Sara Driscoll is one of my favourite authors, whether she is writing about K9's or hostage negotiators so I was excited when I had the chance to read this standalone book.

Krista is a physio but when her gamer friend Hailey suggests that they run an advice chat twice per week, after their day jobs, on Twitch (which is a REAL platform - I mentioned it to my son and he confirmed this, lol), she is pleased when it takes off and they start building a lovely community. This fills a bit of a hole that was left when her fiance passed away and she has been friends with Hailey for over a decade so it seems like a good fit. Until Chase547 shows up and ruins everything for the two friends.

No matter what they do, they can't seem to get rid of him and soon he is making his presence felt in all sorts of other unwelcome ways....

This was a heck of a read, really creepy at times, to the point where I wondered if it was advisable to read this just before sleeping!!

I wanted to keep on reading about Krista's life and that is how I know it was a good book, I got really emotionally invested :)

5 stars from me.

This book grabs you and leads you into scary places! When a live stream podcast takes a creepy turn, the hosts turn the caller into the police, but they don't have enough to find him. Things turn personal and frightening. A heart pounding story you cannot put down! Well written and a believable storyline. This book will change how you listen and participate in live streams. Couldn't put this down, but didn't read at night!

Another cautionary tale about the dangers of the online community!

Krista Evan is a physical therapist by day. In the evenings she is offering life advice to the gaming community on Twitch as a side hustle. But when she gives the wrong advice to one account user he, or she, gets mad. This user is angry enough to hunt Krista down and endanger her safety.

The author showed a lot of knowledge and provided detailed information about physical therapy and the gaming community. Those details kind of bogged me down and took me out of the story. But this was an interesting take on stalking and internet safety.

Thank you Netgalley, Kensington Publishing, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on August 26, 2025

4.5 stars
This is a fantastic standalone thriller from Sara Driscoll! The main character, Krista Evans, is a physical therapist in Chicago and her patients appreciate her instructions for their rehabilitation as well as her life advice. She and her best friend, Hailey Swanson, decide to do a live, casual advice chat on a gaming platform where Hailey already has a presence. Everything goes well in the beginning and they're able to build a supportive community for their subscribers. However, when someone who didn't like their advice starts trolling their channel, upsetting the encouraging atmosphere, and threatening violence. Krista doesn't know if this user's online comments are all talk or if he is a real-life danger.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the insider's look at physical therapy and the behind-the-scenes information about making a live streaming show. Then adding in the tension of the "troll" disrupting the show and possibly being a danger to other people and to the main characters made it an intense, exciting read.There is a slow build-up at the beginning of the book and by the time I got near the end, I couldn't turn the pages quickly enough. I was shocked when the truth about the troll/stalker came out. I definitely recommend this suspenseful thriller which had interesting characters and showed the benefits and the possible horrors of online communities.

I received an advance copy of this ebook for review consideration from Kensington Books and NetGalley. My review is voluntary and unbiased.

What a great read. It drew me in from the start and kept my attention throughout. I know nothing about online streaming except that it exists and I liked this as the background for the suspense. I learned what Twitch is while also guessing who the villain is.

I really liked how the online chats showed up as miniature pictures that resembled what it represented. It's a nice touch to help set the atmosphere.

The pace was perfect as it gave me a chance to know Krista and also build the suspense for how deranged Chase547 is. I waffled a bit over who he was and exactly who he was obsessed over.

The possible creepiness of the internet had me thinking about what amounts of ourselves we should put out for the world to see.

It's one of my favorite thrillers of the summer and I could easily see this playing out in a limited series or movie. It would be a great read to start spooky season reads. It has the creep factor.

‘her life was going to change forever.’

This book is a perfect example why we shouldn’t ignore all of the warnings we’ve heard about not oversharing on the internet in this day and age! Krista and her bff Hailey have a side gig offering advice on a social media platform and all is sunshine and roses, until one of their followers goes from threatening to downright murderous in the blink of an eye. And while they take the threat seriously, there isn’t much they or the police can do about it until his first victim is identified. This is an edge of your seat, terrifying look at the world we live in today while being a fantastic read. Well done!

Shadow Play is an excellent fast paced, edge-of-your seat brand new standalone mystery from Sara Driscoll (Jen J. Danna). I enjoyed the characters, and the storyline was so interesting and seemed timely with it's talk of cyber stalking and the gaming platform, Twitch, which I knew nothing about. I stayed up all night reading since I had to know what happened next.

I did kind of guess early who the culprit might be, but the author gives plenty of red herrings and misdirections that had me going back and forth until the end. Highly recommend.

Many thanks to Kensington Publishing, the author, and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

Excellent book!

I have read other books by this author, mostly romantic suspense genre. This was more physiological suspense, no romance but I really liked it, maybe even more than the other genre.

Krista’s character is a strong female, surviving the very early death of her husband. She is carrying on, working as a physical therapist and turning her grief into advice via a Twitch series. She’s close to her family and her best friend Hailey, her partner on the channel. Things are going well with the weekly broadcasts until a viewer joins the stream’s comments with angry intent. Things spiral from there, putting everyone in danger.

Highly recommend!

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Shadow Play by Sara Driscoll is a standalone read (not one of the author's FBI K-9 or NYPD Negotiator series of books) that introduces us to Chicago physical therapist Krista Evans, and her family members and friends.

As well as working as a physical therapist, Krista also runs an online advice service with a friend, where they give advice on a Twitch online gaming platform. It is on this advice platform where Krista and her friend first encounter a stalker obsessed with a social connection. Things turn dangerous when this online predator receives gentle and well meaning advice (from Krista) to stop harassing his latest obsession.

Shadow Play is a captivating psychological thriller and frankly I was also impressed by the amount of research and information impacted by Driscoll regarding Krista's physical therapist role - this is certainly the only mystery I have read that provided information that I might be able to use (cold laser therapy, etc) to help a family member's pain!

However, the best thing about this psychological thriller is that it was refreshing - one bad actor, with the story populated with characters I could enjoy and relate to. I get so tired of reading psychological thrillers where everyone seems to be duplicitous and evil, betraying everyone they come in contact with. Rather, this book was a much better reflection of reality, a scenario anyone could unwittingly encounter; it created a much more believable situation - and it certainly made for a more pleasant (and informative) reading adventure.

5 stars from this satisfied reviewer, I am a fan of Sara Driscoll's books - I've read numerous books she has written, and Shadow Play is an excellent addition.

Shadow Play tells the story of two women who offer relationship advice on Twitch and discover the dangers of online anonymity. It's a timely book that scared the pants off of me!

Taking real-time questions from chat participants on Twitch proved more popular than physical therapist Krista and gamer Hailey thought possible. They are amazed to see their follower count, and their incomes, grow. But then a pesky internet troll becomes enraged when Krista and Hailey suggest he stop pursuing a woman who constantly rebuffs him. From there, the suspense builds and builds.

The plot and the characters of Shadow Play are both current and totally believable, and the pace is fast. In my opinion, it may have been a wee bit more drawn out than it needed to be, hence the four stars instead of five. But still, this is Ms. Driscoll's first stand-alone and I still feel she completely nails it! I'm eager to see what else she has up her sleeve.😀 (FYI: The author's series about the FBI’s elite K-9 unit is one I highly recommend, as well.)

HUGE thanks to #Kensington, for providing this book for review and consideration via #NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Shadow Play has an expected publication date of August 26, 2005.

#Sara Driscoll #Crime #InternetStreaming, #Mystery #Suspense

quite effective thriller with some interesting plotting and some very ratcheting suspense. 5 stars. tysm for the arc. would recommend.

Shadow Play is a thriller about a woman whose side gig, which is relationship advice on Twitch, ends up being more than she bargained for and she learns just how threating online anonymity can be in this page turning read. The author wrote this well and every character in this one was good. I liked Krista the most. The book was a fast and suspenseful read that I highly enjoyed and would recommend to any reader who likes thrillers. Thank you to the author for this ARC read in exchange of my honest review of Shadow Play.

A timely topical novel about the perils of social media. Krista's pal Hailey convinced her to do an advice broadcast on Twitch and it turns out to be a bad thing because chase547, whose true identity is masked, begins to stalk her on line. And threaten her. Driscoll does a good job of explaining Twitch and webcasting (I was unfamiliar with both of them). And she amps up the tension as Krista struggles to get help from law enforcement. Thanks to Netgalley for the arc. Good storytelling makes for a good read.

The author did something interesting with this one, and I've never seen Twitch used in a book like this before, so it's a clever use of a contemporary medium to tell an unsettling story about stalking and online creeps. It's a quick read.

(4.5 stars)
Wow! Sara Driscoll has written another exciting thriller with Shadow Play! This one is a standalone set in Chicago and explores the online streaming world of (the real) Twitch. I found it very scary and all too believable.

Krista is a physical therapist who is still mourning the early death of her fiancé from an aggressive form of brain cancer. She’s surviving and thriving as well as she can, loving the work she does with her injured patients. Her college roommate and best friend, Hailey, is a programmer and an enthusiastic gamer with her own channel on Twitch. Krista is known for dispensing practical relationship advice even though she has no official credentials. Hailey has persuaded Krista to run a streaming channel within Twitch with her, one that offers personal advice to people who join their online chats/broadcasts. (Trying to make this a simple explanation!) All is well until one of their subscribers starts posting creepy comments, alluding to a relationship he wants with a woman who isn’t interested. Things spiral quickly!

I had trouble putting this book down!

I loved the scenes at Krista’s physical therapy workplace. Unfortunately for me, I’m familiar with physical therapy (I call myself a “repeat offender”) so those scenes really rang true for me. I know virtually nothing about Twitch and that sort of streaming (I stream movies and such on my television, but that’s all), but it sure felt like DrIscoll had done extensive research to make sure it came across as accurately as possible.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read n advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Holy smokes! I am still sitting here with my mouth wide open. Sara Driscoll (Jen J. Danna) hit this one way out of the park. Fantastic does not even begin to describe this creepy mystery. How can you report a murder when you do not know the victim or even where the victim may or may not be located?

You will quickly learn that anonymity on the internet is not possible. Krista Evans learns this lesson in a terrifying way when her live stream becomes a place of raw fear and worries where an unknown predator lies in wait every time she goes live.

This book was amazing and kept me glued to the pages all day. The entire concept for this plot was pure genius, especially considering the digital/social media age we live in. It was obvious the author had really done her homework and knew her stuff to make this book so realistic. I felt like I was inside the show with the characters while holding my breath wondering when the other deadly shoe was going to drop.

Bravo to the author for this thrilling mystery which held me by my throat and would not let me go until the end.

Thank you to Kensington Publishing, the author and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Commenting on a podcast or a blog seems like a very ordinary and safe thing to do — but is it? How safe is your information when it is out there in the cyber world?

A Word from the Wise was the brainchild of Hailey, a web developer using her best friend Krista, the wise one. As a Doctor of Physical Therapy Krista helped many different people every day but this was very different. Evenings were lonely since her fiancé passed away and this brought a new dimension into her world. The chat room allowed questions and the crowd gave suggestions along with those given by Krista and Hailey. Seemed like a good idea until Chase547 started to make others uncomfortable. But how far will his threats go?

A copy was received through Kensington Books and NetGalley. These thoughts are my own and were in no way solicited.

Creepy and tension filled story with interesting characters. The plot was current and believable, which made it a thrilling read.
I am not a gamer so I'm not familiar with that type of online platform, but it was well explained without getting bogged down. It was scary how easily the killer kept getting through the security protocols that were in place and continued his threats in the chat. Makes me glad I don't spend that much time online.

It would be horrible enough to have a stalker but when it's a cyber stalker, the suspense ratchets up even higher. When Krista agreed to cohost a biweekly show on Twitch, she couldn't foresee how quickly things could turn from a fun, healthy community to something creepy due to an unhinged member. And despite doing the right thing by contacting the police and banning the member, matters only get worse and see fears for her life. This is one of those stories you won't want to read after dark.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Books and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

From the first chapter, this story had me hooked with its mix of modern streaming culture and real-life danger. The way Krista and Hailey’s friendship anchored the plot made the rising tension hit even harder, and the stalker’s shift from online harassment to real-world threats kept me turning pages late into the night. The pacing was sharp, the stakes felt high, and the premise was both timely and unsettling.

The only drawback for me was the formatting for the streaming segments. A different layout could have made them stand out more and flow better with the rest of the narrative. Still, this was a gripping, relevant, and thoroughly entertaining thriller that I would recommend to anyone who likes their suspense grounded in the realities of our online world.