I Hope You’re Listening is an amazing YA thriller that will hook you from the first page. Ten years ago Delia Skinner witnessed the abduction of her best friend Sibby. Sibby was never found. To cope with her feelings of guilt, Dee anonymously started a podcast dedicated to finding missing people. When another girl goes missing, Dee decides to investigate and find answers.

Dee’s journey is full of mystery and her own character’s exploration of her feelings of what happened to her and Sibby. I loved how realistic the story was and I loved the queer aspect of this story. I’m excited for this book to have an audiobook. The podcast portions of this story would be amazing. I’ve fallen in love with podcast YA thriller books recently, and I hope that this trend continues.


I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received a copy of this book via the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw this book on NetGalley, I couldn’t hit the request button fast enough. Seriously. Not only is the cover stunning and eye-catching, but the blurb drew me in and made me want to immediately sink my readerly teeth into this story. And I’m not even a YA fan, generally speaking. However, I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan is a superbly handled story about a seventeen-year-old who feels seventeen. Not in that annoying way where authors of YA sometimes try to age their own voice down simply by being bratty or whiny or impossibly immature. No, Ryan has a clear handle on the YA genre and manipulates his prose to feel both genuine for a character of that age and well-written so readers at any point in their lives can enjoy his words.

I went into this read assuming I’d enjoy it, which was such a pleasure. That isn’t always the case, but I just had a feeling about this book and about the MC Dee. And boy, was I ever right. I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and related surprisingly well to Dee, considering I’m twice her age. (Again, that’s all on Ryan and his mad YA voice skillz.) And the plot, conflicts, and side characters were all so intriguing and real that I had one of those rare reading experiences where I took a break to get some water and had to reorient myself to the real world.

I was pulled along by the mystery and thrill of the story from the very opening page. I felt every tense, apprehensive moment right alongside Dee. It was such a delightful rollercoaster ride and one I will highly recommend. The only “down” side for me, on a personal level, was that—despite relating to her—I was frequently frustrated with Dee as a character. While part of this has to do with her age (again, that realism in action!), a lot of it was just her, as a human. She was selfish, abrasive, and often unkind to her friends. I understand she has been through a lot, and she’s still young with a lot of years left to grow into a better person, but as our protagonist, it made it a bit difficult for me at times to stay in the story when I wanted to throttle the person I was supposed to be rooting for.

Other than that—and it truly is a personal issue, and one I think the other qualities of the story manage to prevent from being any kind of deal-breaker—I would definitely recommend this book. Readers who enjoy a good thriller-mystery will love this, and I believe stalwart YA readers will be thoroughly impressed with Ryan’s skill.

This book is captivating, engaging, and had me hooked from the beginning.

When friends Sibby and Dee are 7-years-old, they are playing alone in the woods when Sibby is kidnapped. Dee survives but blames herself, and now, 10 years later, is trying to make a difference by hosting a true crime podcast focused on solving missing persons cases with the help of a fanbase of laptop detectives. While she couldn't help Sibby—and tries to distance herself from her personal brush with tragedy— she can help others.

Then another young girl goes missing, and Dee realizes she cannot hide behind her microphone. She has to face her own tragic past, if she wants to help find 11-year-old Layla.

I loved how the mystery was laid out and think incorporating the true crime podcast + devoted fanbase is such a timely and relevant way to frame this story. Bolstered by a supportive family and friend group, along with a new girlfriend, Dee finds the courage within herself to answer lingering questions and pursue justice.

The ARC did have a couple formatting issues (some areas where text was missing or laid out incorrectly) which I hope would be addressed, but overall this was one of my favorite books of 2020 so far.

3/5 stars

It follows Delia Skinner in her quest to bring justice to missing people from all over the United States in her role as the mysterious Seeker on her podcast Radio Silent. Simultaneously she has to deal with the trauma she suffered as a child when her best friend was taken as they were playing in the woods. Another missing girl in her home town brings all the old feelings flooding back to the surface and reignites Dee's desire to find out what happened to Sibby. Fascinating but a bit too dense for me. The file was also a bit damaged.

[Thanks to @netgalley and @albertwhitman for the ARC!]

I picked up #IHopeYoureListening last month because I wanted a fun and light mystery to read. And this book definitively delivered!

It follows Delia "Dee" Skinner in her quest to bring justice to missing people from all over the United States in her role as the mysterious Seeker on her podcast Radio Silent. Simultaneously she has to deal with the trauma she suffered as a child when her best friend Sibby was taken as they were playing in the woods. Another missing girl in her home town brings all the old feelings flooding back to the surface and reignites Dee's desire to find out what happened to Sibby.

Tom Ryan builds the tension surrounding the disappearances and Dee's desperation to hide her identity as the Seeker beautifully. I felt drawn to find out more about the characters and the story itself. It is also clearly laid out how disappearances rock families and communities as well as the different aspects of coping with such an event.

Most of the characters that inhabit these pages are typical teens and inevitable teen drama happens alongside the main plot. And I know teens are very tech advanced these days, but I can say very little in terms of if it is realistic that a teenager can hide her identity on a podcast for so long as I have no clue about podcasts 😅

I also loved how Dee's sexuality wasn't a big topic. She is lesbian and that's a fact and she is accepted. Even her parents tease her about liking the new girl across the street, Sarah. I like books that deal with sexuality and the hardships and challenges it brings as much as the next person, but sometimes it feels nice to read a book where it's just a fact, a part of the character but not a central reason for the plot.

One thing I'd remark as a criticism (without giving too much away) is that the twist near the end felt a bit sudden. I feel like some clues about a bigger conspiracy should have appeared earlier. Then again maybe they were there and I just missed them. 🤷‍♀️

Overall a great, light book to pass the time. 😊

I Hope You’re Listening is perfect for people who love podcasts, true crime, and shows like Unsolved Mysteries of A Crime to Remember- and I am one of those people!

First of all, I’d like to point out how much I love the cover, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it was my initial reason for wanting to request the book. Second of all, I’d like to say how much I appreciated the queer representation in this book. No one had to come out and it was wonderful for the two characters to just be.

I really savored this mystery and thought several times I knew what was going to happen, but can safely say that I missed a fair amount. I’ve seen the mystery compared to Sadie, and I’d add that you may like this if you enjoyed The Girls by Emma Cline! The only thing that I was wanting at the end of the book was more of the podcast entries. I think my favorite part was the time spent on the missing people, specifically Delia’s care with the human beings involved with the cases. Since diving deeper into the true crime world I’ve had my eyes opened to the amount of people go missing with no answers ever found. Those people deserve for their stories to be found and told and anyone can help with that. I encourage you to join your local missing persons page, and maybe you don’t become a Laptop Detective but you might be able to help someone.

As The Seeker says:
“Listen Up.
Let’s Try.”

At seven years of age, Delia Skinner witnessed her best friend Sibby being kidnapped and could do nothing to help her friend, both during the event or afterwards when the police were desperately looking for clues and find Sibby. Ten years later Dee is still haunted by the incident and pours her guilt into her podcast where she is the Seeker who shines the light onto other missing people mysteries to try and solve them with the help of her listeners, who she calls the LDA (Laptop Detective Agency.) No one but her best friend knows that it is Dee behind the secret podcast radio Silent, but she claims several success stories and channels all the leads that the LDA find to the police in an effort to make a difference and ease her guilt. The most troubling reality facing Dee is that a similar crime to Sibby’s abduction happens to a little girl who was living in the same house that Dee lived in when Sibby was kidnapped, and once again all the towns focus is upon her and her reactions and her friend questions why Dee won’t use her influence with her podcast to help find this newest missing girl. Dee wants answers but is afraid to reveal too much of herself, but it may take revealing herself completely to solve the two inextricably related crimes.

Perhaps the biggest issue with this book being labelled LGBTQIA is that the so-called love story between Dee and Sarah felt too ‘instalove’ and the whole premise of their being gay added nothing to the story overall. It seems as if the author won a Lambda Literary Writers Retreat in 2017 to write LGBTQIA fiction and just threw in the romance to fulfil the demands of the writing grant. The girls love story added nothing to the story arc overall. There was no reason to even mention that there was a gay love story in the book, it was just that unimportant. Perhaps if it weren’t a selling feature of this book it would have been a little more authentic to see a gay couple honestly portrayed in a novel. Just a by the by… nothing special. Just another couple. But the marketing of this novel is strategically played at the LGBTQIA market, for its intrinsic trendy value and that is frustrating and annoying, in that once again gay couples are used as a marketing ploy rather than a true representation of our society as a whole. It is a marketing strategy of the tackiest kind.

The ending of the story doesn’t hold the prerequisite wow factor and feels anticlimactic as if it were too obvious where the story was going and how it was going to reveal itself. There just wasn’t the ‘edge of your seat’ thrills nor an unexpected twist in the tail within the story to warrant the title of mystery or thriller that it aims to be. Squarely aimed at the Young Adult market, this novel falls short in that it isn’t grown up enough to warrant the interest in a 20-something person who is a young adult, with the storytelling falling more into a young teenage range. Somehow it feels as if the reader will be shortchanged on all aspects of this story. Not a strong LGBTQIA interest, not a strong mystery or thriller, it falls down at every turn.

It could have been great.

I was heartbroken for Dee who was living in constant turmoil over the day, 10 years ago, that her beat friend was abducted. I l9ve how raw and dark the writing is. I love the ominous feeling that creeps up as you read on. I do wish that there was more back story or detail. I think some of the solutions were a little cumbersome and drawn out. Having to explain how and why takes the fun out of it.

Just finished this YA thriller, I Hope You’re Listening which might appeal to fans of The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. When Delia Skinner was 7 years old, she was playing with her friend Sibby alone in the woods when Sibby was kidnapped. Ten years later, Delia still blames herself for not being able to help the police and bring her friend home. To deal with the guilt, she starts an anonymous crime podcast Radio Silent that helps solve missing person cases. But when another young girl goes missing in Delia’s small town, a note left at the scene ties the two crimes and Delia must decide how far she’s willing to go to find out what happened.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t love this one. Another book by the author, Keep This To Yourself, was on my YA top ten list last year because the ending shocked me so much. I just didn’t see it coming. With this book, the ending sort of came out of nowhere. I’m not sure it was something a reader could figure out on their own. And that’s the mark of a great thriller for me. An ending you don’t see coming, but should have. The insta-romance between Delia and Sarah, the cute girl who moves in next door also didn’t work for me, but I really wish it had. I love the LGBTQ+ representation in this book and I think a lot of people will like the true crime podcast aspect and the missing girl storylines. It’s also really interesting to explore a story from the point of view of the girl who was left behind.

Thank you to @netgalley , @albertwhitman , and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is perfect for YA readers and has a great storyline. If you are wondering why my rating doesn't reflect what I've just said, its because I had higher expectations for this book. I love mysteries, and especially in the YA genre, they can be amazing. This book just didn't live up to how it started. The ending was anticlimactic, so it kind of ruined the entire book. But don't only take my word for it, I am pretty judgemental.... overall it's a decent read and worth it if you are at all interested in the plot.

This is easily one of my favorite young adult mystery/thrillers to have ever come out. I really loved the formatting of the book, especially the podcasting bits. This was a wonderful LGBTQIA+ representative book. I really love books where there is queer romance but it doesn't overshadow the characters themselves. Seeing that really made me happy. This book opens the conversation on a lot of hard topics, one in particular being survivor's guilt. I think it handles the topic extremely well. I also love that it supports the idea of supportive online communities that work to save lives and bring people home. I don't think it's a stretch that something like that could happen and it helped the book feel real in a way that thrillers rarely do for me.

I also really loved the huge range of side characters. Everything helped build up this small town to be more than just believable but truly real. One thing I truly appreciated was the presence of present, supportive and positive parents who really and truly cared about their kid, gay or not.

Overall the plot itself was unique and interesting, as were the characters motives both of which kept me hooked and wanting to read more. The subplots contained were also well constructed and had an actual purpose aside from just telling stories within the story. I did not want to put this book down. Also, it contains a podcast element if you're into that, which I definitely am.

3.5

Delia "Dee" Skinner was seven years old when she watched her best friend get kidnapped right in front of her. That day has haunted her ever since, and to help cope with the feeling of helplessness and guilt that followed after her for not being to help find Sibby, she created an anonymous podcast to help those find their missing friends and family. Mysteries that only the public can solve.

While it did take me a few chapters for me to get into, I thought this was a decent YA mystery. It kept me interested throughout the book, and I like our main character, Dee. There is romance in the book, and while I loved that it was a sapphic romance, I thought it felt rushed. The characters haven't known each other long, and haven't interacted enough in my opinion. Some aspects of the book just didn't make sense to me either, like some of the big reveals. I think maybe it just needed to be tweaked a bit, and more questions asked and then answered. But overall, I enjoyed it. I didn't find myself skimming through pages, I was generally interested in the story.

If you are looking for a book that is very out of the ordinary but still has an LGBTQIA theme, this is the book for you. Yes, it is geared toward the YA audience. However, I am not the YA audience and I enjoyed it a great deal. The story revolves around Dee, who witnessed her best friend, Sibby, being abducted. Instead of waiting years (or never) for the police to find who the abductors were and her friend were, she begins a podcasts that highlights crimes that were never solved.
She doesn't ever highlight what happened to her friend, until it happens again in her town. This opens up new information about her friend and she begins an investigation all her own. What she finds, shocks everyone.
I would recommend this!
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"[E]ven a sad ending is better than no ending at all, and that's always been my goal: to deliver an ending to as many unfinished stories as possible" (Ryan).

Ten years after Delia "Dee" Skinner walked out of the woods while her best friend did not, Dee still struggles to cope with what she has lost--and with her own guilt. Therefore, she becomes the Seeker, the host of Radio Silent, a podcast that brings attention to missing person cases. Then, when another young girl--one who lives in her old house--goes missing, Dee realizes that she cannot hide from her past anymore.

As an avid YA reader, this book does not disappoint. Ryan does a remarkable job switching back and forth between past and present and between real life and the podcast (giving the novel a Sadie-esque feel). He does this while developing Dee into a character that the reader simultaneously sympathizes with and gets frustrated with.

I Hope You're Listening appeals to all readers--not just YA--on many levels: mystery, suspense, current events, etc. Having never read a novel by Tom Ryan before...I would definitely read another.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers at Albert Whitman & Company for providing me a complimentary e-copy of the novel in exchange for my honest review.

This book was thrilling. I wasn't surprised because it is described as a thriller, but I couldn't put it down. Delia 'Dee' Skinner has a story she'd rather not talk about. After witnessing her best friend get abducted when she was 7 her life has changed dramatically. Trying to put it behind her and help other missing people. she starts a podcast, Radio Silent. She's the host, but her identity is totally secret, and she uses her fans the LDA, laptop detective agency, to help find other missing people.

When a little girl in her town goes missing exactly ten years after her friend Dee gets pulled into the struggle to keep her podcast anonymous and do whatever she can to help find Layla. In the meantime she gets some new leads on her missing best friend.

I loved the relationships in this book and ultimately it isn't Dee trying to solves cases on her own. We've seen that so many times and this was a breath of fresh air. Part of me wants more books about the LDA, but mostly I feel like this book is wrapped up so well that I don't want any more.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I’d give this I’d say maybe 3 and 1/2 stars more so? It was cute! I really liked the synopsis of this, but it just didn’t feel like it completely lived up to it. The beginning was really slow, and the ending just felt completely breakneck speed of wrapping everything up. Parts of it didn’t feel quite genuine, imho, as far as the characters and their interactions. I loved Dee and Sarah, and I just kind of wanted everyone to leave them alone and go away, that’s how much I did not like them, lol. But, overall it was a cute book! I’d still recommend it and I’ll get a physical copy of it, when it comes out. If you like something like Scream: The Series or true crime podcasts, I’d give this a read.

Review to be posted on Instagram soon

Dee Skinner’s life changed the moment she witnessed her best friend getting abducted at seven years old. Ten years later, she still lives in the same town, but in a different house. Sibby is a ghost that haunts Dee every day. She’s the girl who wasn’t taken. That guilt weighs her every action down.

She wasn’t able to help Sibby, but she finds a way to help others who have gone missing. As an anonymous podcaster, the Seeker, she hosts a true-crime podcast called Radio Silent. She focuses on missing person cases and works with the Laptop Detective Agency to find new leads and to find the missing.
Nearly ten years to the day, another girl goes missing in her town.

Dee struggles, wanting to stay away from the case but at the same time wanting to help find the missing girl. Is Sibby’s abduction related to Layla’s? A well-timed e-mail sends her down the rabbit hole to find out what has happened to both girls.

What I loved about the format of this novel, was the fact that the podcast scripts were included. I’m a huge true crime junkie and podcast lover. Being able to see how Dee worked to keep herself anonymous but she worked hard to help get answers from these families was exciting. She was determined to find answers and finally put in the work that her Laptop Detective Agency had been doing since episode one.

Dee meets Sarah, the attraction is immediate, but they balance each other. Where Dee is headstrong and throws caution to the wind, Sarah talks her off the ledge and finds a way to make sure they are safe from harm. Their romance takes a backseat to the plot, but the relationship was normalized in a way I wished my high school years could have been. She and Sarah got to go to the Winter Formal together, her parents didn’t make her sexuality seem anything but normal.

The action was a bit slow in the beginning, but once it got going? I couldn’t put the book down. I needed to find Sibby and Layla. I needed to make sure Burke was going to be okay by the end of it all. I had an inkling of who took Sibby, but the result for Layla? I wasn’t expecting that at all.

I honestly really loved this book, I liked the mystery surrounding her friends disappearance. I really loved everything about this book. I love listening to true crime podcasts and that is definitely what it reminded me of. If this was an actual podcast I would probably listen to it. I would also read this again in the fall and halloween time. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves true crime, podcasts, and mystery. I cant wait to read other books by this author also.
I also want to thank the author, net gallery, and the publisher for giving me the chance to review this e arc copy for my honest opinion.

(Thanks to NetGalley & Albert Whitman for providing me a complimentary copy of I HOPE YOU’RE LISTENING by Tom Ryan in exchange for my honest review.)

Back in 2012, Tom Ryan's "Way to go" came out and absolutely blew my mind while also breaking my poor heart.
So I was pretty excited to dig my teeth into his new novel. Fair to say I have not been disappointed by this awesome, gripping, deeply moving story about resilience, secrets and coming to terms with your past. The fact that it was queer was a huge plus for me, because we always need the rep. If you're looking for a very good YA thriller with a very well executed storyline and endearing characters, please read "I hope you're listening."

This was a rollercoaster of emotions, from terrifying, to romantic, and to intriguing. Overall, I really enjoyed the characters in this book. Dee was just grumpy enough to be realistic, but not so grumpy that you wanted to punch her in the face. There were times Dee was completely selfish and reacted badly with her friends, but her friends actually call her out on this behavior and don't allow for that common toxic friendship trope. The romance, while a little rushed, was still very "teen love" soft, and enjoyable. I appreciated the queer representation without it become a focal point in the mystery thriller. Our main character is a lesbian, and it is what it is.
My complaints about the book are small. I didn't enjoy reading the podcast transcripts until the final chapters and found them boring if anything as they had nothing to do with the current plotline. Additionally, the way weed was constantly talked about in the middle of the book felt…strange. As if it was going to be used as a plot device, and then the author changed his mind.

As I said, I really enjoyed this book and the rollercoaster it put me on!