Don't believe a Word is the first Susan Lewis book I have come across.

I found the story interesting at the start and I felt that it was good how Mia and her sister Lottie as well the house were introduced.

I was shocked at the discovery of the little girl on the beach and the note. That made me interested in the mystery.

Is the girl Sadie?

Is she really related to Mia?
and Lottie?

Who are the girl's parents?

Why was she abandoned?

Don't Believe A Word was very long. Much too long. There was not enough attention to detail to get me hooked.

I am disappointed in the fact that the characters were not well developed. I found the narrator very hard to listen to.

All this made what could be a brilliant story not as great as I had hoped. It was wanting to know how the mystery would be solved that kept me listening, but I felt tempted to stop now and then because the writing style was so long-winded.

I found I had to go back through the book in an attempt to try to understand things now and then. I felt confused.

Despite all this, I am interested in getting to know the first part of the story someday.

3 stars.

Thanks to Susan Lewis and Harper Collins UK. Audio for my audiobook in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

Really enjoyed this addictive and well written. Enjoyed the plot and characters and nice narration.

Don’t Believe a Word by Susan Lewis – Short Review

This gripping thriller follows Sadie, a woman convinced she was stolen as a child and raised by two aunts who lied about everything. Her story catches the attention of Cristy Ward, a true-crime podcast host, who begins to investigate. As secrets unravel and conflicting truths emerge, the line between fantasy and reality blurs. Susan Lewis crafts a tense, emotionally charged narrative full of twists, exploring identity, trust, and the danger of buried truths. A compelling read for fans of psychological suspense and family drama.

I couldn’t listen to all of this as the file was corrupt and stopped working which is unfortunate as Susan’s books are usually really good

#Mythoughts ; I enjoy a Susan Lewis book and this one had all the elements of a mystery thriller . Sadie was found at the age of two by adult sisters on a beach and they took her in and took care of her till adulthood.

As she has got older Sadie believes she was stolen. After one of her aunts dies and the other appears quite eccentric and confused she starts to look into her background. Sadie reaches out to true crime podcasters Cristy and Connor who are intrigued about Sadie’s past .

Told in podcast format , interviews , discussions and written format.
Who is telling the truth ?
Will they find her birth family?
Will the truth be revealed?
I am not saying …… x! @susanlewisbooks @harpercollinsuk @harperfiction

In Don't Believe a Word, Sadie calls on a true crime podcaster, Chrissy, to uncover who her parents were and why she was raised by two sisters unrelated to her. I found I kept thinking 'I don't care.' About one third of the way into the narrative, one of the characters asks Chrissy, 'why would the listeners care about what happened to Sadie?' The answer is that anyone with any empathy would care what happened to this little girl.

It was a weak answer and I still didn't care.

Mysteries that revolve around one character being deliberately silent about the past while everyone struggles to unearth what happened, annoy me. It's a weak trope. If Sadie had just asked her aunt Mia, and if the aunt had answered truthfully, there would be no story. If she had found all the evidence in the aunts' house in one go rather than in dribs and drabs, there would be no story (the house being a mess seemed a poor excuse). Yes, we eventually learn why Mia didn't reveal the past but getting there tested my patience and in the end, once all was revealed... I still didn't care.

Don’t believe a word is the second novel by Susan Lewis featuring Chrissy Ward, a true crime podcaster. Sadie was led to believe she was found by her two aunts but there seems to be some uncertainty around the truth of the story she has always been told. The novel uncovers the real story and is told through a series of podcasts.
Despite being relatively unique in this approach, I found the pace of the book to be quite slow with some of the characters quite jarring. Great read for fans of this genre though.

3.5 stars

Cristy and the team are back in another mystery, and while this one kept me entertained, it didn’t have quite the same spark as the first book. The suspense was there, it had the right amount of humor, and the little touch of romance was a nice bonus.

But… some parts dragged. I found myself zoning out here and there, wishing it would pick up. Still, it’s a solid read, just not one I’ll be thinking about as much as book one.

The full cast of narrators was fantastic and brought the story to life.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio | HarperCollins for the audio copy.

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.