The Story That Wouldn't Die is the second mystery by Christina Estes to feature investigative reporter Jolene Garcia. Released 19th Aug 2025 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 320 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.
The author has a background in journalism, so the story does have a lot of verisimilitude including the backbiting, self-serving, egotistical characters in the average newsroom along with the vicious competition between rival reporters chasing a hot story for an exclusive. As such, perhaps MC Jolene is typical for the job, but she was abrasive, curt, pushy, and often unlikably rude.
The actual nuts and bolts of the mystery are well put together (though -extremely- unbelievable, even for a murder mystery); readers should bring a prodigious suspension of disbelief.
The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 10 hours 3 minutes and is competently read by Devon Sorvari. She has a neutral American accent in the read, but struggles with sufficiently delineating the vast cast of characters sufficiently that they're easy enough to keep straight in the reader's mind. Sound and production quality are high throughout.
Three and a half stars. Although it works well as a standalone, the 2 books extant in the series could be a nice choice for a mini-binge/buddy read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment