A review by mjwilliamson
I Hope You're Listening by Tom Ryan

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The story was compelling and the cases nicely paralleled one another. I thought that the interchange between podcast script and first-person narrative was a nice way to tell the story, similarly, when past events were narrated in third person, it really demonstrated the disassociation between current Dee and past Dee. The characters were flawed, thought at times I found Dee a little too passive, I was willing to ignore it as she was anxious and traumatised, so it fit her narrative. The main romance I found slightly superfluous; they went from first kiss to ‘I love you’s incredibly fast, and though I appreciated the function of the girlfriends character, I wish that there had been a little more development from beginning to hold a conversation to I’ll risk my life for you. It felt unnecessarily rushed. Overall, I enjoyed the book. 
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