If You Were Here

A Novel of Suspense

By: Alafair Burke

Narrated by: Roxanne Hernandez

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Magazine journalist McKenna Jordan is chasing the latest urban folktale - the story of an unidentified woman who heroically pulled a teenage boy from the subway tracks seconds before the arrival of an oncoming train. When McKenna locates a video snippet that purportedly captures the incident, she thinks she has an edge on the competition scrambling to identify the mystery heroine.

McKenna is shocked to discover that the woman in the video bears a strong resemblance to Susan Hauptmann, a close friend - and a classmate of her husband's at West Point - who vanished without a trace 10 years earlier. The NYPD concluded that the nomadic Susan - forced by her father into an early military life, floundering as an adult for a fixed identity - simply started over again somewhere else.

But McKenna has always believed that the truth went deeper than the police investigation ever reached and sees Susan's resurfacing as a sign that she wants to be found. What might have been a short-lived Metro story sends the former-prosecutor-turned-reporter on a twisting search that leads across New York City - and to dark secrets buried dangerously close to home....

©2013 Alafair Burke (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

Starts slow, but gets better

This took me some time to get into, mainly because the narration was so slow. I ended up increasing it to 1.4X and it was much better. The story was kind of all over the place at first with many side stories and I found my mind to wander often. About halfway through the book, they started to come together and make sense. I loved the strength of the main character, so that was enjoyable. Worth a credit, in my opinion.

Horrible Narrator

This is the first book by Alafair Burke that I've read and looked forward to it after reading favorable reviews on Amazon.com. Perhaps if I had read the book, this review would be more favorable. The narrator is absolutely horrible and ruined Ms. Burke's book for the listening audience. A woman the age of McKenna Wright, the main character, would not sound like someone fresh out of high school or college. Every female character sounded the same, as did each male character. I forced myself to listen to the end, even though the much anticipated "The Cuckoo's Calling" by J.K. Rowling alias Robert Galbraith was next in my queue (finished it today--a fabulous read). Where could the author improve most? Character development and fewer sub-plots.

Will I try another of Alafair's books? Yes, but I'll read the Kindle version.

Never Know Until It's Finished

A Lot of action and details from the beginning and also of memories kept alive for 10+ years...reader flat with little difference between characters - Interesting enough to want to finish just too know the ending then the entire story blows up in the last 3-4 chapters....

ok narrator, ok writing in the end, great story

the narrator was really breathy, which bothered me. the story was really interesting, but the last 3 hours were written poorly in that I kept thinking it was the end and then it decided to throw in a new piece of info that extended the plot. overall I enjoyed it, the premise and plot were incredibly interesting!

Twisty plot--great story

Alafair Burke is an excellent writer, but then again, she comes from a family of writers. Her father Jamie Burke is a famous mystery author. Alafair is currently a law professor in New York City and in her spare time she writes. This book does not belong to either of her series. In this book the heroine is a magazine journalist, who ten years prior, was an ADA with the DA office in NYC. In hunting for a story she see a video taken from a cell phone of a women jumping down on the subway track to rescue a teenage boy, she dead lifts him up on to the platform then runs away. McKenna Jordan (our hero) think she recognizes the woman as Susan Hauptmann a friend of hers that went missing ten years before. The plot is complex and twist here and there creating more and more suspense. McKenna keeps getting herself into more trouble. The story is told in the first person and we follow McKenna throughout the story. This book is showing off Alafair growing skills as a writer. Roxanne Hernandez does a good job narrating the story. If you are a fan of mystery stories, give the book a try, you will enjoy it.

Not as good as some other Burke books

The narrator spoke annoyingly slow. I checked the speed a few times thinking it was on the slowest option but it was not. Story was a good premise but also moved a bit slower than other Alafair books

Good Story, Halting Reading

I did enjoy the book but the reader was took away from the story. Voices by the reader were good but it sounds like she was reading...like a new reader (pausing after words). Good story. I would buy the book.

Excellent plot

You think it's finished and yet story changes once and again. Very well developed. Really interesting and with twists I never saw coming

good read

it was good. the twist was good. worth the read. not her best but still good.

A little slow, not like her usual.

I had a hard time really getting into this one. It was a little slow. Her other books are definitely better than this one. I finished the book, though. Even later on in the book it didn't have that wow factor, that deep mystery and intrigue she normally has. I mean... Yes, there is mystery, it's a whodunit, and the end throws a little curve ball, but it's so drawn out that it's like blah. I just wasn't feeling it. I expected to LOVE it like all of her other books and was shocked and let down honestly.