Lights Out

Kate Green, Book 1

By: Elise Hart Kipness

Narrated by: Chanté McCormick

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

In this exciting debut novel comes a fast-paced thriller that follows a sports reporter’s journey off the court…and into a world of murder and deception.

Former Olympic athlete and sports reporter Kate Green isn’t sure how much more tumultuous her life can get. She’s been put on temporary leave from her job, then NBA superstar Kurt Robbins is killed and the prime suspect in his murder is none other than his wife…and Kate’s best friend.

Kate knows that Yvette’s marriage wasn’t exactly stable, but her friend is no murderer, and Kate is determined to prove it with her own investigation. While she tries to salvage Yvette’s life, Kate’s own continues to unravel. Her career is in limbo. Gossip columns speculate about her future. Her children are battling their own demons. And her estranged father suddenly reenters her life as a detective assigned to Kurt’s homicide case.

As her worlds collide—exposing secrets, lies, and ulterior motives—Kate may have to choose between the games she can play and the one she might lose.

©2023 Elise Hart Kipness (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“With a TV sports reporter protagonist, Lights Out blasts onto the thriller scene with something completely new and exciting for seasoned readers of the genre. The book is teeming with plausible suspects, each with a compelling motive and secrets they’d kill to keep, but always returns to the question of whether or not we truly know what those closest to us are capable of. This is fast-paced suspense you’ll want to read in just a couple of sittings, and with an ending that hints at more intriguing layers of our protagonist’s story to come, I can’t wait to see what Elise Hart Kipness delivers next! ”—Megan Collins, author of Thicker Than Water and The Family Plot

“When a basketball superstar is murdered in his gated home, all eyes look to his wife and circle of insiders for possible suspects. Drawing on her experience as a national sports reporter and long-time resident of suburban Connecticut, Elise Hart Kipness takes us inside both worlds in this scandalous, page-turning thriller!”—Wendy Walker, international bestselling author

“What a fantastic debut! A unique protagonist, an interesting setting, and a story that grabs you from the beginning and keeps on building. I couldn’t put this book down and read it in one sitting!”—Chad Zunker, Amazon Charts bestselling author of Family Money

Okay story, okay narration

Would likely have enjoyed more if the narration gave more excitement to the story. Very monotoned

Narrator sounds stoned most of the time

The story was overall pretty good, not a genre stand-out, but entertaining enough. The narration kinda killed it for me though - I couldn’t quite place accents, and most of the characters just sounded like stoned surf bums with no enthusiasm for anything whatsoever…wish I had thought to sped it up as someone else recommended!

Fun WhoDunit

This was a fun, well narrated murder mystery with a nice little cliff hanger. I will definitely listen to book two when it is released!

Sports cozy mystery

Kate’s best friends husband is dead. She decides to investigate the death to help clear her friends name. Kurt was a famous basketball player for the Comet’s. He’s known for cheating on his wife. Yvette and Kurt had an arrangement. That arrangement didn’t include murder.
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Kate Green is a sport reporter. She’s divorced living outside Greenwich Village with her two teenagers. Kate’s was recently suspended for being rude to a Comet’s team player on national tv. With all this free time on her hands she takes it upon herself to dig into the people surrounding Kurt.
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This reads like a cozy mystery. It’s a character driven story written in the third person. The focus was on the characters and less on the crime. This is by no means a police procedure story. Eventhough, Kate’s biological dad is a police officer his character was referenced more as a means to retrieve information. I had one pet peeve regarding Kate’s character and how her conversations with Liam remained unfinished. This is my first time reading a book written by Elise Hart Kipness. Elise Hart Kipness is a former television sports reporter turned thriller writer. Her character Kate Green was a sports reporter turned amateur detective.

Intelligent and interesting

Intelligent and interesting story featuring strong characters. With minimal words the author brings the characters and town to life.

meh

its ok. writing a little amateur, story a little tedious. narrator drove me nuts until i turned up the speed. only then did she become tolerable.

Good mystery

There is lots of intrigue and tangled webs in this mystery. I found it hard to put down in the last hundred pages, but parts were cliche.

Families Protecting Themselves

I like all of the personalities of the “suspects”. This kept you guessing until closer to the end. Amazing what some people will do to hide their own dirty little secret personalities! I feel bad for the high school students, most of their parents were nasty people.

Just okay kind

If you have nothing interesting to read and just for a time pass go on with it.

Horrible audio

Although the story was very good and had great twist at the end, the audio was horrible, it felt like a robot was talking, ruined the experience . Had to give it a one but preferred giving it a ZERO