The Tip Line feels like a stream of consciousness character study of a woman who embraces a misogynistic world with open arms. Her obsessive single-white-female style of crazy is ultimately what I love most about this story.
I would caution potential readers that this is not a traditional thriller. It is slow paced and deeply psychological. It addresses priorities by showcasing a woman obsessed with finding a husband while she is neck deep in a murder case. She is not likable and the story is not “feel good”. I think it’s brilliant.

Thank you Vanessa Cuti, NetGalley, and Dreamscape Media for my advanced review copy. My options are my own!

The Tip Line is out now!

Plot - 3
Writing and Editing - 4
Character Development - 4
Narration - 5
Personal Bias - 4
Final Score - 4

I had high hopes for this one as the synopsis sounded like the perfect book for me. I struggled with this one, as it was such a confusing book with the main character made up scenarios constantly and it was hard to discern what was actually happening and what was in the characters head. On a positive note I did like the narrator.

Virginia wants to find love and marry. How far will she go to do so?

Eager to get married, thirty-year-old Virginia Carey lands a job as an operator at a police tip line, where she thinks finding a husband will be easy.
But just as Virginia’s plans begin to fall into place and she can almost picture a ring on her finger, she answers a call from Verona—a mysterious woman who provides a tip about four bodies on a remote local beach.
Verona thinks it’s a police officer who is responsible for the killings.

I started this book with all smiles because Virginia was so funny, after a while her whole character became rather tideous. I got confused between reality and her fantasy.
I must say it was hard to tell when Virginia had drifted into fantasyland.

I got bored with the story, i wanted more of the murder investigation.
what kept my attention was the narrator.
Sarah Naughton, gave an outstanding performance.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for this audiobook.

I couldn’t believe this book was actually set in modern day time frame. I honestly felt like I was reading something from the 50s. The main character was so obsessed with getting married that she took a job for the sole reason of its proximity to eligible bachelors. The plot line was less mystery and thriller than I expected. There was no real suspense or exciting twist. I think there could have been a very interesting plot line if the main character actually turned out to be the antagonist. Not my favorite.

I got this book as an audiobook ARC, I got about 50% of the way though the book and then DNF it. The start of the book was intriguing and I liked that idea of the concept of the book, but it wasn't for me. I understood that part of the concept of the book was she was on the hunt for a husband, however I didn't expect her to be so obsessive about it. Maybe I am just weird but I have never just meet someone and had few conversation with them and already planning a wedding in my head and can switch so easily from one man to another as if you wasn't just planning life with another in your head a week ago. Due to those reasons it made me no longer interested in the story cause I no longer liked the main character and therefore couldn't force myself though the rest of the book.

I did not enjoy this book. I didnt finish the audio. I like the narrator just did not like the writing nor the charactersho i gouldnt connect too.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

It might just have been because I was listening instead of physically reading but I felt lost quite a lot in this story... it was hard to keep track of what was really happening and what was the main character imagining would happen. It was definitely an interesting read but maybe not so much in audio format, although the narrator was great.

I tried unsuccessfully to immerse myself in this but just couldn't get to grips with it. Not my style

- Summary -
Virgina is a thirty-three year old who is very anxious to get married and thinks she has found hope when she takes a job as a phone operator for the Police Tip line. She pursues romantic workplace relationships while fielding calls from the public concerning the brutal murders of women on a local beach.

- Review -
The book is described as a mystery thriller, but I would argue there is very little thriller and a little bit of mystery.. I figured based on the description provided that it would be more murder-mystery - it's not. The murder and mystery are very much the background of this story as we the readers get front row seats to Virginia's disastrous love life.

At times the plot can be really hard to follow; Virginia will constantly zone out into a dreamland - not ideal for an audiobook.

I think I know why Virginia is so desperate for a husband, she's incredibly self-centred and doesn't care about anybody else's feelings. She's happy to flit to whichever person is likely to get her that ring on her finger - she is a horrible main character! I'm surprised I managed to finish the book (being able to increase the speed may have been heavily used).

The narration was well done, kudos to Sarah Naughton, I feel like she was truly able to convey the character and everything was well articulated.

The story is horrible though and I would not recommend it. It was painful to listen to the full 9 hours and 47 minutes - maybe it would be better in paper where the daydreaming might be more easily articulated? But Virginia really kills it for me, she's horrible and flighty, she's incredibly immature and so self-centred it's painful (I know I already said that but I hope the emphasis helps)..

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with this ARC.

This easily became a favorite of mine. It's about a young woman who works at the police station as a civilian answering the tip line. She thinks that the police station will be a great place to find her husband, but she quickly finds herself catching a tip about multiple murders.

I enjoyed the main character, 30 year old Virginia, as she was very relatable. The way the story is written, you get to hear the inner thoughts of Virginia, which I found to be very accurate to how a woman at a given time in her life may think. For example, she thinks about how she should dress and how that may attract a man or how she should have reacted. Its all thoughts that we, women, have had at one point in time or another.

When Virginia catches the call for the anonymous tip line about a serial murder. She takes it to the homicide department and they follow-up on it. It turns out to be bigger than anyone expected and the police station believes that the tipper will call again. Virginia creates a relationship with this person over the phone and she can't wait to speak to them. She starts to create a friendship with her over the phone until this person casts suspicion somewhere she does not want it to be.

I found myself not wanting to stop listening to it because I loved how fast paced it was, the thoughts of Virginia and how her relationships both romantic and non-romantic were forming and growing. I, however, did not like the ending. I felt like it fell flat for me. You have all this tension and climax and then it was like poof its done.

I am definitely planning on looking into more books by Vanessa Cuit and I would love it if Sara Naughton narrated them again. I'm hoping Vanessa's other books are written in a similar format, as I really enjoyed it. This was Vanessa's debut book and I am shocked.

I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars because of how the book ended. It just did not do the story justice in my opinion.

This is a biting satire, and a feminist thriller which I found both hilarious and chilling. I think a lot of the other reviews didn't appreciate the total tongue-in-cheek nature of this book, but I loved it.

Our heroine Virginia is desperate to find a husband, so she applies for a citizen Secretary job at the local police station because, you know -- so many strapping single men. The narrator's tone from the beginning of the book is one of a demure 1950s typing pool gal Friday, and that's the era I thought we were in for a long while, until I realized that our narrator Virginia is just a total cuckoo bird who wishes she were living in that era.

As other reviewers have noted, Virginia is so singularly obsessed with finding a husband in her midst that she completely misses many obvious clues that there is a serial murderer of women in her midst, too. As Virginia answers the tip line, and the clues point more and more obviously in a very specific direction close to home, Virginia must bury her head deeper and deeper in the sand to an almost ridiculous extreme as the murderer continues his rampage despite the many tips she is supposed to be passing along.

I found this book to be very frequently hilarious and a really fun satire of how crazy some women get over men who are clearly bad for them, all because they are desperate to be loved and/or married. You aren't meant to take Virginia's words at face value - there's a little feminist joke in almost every paragraph of her ridiculous internal monologues.

I loved the tone, the writing, the satire and especially the ending. This was a solid 4.5 stars for me. The voice actress also did a fantastic job! Vanessa CutI is an intelligent, devious, fun author who I am going to be checking out much more from immediately.

I’m confused.

That is the best way to start off my review. What was real and what was in Virginia’s imagination? Maybe that was easier to differentiate in the print version. Regardless, Virginia’s mind was exhausting. In order for this to be considered a thriller, the murders should have been a more prevalent aspect to the narrative.

POV ~ single 1st
Featuring ~ some chapters on the long side (40 minutes is long to me), murders

Virginia has a new job as a civilian tip line operator, which sounds exciting to my nosy self. Yay, she's going to get some tips to help solve case after case after case. But, nope, this book was so much more than her job and that's not a good thing.
She is absolutely obsessed with finding a husband. She's seems borderline crazy with all the inner monologue. She's like planning her and her nonexistent husbands whole life in her head. Just look her way and she'll have already named your future children. My biggest issue is that sometimes I didn't know if she was talking to someone or just herself. Let the scene play out in fiction life, not in your head girl.

For taking place in a police building there wasn't much police work actually going on. I could have went for more on solving the case of the 4 murdered women, since it was a big part of the story.

So in conclusion, if you like to read a non thriller thriller that has little police work happening when most of characters are cops and everyone is unlikable and the main character is batshiz then this one might be for you.

The narration is in the okay category. A little stiff at times, but listenable at 3x. I'm not sure if this would've been better as a read.

This book was confusing half the time I didn't know if what she was saying was really happening or if it was in her head. The main character is a basket case. I would not recommend this book to anyone! I even tried listening to it and I couldn't get through it.

The premise of this story was very intriguing. Virginia is searching for love and has started working for the police department as a tip line operator. She thinks the most interesting thing is Detective Charles Ford her new work crush. Then Virginia gets a call from a woman named V. She directs Virginia to two bodies of murdered women. V calls often and gives tips leading to more murdered. As the department ramps up their investigation Virginia is introduced to Police Chief Deck Brady they are immediately smitten. Will Virginia get her wish to find love and the killer?

As an audiobook the story was confusing at times. It was hard to distinguish day dreams from reality.

3.5-3.75 stars

This was a fun little story. The protagonist is fanciful, idealistic, and (because of those first two traits) a bit unreliable. It’s a fairly intriguing, fluffy tale, and although it’s not groundbreaking or genre-defying literature, it was an enjoyable narrative that gave me what I was expecting, and I rounded my review up in a small effort to offset some of the lower ratings.

The Tip Line
by Vanessa Cuti
Narrated by Sarah Naughton

Rating: 2.4/5.0 Stars

Virginia gets a job as a tip line operator at the local police station. Her main goal? Find a husband. Obsess about it. Work the tip line and then obsess more. A sex worker nicknamed 'Verona' calls the tip line to report some dead bodies out by the water. It's a good tip. She keeps on calling and she and Virginia end up having a type of weird friendship. As the investigation continues, it's looking more and more like it could be a law enforcement officer that's behind the murders.

Ms. Naughton's narration was the best part of this book. She gave a strong performance and I'd listen to other books narrated by her in the future. This book just wasn't good. I thought that the summary was so intriguing and there was SO much potential. Unfortunately, Ms. Cuti took it in a completely different direction where Virginia, our tip line civilian, was more focused on her make-believe world of trying to find a husband in uniform than just about anything else. I didn't like the characters, I didn't like the writing, I just didn't care for it. It picked up a little in the last few hours, but overall I wouldn't recommend this book.

Thank you to Dreamscape and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this ARC!

Honestly, the narrator was the strongest part of this book. This was billed as a thriller, and it really isn't. I couldn't get past how much I disliked the main character to enjoy any aspect of the book. I loved the premise of this book and was really excited to read it. Disappointed it didn't work for me.

This was an okay book. I didn't like the way the character talked to herself. I didn't like the way so many characters just wanted to find a husband.

Thanks to Dreamscape & NetGalley for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the voice acting on this one. Sarah Naughton is a great performer and really embodied the main character, Virginia Carey. Virginia is a 30 year old who acts much younger - her intense desire to get married, ostensibly in order to keep up with her friends who are both married and with kids, but have decamped for the West Coast, colors pretty much all of her decisions in this story. Virginia takes a job at the local police precinct in Suffolk County, NY with this exact purpose in mind, and within a week she has her eye on young homicide detective Charlie Ford. But Charlie doesn't move fast enough, and Virginia ends up, through circumstance and design, becoming involved quickly and intensely with Capt. Declan "Deck" Brady. Deck is a grown up *man,* who knows what he wants and has some shady stuff in his past (relationships with sex workers, for a start).

Meanwhile, Virginia has been assigned to answering the tip line. It's a drudgery of a job, filled with cranky neighbors complaining about potential narcotics sales by the neighbors, until Virginia gets the call that sets everything in motion: the call about the Gilgo Beach Murders (this one is ripped from the headlines y'all). Her caller is a young woman who tells about bodies left in the brush at the South shore of Long Island. She seems to have inside information, and it becomes clear she is a sex worker. Virginia dutifully records her tips, and then hands them off to Deck, who may or may not be passing them off to homicide detectives, whom he oversees.

It was challenging at times to determine what was real and what was imagined by Virginia in this book. Her flights of fancy rival those of Walter Mitty. She imagines herself friends with the sex worker who calls her with tips, imagines backstories for people Deck introduces her to at parties. The narration is so seamless it adds to the effect; I think I could have re-read confusing passages and made sense of it.

Virginia is definitely living in a fantasy world, but the book was fascinating. I wasn't familiar with the Gilgo Beach Murders, and I can't really say this book edified me about the case very much, so I wouldn't recommend it for true suspense enthusiasts, but it sure does work as a mini case study of a fantasist/narcissist.