Review: The Appeal by Janice Hallett

The Appeal

by Janice Hallett

Publisher: Atria

Pages: 432

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals for an Arthur Miller play, when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Haywood 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 fellow 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. New actress Sam, a former NGO worker, raises doubts. But are her suspicions justified? Or does she have a history with the doctor involved? As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head the night of the 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 a killer may still be on the loose.

Kritters Thoughts:  A book presented through emails, news articles, text messages and the tiniest of narrative, this was my first read of 2022 and I had no idea it was not your basic novel before i opened the book.  

For me the format of emails and text messages can work, but I typically feel as though I am missing parts of the puzzle, especially if you aren't getting all of the emails from the characters.  So while the plot was interesting and the characters were a hoot, I couldn't get connected to the story in general because I felt as though I was always missing a side of the story while only getting emails from a few of the characters' points of view.  

The thing I liked and made me glad I read it was how the story concluded.  I loved how the author used these two exterior characters to investigate and come to a conclusion and how the author presented it all.  It worked for me.  

I would read another book by this author, but maybe not in this format.  

Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Atria.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.