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.

A good book, just not made to be an audiobook

This is a good book, but was painful at times to listen to. This is because so much of the book is reading emails, so it feels like 1/3 of the book is reciting the header email details - email address, subject, time sent, etc. over and over again. I think this book is a better physical read instead.

The Book Had So Much Potential!

I was so excited to start this book when I read that it was a compilation of emails. How unique and original! The book started out so strong and I absolutely LOVED all the narrators. All. Of. Them. The book started strong then by the midway point, I was ready for the ending. I was about to stop midway, but wanted to see if the ending was worth it. I was hoping there'd be a huge twist to make it all worthwhile. But, no. I must say it wasn't the worst book I've ever read, yet far from the best. And, I'm an avid audible listener and book reader. I think the book had so much potential but the ending fell flat.

Terrible format

This would have been a good read if the format was just the story and not the repeated "email" format.

Not meant for audible.

The story is largely told in emails. This doesn’t work where the to and from and date and time are read aloud. Boring and tedious.

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.

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.

fun read, not my favorite book

I really wasn't sure what to expect when I realized it was solely told through emails/texts/etc. it was an interesting premise. Overall, this just never really grabbed my attention. I didn't care for any of the characters and the conclusion was a bit underwhelming. I liked the interesting concept in the way the story was written, but I definitely had higher hopes. The murder is really more of a subplot than the prime objective.

Not worth the excruciating wait.

Why did I stick this out? I guess because it was award winning and I kept thinking the ploy would improve. Wrong.

Terrible format

Several moments where I just wanted to abandon it all together. Stuck it out, thinking it will probably be worth it. I was wrong.

Multiple POV mystery

Would not recommend as an audiobook. This would be much better read in print.

A whole cast of players which made it hard to care about anyone. I didn’t really like the investigation component since it felt like it was leading the readers to make certain assumptions. Twisty mystery but overall just meh for me.