A review by abetterpaige
The Appeal by Janice Hallett

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
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This was my book club’s January pick, and I’m so glad that it was! Take everything you thought you knew about mysteries and throw it out the window when you read The Appeal. A captivating story, focusing around a murder in an adult theater drama group, told only in correspondence. Emails, texts, memos, and more give you the full story… or not. 
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I had such a FUN time reading this and I am not a true crime or mystery person by nature. Above all else, I’m a nosey bitch, so reading other peoples’ emails and texts is fun. Every time I turned the page I would come up with a new theory only to find myself proven wrong a few emails later… it was absolutely enthralling and a blast to read. 
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I docked one star for pacing, though I’m sure it was intentional, as I felt the time pre-murder was about 40-50 pages too long and the time post murder was about 40-50 pages too short. I thought it got too predictable to guess who would be killed (you don’t know until you KNOW) and I would’ve loved for there to be some additional correspondence after the fact. 
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Fair warning - you will hate every single person you meet at one point or another. As one woman in my book club said, “I would rather die than be in a room with all of these characters at once.” Which, well, I suppose one of the characters did exactly that. 
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10/10 would recommend for a book club, for anyone who wants to switch up their reading, or someone who wants an experiential book! 
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