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!

A Wild, Twisty Ride

Loved it! lots of interesting characters in a complex, well written and extremely well acted plot. I hope Hallet keeps them coming, and Audible keeps offering them.

Excellent, but maybe not as an audio book?

Alright, audio is not the best format for an epistolary novel, so the first few chapters will drive you nuts. but when you get used to it, the story really develops. And the epistolary format really allows the reader to experience each character's development and internal voice meaningfully. I will warn: this is not an audio book to listen to while you're doing other things. In order to keep track of each message, you really have to be focused on the book. The voice work is fantastic though, and that helps with the adaptation of the novel's format.

Creative and well thought through

This has a wonderful cast of characters, interesting twists, and an interesting presentation of the information as it is all written in texts and emails. I originally thought I wouldn’t like that but I found it to be quite attention grabbing. 10/10 recommend