The Appeal

A Novel

By: Janice Hallett

Narrated by: Daniel Philpott, Aysha Kala, Rachel Adedeji, Sid Sagar

Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

Named a Best Book of 2022 by The New York Times, Air Mail, and more!

“[W]itty, original…a delight.” —The New York Times

Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell, this international bestseller and “dazzlingly clever” (The Sunday Times, London) murder mystery follows a community rallying around a sick child—but when escalating lies lead to a dead body, everyone is a suspect.

The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.

But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that the killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.

A wholly modern and gripping take on the epistolary novel, The Appeal is a “daring…clever, and funny” (The Times, London) debut for fans of Richard Osman and Lucy Foley.

©2021 Janice Hallett. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK. All rights reserved.

The Appeal

I really liked the format. I’m always down to get into a multi-character point of view book. It jumbles up just enough in my head to where I am actively thinking about what has happened or is going to happen next all day. I most definitely had a feeling the book was going to end the way it did for a while, but was just waiting for the missing pieces. Such a fun listen!

Fantastic

An exceptional thriller that delivers not only a copious dose of twists, but also genuinely well drawn characters. I wasn’t sure whether the “found document” style would work as an audiobook but the fantastic performances of this ensemble of actors (plus some clever production tricks!) made the story very easy to follow. Highly recommended!

Ingenious

This is a smart, literate, although sometimes confusing (but who cares?) mystery meticulously plotted giving hours of pleasure and narrated by an exceptional group of performers. Works as social satire of a very high order which elevates it in my opinion to much more than an entertainment. Janice Hallett is in a class of her own.

Great narrators. Hard to follow

Im Sure it’s just me but I had difficulty following this story. While I loved the different actors voicing the story… they had so many parts I didn’t realize when they weren’t speaking for the character I was use to. anyway thT was a bit confusing. Story was pretty good but convoluted.

Do not listen to this book on audible

It is a series of emails And texts. This means all the header information is read every single time. That’s one problem. The other problem is there is a lot to absorb and it’s just too hard to do listening when you may need to read something more carefully, or be able to look back easily. As a story, this one was OK, but frankly did not live up to the recommendation in the New York Times.

Hated the repetitive email reading

Boring beyond belief. If you think this book is for you think again. You’ll have to read through thousands of emails with date and time stamps not to mention the odd made up advertisement to get to the thread of the story!!! So predictable was the conclusion I’d hardly use the word suspense or mystery anywhere near this book!

A Wild, Twisty Ride

Loved it! lots of interesting characters in a complex, well written and extremely well acted plot. I hope Hallet keeps them coming, and Audible keeps offering them.

Excellent, but maybe not as an audio book?

Alright, audio is not the best format for an epistolary novel, so the first few chapters will drive you nuts. but when you get used to it, the story really develops. And the epistolary format really allows the reader to experience each character's development and internal voice meaningfully. I will warn: this is not an audio book to listen to while you're doing other things. In order to keep track of each message, you really have to be focused on the book. The voice work is fantastic though, and that helps with the adaptation of the novel's format.

Frustrating for Audible only experience

The story and performances were great. However, I had the benefit of having the kindle version, too. The cast of characters was too numerous to keep track of in my head. I wound up taking a pic of the the Fairway Players to refer to when I got sidetracked. Also, the reading of the “from,” “subject,” “date,” and “to” got tedious. But I would re-listen for the performances—really great.

Couldn’t stop listening

It isn’t often that I find an audiobook compelling, as it’s so rare to find the right combination of a great story and enjoyable narration. The Appeal ticked all the boxes for me. It took a little while to become accustomed to hearing email headings and footers read out in detail, but once in the flow of things, I binge-listened for hours on end. I will definitely read or listen to more of Ms. Hallett’s work.