Girl, 11

I will preface this by saying it's a very cool idea, and I love the inclusion of podcasts in the crime/mystery here. What I didn't like as much, sadly, was Elle and her attitude in general. Flawed and unlikable characters can work, but Elle grated on me which made it a little hard to get behind her and her story. But mostly what bugged me was the ending. It felt...not as exciting(?) as the first part...a bit rushed, like it was time to wrap up the story with a little less care than there was at the beginning. Again, cool idea, cool parts, but overall just not one I'll remember.

This was a really fun thriller! People who are obsessed with true crime documentaries or podcasts would love this fast paced read! This story follows Elle who runs a true crime podcast of her own and likes to dig up cold cases and try to investigate into them, hoping to find new leads that will help uncover the killers. The latest focus of her podcast is the Countdown Killer and she becomes obsessed with trying to track him down when new murders start happening around her. But the the Countdown Killer has been inactive for 20 years so has he decided to start killing again or is it a new copy cat killer? This was written in a propulsive way and I found myself really enjoying sinking into the story. It's a really impressive debut and this is an author to watch. Thrillers fans check this book out!

Thanks to Text publishing, the author Amy Suiter Clarke and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I saw this book today in a video from a content creator and what called my attention to it was the Booktoober saying how much representation this book had and how some aspects of it were usually not talked about in mystery thriller, and to be honest I was intrigued there.

I listened to this audiobook in one sitting.

The cast and sound effects were on point, all the voices were good and it was a huge part of me enjoying it so much.

But the writing in this is good. It's not flowery or convoluted, it goes straight to the point but it is smart in the way it feeds you clues. I never felt I wasn't supposed to guess what was happening, it was like the author wanted me there, even if I saw what was going to happen before the protagonist.

I do like the representation in it. I like the fact it is pointed out more than once racism, xenophobia, and misogyny in our society and most important in the justice system.

But honestly what hooked me from the start was the characters. I know many reviews state they didn't like El, but I did. I loved her relationship with Martín, and him personally. Her friendship with Sash, Nathalie, Tina, and Ayaan was complicated and somewhat shaky but I also could feel what the writer intended when doing the connections.

Yes, the last quarter is less credible and developed but it doesn't take the brights spots of the book for me, it is a solid 4 stars, and I will read her next book.