e-Audio, 10:00:24
Narrated by: Karissa Vacker
Release Date: January 10, 2023
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: January 23-27, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Murder, Kidnapping, Gaslighting
For fans of: Thrillers, Mystery, AdultOne year ago, Isabelle Drake’s life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her—literally.
Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year.
Isabelle’s entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle’s past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust… including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Looking over the reviews for this I feel like the Black Sheep of this one. Although I liked her debut, I didn’t like this one very much. I liked the concept, but not the execution. And just like in the first one, i was able to guess what happened. And I’m talking as soon as they popped up. And that was just disappointing.
Ok, so first things first. I didn’t enjoy the execution because I was bored in the middle. It just seemed like it was the same thing happening over and over. She was looking at footage, she was talking to the one guy, she was finding a clue that was shocking and helped move the case along. It was just the same thing over and over. What saved this for me was the unexpected thing at the end. I was not expecting to get the one person back, so when we did and found out what actually happened, that made me happy. I was glad to have something unexpected pop up.
Then comes the ending to the mystery. I saw the one person and who they were from a mile away. I saw that coming. But then rest of it, I also saw that coming. I think if I hadn’t read her previous release I wouldn’t have thought about it, but seeing as she was predictable before, I knew as soon as they popped up what was happening. And sure enough it was what happened. This is the one that made me mad tho. Because I thought she would have learned from the first time. (I wasn’t alone when I guessed who it was the first time.)
BUT I still enjoyed this because I do actually like the author’s voice. I won’t say writing style since I guessed the person in both her stories, but I was still entertained? Like I didn’t DNF even though I was quite certain who the person was as soon as I saw them. So I don’t really know what that says about me or the way she writes, but for whatever reason I still liked it.
I also still enjoyed the audio of this. I do think if I was reading this with my eyeballs I would have skipped to the end to see whodunit and then I would have been done. But since I was listening to this, I was still interested in Vacker’s narration. This isn’t the first time I’ve listened to Vacker’s narration, but I don’t think I realized how much I liked their narration style until I finished this one. Because I’ve actually listened to a number of books they’ve done. And they’ve did a bang up job every time!
I still don’t know how I feel about Willingham’s writing, but I do know if there’s another, I’m still going to read it. Especially if Vacker is back for a third time. They really pair well together!
Overall, I give this
