I received this book as an early edition from Netgalley and Dreamscape media. Thank you for the chance to listen to it! First, the audiobook narrator did an absolutely fantastic job in this character. I would definitely pick up another book by this narrator.

I found this book imaginatively done. It took a while to realize that Virgina was delusional. I was at first irritated by all of her rambling thoughts, imagining the different lives of all the men around her, constantly talking about weight. that I often had to double back to parse out what was true/made up. Ultimately, I did end of liking this aspect as I felt it did create and interesting story about unreliable narrators. It is very clear that the character struggles with her rambling thoughts.

However, since we are entirely in her head, I found this to also give us a personal experience of how.... frustrating the main character is? Her drive to get married is not one that I personally have, so maybe I can't relate, but also I would have liked her to have a second motive at all. Her one-mindedness really limits her in a way that is both a drive but irritating as a reader.

Ultimately I would give this a 3/5 stars, interesting idea, interesting execution, but I would have liked a few more directions to orient myself as a reader.

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. This is a truly strange story. It follows a woman named Virginia that takes a job at a police tip line to try to find a husband. Virginia is an unreliable narrator- a possibly delusional wannabe trad-wife. Until they started talking about texting I thought this story took places in the 60s.

Virginia takes a call from someone who states that there are dead bodies lying in the brush at a local beach. When the tip turns out to be true the homicide dept starts taking the tips seriously and they eagerly await the next call from the anonymous female. Meanwhile Virginia starts imagining intense relationships with the people around her and fantasizing their interactions. Her desire for closeness and love becomes wrapped up in her job as more details come with each call from the anonymous woman.

I don’t want to say too much more and give away the ending. This is definitely an original story but even by the end I couldn’t really say if I enjoyed it or not. I found all of the characters unbearable except for the caller. Parts of the book seemed like police propaganda until I realized the Virginia was the only one who saw them that way. The ending was both surprising and obvious at the same time.

3 stars

A unique MC, a serial killer on the loose, & an enigmatic Police Chief make this an interesting read. I just wish there had been more character development, & character motivation driving the plot. Also, the ending left me unimpressed.

[What I liked:]

•Up until the end, the plot is decently interesting. I was invested in Virginia’s & Verona’s safety, & in finding out who the killer was.

•Virginia is a very interesting MC. She seems borderline unstable, which makes for a unique first person narrator. I wish we had gotten more insights into why her imagination was so over active though.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•The MC, Virginia, narrates in first person. Throughout, she spins multiple very detailed scenarios (delusions?) one after another in rapid succession, which interrupt her narration of the actual events of the story. This made it very confusing to try to follow the story, since I often thought something was really happening that turned out just to be her imagination. This was annoying.

•The ending is mushy. It resolves nothing & just fizzles. Also, it seems unrealistic, like one of Virginia’s delusions got slapped on as a “happy” ending.

•I sort of get Virginia’s motivations, but they’re not entirely clear. She wants to get married, but why? Is her obsession with getting married only because her mother wants her to? That seems rather thin.

•Several characters could’ve added more to the intrigue of the story had they been developed more, including Ford, Declan, & Virginia herself. There just wasn’t much room for character development with all of Virginia’s stilted imaginings crowding out the actual main story.

CW: infidelity, sexual assault, substance abuse, sexism, murder

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Probably one of the most immersive, confusing, and fascinating audiobook I’ve listened to in a while! The main character and POV, Virginia Carey, lands a job as an operator at a police tip line where her sole goal is to snag a husband. Virginia picks up a call with a tip that leads to a discovery of brutal murders of escorts. The suspect is closer to Virginia than expected.

I loved how readers were only able to view the story from Virginia’s perspective as she deals with the murders and navigates her role. There were times were I got a little confused trying to figure out what was happening, but I think that was the whole point!

I thought that the story was good - heaps of potential and was happy that it had great narration.

My only issue was that the main character was very much in her own head and so most, if not all, of her scenes were repeated from the POV in her mind to the actual storyline (like constant groundhog moments) and it became a bit draining - now and then, yes... but not every scene, it was too much for me - but, others might love that?

I want to thank the author, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media
for providing me the opportunity to read this new book for my honest review.

1.5 Stars
A mystery, yes. But not a thriller.

Even then, the mystery was pushed to the background. Most of the focus was on Virginia and her delusional thoughts. It was annoying, distracting, and pointless. Why do we need to know all of her crazy and psychotic thoughts? What does Virginia imagining herself with every guy that smiles at her have to do with anything? I just wanted to know who the murderer was and why. Was it a cop murdering all those sex workers? Was it someone she knows and works with?

There's so much potential! Unfortunately, the execution wasn't there.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Vanessa Cuti, and Dreamscape Media
for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

Virginia is looking for a man - looking for a husband - and she takes a job manning the tip line at a local police station in the hopes of finding one. Vanessa Cuti's The Tip Line is a story of sex workers, murder, and Virginia's desperation to be married, at any cost.

My only complaint is that Virginia has a LOT of inner dialog and it's hard to tell if what she's saying is actually happening or her hypothesis of what may happen (or what she wants to happen). I swear, sometimes I felt her brain was on crack! But that may be exactly what the author was going for. It definitely took "Unreliable Narrator" to a new level.

And that ending!!!! I'm still thinking about it with my head spinning, days after finishing the book.

All in all, The Tip Line was an enjoyable read!
Many thanks to Net Galley, Dreamscape Media and Vanessa Cuti for providing an ARC audio for me to review.

I love the idea for the plot for this, it was a new and interesting idea. The possibility of a serial killer cop found out by tips called into a women who is possibly in a relationship with him is something I haven’t seen done. But it also wasn’t what I was expecting. From the book blurb I had the impression of a suspense thriller centered around an investigation of murdered women. But the murder investigation seemed to be a small part of the book taking place in the background. The entire book was told from MC Virginia’s point of view through her inner dialogue. She is the only character who is developed through the entire story. You only learn bits about the other characters through her thoughts of them. So it can’t really touch on the murders because she isn’t there for them. You only learn what she thinks about the murders. This writing style just didn’t work for me. But I’m also not a fan of unreliable narrators, they leave me feeling frustrated. Virginia is highly imaginative. She creates fake scenarios for everything that goes on around her. As you hear her every inner thought it’s difficult to tell what is really happening and what is a made up scenario in her mind. Is it true or her imagination??? This left me feeling confused through out the entire book and I kept having to rewind the audio book to determine what was really happening. Even the ending, you think you know who the murderer is but you can’t be entirely sure. You are basing the conclusion on what Virginia is thinking. Her thoughts lead you to believe that it is one person who did it. But there was a 911 call during one of the murders and the victim says “they” are chasing me. So that leads me to believe that it was a group that was doing these killings or at the very least two people who were working together. At any rate, it ended leaving me feel frustrated when it didn’t really clear up these murders. The highly developed MC shows the extent of this authors writing talents so I did give it 3 stars. Otherwise I would have only given one star.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. The narrator was wonderful, I enjoyed the idea of the book, and I even liked the main character. (in the beginning) By the end I was ready to throw hands with Virginia for being so naïve and honestly painful to listen to. She is so desperate that she blurs out the fact that women are being MURDERED. I won't give anything away but good lord it was painful to listen to by the end. I had to repeatedly go back and relisten to chapters because I had no clue if the scenes she was describing was actually happening or if it was in her head.

Title: The Tip Line
Author: Vanessa Cuti
Pub Date: April 18, 2023
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📚Synopsis:
✨Virginia is a single 30 year old woman living on the east coast. She has grown restless and after hearing all about the wonders her female friends on the west coast have found in husband and babies, decides it’s time for her to settle down. Virginia decides to become a civilian tip line operator for the local police department believing the male oriented profession certainly must be able to offer up at least one prospective husband. What she hadn’t expected was to get wrapped up in a caller who offers up vague clues about missing woman. As the female caller continues to call the tip line, posing as a sex worker named Verona, Virginia becomes more and more intrigued and more and more willing to help. But when Verona suggests that the very police department Virginia is working for is responsible for the murders, Virginia spirals further into a world in her head that is unable to differentiate between fact and fantasy. As Virginia begins to date and mingle with the men in the department, she grows suspicious, not knowing who to trust. She’s not even sure she can trust herself and her history of poor decision making. Events intensify when Virginia accepts a date from a colleague and ends up at a party, similar to the depraved sex parties Verona told Virginia about; parties where Verona’s clients are members of law enforcement. It’s at this party that Virginia and Verona meet face to face. Can Virginia separate herself from her colleagues and look at them through Verona’s eyes? Can Verona be trusted? Can Virginia be trusted?

📚Thoughts/Recommendations:
✨This book is unlike any book I’ve ever read in the most delightful way! It is written in a manner where you are following the real time, rapid stream of Virginia’s consciousness and thoughts. It impressed me to see the way the author so accurately portrayed that line between real life and fantasy that is often blurred for people as they make their way through life. Sometimes you have to pretend you’re in a glorious ball gown going to the event of the year when in reality, you’re wearing your joggers and a graphic tee to go out to eat at your favorite local restaurant with your partner once again on a Friday night. Sometimes your own thoughts interrupt and take over when someone else is speaking to you and you engage in a more enthralling conversation in your mind with the person who is talking to you. To me this was brilliant and unlike anything else I’ve read. At times, it felt exhausting to be in Virginia’s head in the most charming of ways. If you are looking for a fast paced read that is way outside the box, this is definitely for you. If you prefer books that are a little more original and unique, I would recommend this. I am very excited to see more of this author and more books of this type. It is truly an original!

📚Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook ahead of its release in exchange for an honest review.

I've been sitting on this review for a while because I just don't know what to say. I've never read a book like this before and I hope I never do again but at the same time it wasn't a terrible book.

The main story line here is that Virginia wants a husband. That's it. She doesn't care who. She doesn't care what he does. She just wants a husband. Period. No, this book isn't based in the 50's as you would expect from such a description. She wants a husband so she gets a job in the best place she thinks she can find on, at the police department. Virginia is the new voice on the other end of the tip line, it's a simple job. Take the call, get as much information as possible, thank the caller, and get the information to the correct department. It isn't long before she takes a call from a woman claiming the bodies of dead escorts are on the beach, this turns out to be true and the work of a serial killer.

My biggest issue with this book? OMG Virginia has SO MUCH inner dialog and it's always chasing an idea down the rabbit hole...but like a fully formed idea including how conversations would go, how events would play out. It was often hard to know when it was really happening and when it was just Virginia's brain. It got to the point where every single time she was certain the killer was going to kill her too I just wished he would.

I don't know what else to say.

I liked the plot and the tip line part. The underhanded bs that was going on at the precinct was awful. I felt that at the beginning everyone sucked and was an ass.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
The Tip Line by Vanessa Cuti
⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 288 / Genre: Psychological Thriller / Narrator: Sarah Naughton / Release Date: April 18, 2023

This story about a woman fielding calls from an anonymous tip line about a serial killer murdering escorts could’ve been really good, but alas, it sucked ass. 😝

Virginia Carey takes a new job in a police department fielding calls from an anonymous tip line mainly as a way to meet a man and marry him. She also has a tendency to make up stories about people, which did not lend itself well to an audiobook since she’d go on and on and on in her fantasy narration and then I’d find out later that that was speculation and not what was actually happening. I thought because of that maybe this would’ve been better to read instead of listen to, but no, these wild speculations kept happening and I know I would’ve gotten annoyed with reading it just as I had listening to it. The author also often hinted at things and then assumed you understood what she was hinting at when you have no freaking clue what happened. I still don’t even know who the murderer was. Is it because she didn’t actually reveal it or is it because what I thought was speculation wasn’t or is it because there was a hint mentioned somewhere that I was supposed to get but didn’t? It really doesn’t matter because the fact is I’m just happy to be done with this stupid book.

Thanks @netgalley, @booksparks, and @dreamscape_media for this advanced copy of the audiobook.

Im so sad I didn't enjoy this book like i was expecting. the first quarter was so all over the place, skipping to past and present I had no idea where we were. the writing style was fine and i'll probably give Cuti another chance. this book wasnt for me.

for fans of Ottessa Moshfeg--just a bit less shocking. i found this to be a compelling story. the MC is an unreliable narrator and psychotic. i just wish there was more about the actual crime in the book.

Thank you to Crucked Lane Books and Netgalley for the audio ARC of The Tip Line by Vanessa Cuti.

This sounded so good when I first read the description but slowly realized it was not. I have a really hard time getting through a book if I do not like the main character. I was so annoyed and rolled my eyes multiple times. She repeatedly ignored a multitude of red flags because she wanted to get married so desperately. Like NO.

Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape media the publisher and the author for the #gifted ALC in exchange for my honest review. Loved how quick it moved but definetly didnt feel like a thriller felt more like mystery or regular fiction. I was expecting more twists mire edge if my seat so this was a bit of a let DOWN.I will definitely check out the authors backlist

I listened to the audio version of this book and loved the narration. I did find the book hard to believe at times and hard to follow at other times. The story of a 30 year old woman who takes a job at a police station as the civilian who takes tips and provides them to the detectives. Starts with her being so unable to even make a decision of how to dress and totally insecure in her actions. She feels a failure at not having a man and makes it her mission to meet one of the men on the force. I had a hard time believing the relationship that she falls into, had a difficult time understanding what voices in her head she actually said outloud sometimes and which ones were just in her head. Thank you NetGalley for this publication, for Dreamscape for allowing me the opportunity to pre-read this book.

Narration was great. The story itself is confusing due to the excessive amount of inner dialogue the main character has, however that’s the point. It makes you, the reader, uncomfortable, and able to see how unstable she is. I’d like to read the print version of this as well because I think that may be less confusing to understand the inner dialogue portion since it isn’t being spoken aloud. Interesting plot. Honest review. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy.

I was really excited for this one but it fell a little flat for me. It overall came across as a book of ignored red flags, and at times, Virginia's "daydreaming" made it a bit confusing... but that might've been the point? Overall this one lost me after the first half.