WOW! What a strong start to a series!

3.5 stars rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the advanced listener copy.

This was a gripping story and for sure had me on the edge of my seat! There were quite a few different plots going on and at times they were hard to follow, but they all came together in the end.

The narration was good. The narrator did a great job portraying different characters although her “man” voice wasn’t my favorite ever.

I would for sure recommend this book to people looking for a gripping mystery.

I love getting the opportunity to read a literary series right from the very start and so I was very excited to read The Hanging Dolls and what a title!

The main character is FBI agent Zoe Storm and I like her very much. The prologue begins sometime ago with Zoe as a child and the main story picks up in the present time with Zoe and her role with the FBI, when she is called to investigate the murder of a little girl. The plot itself was relatively straightforward with a lot of the book introducing us to the characters who are likely to be recurring in the series and starting to reveal their back stories. I hope we get to find out more about Zoe‘s childhood as it is clear that this has shaped who she is today and why she does the job that she does. I’m also fascinated to find out what happened to her mother.

I listened to the audiobook,, which was narrated by Stephanie Cannon. I always enjoy Stephanie‘s narration; she has a great skill in voicing many different characters in a story effectively.

4 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Ruhi Choudhary and Bookouture, for an ARC of this book.

3.25⭐️
I think I am going to be an outlier here so I rounded my rating up. However, I am reviewing the Audiobook and I did not enjoy it which then impacted my investment in the story. As in I had to speed it up as fast as I could while still understanding it just so I didn't get hyper-focused on the narration.

I realize that this is a "me" issue which is why I didn't want to negatively impact the overall rating for the book but I still want to be forthright with my opinions.

The book was narrated by Stephanie Cannon and she did speak at a decent pace for the 1X speed. Her regular vocals for the female characters was fine and pleasant to listen to. It seemed to fit the main character, Zoe Storm, well enough. However, her male characters were insufferable. Like, it made me angry to listen to as it bordered on offensive. It was at times such a caricature of the different male voices and at others it sounded like she was in pain. I am sorry to be so harsh but it was that bad.

As far as the story itself, it was a pretty straight forward police procedural. Admittedly, I am no longer in my police procedural era but the description of this one intrigued me enough to give it a go. What I didn't enjoy is that it felt like the author was talking down to the reader. While I found it fairly simple to figure out the twits and culprit well before they were revealed, it was as though she put in twists for twist sake without much support beneath it. As it it tried to be clever but didn't fully execute.

However, it had an enjoyable feeling to it. Narration aside, the prose itself did keep me engaged and interested enough that I want to check out other works by the author.

I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary audio ALC from Bookouture Audio through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My general rating system is below. Since I primarily read ARC books I rate according to how I think like minded readers will receive the book. I will round up or down depending on many factors and try not to let my personal wants affect a books ratings.

⭐️ Hated It but pushed through as so don’t DNF ARCs I have received.
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, content issues, poorly edited.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but it had something that stopped me from rounding up. Usually the book may have much more potential than what was given. I recommend it but with reservations.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I Really enjoyed it or think others will. These are solid reads that I definitely would recommend for a variety of reasons.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! These are books that remain rent free in my head for well after unfinished the book. It can be for a variety of reasons from being very well written or just the vibes that captured my mind. These books are also ones I would probably read again.

The Hanging Dolls is a grizzly start to a new FBI agent series, we are introduced to agent Zoe when she is a child, then we fast forward to the now, a killer who has murdered one little girl, and is preparing for the next 2. Zoe needs to stop him.

The killer is in the story all along, and the plot was interesting and well thought out. The author does a great distraction job, I had the killer pinned down several times and I was wrong until a point. I would normally really enjoy this, but it felt too obvious, in a look over there type manner. I knew I was being distracted and I didn’t love it.

Maybe this was wrong book wrong time for me. I’m clearly in the minority with my review, but I just did t enjoy it as I expected to, and I didn’t feel invested enough to continue with the series.

Stephanie Cannons narration was enjoyable as usual.

Huge thanks to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧