Disclaimer: I received the arc from the publisher for TBR and Beyond Tours. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: I Hope You’re Listening
Author: Tom Ryan
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3.5/5
Diversity: w/w main character
Recommended For…: mystery lovers, thrill seekers, missing persons, lgbt+
Publication Date: October 6, 2020
Genre: YA Mystery
Recommended Age: 16+ (mystery, kidnapping and missing persons TW, child abduction TW, cannabis usage)
Publisher: Aw Teen
Pages: 368
Synopsis: In her small town, seventeen year-old Delia “Dee” Skinner is known as the girl who wasn’t taken. Ten years ago, she witnessed the abduction of her best friend, Sibby. And though she told the police everything she remembered, it wasn’t enough. Sibby was never seen again.At night, Dee deals with her guilt by becoming someone else: the Seeker, the voice behind the popular true crime podcast Radio Silent, which features missing persons cases and works with online sleuths to solve them. Nobody knows Dee’s the Seeker, and she plans to keep it that way.When another little girl goes missing, and the case is linked to Sibby’s disappearance, Dee has a chance to get answers, with the help of her virtual detectives and the intriguing new girl at school. But how much is she willing to reveal about herself in order to uncover the truth? Dee’s about to find out what’s really at stake in unraveling the mystery of the little girls who vanished.
Review: For the most part this was a very well done mystery! I couldn’t figure out the whodunit within the first half of the book. The book did well with the mystery elements and the plot was interesting throughout the book. I also thought the world building was well done. I also liked that the book discussed the difference between when a white person goes missing versus a minority character.
However, I do feel like the pacing was really slow and the character development was lacking. The main character is severely stiff and uninteresting. It was a struggle to get through the first half of the book, but by the second half it was smooth sailing.
Verdict: It was good, but a bit lacking.
Book Info:
I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan
Genre: Young Adult Mystery
Publishing Date: October 6, 2020
Synopsis:
EVERY MISSING PERSON HAS A STORY.
In her small town, seventeen-year-old Delia “Dee” Skinner is known as the girl who wasn’t taken. Ten years ago she witnessed the abduction of her best friend, Sibby. And though she told the police everything she remembered, it wasn’t enough. Sibby was never seen again.
At night, Dee deals with her guilt by becoming someone else: the Seeker, the voice behind the popular true crime podcast Radio Silent, which features missing persons cases and works with online sleuths to solve them. Nobody knows Dee’s the Seeker, and she plans to keep it that way.
When another little girl in town goes missing, and the case is linked to Sibby’s disappearance, Dee has a chance to get answers with the help of her virtual detectives and the intriguing new girl at school. But how much of her own story is she willing to reveal in order to uncover the truth?
Book Links:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45041866-i-hope-you-re-listening
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-hope-youre-listening-tom-ryan/1136487290?ean=9780807535080
Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/I-Hope-YouRe-Listening-Tom-Ryan/9780807535080?ref=grid-view&qid=1597078533431&sr=1-1
About the Author:
Tom Ryan is the award winning author of several acclaimed books for young readers. He has been nominated for multiple awards, and was the winner of the 2020 Arthur Ellis Award for Best YA Crime Book. Two of his books were Junior Library Guild selections, and three of his young adult novels, Way to Go, Tag Along, and Keep This to Yourself, were chosen for the ALA Rainbow List, in 2013, 2014 and 2020. He was a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction.
Tom, his husband and their dog currently divide their time between Ottawa and Nova Scotia.
Author Links:
Website: http://www.tomryanauthor.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomryanauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomryanauthor/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5267233.Tom_Ryan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tomryanauthor
Tour Schedule:
https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/2020/08/20/tour-schedule-i-hope-youre-listening-by-tom-ryan/
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Giveaway (US Only):
Finished copy of I Hope You’re Listening. This giveaway is US only and ends on October 20th.
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