Backstory

By: Gabriel Bergmoser

Narrated by: Emma Harvie, Zahra Newman, Ryan Johnson, Zenia Starr, Tom Conroy, Zoe Trilsbach, Michael Caton, Brooke Satchwell, Helen Thomson, Jonathan Jagoe, Uppy Chatterjee

Five friends, one university creative writing course, one weekend away to celebrate. Nobody expected it to end in disaster.

Ten years ago, promising young writer Keith Brooks fell to his death during a weekend getaway with his university friends. The official story? A tragic accident. But when disgraced journalist Phoebe Black stumbles upon conflicting accounts from Keith's surviving friends, she uncovers a web of lies that suggests something far more nefarious happened on that fateful night.

As she delves deeper into the past, Phoebe uncovers a group of once-close friends torn apart by jealousy, lies and ambition. With each revelation, the lines between truth and fiction blur, and the consequences of that night reach far beyond Keith's death. Phoebe must confront her own past and the nature of truth itself as she races against time to catch a killer.

Whose version of events is accurate? And how far will these people go to hide their dark secrets?

©2025 Gabriel Bergmoser (P)2025 Audible Australia Pty Ltd

Great story!

I listen to so so many audio books and some are just ok and some are good and some I remember because they are so awesome. This is one I’ll actually remember and highly recommend. I don’t know how writers can come up with such a complex story but that’s why they do what they do.

A potboiler with pathos

I picked this up because it was free and I wanted a nice potboiler mystery to pass a little time. What I did not expect was a Rashomon style meditation on the nature of truth, lies, and just deserts. The mystery is propulsive and intriguing, yes, but the interweaving of conflicted narratives was handled with aplomb. Moreover, the chapters focusing on Troy were unexpectedly touching; a look into the catharsis and paralysis that only chronic failure can bring.

Intriguing

The story kept me on my toes and had a great build up to the climax

Good story

By the end it was a good story. Unfortunately I wasn't a big fan of it in the middle of the story.

Delighted

I was hooked from start to finish. Such an interesting plot with well thought out characters.

So many layers of deception

There were so many layers of deception that you weren’t sure who actually did what. Finally at the very end it all comes together.

Perfect for amateur sleuths and people watchers!

Twisty turns take us through the story as we re-examine the sequence of events that led to the central tragedy of the book. Versions vary amongst friends about the dynamics within this group of five university students who all aspire to be famous authors. One person's version is different from the others. He includes details highlighting how the group came to be.

The solution lies somewhere in the details about a book the deceased was writing. He claimed it was a fictional account of a group of friends at university. Hmmm, was it really ficti0n or the renaming of the truth? It seems that each person had unpleasantness in their past and if that knowledge became public it could ruin them.

So, then, which of the four killed the writer?

It's a wonderful setup that reminds me of Murder on the Orient Express where everyone has a motive. At first, I had a hard time keeping up with the characters because they are only briefly introduced before becoming part of the storytelling. In time, I sorted out who was who, especially toward the latter part of the book when a journalist is reading each friend's version of events and then interviewing who she could.

There is an interesting side story here woven into the main narrative. It is a story of two journalists, their differing styles and how some writers, even if they are journalists, seem to have a sixth sense about things.

It was a very good book, well-paced and engaging enough to not feel any drag or dull points. It is an especially interesting book for people-watchers and those who love to dive into human behavior and motivation. In a way, the book is a bit of a psychological look at the friends, but without getting bogged down in labels and diagnoses. Types are subtlety taken into consideration, but again from an organic perspective rather than a scientific one.

Definitely recommend this book for all you amateur sleuths out there and those who just love a good story.

Twists and Turns

Great book! I loved all the different ways this books lead you to finding the truth. Very exciting book. Definetly Recommend

This was good!

Characters were good. The story moved along well. I didn't guess who it was until the end so it wasn't predictable. All in all, I found the story to be quite enjoyable.

Layered and nuanced story!

Finally! A murder mystery where the victim isn’t a young female. I’m so sick of most storylines involving violence against women. It gets old being in a world where the person most like me in a story is the person who is dead. So I loved the novelty of a male victim! This book was brilliantly told, with multiple stories layered together yet still mirroring each other. The characters were complex and everyone is an unreliable narrator here. This is audio storytelling at its best—a real gem.