Those dudes were a bag of dicks as teens and continued to be well into adulthood. They somewhat redeemed themselves as adults, but only because they were forced to do so by someone. The fact that they were all very emotionally damaged by what happened just goes to show that secrets and unresolved trauma are terrible for the human soul. This was my 1st book by Jeff Hoffman but will not be my last!

#LikeItNeverHappened
#NetGalley

I think this should be more classified as a drama than a thriller. I think I would have enjoyed the story more if every single character wasn’t so dreadful. They were all toxic and very unlikable. So much drama to try and keep up with, I think it would have been easier as a physical book, but to be honest I probably wouldn’t have got through a physical book. I did enjoy the narrator enough to finish it, even though I didn’t care for the actual story. A lot of buildup with nothing really happening.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advance copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I wished I liked this but I didn't. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and it gets really confusing. There is also a lot of unlikeable characters in this book, and while its not necessary that I like them, it does make it easier. I felt like the beginning of the book was very dense with information and character introductions, and it didn't really read as a thriller to me. Thrillers should be exciting, keep me guessing, and have my heart pumping but this didn't do any of those things for me. Not to mention, the twist was very basic. I'm actually a fan of thrillers doing tried and true things with slight twists, not everything needs to be a whole monstrous twisting web, but this particular twist really didn't shock me. It was unlikeable characters doing unlikeable things, even as teenagers.

I did read this as an audio book. I'm not a huge fan of the narration of the female POV chapters and the females in general. I also didn't really feel like I was listening to a book, I felt like I was being talked at instead.

Like it Never Happened centers on 4 friends living with the ramifications of something done over 30 years ago. While the premise of the story is interesting, I struggled to feel any sort of empathy for the characters…at its center you have 4 white guys who got away with something and are now being held responsible. The narrator was great and the book well written. I wish there was more from the female characters’ perspectives because that was super interesting to me. I liked this book but didn’t love it.

An advanced reader copy audiobook was graciously provided by the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NETGALLY I was able to listen to the is book before the release date. The story was not intriguing enough to hold interest, but the narration was tolerable. Overall 2-3 star read for me

Three high school best friends come together at their fourth friend's funeral. Thirty years ago, the four friends did something devastating that bound their friendship forever. They have all kept their secret except one. The deceased told his wife, and she plans revenge on the remaining three. The story moved quickly, but I never felt engaged with any of the characters. The narration was well done.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC audiobook.

The lives of former best friends go awry individually when their past shared crime begins to come to light.

Although they may be willing to pretend the past didn't happen, someone won't let the old times & crimes die.
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I listened to the audio version, the narrator was a great match for the story and helped ramp up the emotions and action.

Well-written and well-paced mystery that keeps you reading.

Four best friends hold a secret from their past but the secret rips them apart. When one of the friends, Kevin, passes away, the other 3 hesitantly reconnect. Kevin's wife finds out about the secret and starts blackmailing the 3 friends to come forward.

I found there were some repetitive parts in the beginning that weren't necessary, they didn't add to the story, just repeated what had already been said. Also there was a lot of build up to what happened in their past, but the actual reveal felt anticlimactic considering the buildup. I found it really hard to stay connected to the book, I didn't find it much of a thriller. I felt lost trying to decipher the characters as there were so many outside of the 3 main characters. Plus, for me, none of the characters were likable.

I listened to the audiobook but I didn't love the narration, it felt very monotone to me.

I like the concept of the book, but I don't think it was for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6329800879

This one sounded so promising with the premise, but it truly did not keep me entertained or held my attention at all. It fell entirely flat and I could not continue. I had to DNF.

Narrated by Noah Michael Levine.

Less a thriller, more 'three straight white guys have a tough time because they were assholes as kids'.

I wanted this to be much more than it was.

The story centres around an incident, in a parking lot decades ago, that had 'deadly consequences'. From the get go, it's pretty obvious what the incident was and so any kind of tension that was supposed to be built on that, wasn't. The four boys hushed it all up for very thin reasons and decades later are faced with further consequences initiated by the death of one of them.

These are married men with troubled marriages, and for the most part the incident had nothing to do with that. The men are mostly just self-centred assholes, so it was a bit hard to find sympathy for them. The women are ball-busting go-getters with no time for their husbands' dramas.

Basically, I hated all of these characters.

There's supposed to be a thriller element from Naomi, wife of the deceased, because she's on a mission now to 'make them pay.' But she's just a journalist threatening them with the truth so it's pretty bland as far as thrillers go.

Mostly, the story is about how these three men regret the dumb thing they did but refuse to come clean because it will ruin lives they've already kind of ruined anyway.

Zero sympathy for any of these characters.

Narration was okay, but I didn't love the female voices. For some reason, men doing female voices sound so much more fake to me than women doing male voices. Aside from that, narration was fine. I was happy to listen to this at x1.5 speed so mercifully free of long pauses and dramatic slowness.

Can't say I'd recommend this one. Maybe if you're into family drama and broken marriages? But as a thriller it misses the mark.

With thanks to Netgalley for an audio ARC

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a great job. I enjoyed the book but wouldn’t classify it as a thriller like it was tagged, it was more of a well written domestic fiction. The characters were interesting and I thought the author did a great job describing each one and getting the readers to know them. I would definitely read more by this author.

I listened to the audiobook for this one and I did think he narrator did a good job with the main characters (I didn’t love the job he did with the female voices, but it wasn’t bad). This is a book that felt like all the build up without the explosion or climax I wanted. It was a book that kept my attention and I did want to finish it, but I didn’t care about the outcomes and I didn’t like a single character. I suppose it’s very honest to write a book of morally grey (although some very dark grey) because no one is pure anything, but this book was almost exhausting in how toxic and awful every single person was. The premise was very interesting - four friends were involved in a fight when they were all 18 and the other boys one died and one had horrific brain damage and has lived out his life in a care home. The four friends weren’t caught and swore never to talk about it again. This led to them drifting apart. When one of the men dies the other three attend his funeral and meet his wife who is a reporter and seems to know everything. I liked that you did see the story from multiple perspectives and again the story wasn’t uninteresting.

I struggled a bit with this one. I didn’t feel connected to the narrator. I’m not positive what it was but I wasn’t really pulled in. I think this is also a slow burn which really isn’t my fav thing. I was curious about what happened years ago tho.

When Tommy, Malcolm and Henry go to their old friend Kevin‘s funeral they have no idea when meeting his wife Naomi this will be the beginning of a game of Simon says and Naomi a Simon.
She even makes the three old friends go see the only survivor of that night Terry who although hasn’t spoken in years instantly recognizes the man. It’s not like this is the only thing the guys have going on as a matter of a fact ever since that night all four men have tried to get over it but it seems no one is as affected as the one who wasn’t there Naomi she blames her husbands suicide and drug addiction on that night and she blames that night on the three men they say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and eventually Naomi will meet a woman who was not only affected by that night but was there right after it happened and has some pretty choice things to tell vengeful Naomi that may just change her mind. This book was pretty OK at the beginning I wasn’t quite sure where it was going I really believe she just wanted them to make amends but once I saw she was out for revenge it made the book that much better I did think she was delusional for blaming other people for things our husband did regardless of who was around but then again that was a pet peeve of mine to not take responsibility for your own crap. Having said that I still think this was a pretty good book in one I do recommend it’s not exactly a thriller but it definitely is thrilling. I also thought the narrator was the best thing about the book I want to thank the publisher the author and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Thirty years ago, Tommy, Malcolm, Henry, and Kevin were best friends, almost like brothers. Then one night they did something terrible that changed everything. The decision to keep hidden what they did in that parking lot shattered their friendship and warped their lives. But when Kevin, struggling with a heroin addiction, drives his motorcycle into the side of a truck, the other three find themselves together again—at Kevin’s funeral. When they meet Kevin’s wife Naomi at the wake, they can tell that she knows everything, and when they learn that she’s a reporter, they’re terrified. When she sends them to visit one of their victims from that night—at the nursing home where he’s been suffering for decades—they do as they’re told, even though they know it won’t stop there. After watching her husband pay a steep price for keeping the friends’ secret, Naomi has crafted a plan to make Tommy, Malcolm, and Henry pay their fair share. When the three men decide to fight back, they’re forced to decide just how far they’ll go this time.

I really enjoyed this author's previous book, so I was excited about this newest one. Unfortunately, it fell a little short of expectations for me. None of the characters were likeable and that is always a deal breaker for me......I need someone to root for. I get that what they did thirty years ago was wrong on so many levels, but they have had decades to atone and make themselves into better versions of themselves. Also, it drove me crazy that for most of the book, I didn't know exactly what happened. It just kept being referenced to "what happened in the Burger King parking lot" , and that repetition with no added context gave me the twitches. However, I held out because I wanted to know the secret, and I wanted to see how it was all going to play out. So, am I glad I read it? Yes. Would I recommend it? I would have to say I am on the fence on this one. It wasn't a bad book, just not one of the best I have read or listened to. So I will leave that to you to decide.

Cool cover, intriguing title and promising storyline. There were a lot of things done right with this audiobook. I found the plot well thought out and it kept my attention the whole way through. I loved the dual timeline and multiple points of view which made this engaging yet easy to follow. I found some characters easier to connect with than others but overall I thought the cast was diverse and complex without being overdone. I did feel some parts of the story moved a little slow or there could have offered a little more depth to create emotional opportunities. There were a couple parts that appealed more to the emotion of specific characters, and I thought were executed well, but I wished there would have been more. Overall I did enjoy this audiobook!

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and Jeff Hoffman for allowing me advanced access to this audiobook.

3.5 stars rounded up.

The story surrounds 4 high school friends and a terrible incident that happened one night in a parking lot. After that night, the friends are never the same and carry heavy secrets with them.

30 years after the incident, one of the 4 dies and the contents of the will send the remaining 3 reeling. Their lives will never be the same. Will they make the right decision?

Overall, the premise of the story was what brought me in. However, there are so many characters to keep track of: the 4 friends, their spouses, their children. I also wouldn't classify this as a thriller or mystery. This story is more literary fiction with some suspense. I was hooked on trying to find out the secret.

I was very excited to read this book. I thought it had such great potential. I was quite let down. It didn’t live up to the potential. I also didn’t care about any of the insufferable characters

3 stars

Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing this title for review consideration.

I don’t really do well when there’s a lot of characters. Especially when all of them are so similar and so unlikable. My brain handles it even worse when it’s audio. Needless to say, this book is full of similarly unlikeable characters (the main 3 to be specific). However, besides the main 3 MMCs and FMC there is around 15-20 side characters (wives, exs, children, children’s partners, coworkers, parents, etc) that make this book so confusing and hard to keep straight (for me). Especially in audio format.

We spend the whole book knowing SOMETHING went down in the BK parking lot, but not really knowing exactly what. The entire book leads up to it and, honestly? I think it was over built cause I thought it was a little let down. So much potential for this book to be non stop riveting and dramatic, but I just felt meh at the end.

3.5/5 stars (rounded up to 4 on here)

Thank you Dreamscape media for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
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I was drawn into this one for the cover and the premise! It sounded so good and had such good promise! It was initially slow, and I think a large part of that was the amount of characters kindda bogged my brain down a bit, but once I figured out who was who it definitely sped up. The book keeps you entertained going between the characters and trying to figure out what actually happened all those years ago. I loved how the author kind of focused on how lies over the years will catch up to you and how actions even years prior will affect a person years later. I had both a physical copy and an audio copy and I have to say that I as drawn more to the audio copy because I felt like that kept my attention more!