This is a difficult review to write.
 
Partly because I loved it and partly because it bothered me.
 
This is a well-intentioned, beautiful written novel about mental illness and a life derailed by internet conspiracy theories. It deals with complex female and familial relationships in the aftermath of a family tragedy.  
 
I have to note that on the outset, this not a psychological thriller, but rather a slow burn mystery and character study on grief.
 
Teddi Angstrom, 26 is a teacher at an exclusive prep school in Maine. Ten years earlier, her sister disappeared, never to be seen again. On the tenth anniversary of her sister’s disappearance, Teddies father commits suicide. Left to pick up the pieces and deal with another loss in the family are Teddi and her mom.
 
During the clean-up of her father’s belongs, Teddi comes across his private investigation into her sister’s disappearance. There is an online forum via Reddit he was heavily involved in. Through this discovery, Teddi quickly becomes entangled with the group and all their theories (some quite outlandish). It doesn’t take long for her to be swept up in the true crime community and allow her personal life to spiral out of control as she becomes obsessive about solving what happened to her sister.
 
I don’t need characters to be likeable, but in all honesty Teddi and her mom were both incredibly “out there”. Not unlikable per se, but very full on through their actions and thought processes. There was also a running narrative about the family dog that just didn’t sit well with me. (That’s probably a me thing after just losing one of my fur babies!)
 
Overall, it’s a clever and darkly compelling read that tugs at your emotional heartstrings. While I don’t think it will be for everyone, I highly recommend it for those that enjoy character driven - heavy inner monologue, dark mysteries.

Many thanks @sohopress @netgalley #rbmedia for advanced reading e-arc and ALC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book.

3.5/5 stars. I think that this book showed grief really well; however, I feel like the mystery part was not the focus. The use of Reddit was interesting and I liked how that was portrayed, but I wanted more of a thriller. The relationship between Mickey and Teddy was intriguing and I did enjoy finding out the secrets behind that.

This is a disturbing, slow-burn, bleak exploration of grief and obsession. It seemed to be marketed erroneously as a mystery/thriller and it certainly isn't. It's a character-driven first-person narrative of an adult woman, Teddy, dealing with the sudden loss of her father by suicide, and discovering he was obsessed with the 10-year-old case of his missing step-daughter, Teddy's half sister. Teddy picks up the torch and becomes enmeshed in the true crime society of Reddit, following the same clues and finding herself orbiting the same people. Teddy is frighteningly self-destructive and the mystery of her missing sister quickly takes a backseat to her spiraling behavior and bad choices, leaving the reader full of angst and dread for her outcome. There is a gut-wrenching part with their dying dog, so trigger warning for that trauma. There's also gross misogyny, drug use and abuse, depression, and painful witnessing of our protagonist's descent into her personal hell. It's a difficult book to get through, but f you hang in there, there is satisfaction and closure at the end.

This book is the perfect example of what can happen when someone becomes completely obsessed. In this case, Teddy has made a life for herself. A good job, a boyfriend she loves. She hasn't let her sister's disappearance ten years ago affect her life - until her father unexpectedly commits suicide. As she sorts through his things, she finds information that lets her know she was still looking into Angie's sudden disappearance. Following the clues, Teddy gets mixed up in the lives of people she never knew, following a trail of crumbs down a rabbit hole to her own destruction.

Rebecca Quinn Robertson narrates this story beautifully. Her voice is perfect for this deep dive into true crime and how depression and other circumstances can alter someone's life forever. Although the content is dark, I easily finished this one in a day with the audio. Five stars are well deserved for the narration!

If you're a fan of true crime and amateur sleuths with dark themes, this book is definitely for you!

I received an advanced digital and audio copy. All thoughts are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC of "Rabbit Hole" by Kate Brody. I went into this book with little expectation and idea of the premise so it unfolded for me in real time. I appreciated the storylines but sometimes found the pacing to skip around a bit-not the smoothest of transitions but I was able to figure it out. Our main character really devloved over the story and I couldn't quite figure out if this happened in a matter of days, weeks or months. It was a stark story of grief and loss. I felt deeply sad for most every character. It was a dark listen. I did really appreciate the narrator and will look for more books narrated by them.

I was excited to receive my first ARC audiobook! Thank you NetGalley! This was a debut novel written by Kate Brody. The title and description really spoke to me and my crime junkie heart. I felt like this book would be right up my alley. A woman’s father just committed suicide. It prompts her to start searching for the truth about her sister’s disappearance 10 years ago. She embarks on a downward spiral of self destructive behavior and a twisted new friendship with a girl who is obsessed with her missing sister.
Unfortunately, this book was too slow for me. The writing itself was strong. The character development was also excellent. It reminded me of Gillian Flynn’s books and characters, dark and brooding, which I love. But the story just fell flat for me. It’s marketed as a thriller, but really, it’s just depressing. There’s one twist that was creative, but it took way too long to get to it that it just wasn’t worth the read.

When I read the blurb I thought this was supposed to be more thriller. Teddy Angstrom is a woman trying to discover where her sister disappeared to ten years previously in the wake of her father's suicide. Sounds good. A little nod to Updike's Rabbit Angstrom right?

However this book is not a thriller. I'd say it is twisty but there are probably two or three twists that repeat over and over but the unreliable narrator is simply too stupid to unravel them. This is probably because she's either drunk or so far in her own head that nothing gets through.

Her life is one chaotic mess and frankly, how she isn't suspended/sacked after her first day back at school is beyond me. This book needed a massive edit, a clearer plot and an actual point. It didnt seem to know if it was a thriller, a warning or perhaps an indicator that more people who lose relatives should get therapy rather than trying to find the "solution" to their misery in a bottle/pill/sex. I was desperate for it to finish after she discovers what happened to her sister but it still dragged on.

However if you like salacious, spiralling, unrealistic and bizarre then this is most certainly the book for you. There's plenty drinking, sex, drug taking, inappropriate behaviour, endlessly monotonous chats online, dying animals of all kinds, bodily fluids, inappropriate relationships and an ending that's baffling.

The narrator (Rebecca Quinn Robertson) had a nice, clear voice. She gets a star. The other is for me because I finished it.

I apologise for the vitriol but I did spend a lot of my time berating Teddy for her endlessly stupid life choices.

Thanks to Netgalley for the audio advance review copy.
Edit Review

A gritty, powerful exploration into generational trauma, the darker side of true crime and internet obsession.

Rabbit Hole is dark and melancholy. I love a character study, and Brody has crafted a masterful, slow-burn deep dive into grief’s chokehold.

The writing is incredible. The story is dark and melancholy. And the narration knocks it out of the park!

What to expect:
🔹character study
🔹dark and melancholy
🔹first-person narration
🔹tortured, self-destructive behavior

I recommend taking a look at content warnings prior to reading. This book was difficult, and at times painful to read.

The only thing I want to review is that really enjoyed this book up until the end. When an entire book is about searching for answers and you never end up getting them, it is so very unsatisfying. I still gave it 3 stars because I enjoyed 90% of it and the narration was great, but man, what a major letdown that ending was.

Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

Wow, this book was not like what I was expecting. I assumed it was more of an "on the edge of your seat" thriller, but it was not that at all. It was a story about a family looking for answers about a missing sister & their father who committed suicide on the anniversary of her disappearance. The main character, Teddy, lives with her mom & her sister's dog, Wolfie. The family is still clearly suffering the loss of both Angie (sister) & now, Mark (dad). As Teddy begins to look into her father's death, she finds out he was heavily involved on a quest to find Angie, never giving up home he would have answers. He became so obsessed and now, Teddy, is following in his footsteps. Along the way, she meets a new friend, Mickey- who has more to her than what meets the eye. The two team up and get into some questionable situations. Teddy ends up deep in a rabbit hole looking for information & it is affecting her life, her career & her relationships.
Grief really affects people in different ways. Here we follow her journey & watch as she unravels. The ending is strange & abrupt. There is a lot of information that made me cringe in the beginning- trigger warnings for suicide and animal death. There is a subplot about the sister's dog which is sad, slightly gruesome and unnecessary.
I think Rebecca Quinn Robertson did an excellent job with narration. She was easy to listen to and gave that monotone sound of someone's internal thoughts/reflection.

Thank you to #Netgalley & the publishers for the arc of the Audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Huge spoiler alert for a dying pet (dog), substance abuse, self-harm, suicide, rape, and endocannibalism! If it weren't for the graphic descriptions of Wolfie the dog dying, I might have given the book 4 stars (I was in my car crying as I heard that part). This story has an interesting premise- Teddy is facing another trauma in her life, years after the disappearance of her rebellious sister, Angie when Teddy was a child. Her father has committed suicide, and Teddy, now grown up as a teacher, and grieving alongside her eccentric mother, begins questioning the connection between Angie and her father. Teddy meets Mickey, a college student obsessed with Angie's case and avid Reddit user, and she begins a relationship with an older man who knew her father. Teddy falls down the rabbit hole of dangerous activities alongside these characters who hold dark secrets. As I listened to the audiobook of this title, I thought the narrator did a great job at pacing and keeping the suspense levels high! I had read the comparison to Gillian Flynn books, and there are some parts of this I can see the similarities-Teddy is not a likeable character. You feel for her because of all the anguish she has experienced in her life, yet these memories have warped her emotions (as they often do to people). The ending of the book I did not like at all (another reason why it wasn't a 4 star read for me). I think fans of Big Little Lies, Breaking Bad, and Twin Peaks would enjoy this, and I will still check out other books by Kate Brody! Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC!

I really wanted to love this, but I just didn't. I think calling this book a twisty thriller is misleading. It was more about a woman struggling with mental health and grief and less about the mystery itself. The story felt slow and repetitive. The whole book feels like it’s leading up to a huge moment that never comes.

The worst part was the mistreatment of the dog. I know it was probably a symbol for something else, but I don't want to read about the suffering and death of a pet.

While I didn't enjoy the story itself, I wouldn't say this is a bad book. The writing is strong and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't gone into it thinking it was a thriller. I would be interested in reading other books by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this eARC!

📖 Book Review 📖

🎧 "Rabbit Hole" by Kate Brody

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Published January 2, 2024

I enjoyed the narration, and thought the storyline had potential but it went downhill fast. I felt like I was in Teddy’s head- her trauma, and PTSD surrounding the recent death of her father and her sister’s disappearance years before. The novel is a Reddit inspired true crime plot about a mind twisted by grief and mental illness and solving a 10 year old disappearance cold case.

Teddy’s father just committed suicide. He left no note in his incredibly messy office. When Teddy begins to sort things, she finds he had been obsessively researching conspiracies on Reddit on Teddy’s older sister, Angie’s disappearance. With new clues on message boards, she goes down the conspiracy rabbit hole too. Teddy meets Mickey, a young college age wannabe sleuth who is a little too eager to help, and may have ulterior motives. Teddy begins to spiral out of control with old memories resurfacing, unpredictable abusive behavior, and an inevitable mental self- harming breakdown.
Teddy was a well-written character, a true train wreck waiting to happen. The story is quite sad as you follow her psychological
meltdown and her endless quest for answers.

#somanybooks #readsomemore #audiobooks #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #readersofinstagram #readmorebooks #booklover #bookishlove #readersgonnaread #bookishaf

Teddy Angstrom’s sister, Angie, disappeared years ago, leaving her family grieving and unable to find closure. Teddy finds a Reddit thread that sucks her down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, possible witnesses, and dangerous secrets.

This is definitely a “modern problems require modern solutions” story. The author deftly illustrates the ease in which unsuspecting people get sucked into web pipelines: conspiracy theorists, supremacists, etc. and the difficulty most people face when researching online. That said, I found the actual plot and characters messy and uninteresting. I stuck with the story to see if the mystery was resolved, but I would have given up part way through as it became fairly repetitive. Not a terrible book, but I didn’t really get the payoff I was hoping for after the slog.

I received a free audiobook copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

The marketing is all wrong for Kate Brody's Rabbit Hole. It's definitely not a thriller, so lots of people are going to be unnecessarily disappointed when they dig in. It's a slow-moving story about a woman, Theodora, grieving for her missing sister, Angie, and her dead father, who committed suicide at the start of the book. The mystery of what happened to Angie drags on and on, and never resolves. Teddy makes poor choices all around -- sleeping with a man she doesn't even seem to like who might be tied to her family's woes, befriending a weird girl who reminds her of her sister, ignoring the dying dog she decides is a test of loyalty to her missing sister, and taking out her dark grief on everyone she knows professionally or as family.

I have lots to complain about in here, but the narrator of the audiobook laudably brings it to life. REBECCA QUINN ROBERTSON IS FANTASTIC. I haven't heard Robertson read any other novels, but I'm going to scour Libby and Audible for her name. She took this massive disappointment of a book and turned it into something I wanted to finish.

A big thanks to NetGalley for an audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Honestly, it was depressing and disappointing, but I did find a new favorite narrator for audiobooks, so there's my silver lining!

'Rabbit Hole' by Kate Brody is a debut novel and it is just so raw. If you come into it expecting a good thriller or a whodunnit, you'll be disappointed. It's literary fiction. There is a mystery at its core but it's not what it is about. It's a study of grief and depression and slow descend into madness and how a person can go down a rabbit hole trying to find the answers they need. It's just raw and it made my heart ache for the main characters. I loved it even though it made me cry so much. It's heart-wrenching and honest. The characters are complex and not without a fault. Just like real people. Give this book a chance for what it is vs for what it isn't.
Thank you RB Media and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this audiobook. I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to future books by this author.

This slow-burning novel told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator will appeal to fans of obliquely presented psychological suspense. Rebecca Quinn Robertson's deft narration elevates the novel.

Less of a psychological/true crime thriller and more of a character driven story and her process of grief. The “mystery” to this story is more of a C plot story line. The writing is interesting enough. I don’t think I would’ve continued this book if I didn’t receive the audio version. It’s a very subdued story.

This was just the audiobook I was looking for. It has true crime, dark web, and twists that will keep you listening until the end. I was hooked from the beginning. The narrator was perfect for this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Soho Crime and RB Media for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the debut book by Kate Brody, the audiobook wonderfully narrated by Rebecca Quinn Robertson - 4 stars!

Ten years ago, Teddy's older sister, Angie, went missing and has never been found., Her family never recovered and now her father, Mark, has died by suicide. The family didn't know it, but Mark had been involved with a Reddit community investigating Angie's disappearance and it led him down many bad roads. Teddy now finds herself following those same roads. She gets involved with Mickey, a young girl obsessed with Angie's case, and soon her personal and professional life are in shambles.

Don't go into this one thinking it's a true crime book that will be wrapped up neatly in the end. It's more of a look into a family's grief after a tragedy and how everyone is affected. I loved the title and can only imagine how easy it would be these days to go down the online rabbit holes of social media when a family member is missing. All those theories and conspiracies from people that have no clue would drive you crazy. I thought the writing in this debut was great - I just think readers need to know better what the book is about. I can't wait to read more from this author.