This was compelling enough that I read most of it in a day wanting to find out what happened, but boring enough that I listened at 2x to get through it.

I liked the premise, with the subjects of a true crime documentary in limbo waiting for the big reveal in the last episode. I was as obsessed with Serial as everyone else in 2014, and I remember the frenzy as we waited for the final episode. We've problematised the genre a lot since then, but until reading this I'd never actually thought about what that very particular window must be like for the people actually involved.

The writing isn't bad overall, but I was increasingly annoyed by the telling-not-showing: we repeatedly get variations on "he shook his head, indicating no" or "she shrugged, showing that she didn't know" as if I might not know what those gestures mean?

We have a similar problem with the part of the narrative set in the past. I think that presenting it through the lens of the true crime show could have been really effective, but I don't feel like it was executed well here. It's presented as a TV show re-enactment/dramatisation, but we get the interior thoughts of the various characters, which couldn't possibly be portrayed like that in the format. We're told exactly what most of the characters are feeling and thinking, which would have been a bit much in a straightforward narrative, but really took me out of being able to believe that we're somehow being shown this on TV.

As for the impact of the big final episode reveal, the evidence for the original conviction and the evidence uncovered by the show both felt too weak to be definitive. This could also have ended a chapter or two sooner. A sudden uptick in the action after everything seemed resolved didn't work for me here.

This wasn't an unpleasant reading experience - just not quite what I was hoping for.