Josie Buhrman’s father is murdered and her twin sister’s testimony is used to convict a teenage neighbour of the crime. Thirteen years later a true crime podcast, a la Serial and The Teacher’s Pet, questions whether the right person was convicted of the crime.
This quite decent thriller explores the effect of the podcast from the perspective of the people most affected by it; Josie and her family. The parts of the podcast exctracted throughout the book are riveting, though the online comments from followers are less so. There is a silly bit of drama concerning the fact that Josie has, somewhat inexplicably, never told her partner about her family’s past, and the dramatic disappearance of the unhinged twin sister gets a bit boring, but the rest is a fairly good read. The self styled investigative journalist who produces the podcast presents as intrusive, unpleasant and manipulative, and it’s a worthwhile examination of how blameless lives can be torn apart by the very public attention that comes with these kinds of podcasts. But SPOILER ALERT in the end it is frankly unbelievable that the real killer, no matter how messed up she was, would have allowed a teenager to be convicted and jailed for her crime. Could have been an awesome thriller but just misses the mark.
