local university. He is depressed following his divorce and has anxiety attacks. He is presented as self-pitying and morose. The job has fallen through. He only has one relative still living in town, a beloved uncle, and a couple of old friends from high school. He decides to spend time researching and writing about twin girls, age 15, who vanished from a mall in 1985. He was also 15 then, had a crush on one of the girls and still recalls the tragic event. Two sisters have now vanished from a neighbouring mall, and he believes there may be a connection and intends to investigate the disappearances for a true crime story. He soon seizes on his two suspects, a man with a criminal reputation and a relative. He discusses his investigation with a man he knew in the past who is now a policeman and a couple of buddies from his old school.

It becomes evident that someone in the town does not want him digging into the past, and they do not want the truth revealed. He is badly beaten and hospitalized while searching for clues. He is lost in his thoughts, and the narration is often a stream of consciousness. He expresses many self-doubts, anxiety attacks, drinking while driving, taking up chain smoking and gulping down pills while pursuing clues and suspects. He ponders thoughts about coincidences, cause and effect, and alternate realities while trying to organize his book. How many of his recollections are unreliable and finding their way into his upcoming book?

A couple of his old friends present him with a partial solution to the mystery of the twins vanishing in 1985. This twist was unexpected and a brilliant conclusion to the story, but how much truth was involved?
This was a gripping mystery story, but its presentation did not engage me. I am now interested in reading some of Clifford's crime fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was an odd book but an ok read if you like a crime solving cold case story.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Say My Name is a true crime story about a crime that never happened.... or did it?

On the heels of a divorce, a midlist mystery writer returns to his hometown in Central CT and is dragged back into a decades old unsolved case involving former classmates to expose horrific secrets of a quaint, idyllic New England town.

This mystery takes place in Berlin, Connecticut. The protagonist is newly divorced and an author. He decides to write a true crime book based on twin girls who went missing from a mall nearly forty years ago. The girls were never found. Coincidently, two sisters about the same age have just went missing from a different mall bring the disappearance of the twins back to the minds of the Berlin locals. I wasn't keen on the authors writing style, so I took off half a star for this reason. This is a fast-paced and twisted read, and there's quite a lot of suspects to choose from.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #BooksGoSocial and the author #JoeClifford for my ARC of #SayMyName in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Going home after being away gives him time to think. When he was in school. Sone people went missing. This made him think about that time. This book kept me intrigued throughout the book.

I found this book entertaining; I definitely wanted to read on to find out what happened. I always find this a good measure of a book. The storyline was interesting and kept me wondering what was going to happen and the twist was well-written. If you like crime solving reads and want something that isn’t too taxing or complex, this is a good read.

Say My Name by Joe Clifford was just ok for me. I really couldn’t connect with anything Joe was doing or saying so for that reason I’m giving it 2 stars. Sorry Joe! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release.

This is a book like nothing I've read before but it kept my interest the entire time! The unnamed mystery writer is working on a book combining reality and fiction, based upon unsolved mysteries surrounding the disappearances of two sets of twins set years apart. There are so many suspects, so many red herrings, so many clues that my head was spinning but it's so worth it in the end! I'll be looking at Clifford's other works in the near future as he's a wild story-teller!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Discover the gripping secrets of a small town in this captivating mystery by author Joseph Clifford. With a fast-paced plot and realistic characters, the story keeps you hooked until the very end. As the protagonist returns to Berlin, Connecticut after a divorce, he gets caught up in the puzzling case of missing twins, contemplating writing a nonfiction book about it. "Say My Name" takes you on an exciting journey into the writing process and inner thoughts, offering an unforgettable fiction experience. 4 fabulous stars- thank you allowing me to ARC read this NetGalley!

Say My Name by Joe Clifford is a different and unique kind of thriller.
I was hooked on this from the start! The premise sounded really original and the book is so well written that I just was consumed by the plot.
A quick and interesting read. I really enjoyed the storyline and the characters.
A pulsing creepy atmosphere.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Fresh off the heels of a divorce, a midlist mystery writer returns to his hometown of Berlin, Connecticut to accept a teaching job at his alma mater. Renting a house from a childhood buddy, he’s excited for a new start and the opportunity to take a break from writing. But when an Amber Alert is issued for two girls in a nearby town, memories of his past in Berlin come flooding back, specifically the unsolved disappearance of two teenage twin girls in 1985 when he was 15.

He’s never forgotten Annabelle and Ava Rogers or the day they disappeared all those years ago. How could he? They were his friends, and Annabelle was the first girl to break his heart. Now, all these years later, the similarities between the girls in the Amber Alert and the Rogers twins have his mind whirring. When his teaching job falls through, he decides to write a true crime novel about their disappearance, which means doing some investigating of his own. However, it’s quickly made clear that those around him, including the police, aren’t thrilled with his digging. He’s hot on the tail of the man he suspects took the twins, but the true culprit is hot on his tail, willing to do anything to keep him from discovering the truth. Who it is will shock him – and create one helluva final twist for you.

As taut and twisty as it is fast paced, “Say My Name” by Joe Clifford is guaranteed to tie your mind into knots. A perfect blend of metafiction and psychological thriller, the author uses a stream-of-consciousness narrative style to tell the story of writing a true crime novel about a crime that never happened. Because this style mimics the non-linear way our brains work, we get a deeper view into the narrator’s thought process and mental state, which makes the book all the more edgy and addictive.

“Say My Name” is full of twists that start early on and keep on coming. Combine the twists with a few red herrings, and you won’t be able to figure out what’s actually true and what’s not, not even when it comes to the narrator. Is the narrator a liar? The police have their suspicions. I did too. And who is the narrator anyway? The title of the book seems like a challenge for you to figure out. Could the narrator be a version of the author himself, making the author the main character? With the references in the book to the Jay Porter crime fiction series (written by Joe Clifford), it very likely could be. You’ll have to read for yourself to decide.

Psychological thrillers are a dime a dozen nowadays. Some of them can start to feel cookie-cutter and predictable when you read as many as I do. Luckily, that’s not the case with “Say My Name”. It’s unique and compelling. The whodunnit aspect of the book can be figured out, but not on the first guess and not long before the author reveals it to you. It feels wrong to say a book about missing teenagers is refreshing, but (in the world of psych thrillers) “Say My Name” is exactly that. I highly recommend it.

Say My Name (2023) is Clifford’s latest novel. It is a novel about a writer who is writing (or at least researching) a true crime story about two fifteen-year-old girls, Annabelle and Ana Rodgers, who disappeared from the mall back when the author was fifteen too. Indeed, one of the missing girls had been his first big childhood crush, although he always believed she was out of his league. The character who is the author in this book is sort of Joe Clifford and sort of not. They are both writers. They both grew up in Berlin, Connecticut, and lived in San Francisco, before returning. Both are it seems introspective writers. So it is a part true crime story about a writer writing about a writer about a place where both the writer and the writer character grew up. Also, there are a few references to the Jay Porter series Clifford wrote (but as if the main character wrote the series) set on Lamentation Mountain about a handyman.

Beginning with the author’s note at the front of the book, it is hard to determine whether it is a true crime story or not or whether the “author” speaking at the front is Clifford or the character in the novel. We are told that the twins disappeared from the mall in 1985 and forty years later had never been found and it remained a black mark on the idyllic New England town and was still shocking to those who grew up there and knew the two girls. The other major point scored in the introduction by the “author” is that perhaps monsters do not just life in closets and under beds. Perhaps monsters are hiding in plain sight in our home towns, shopping at the same stores, eating at the same restaurants. “We don’t recognize them, Because they look just like us.”

Coming off a bitter divorce, the narrator returns to his hometown (where his only living relative is an oddball uncle Iver), he intends to write a true crime story about the missing twins from 1985 and maybe, just maybe, come up with answers to the town’s leading mystery. Much of the novel is introspective thoughts about a writer often lost in his own thoughts and disconnected to the outside world. He investigates though and is warned off the investigation and beaten till he was hospitalized, but doggedly still thinks he can resolve this old matter.

There is an introspective feel to the narration similar in many respects to what is found in Clifford’s Jay Porter novels, but this is a different character and a different story.

Say my name by Joe Clifford is one of those classic crime novels that Truman Capote would be proud of. Now is it perfect? No, but it does a good job at upping the tension and anxiety of being a combined true crime novelist and trying to solve some kidnappings and murders.

The plot is as easy as it goes and that is what makes this book wonderful to digest. It is about a writer trying to find his way in this sleazy world, make some money, solve some crimes, maybe connect two missing persons cases forty years apart.

What people are not going to like is that it takes a very long time for it to get to where it is going. To me that is okay, it just means the writer is stretching his fingers to get his point across, but some people may not like that. Also, some people may feel the anxiety that the writer felt writing this in such a time crunch. I mean, he only mentioned that he was a writer and worked better with a deadline a million times in this novel.

Now, if you can overcome that, then you are really going to enjoy this book. The author does a fantastic job getting into the head of what it is like being a writer and the pressures we put on ourselves to always do better. I think that is what hit home with me the most. It felt like the writer was breaking the fourth wall by telling me that is anxiety and depression induced trauma if you want to be a writer. Plus, the pay stinks unless you become rich.

Overall, i liked it enough to go out and order a physical copy and another one of Joe Clifford's book, because I wanted to see if it was a fluke that he was able to make me feel so anxious reading a book. So far, I do not want to give him an ego, but it is his writing style, which is a good thing when a writer can make you feel the words that he is writing.

Don't take my word for it, go out there and get your own copy and find out if you like it as much as I did.

Happy reading, but stay out of trouble.
Chris Humphrey