There was absolutely nothing grabbing me from this book. There was no suspense, no tension, it was just boring and flat. I absolutely couldn't push through and had to DNF.

There was no tension. I didn't care about the plot, I didn't care about the characters, I didn't care about anything. And it was kind of boring/flat. Based on the synopsis, there should have been suspense. But there wasn't.

Saskia Maarleveld narrates. I usually enjoy her work. However, the New England accent she used when in dialogue was painful.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

The title is apt. Shaw Connolly does live to tell, but I'm not sure I loved what she had to say.

Shaw's sister, Thea, goes missing, and now, 16 years later, Shaw is still understandably plagued by this tragedy. Unfortunately, this tragedy has shaped her WHOLE life: career, relationships, sense of self... Should she be devastated? Yes. Does her obsession make her a frustrating character? Absolutely.

When Shaw starts getting calls from a man who claims to have a lot of info (and appears to be guilty right away), the contacts are sinister and intriguing. That changes quickly as the contacts become...just sort of a terrible but regular part of Shaw's life.

There's a lot of sadness in this book not only because of the central tragedy with Thea but because of what Shaw's life has become. There isn't much hope or growth here, and the way that this tormentor is introduced and kept on board makes for little thrill or mystery, as well.

This sounded so promising to me and I'm disappointed it didn't give me the thrills and creepy vibes I was anticipating.

“Shaw Connolly Lives to Tell” is a fast paced, suspenseful police procedural that had me hooked from the first chapter. The characters were interesting and engaging, and the storyline was tense and dramatic.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this thrilling read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

“Never challenge a dying man Shawnee. You have everything to lose I have nothing.”

“How did she look when they brought her out of the ground!?”

Thanks to Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio for my #gifted copy of this book.

It was good from start to finish but the pacing definitely picked up towards the end. I’m not bit into books that have a slow build but I was interested in following along with this one because Shawn Connelly was such a great heroine. You really wanted to see her get a win.

I feel like this one focuses more on mindset than a lot of other detective novels. This particular “detective”, Shawn Connelly (actually a fingerprint analyst) is looking for her long lost sister, Thea.

She was previously stalked but over the years the calls have stopped and when suddenly they start back up and her stalker claims to know what happened to Theodora. At first Shawn doesn’t want to tell anyone about it but eventually things get so bad that she doesn’t have a choice, she’s got to protect her family.

The stalker suggests that he knows what happened to her sister but oddly enough he seems like he wants to tell her…why is he so ready to tell her after all of these years?

Also, can I just say the “prank” played on Thea enraged me! Who DOES that!?!

In looking at the authors earlier works the reviews weren’t all that great…with this book I think she’s found her footing in the detective / crime mystery genre. I’m looking forward to seeing what she writes in the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the last we see of Shawn Connelly. At least I hope it’s not…

This one was fine, but it didn't have the twistiness that I was expecting/hoping for going into it. That being said, the characters were well developed, and I felt like French did a good job of painting a realistic picture of a woman who was deeply traumatized as a young girl and hasn't grappled with that yet. I didn't really like Shaw as a character because of some of the decisions that she made, but I was rooting for her to find closure for the sake of her family and her boys. The atmosphere was spot on here. The cold, Maine winter felt like it was a character in and of itself. Even though there was no twist here, I definitely felt like I was on edge wondering what would happen with Shaw and Anders. I would classify this m0re as a thriller than a mystery.

This is the story of a woman, obsessed with finding out what happened to her sister. Believing her sister is dead, she takes phone calls from a twisted man she believes is her sister‘s killer, hoping to find out where he left her sister‘s body. The story follows her in her career as a crime scene technician, a mother and the sister of a woman who’s gone missing and is presumed dead. The only issue I had with this book is the narrator, while the story takes place in Maine, the narrator uses a southside Boston accent for her characters, and that was very jarring for me as a Mainer