The Appeal

A Novel

By: Janice Hallett

Narrated by: Daniel Philpott, Aysha Kala, Rachel Adedeji, Sid Sagar

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, Air Mail, and more!

“[W]itty, original…a delight.” —The New York Times

Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell, this international bestseller and “dazzlingly clever” (The Sunday Times, London) murder mystery follows a community rallying around a sick child—but when escalating lies lead to a dead body, everyone is a suspect.

The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.

But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that the killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.

A wholly modern and gripping take on the epistolary novel, The Appeal is a “daring…clever, and funny” (The Times, London) debut for fans of Richard Osman and Lucy Foley.

The Appeal

I really liked the format. I’m always down to get into a multi-character point of view book. It jumbles up just enough in my head to where I am actively thinking about what has happened or is going to happen next all day. I most definitely had a feeling the book was going to end the way it did for a while, but was just waiting for the missing pieces. Such a fun listen!

Fantastic

An exceptional thriller that delivers not only a copious dose of twists, but also genuinely well drawn characters. I wasn’t sure whether the “found document” style would work as an audiobook but the fantastic performances of this ensemble of actors (plus some clever production tricks!) made the story very easy to follow. Highly recommended!

Do not listen to this book on audible

It is a series of emails And texts. This means all the header information is read every single time. That’s one problem. The other problem is there is a lot to absorb and it’s just too hard to do listening when you may need to read something more carefully, or be able to look back easily. As a story, this one was OK, but frankly did not live up to the recommendation in the New York Times.

Hated the repetitive email reading

Boring beyond belief. If you think this book is for you think again. You’ll have to read through thousands of emails with date and time stamps not to mention the odd made up advertisement to get to the thread of the story!!! So predictable was the conclusion I’d hardly use the word suspense or mystery anywhere near this book!

Great Idea by Having a Full Cast

Very engaging novel. Even though format does not necessarily lend itself for audiobook format, the performers and producers turned it into an “audio play” making it very engaging.