The Unheard

A Novel

By: Nicci French

Narrated by: Olivia Vinall

Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

“Nicci French is a specialist in the kind of evil that burrows from within.” (New York Times Book Review)

In this new heart-pounding stand-alone from the internationally best-selling author that People calls “razor sharp", a single mother suspects her young daughter has witnessed a horrible crime when the girl draws a disturbing picture - but the deadly path to unravel the truth could cost her everything.

Maybe Tess is overprotective, but passing her daughter off to her ex and his new young wife fills her with a sense of dread. It’s not that Jason is a bad father - it just hurts to see him enjoying married life with someone else. Still, she owes it to her daughter, Poppy, to make this arrangement work.

But Poppy returns from the weekend tired and withdrawn. And when she shows Tess a crayon drawing - an image so simple and violent that Tess can hardly make sense of it - Poppy can only explain with the words “He did kill her”.

Something is horribly wrong. Tess is certain Poppy saw something - or something happened to her - that she’s too young to understand. Jason insists the weekend went off without a hitch. Doctors advise that Poppy may be reacting to her parents’ separation. And as the days go on, even Poppy’s disturbing memory seems to fade. But a mother knows her daughter, and Tess is determined to discover the truth. Her search will set off an explosive tempest of dark secrets and buried crimes - and more than one life may be at stake.

©2021 Nicci French (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Fine but with flaws...

I listened to this book all the way through so it DID keep my attention and I DID want to know what happened. There’s a big BUT though...the protagonist is an idiot. She makes insensible choices all the way through the story. Her idiocy is absolutely maddening. She’s the most frustrating character and because of that, it takes away from the story. I wanted to stop listening so many times because she was so entitled and ridiculous!

The Reviews Were Right

I had no idea where this was going. It almost became a challenge, but it wasn't until 80% that things started to come together!!!! Another great one from Nicci French!

Do you always trust your children?

Exactly what I wanted from an audiobook

Loved the narrator, loved the plot and found myself theorizing and hypothesizing about the ending even when I wasn’t listening.

Unfinished and anticlimactic

The whole story starts out good. Then you get immersed and begin to hate the characters. Tess seems like an entitled mother who lets her daughter do whatever she pleases without saying a word to her. She throws tantrums even hitting her mother and she just stands there calling her daughter darling. She wants teddy she wants ice cream she wants to sleep and to everything Tess says yes darling.
She does incredibly stupid things that turn out has no point whatsoever to the ending.
Also the ending had me like what? Okay we got the culprit but that’s all. We don’t know nothing more. There are a lot of whys that should have been answered for this to be called a good book.

Great premise but disappointing details.

The premise of a concerned mother going to great lengths after her child begins acting out after witnessing something is intriguing. However, the protagonist is insufferable. The basis of her suspicion and the series of events she takes to uncover the truth were scrappy and unrealistic. The reveal of the villain was anticlimactic and we never learn the details of what actually happened or what the daughter witnessed. The narrators performance was excellent but the story was a miss.

Engaging and Suspenseful

I really liked The Unheard and thought it was a fun, suspenseful read. I was pretty much hooked after the first few chapters and the story definitely kept my attention. I am a fan of Nicci French and this book did not disappoint. I thought the plot was innovative and the characters interesting. The narration was excellent. Overall, a great read, and I would highly recommend!

Narration great, story fell apart 3rd act

100% great narrator. Story was compelling enough to finish, mostly likable characters. But everything felt like it fell apart in the last third of the book. Not sure what I wanted to happen, I just know this ending wasn't it.

Could have skipped this one.

I got this as part of a 2 for 1 deal thank goodness. Like other reviewers said, the main character is so unbelievably unlikable and the kid is annoying. Plus I felt like I had to completely suspend reality because in the real world, she would have earned herself a stay in a psych unit; I literally rolled my eyes and groaned out loud several times. The only thing that saved this one was the narrator.

Holds your interest

The story is not a real fast moving one and I found myself trying to figure out if the main character was reading into things with the child or if there really was a real need for concern. It definitely kept me interested and I enjoyed the story. I do have to note however that the child did not appeal to me whatsoever. Her manners were atrocious and I found myself just wishing the mom would one time gently correct her when she was so rude to adults.
But the book is worth a credit and I did appreciate how it ended. The author tied up all the loose ends.

The ending was disappointing.

The book is well performed but by the second half of the book I disliked the main character. It was hard to enjoy the ending due to her whining and belief that every man was out to do “anything” to be with her. Story line didn’t ring true and lacked important details.