Tom Ryan

The anonymous host of a true-crime podcast is faced with a new case that could uncover secrets from her past.

I Hope You're Listening

trixie

the main character liking girls and that not being the most important part of her story is something that can actually be so personal

Crystal L

I Hope You're Listening is everything I needed in a book and so much more! Seven-year-old Dee Skinner was playing hide and seek in the woods with her best friend Sibby when Sibby was kidnapped. All Dee can remember was being tied up by people in masks and one lone sentence by the abductor. Ten years later Dee, under the pseudonym of The Seeker, runs a popular true crime/missing persons podcast which, thanks to laptop detectives, has helped located missing people all over the country. When another little girl goes missing from the same house Dee used to live in, Dee believes the two are connected and there could still be hope to find Sibby yet. 

Author, Tom Ryan, does a good job at addressing childhood trauma and the disparate impacts that trauma can have on young adults. Ryan also does a great job of representing LGBTQ+ characters, not using sexuality as a plot point but still keeping it a part of the story. The mysteries in I Hope You're Listening wrap up very well and don't leave you questioning what happened. 

5/5 Stars! 

Thank you to Netgalley and Albert Whitman & Company for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

KADY BURNS

When I read the blurb about this book, I knew I had to read it. I love podcasts, mysteries and YA books, so this seems to be right in my wheel house. Normally a mystery hooks me and doesn't let go until I finish it, but this one was more of a smolder until towards the end. The romance feels a bit forced in there and sort of out of nowhere, but I wasn't bothered by it. The conclusion of the first case was really predictable. The conclusion of the second case seems a bit out of left field, but not so much that it is offensive. 

Most of the characters are not flushed out at all. Most of them were unnecessary to the story, especially the ones on the podcast. 

Overall, it was a quick (less than 200 pages) but pretty discombobulated read

Maria emilia 

mary

rtc.

tw: child abduction, drug usage, cults, kidnapping.

alice nunes

A new favorite mystery novel!! I couldn’t stop listening to the audiobook and I was SO engaged

Caitlyn DeRouin

Thank you to NetGalley and AW Teen for this ARC!

Slight spoilers, nothing too descriptive! 

From the description alone, I knew that this book would be right up my alley. I love a good mystery/thriller especially one that keeps me guessing from start to finish, as this one did.

What I Liked:
- The writing style. I thought the writing was very straight forward, not too many frills or additional information that wasn't pertinent to the story being told. I also thought the author did a great job of setting the mood, for instance, the second that Dee stepped into Mrs. Rose's home, I knew that this would be important to the mystery unraveling simply from the feeling I got through the description.
- The mystery was well thought out and unraveled and a good pace. The story easily unfolded and the anticipation built as the story continued.
- The characters. I thought all of the characters were very interesting and well written, especially the main characters. There also were not many throwaway characters, there were a few but for the most part, we met characters for a specific reason and they were important to the story.
- The use of the podcast. I think the idea of the podcast was very cleverly worked into the book. I enjoyed the podcast transcript chapters, there weren't too many to disrupt the flow of the book, and they all were interesting. I also liked that the podcast followed one story until they found out what happened to the person the story was focused on.
- The WLW representation that, in my opinion, did not at all feel forced. It simply was who Dee was, it wasn't the only aspect of who she was and it wasn't a Whole Big Thing that needed to be addressed constantly

What I Didn't Like:
- While I loved the WLW rep and thought that Sarah was a perfectly fine character, I don't think the romance was really necessary and moved a little quickly
- I wanted more Burke, I thought that he was a really interesting character and would've liked to have seen more of him
- While I liked the idea of the laptop detectives, I found their involvement toward the end of the book a bit unrealistic, it happened just a bit too quickly to be believable for me.
- While there weren't many throwaway characters there were a few and Dee's family fell victim to that. Her brothers were mentioned like 3 times toward the beginning and then never mentioned again, and her parents weren't super involved which tends to be a trope amongst YA literature that kind of bothers me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and read it it almost 1 sitting. I would recommend this to any fan of mystery/thriller novels.

cossette

** spoiler alert **
           Major thank you to publishers and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to review this ARC. 

Trigger warnings: Child abduction, cults, kidnapping

It's been ten years since seventeen year old Delia "Dee" Skinner watched her best friend, Sibby, get kidnapped before her eyes. As a way to channel her guilt and process her feelings from being a bystander, Dee starts Radio Silent - a true crime podcast that highlights missing cases - under the pseudonym of "The Seeker". What had originally been started as a coping mechanism turned into a phenomenon; Radio Silent is the eleventh most listened to podcast, with its own fanbase called "Laptop Detectives" - a group of avid listeners who, using the clues given from the podcasts, try to help solve missing cases. When another young girl goes missing from the same house Dee lived in when she was little, the town is reminded of Sibby's disappearance - an unsolved case still to this day - and Dee has to decide between protecting her identity as The Seeker, her privacy, and herself from all the memories. After a Radio Silent listener sends a clue about Sibby's whereabouts, Dee finds herself following the words she says at the end of every Radio Silent episode- "Is there something you can do to help? Listen up. Let's try." 

I found I Hope You're Listening incredibly captivating, and had chills running down my spine after I'd finished it. While I tend not to read a lot of mystery thrillers, I really enjoyed I Hope You're Listening. As a narrator, Dee felt very well-fleshed. I found myself very sympathetic for her; We've all wondered what it was like to have something go differently, relieved moments and wondered how things would be now if something had happened. I can't even imagine how that would feel if I had watched my best friend get abducted at seven. I felt all the emotions while reading I Hope You're Listening - I found myself putting the book down at times, gasping again and again, holding my breath along with Dee. This is the first of Tom Ryan's books that I've read, and I loved the writing style. I enjoyed how easy it was to read, and the alternating chapters between what was going on in present day, Dee's flashbacks, interspersed with scripts from the podcasts. 

On the other hand, I found myself really wishing that we'd found out more about the other characters. I felt like Burke and Dee had an interesting friendship, and it wasn't until near the end of the book that I found out more about it. I also wish that we'd found out more about Sarah, the love interest - I loved the way that Dee's sexuality wasn't a big part of the book, that it was just something that was normal, but I found Dee and Sarah's relationship distracting to the plot. The same could be said about Dee's family; I wish we'd gotten to see more of them, and their dynamic. What was it like for her parents after Sibby had been abducted? What about her brothers? I had so many unanswered questions. 

Overall, I would give this book 4 stars - I really enjoyed this book, and would encourage others to read it, although there were some parts I didn’t connect with.  If you're a big fan of mysteries and thrillers, this one's for you! I Hope You're Listening is perfect for spooky season.

Candyce Kirk

I've honestly never listened to podcasts, but after reading I Hope You're Listening. After reading this book that may just need to change. I loved how our main character's podcast was intertwined with this story and how something created to make a character feel she was doing something turned out to become something so big.

The main character Dee has experienced something traumatic. Her best friend was kidnapped when they were younger. She was there that day and it's something that still haunts her. This is something she always carries with her, but even more so now when a little girl is taken from her old house. I really liked Dee as a character. After experiencing something like that she still tries to live her life and even help through a true crime podcast to help find missing people. I can't imagine how it feels to know you're still here when your best friend isn't. I loved how determined she was and strong. Yeah, she may have been a bit reckless at times, but I can completely understand that.

I loved the mystery in I Hope You're Listening. I tried solving the puzzle along with our main characters, but I wouldn't have guessed how this was going to end. It fit the story really well though and I love when an author takes a story to a place I didn't see coming. The author created an atmospheric book that kept me reading. As always with mysteries, you really need to experience it yourself. I do know that I'll be looking into the author's other books after loving this one.

laura

* I got this book for review for the publisher for my honest thoughts*

I thought this was super well crafted mystery thriller. I really liked how this book was had podcast element mixed with two mysteries and also a strong LGBTQ realtionship. I really was so emotionally invested in these characters. I really liked the pacing of this novel. I really liked both mysteries a lot. I thought there was alot of plots and some of them, where not fully developed as i wanted and felt some of these plots pieces wanted a bit more from some. I really enjoyed this read and loved the diversity of this read. I loved how much this mystery impacted the main character. It was super fun read and wonder if maybe a second book is in the future. Some triggers warming's for PTSD, Smoking! It was the prefect thriller to kick off halloween season!

Paige Green

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.

Anastaciya

It wasn't bad, but read very unrealistic. Yes, it's a book, a made-up story, but it didn't read smooth. Or maybe I'm getting too old, and I just don't remember, or don't understand how teenagers behave 🤷🏻‍♀️

Emily C Peterson

Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[disappearance of a loved one, abduction/kidnapping, bullying, grooming and paedophilia implied, recreational marijuana use (hide spoiler)]

I Hope You're Listening is a fun and quick read, perfect for younger YA readers. If you are chasing more stories following the podcast format, this is a fun one to add to your list. While it doesn't top 
  Sadie
 it's an engaging read with a couple of twists to keep readers guessing.


  Note: Review copy (audiobook) received via Libro.FM. This does not impact opinions within this review.


blog •  trigger warning database • more links

Happy reading! ❤

Becca Futrell

Thank you to Netgalley & Aw Teen for providing me with a copy of I Hope You're Listening in exchange for an honest review!

Absolutely loving the number of thrillers that include a podcast element! I Hope You're Listening is a perfectly fine story, but it really didn't do much for me -- the story was a bit whatever & one of the conclusions was a bit ridiculous.

zilver 

2.5 - 3 

I really wanted to love this one. From what I read about it beforehand it sounded like I Hope You’re Listening would be a novel in the same vein - a thriller/mystery story interspersed with podcast transcriptions weaving together into a cohesive, multi-layered story. 

When she was seven, Dee Skinner and her best friend, Sibby, got captured while they were playing out in the woods. Sibby was taken. Dee was left behind. At 17, she carries the survivor’s guilt with her constantly. As a way of manifesting that energy into something useful, she’s started a podcast through which she anonymously highlights missing person cases and, sometimes, with the help of her listeners, helps solve them. She looks into all sorts of cases, but not Sibby’s. Until another young girl gets taken from the house Dee used to live in, and suddenly Dee can’t ignore her past anymore. 

There was a lot of potential in this story and this novel, especially in terms of the thriller/mystery aspects. As the story picked up pace in the last third of the book, I did feel myself inching closer to the edge of my seat, curious and anxious for Dee. She’s a good protagonist, coping with complicated feelings about her trauma, with a conviction and perseverance I’m in awe of. And yet, I also felt this novel falls into a lot of “YA traps”, not only in terms of the writing, which is especially juvenile at the start, but in the characterisation especially, and the narrative doesn’t really do the work of earning that. There’s the ex-friend turned mean girl (who actually turns out to not be mean at all in the end, but the shift from the start of the book to a sudden understanding between the girls is startling), the supportive best friend (who turns out to Actually Also Be Going Through His Own Things), the protective parents (who we basically don’t hear from), etc. A lot of it remains very flat, only alluding to a depth we’re never actually shown. 

And this is a problem I had with more parts of the novel, also in terms of storytelling. There are a number of allusions to police screwing up Sibby’s case when she went missing, but never any more info than that. The side plot that Dee explores through her podcast felt like a very separate thing from the rest of the novel, and didn’t really integrate well. When you do choose to use this dual narrative, I think both narratives need to enhance each other, and I don’t think this did. It felt more like I was being told the same thing twice but in a slightly different form. I don’t want to compare this book to Sadie too much, because obviously they’re separate, but I think that’s a book that did this very well. Also - Dee’s podcast. It was really unclear to me why it got so popular so suddenly, and it didn’t become clear to me from what we were reading. As an avid podcast listener myself, it lacked a degree of realism and research that really took me out of the story. 

Same goes with Dee’s relationship with Sarah. I loved that there was at no point an “explanation” for Dee being queer. It sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud, but in so many books you’ll find a “I’d never really been interested in boys”-esque explanation that is completely unnecessary and often very cringy. Dee simply likes Sarah, and her friend can tease her, and her parents can be happy for her, without it ever being a big deal or a point of discussion. Breath of fresh air! And still… I really wish we could’ve seen a bit more of their relationship develop. 

I think that’s maybe my main problem with this book in the end - it’s trying to be too many things, all of which would’ve been so interesting and cool on their own, or a couple combined, but all of them together it’s too much, and nothing really gets enough space to breathe. Resolutions are too easy, supposedly logical even though they’re just really not. Character arcs are non-existent. Themes are rushed. Really bummed that this one wasn’t what I was hoping it could be :/ 

I received a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Taylor Sedona

"Somewhere, right now, somebody is disappearing.

I rented this book from the library when I was in the mood for some YA Mystery with a true crime spin to it. I Hope You're Listening will likely remind readers of Sadie, and while I believe that is a very hard book to live up to I was not disappointed. I am surprised I haven't heard more about this book honestly. True Crime podcasts are so popular right now, that reading about a main character who started her own podcast after her best friend was kidnapped right in front of her, was extremely engaging and entertaining. I rated this book 5/5 stars and I am excited to read more books by Tom Ryan in the future.

Ocean

I love a good mystery, and Tom Ryan has knocked it out of the park once again. I Hope You're Listening is such an intriguing story full of twists and turns, fascinating mysteries and more than one happy ending. I love the relationship between Dee and Sarah, they're so cute together and it's so refreshing to see an f/f relationship where there's no big coming out scene or any homophobia, they're just together and it's accepted, as it should be. I really enjoyed Dee's podcast and the Laptop Detectives Agency working hard to search for missing people, the cases were really interesting. I really enjoyed reading this, as I have with all of Tom Ryan's books, and I can't wait to see what he'll write next.

I Hope You're Listening

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