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.

This audio stopped working from track 7 so I couldn’t complete it sadly
I love this author so was very sad about it

This was my first book by this author or the combination of narrators. It felt like it was a match made in heaven it so worked. I also wasn't aware that this was the second book in the series. It didn't really matter but I have now bought the first book to listen to as I need to know more about the characters and their back stories and how they ended up where they did.

It was pleasantly long listen but did not feel padded out as each chapter built on the previous one and just got you involved emotionally. The crime itself was interesting and there are triggers in there - human trafficking, suicide threats etc but they were not gratuitous and were part of the story.
I also found it really intriguing to learn how a podcast was made. This has always intrigued me from a financial perspective as podcasts seem to be everywhere now and I always wonder how they make their money.