Joanna has moved back to her small hometown to get her young son, Alfie, away from bullies. Desperate to make Alfie's new life happier, she tries to befriend the local moms at a book group, where she lets slip a rumor that a child murderer from 1969 has taken up residence in their small town. As the rumor mill spreads the word, the fallout is quick and brutal, and Joanna's at the heart of it. The more she tries to fix things, the worse things seem to become: she and Alfie have found their way into someone's sights.

The Rumor is SUCH a good thriller, with plot twists and big reveals up until the very last page. I was committed from the first page. Lesley Kara takes the power of a rumor and weaves a gripping tale of revenge with it, complete with smart characters and a plot that works with our social media- and reality TV-obsessed society.

So I liked the general idea on how a rumor can catch fire and burn innocent people. However, I think Kara didn't go far enough with it. Also some of the book read as repetitive after a while with Joanna thinking everyone was the child killer Sally McGowan in hiding. And then we have the reveal (which was ridiculous by the way) and the book went downhill from there. I was disappointed since the first parts of the book were very well done.

"The Rumor" follows single mother Joanna Critchley. Joanna has returned to her hometown of Flintstead to raise her five year old son Alfie. Alfie was bullied in his previous school and Joanna is hoping that with her mother nearby that she will have more time for him. Joanna though feels like an outsider and starts gossiping in her book club meeting about a rumor she heard that day in order to feel closer to the other women. Apparently, someone believes that Sally McGowan, who killed Robbie Harris in 1969 is living in the town of Flinstead under a new identity. Sally McGowan was only 10 years old when she killed Harris, and it sounds like her childhood was the stuff of nightmares. Many people in the town of Flinstead are horrified that a killer could be living among them. Too soon suspicions turn to those around them with one woman bearing the fallout of being accused. Joanna feels guilty because she spread the first rumor and from there it grew. Soon after it seems a mysterious person is stalking Joanna, hell-bent on teaching her how much harm rumors can have.

I felt ambivalent and then disliked Joanna. She was hysterical through most of the book and I thought that her explanation for why she spread the rumor was lame. Also why she becomes obsessed with unmasking Sally McGowan felt odd. Joanna is also still into the father of her child, Michael and goes round and round about that. Frankly, Joanna's mother was the only one with common sense about spreading mixed signals to her son when she lets Michael stay over. Either you are together or not, don't mess with kids. Michael through luck (or plot) also happens to be an investigative journalist who wants to find McGowan in order to tell her story. So Joanna weirdly feels like she should be helping with his case though feels resentful that is the only reason why he seems to want to get back together to her. Joanna barely seems to be at work and runs around thinking every neighbor or woman she knows could be McGowan who she believes wants to hurt her for spreading the rumor.

The other women in this book are barely developed beyond Joanna's mother. Every kind of blended together and I think it's because every couple of pages Joanna believed someone else was secretly McGowan. It got old.

Frankly in that situation I would have minded my own business. McGowan was a ten year old girl being physically and sexually abused by her father. She says it was an accident that she stabbed Robbie Harris. She was locked up until she turned 18 and slipped away to make a new life. Why everyone in the town is suddenly wanting to find her and burn her at the stake definitely showed that people had zero sympathy for the character.

The writing read as flat to me after a while. I think Kara can definitely set a mood though. Some of my favorite scenes were when the author describes a house, a mood, a place that Joanna was at. I thought this would be a perfect Halloween read at times due to Joanna feeling claustrophobic and scared after she feels threatened. Also things get very repetitive with Joanna practically having a breakdown every five minutes.

The flow was initially very good, and we get hints in between about Sally McGowan written in another voice. However, that voice felt wrong after we get to the reveal so I don't know what that was even about in the end.

The setting of Flinstead made me think of Salem during the Salem Witch Trials. We have everyone under the sun being accused. I think it would have worked better to get the whole town in a panic and have more and more people accused. Just keeping it to this small circle of women didn't really work. And one wonders why McGowan would even be concerned since it seemed a very small chance she would be discovered. I thought it was lame how Kara tied up everything up. Talk about coincidence after coincidence.

The ending was a letdown. There's a small twist thrown in the last line of the novel, but at that point I didn't care at all about it.

A suspenseful book with a nice little twist at the end. The author did a good job of making everyone seem suspect and building up the tension. A good book to read to on a rai.ny weekend

One of my favorite books thus far in 2019. As the name hints, “the rumor” follows what gossip can do to a community and how it can open Pandora’s box.

This is a very difficult review to write. When im offered an ARC from the publisher and author for an honest review, I really try to take time on the book to really give a fair review. I've been given the opportunity to read some really amazing books this way & have gone on to encourage others to read them to - even when out shopping with strangers! Sadly, I can't find anything really good or exciting to say about this book.
The copy I was provided was an uncorrected proof, and I can only hope that others have noticed these issues & they have been fixed before publication.
I felt that the story wasn't believable at all. I felt that there were far too many characters in the book and it became really confusing as I read along. Most of those characters could have easily be omitted & not affected the story.
From reading other reviews, and the acknowledgements st the end of the book, I see that this book was first written with a setting in the UK & then "Americanized". I cannot for the life of me understand WHY this was attempted. And it was done so very, very badly. I don't think those who attempted this had much or any experience with America or a map of the country. The constant use of the word 'sea' was a dead giveaway ( I've never encountered ant American to use that word) & this book is supposed to be set in Chicago & Iowa. No sea! No ocean! Also, Dearborn (Michigan) & Chicago (Illinois) are not the same nor even close by. Iyer was just so distracting.
The constant comments about Michael's race was tedious & at one point Joanna/Johannah/Jo/Joan/Joey/JJ/etc ... comments that thg Rey were the picture of a hipster family with a black stray at home dad and a working white mother. Even though days have passed since I read that, I'm still offended.
By the time we came to the big reveal, everyone in town had been accused of being Sally & I just did not care at all.

I feel l ole the author read "Big Little Lies" & said "i can do that" but it really didn't work out in my opinion. Why this is even being compared to that book baffles me.

Im sorry, but this is a 1 star book fir me.

This book was just ok for me. The premise had a lot of potential but I felt the book just scratched the surface of a couple of important topics - child bullying and how far a mother would go to sacrifice her morals for the sake of her child. I was yearning for the story to go deeper into these issues and for more character development so I would care more. Perhaps this story is better suited for a mom who can better relate to the main character.

Joanna, the protagonist, can be annoying because of her refusal to rely on anyone but herself. She adores her sweet 5 year old son Alfie - and also loves Alfie’s father, Michael, but refuses to relax into family life. She and her mom are very close, but when Joanna returns to live near her mom and the town she grew up in, all illusions explode. To tell more about Joanna would be a spoiler, but the horrific repercussions of child abuse must always be trumpeted so even one child can be saved.

I got about halfway through this book and then put it aside DNF. There were two things that I had problems with. The first was that the story revolves around one of the worst of human traits -- the origination and then spreading of a rumor. I just got too depressed that people in a small town would stoop to the lowest common denominator by fixating on a groundless rumor, ruining lives and livelihoods in the process. The second issue was that I had trouble believing that everyone in town would become so completely obsessed about this specific rumor, which is that a woman may be living in their town some 50 or so years after she (as a 10 year old) murdered a 5 year old boy. Even if I were a mother of young children living in this town, would I really be obsessing about a murder that had taken place so long ago by a child who served years in prison and was released eons ago? I just don't think so.

The writing was fine, and I'm sure many may enjoy the story. It just wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an electronic ARC in return for an honest review.

What a fun story! I loved trying to figure out who the murder was. The twists and turns kept me guessing til the very end.

The Rumor by Lesley Kara begins with the main character, Joanna Critchley, a real estate agent, who overhears gossip about a murder from the past. This murder is anything but usual as, in 1969, ten year old Sally McGowan stabs a five year old Robbie Harris to death in Dearborn, Michigan. Single mother Joanna returns to live in Flinstead-on-Sea in North Essex after she has her son Alfie to be closer to her family.

Around chapter 10, the narrative breaks from solely Joanna's point of view into Sally Mcgowan's just for brief moments at the beginning of certain chapters. This glimpse into her perspective really adds to the mystery of her character and previous events.

The relationship between Joanna and Michael, Alfie's father and Joanna's on again off again journalist love interest, adds a nice thread to the plot. He's interested in the Sally McGowan story too, which brings them closer as a couple.

I have to admit that I love Kara's writing style. It flows. It's sharp and quick. It's descriptive, but with not too much explication. I instantly got into the story and the characters' world.

The suspense is more subtle than other mystery/thriller books and it does have a twist of women's fiction in it. It's almost like a finely layered cake that keeps building and building its foundation until we get to the sweetly satisfying icing ending. What keeps the story going are the main characters and the excellent writing.

The wider cast of characters can be a bit confusing, especially since the minor characters are more flat and non-descriptive. Another issue is the pacing of the plot, which is rather slow compared to other thrillers. Sometimes, a scene will build to something that ends up not being as exciting as I would have hoped.

I think the main tension of the story in finding out who Sally McGowan is was not really enough to keep the plot going, so Kara weaves in suspense by constantly putting Alfie in jeopardy or what Johanna perceives as jeopardy. This works to some extent because the reader is thrown off by a child in danger. It is human nature to worry about him and Kara uses this to her advantage.

The style reminds me a little bit of Mary Higgins Clark in the way that it is a sophisticated thriller and the twists and turns towards the end are masterful.

The twist in the story is unbelievable, almost too unbelievable, yet somehow, it fits. It is so satisfying to find out the truth that it makes reading the whole book worthwhile.

The Rumor sounded so intriguing, but it just wasn't up to par for me. There were too many characters, and some of them weren't really necessary. The first half of the book dragged, but the second half got a little better. I give it 2.5 stars. I do think Lesley Kara has talent though, and I hope she continues writing.

Thank you Ballantine Books and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Joanna didn't mean to start a rumor; she was only trying to fit into a new community, thus insuring that her son did, as well. And I didn't feel that she was as responsible for the ensuing rumors as the book made her out to be. There were quite a few suspects, and we readers found ourselves examining each one, trying to make our choice. It wasn't easy to pick! While I wasn't, particularly, enamored of this book, it was a fairly quick and easy read, and I hope Ms. Kara will continue writing.

The Rumor was well written, but was very slow and repetitive through the middle of the book. I would have liked to see it pick up and either introduce new information or expand in order to make the ending feel more satisfying. A good debut novel for Lesley Kara and I look forward to reading her future books. 3.5 stars

So good! Loved the character development, felt like I really knew the characters only to find I didn’t know them at all! Loved the twists, it kept me guessing until the end. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advance copy, can’t wait to see what Lesley Kara writes next!

The Rumor is one book that will keep you guessing from the first turn of the page. This type of story--rumors being spread "through the grapevine"--are few and far between (in my opinion) but show what kind of damage words can do, when you're not entirely sure if they're true. A riveting suspenseful story, this is sure to satisfy any thriller addict.

“A single mom discovers just how deadly gossip can be in this irresistible debut thriller inspired by a sensational true crime story”

The Rumor by Lesley Kara is a debut thriller that has just made it to the top of my best reads of 2019 list. This story is written with such intensity and passion that I found it impossible to stop reading! I can’t wait to start recommending The Rumor to other thriller lovers – now GO pick yourself up a copy because you won’t regret it.

I’m grateful to have received an early audiobook copy and truly believe the audio version enhanced my reading experience. Also, thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for an early release copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Rumors can kill"

This book is centered around single mom, Joanne, who overhears a juicy rumor while dropping her young son off at school. That small rumor, which Joanne ends up helping to spread, turns into a beast that threatens everything she loves.

Alright, first things first, I finished this book in one day. And, guys, I am *not* a fast reader. I just literally did nothing but read this book all day because I needed to know how it was going to end! I was holding my breath at points because I was so caught up in what was happening on the pages. I felt Joanne's panic and pain and fear as things just escalated from bad to worse. It was a wild ride, to say the least! There were points where I could tell the author was deliberately dropping red herrings, which I get when it comes to thrillers, but it was a tad obvious. Still, it only detracted from my enjoyment a little bit. I still couldn't guess where the story was headed and I was definitely shocked at the end!

And the characters! I have read many a thriller where the characters fall flat but the plot is gripping. These characters, however, had a lot of depth, which helped me to sympathize with them. I felt entrenched in their drama, which made this thriller all the more tense!

As a debut, this book was pretty strong. I haven't enjoyed a thriller this much in awhile! I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this author in the future!

What would you do if you heard a rumor that a child killer had a new identity and was living in your town? Would you spread the rumor? Joanna lives in a quiet seaside town and can't seem to ignore this rumor. Finding the identity of the killer becomes an obsession...everyone is a suspect. It isn't until the very end of the book that the killer's shocking identity is revealed and Joanna's life is forever changed.

This book was full of what you want in a small town psychological mystery. I want to call it a thriller, but the "thriller" aspect of it happened years ago, so I will call it a mystery.
The book was an intense story of "whodunit" and how small town lives can change with just a whisper to your neighbor that can spread like wildfire to their neighbor and change it's course from what you originally intended.

Jo is a single mother that has moved back "home" to live near her mother so she has the assistance she may need. She wants to create a happy and healthy family life for her son, but she also wants to fit it. She's gotten a job and she's joined a book club. What else could she possibly do to make their lives easier? As we all know or have seen in the movies and tv, she fuels the fire of a rumor she's heard and keeps it going. But the rumor now consumes her thoughts and she wants to know more about this incident and who this person could be that is possibly living amongst them.

The book was easy to read, fast paced and the characters were well developed. I felt like each character was described just enough for you to think they might be the killer. Along with the quiet little beach town, the women in the story made the setting and plot believable. Lesley Kara can flesh out a story and it's characters to keep it enticing and full of questions.
I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to more books by this author.

Lesley Kara debut novel The Rumor is a story is like the game we all played as kids Telephone. The story works well enough as the rumor of someone around them is a killer. It is easy to figure out if you are a mystery reader. The author will try to throw readers off with her mildly interesting twist and red haring.

The story is ok paced but slows down from time to time than picks right back up. The story is ok and if you are not a fan of mystery novels this would be a great start.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Ballantine for the advance copy of Lesley Kara The Rumor.