This is my first Susan Lewis book which I really enjoyed, I had no idea it was the second in the series but I was able to follow the story without issue.

Christy and her podcast team take on a case of a child discovered on a beach and taken in by two sisters who led her to believe she was their niece. As a grown woman, Sadie wants to find out who her real parents were and how she came to live with the aunts. Unfolding lots of family secrets in the process.

It's a slow burn mystery and it dragged a tiny bit in the middle but was well pulled together and is a great audiobook with the clips of podcasts and interviews. The narrators were fantastic.

Thank you Netgalley, Susan Lewis and HarperCollins UK Audio | HarperCollins for the Audio Arc of Don't Believe a Word.
Narrated by Kristin Atherton; Mark Meadows; Oliver Hembrough; Lucy Price-Lewis; Catrin Walker-Booth.

This is the first book I have picked up by Susan Lewis because I have seen her names in reading circles and good reviews. I usually read fast paced thrillers but sometimes I just need something that is slow burning and this is exactly that. Rather than being a fast paced, plot based book. This is a slow burn and very much character building with multi POV and told on several timelines.

After all, what would you do if you found a child on their own on the beach? I found the characters really interesting. Christy, one of our MFC, a podcaster, is captivated by Sadie's story. She was raised by 2 women who found her on the beach. The catch? Sadie found diaries that suggest otherwise, Told from varying different media, this story draws you in. You get to know slowly, like Christy's audience how this story unfolds in the present moments, as well as the characters telling their story from the past. While this story is forming, there's twists and turns. Perceptions and points of views skew and twist. What you're left with is doubting one side, or both? Are they all unreliable narrators?

I was so surprised how invested I got throughout the book. I did listen to it over a 2-3 days and I looked forward to picking this back up again. I will definitely pick up more of Susan's Books in the future.

Those who narrated this audio did an awesome job in keeping both past and present characters individual and easy to follow. All their voices were such a pleasure to listen to.

4 stars

Christy and her team return with another gripping podcast and a new unsolved case in Don’t Believe a Word. Like the previous book, this is a slow-burn mystery, but it’s packed with twists and turns that keep you guessing.

Susan Lewis does a great job balancing the podcast format with the unfolding investigation, and the layered plot builds steadily to a satisfying reveal.

I listened to the audiobook version and really enjoyed it- the narration was engaging and brought the story to life, making the experience even better.

A solid pick for fans of slow-paced thrillers and true-crime style storytelling.

While this one didn’t fully click for me, I appreciated the author’s skilled writing. The narration was also very good. Other readers may find much to enjoy here, so don't give it a miss.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.

With twists and turns galore Don’t believe a word will keep you guessing. Just when you think you know.. you don’t! Another brilliant book by the talented Susan Lewis. Thank you for the chance to read.

I listened to the audiobook version of this story and I enjoyed it.
I liked the podcast element and I was invested straight away and wanted to know what happened.
I didn't realise it was the second in a series, and thought it was a standalone, but I managed.
Would read another by this author.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio for the ARC

I've read and enjoyed another book by Susan Lewis and unfortunately that made Don't Believe a Word a bit disappointing. I found it slow and tiring. The narrators did a good job, but the story didn't intrigue me and I wanted it to end.

Twisty and exciting read.

The author created a good start of the story. Fast-paced and gripping and I loved the development of the story.

Many thanks to Netgalley, publisher and the author for my copy.

Unfortunately I am not able to give full feedback for this title as the audiobook files didn't download completely and so I only got part way through before I could no longer listen. In spite of reporting this I wasn't able to be sent a new download.

Usually love this authors books but this one fell flat for me. Not sure if it was the narrator or the book itself! I have read others by this author which were far better but I found this just went on far too long and was quite boring at times.

This twisty novel makes a wonderful audiobook and is very much in keeping with the distinctive style of Susan Lewis.

References in this book make me think these characters have been present in a previous novel/s but I read it as a standalone and didn't feel I was in anyway disadvantaged given that all characters are well introduced.

The story is told through the makers of a podcast 'Hind Sight', and follows their latest cold case. Host, Chrissy and her team, use their skills in investigative journalism to help a young woman, Sadie, who is looking to find her birth parents having been found on a remote Channel Islands beach by 2 reclusive sisters when she was aged 2. Chrissie is the main narrator of this story, and she has her own share of romantic and domestic dramas as this novel unfolds.

The story is beautifully and cleverly told through a range of mediums: phonecalls, podcast episodes and journal entries to name just a few. A number of interesting characters are woven in as this exciting tale plays out.

Narration is superb, with talented narrators, (male and female) using various voices and accents to help differentiate characters and make this novel a very easy and pleasant listen!

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this audiobook in exchange for an advance copy.

Don’t Believe A Word by Susan Lewis and narrated by Kristin Atherton; Mark Meadows; Oliver Hembrough; Lucy Price-Lewis; and Catrin Walker-Booth, is the second book in the series featuring Cristy Ward and her podcast team, Sadly, it did take me awhile to listen to this audiobook as it was a slow burner but once I got into it I really enjoyed it.

All the narrators added an extra layer to the story, each of them delivered a fantastic production that really added to the layers of the story. If it was just 1 narrator I think I would have given up on it. So I am glad there was 5 narrators.

Big thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio | HarperCollins for my Audiobook/ARC.

More of a long smoulder than a slow burn, but a sound mystery runs through the tale.

It's the second book in a series and you don't need to have read the previous one to enjoy this (but it may hamper your reading of book 1 if you read this first.). The main narration is excellent although the style of the 'podcast' sections changes of voice can be a little off-putting

Unfortunately this was a long drawn out disappointment for me.

I did find the overall premise of the story intriguing but thought it played out very slowly with no plot twists or anything to keep me guessing where it was going.

I listened to this as an audiobook and it was very flat and mundane, the relationships between the characters did not come across well and the dynamics with the family I found strange and without compassion.

I didn’t feel invested in the plot or the characters which made it hard to keep listening.

I have read others by this author which were far better but
I found this just went on far too long and was quite boring at times.

This is my first susan Lewis book in a few years and didn't know there was another book before this until after I finished. This started off really well loved the podcast element. I did find it a bit confusing at times as there are so many chariand alot going on! It was also a bit too long but the narration was well done and kept me engaged through out. I always like Lucy price as a narrator anyway so was instantly sold and the title was also intriguing. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this audio arc.

Downloaded this audiobook from NetGalley to listen to while doing some admin and I’m glad I did - it really kept me guessing.

The plot is quite dark, involving people trafficking and exploration and the author uses the device of a team making a true crime podcast in order to give us some light alongside the shade.

As a result there’s quite a lot about main investigator Cristy Ward, but unfortunately for me I really did not like her home set up and had little interest in her ex-husband and his new wife and newborn baby or, for that matter, in her new love interest, David, whom Cristy worries is still involved with his ex-wife. So, while I appreciated that we couldn’t be in with the traffickers all the time (too intense) I found myself eye rolling at Cristy’s people outside work a lot.

Inside her work as an investigative journalist I was hooked, however. I really did not trust Sadie, who approached Cristy for help to uncover her past. This kept me on the edge of my seat wondering how the main storyline would resolve itself.

As usual with Susan Lewis, there is plenty of drama and lots of jaw-dropping moments and I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good page turner.

Trigger warnings for people trafficking and male to female violence and for threat of suicide.

A great story, full of human interest, I was enthralled to the very end. The characters were mostly interesting and it was interesting to be involved in Cristy's and David's family lives too. I was guessing to the very end, all through the many varied twists and turns.
I wasn't at all sure why the characters had different voices when they were recorded for the podcast and it did spoil my enjoyment a bit as I was sure there must be a very obvious reason and I was too stupid to work it out.

This was my first read/listen from the author and it did not disappoint, my only gripe was that I felt I’d missed a little bit of backstory, and it seemed odd for a standalone, however it seems this title is in fact the second in a series, but I was so invested that I just believed part of the story was the mystery of the past - silly me. I’m really keen to read more by Susan Lewis and I’ve added the first title to my seemingly never ending audible wish list.

This was every inch a fantastic story, opening with a small child left alone on a beach, the decision to bring her inside, then catapulted forward in time when the child, Sadie, discovers part of her origin story and seeks the help of a true crime podcast team to help her unravel the story and get to the truth of who she is, where she came from and most of all why have her aunts lied to her for all these years, it’s clear that there are lies and secrets aplenty and the story unravelled brilliantly for my liking, I found it believable, shocking and desperately sad.
The whole team of podcasters and their side stories were really interesting and I warmed almost instantly to each of them.

The whole team of narrators added an extra layer to the story, each delivered a fantastic production that really added to the layers of the story.

Fabulous 🎧

Huge thanks to Harper Collins U.K. Audio via NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review. This title is available now, go get it 😁

I think readers would enjoy another book with Cristy and Connor doing a podcast. Sadie approaches them because she finds out she was found on the beach as a child, and her aunts are not her family. This book had some glitches. It was too long. About 12%, the audio cut out and didn't come back for a few hours. I hope this is fixed before going on sale. It was ok; too long; good ending.

Cristy and Connor start a pod cast about sadie, who was found on the beach as a child. She discovers the aunts she lives with are not her family. I had some issue with this book. It too long and drug out, so I did skip to the end. But the biggest thing was at 12%, it stopped working. I deleted and redownloaded it several times and there was no sound for a few chapters. So at that point, I had already missed some, so just skipped ahead. The ending was good. I just think this book and the previous were very very long and maybe not for me.