The Appeal
Viper/Atria
July 1, 2021 (UK) January 25, 2022 (US)
Paperback
447
Purchased
Dear Reader - enclosed are all the documents you need to solve a case. It starts with the arrival of two mysterious newcomers to the small town of Lockwood, and ends with a tragic death.
Someone has already been convicted of this brutal murder and is currently in prison, but we suspect they are innocent. What's more, we believe far darker secrets have yet to be revealed.
Throughout the Fairway Players' staging of All My Sons and the charity appeal for little Poppy Reswick's life-saving medical treatment, the murderer hid in plain sight. Yet we believe they gave themselves away. In writing. The evidence is all here, between the lines, waiting to be discovered.
Will you accept the challenge? Can you uncover the truth?
My review:
Side note before review..... I bought this copy of the book from the UK because I loved this cover compared to the US version. If you look for this book, you will find a different (mostly blue) cover, but it's the same book.
I cannot even begin to express how much I loved the experience of reading this book! Actually that's not entirely true since the writing was super small in the copy I had (see above) and my eyes were burning since I could NOT stop reading it!! This book was such a breath of fresh air, particularly for someone who consumes a ton of books. Sometimes it seems like the format and plots are things you've seen before. Not for this book which is told entirely through emails, texts, and news articles revolving around the death of someone in the small town of Lockwood. Two law students are handed tons of media and tasked with finding out if the correct person has been convicted of the murder. And YOU the reader get to go along and read it with them, all the while figuring it out with them. It was a brilliant concept and I was hooked from the start. There are lots of side plots going on leading up to the murder (which you don't know who it is) including a theater company play, a fund raising effort to save a little girl, and several people with ties to Central Africa. It was captivating and addictive as I tried to figure it all out. In the end I was on the right track, but not entirely correct (no surprise there, I'm awful at whodunnit stuff!). I will warn you that there are a ton of characters right from the start. There is a glossary of who's who, but if that kind of stuff bothers you, be forewarned. I didn't really get too hung up on it and it worked out just fine, the people fall into place as you keep reading.
Such a unique concept for a book, and I was there for it! I could not put this book down until I figured out what was ultimately happening with each of these characters. I absolutely cannot wait to see if this author puts out another gem like this! Edit to add....a new book has been released in the UK called The Twyford Code 🙂
