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A review by ladytiara
I Hope You're Listening by Tom Ryan
4.0
I Hope You're Listening is a compelling mystery, and a quick and entertaining read.
When Dee was 7, her best friend Sibby was taken, grabbed by two masked men in the woods where she and Dee were playing. Dee was left behind, and Sibby was never found. Dee is now 17 and she's lived with the guilt of being left behind for 10 years. She presents a tough exterior to the world, and she's something of a loner, with just one close friend. But Dee has a big secret: she's the anonymous host of the popular true crime podcast Radio Silent. Known as the Seeker, Dee uses her podcast to investigate missing people. Solving other people's disappearances brings her some peace, but when a little girl who lives in Dee's old house goes missing, it seems like the past is repeating itself.
I really liked this book. It has two interesting mysteries: what happened to Sibby all those years ago and the new disappearance of the little girl. The two cases appear to have similarities, and it forces Dee to revisit Sibby's disappearance. Dee is a great character. She's closed herself off from the world, and her podcast has become something of an obsession. Her listeners are referred to as the Laptop Detective Association, and the podcast has led to a number of solved cases. The concept of the podcast and the work that Dee is doing is very cool, and I really enjoyed this aspect of the book.
Dee has a lot of character growth. She has to face what happened in the past and find a way to move forward. She finds herself on the outs with her only friend because of her reluctance to use the podcast to investigate Sibby's disappearance or the new mystery, while she opens herself up to a possible romance with a new girl who moves in across the street (both girls are unapologetically queer, and it's refreshing that it's not an issue at all in the story). Her journey in figuring out how to deal with trauma and move on is really well done.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.
When Dee was 7, her best friend Sibby was taken, grabbed by two masked men in the woods where she and Dee were playing. Dee was left behind, and Sibby was never found. Dee is now 17 and she's lived with the guilt of being left behind for 10 years. She presents a tough exterior to the world, and she's something of a loner, with just one close friend. But Dee has a big secret: she's the anonymous host of the popular true crime podcast Radio Silent. Known as the Seeker, Dee uses her podcast to investigate missing people. Solving other people's disappearances brings her some peace, but when a little girl who lives in Dee's old house goes missing, it seems like the past is repeating itself.
I really liked this book. It has two interesting mysteries: what happened to Sibby all those years ago and the new disappearance of the little girl. The two cases appear to have similarities, and it forces Dee to revisit Sibby's disappearance. Dee is a great character. She's closed herself off from the world, and her podcast has become something of an obsession. Her listeners are referred to as the Laptop Detective Association, and the podcast has led to a number of solved cases. The concept of the podcast and the work that Dee is doing is very cool, and I really enjoyed this aspect of the book.
Dee has a lot of character growth. She has to face what happened in the past and find a way to move forward. She finds herself on the outs with her only friend because of her reluctance to use the podcast to investigate Sibby's disappearance or the new mystery, while she opens herself up to a possible romance with a new girl who moves in across the street (both girls are unapologetically queer, and it's refreshing that it's not an issue at all in the story). Her journey in figuring out how to deal with trauma and move on is really well done.
I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.