BOOK TOUR: I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan Review + Playlist + Book Look

TBR and Beyond Tours is so happy to host a book tour for I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan.  To see the full schedule, go HERE. 

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Genre: YA Thriller Mystery
Pages: 368
Pacing: Normal
Publisher: Albert Whitman
Published: October 6th, 2020

Get your copy:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo

EVERY MISSING PERSON HAS A STORY.

In her small town, seventeen-year-old Delia “Dee” Skinner is known as the girl who wasn’t taken. Ten years ago she witnessed the abduction of her best friend, Sibby. And though she told the police everything she remembered, it wasn’t enough. Sibby was never seen again.

At night, Dee deals with her guilt by becoming someone else: the Seeker, the voice behind the popular true crime podcast Radio Silent, which features missing persons cases and works with online sleuths to solve them. Nobody knows Dee’s the Seeker, and she plans to keep it that way.

When another little girl in town goes missing, and the case is linked to Sibby’s disappearance, Dee has a chance to get answers with the help of her virtual detectives and the intriguing new girl at school. But how much of her own story is she willing to reveal in order to uncover the truth?

I was really excited to grab this one. It seemed the perfect timing with it. If you are like me you reach for more atmospheric books or more thriller/mysteries at this time of year. I Hope You’re Listening did not disappoint.

When Dee, was 7 years old she witness her best friend Sibby get kidnapped while they were playing out in the woods. From then on Dee was never the same. Who would be really? Learning to live with the guilt of being the gilr left behind while trying to move on with her life, Dee helps solve missing person cases by by being the anonymous voice behind a famous podcast. When another girl goes missing 10 years after Sibby’s disappearance, Dee is forced to look into her past to find answers.

I really enjoyed the format of I Hope You’re Listening. Though most parts are in Dee’s POV, we do get a couple chapters that are transcripts from the podcast and its current investigation. I do wish there was an audiobook for it, I would’ve loved to listen at the same time and have a full on cast for these.

I really enjoyed Dee’s character. I thought she was very personable and precisely what I envision a person with her life story would be like. She was a bit of a loner, always questioning what she could’ve done to help her childhood friend while trying to move one from her past.

Also, can we just take a moment to acknowledge that thoughq Dee is queer there is no coming out tag line here. It’s just so natural and organic. She doesn’t explain it or tell people, it’s just already a known fact. I appreciated this a lot. I find that in a lot of books there’s always a coming out moment and though I understand why sometimes this just felt super natural and refreshing to just have it there already, if you understand what I mean.

Without spoiling aything, I have to say that the book took a twist that I was not expecting at all. I thought I had it figured out right from the start but turns out I was way off, lol. I really liked that it surprised me in that way. Sometimes these type of books are very predictable but I thought Tom Ryan brought something inexpected to this one.

If you are looking for a good mystery thriller with a feel of true crime, I highly suggest grabbing I Hope You’re Listening.

Thank you to Albert Whitman and Netgalley for providing an eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Playlist

You can listen to the playlist HERE

Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkin
Tonight, Tonight by The Smashing Pumpkin
Zero by The Smashing Pumpkin
Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden
Lightning Crashes by Live
Goodbye by Billie Eilish
Take Me Apart by SYML
Heather by Conan Gray
Already Gone by Sleeping At Last
Hurt Me by Lapsley
Hotel Walls by Smith & Thell
Guiding Light by Mumford & Sons
The Wild by Mumford & Sons

Book Look

I’ve never done a book look before or even cosplayed for that matter. I decided I wanted to try it. There isn’t a lot of description of Dee’s style in the book but I tried to channel what I think she would wear.

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About the author

Tom Ryan is the award winning author of several acclaimed books for young readers. He has been nominated for multiple awards, and was the winner of the 2020 Arthur Ellis Award for Best YA Crime Book. Two of his books were Junior Library Guild selections, and three of his young adult novels, Way to Go, Tag Along, and Keep This to Yourself, were chosen for the ALA Rainbow List, in 2013, 2014 and 2020. He was a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction.

Tom, his husband and their dog currently divide their time between Ottawa and Nova Scotia.

You can follow Tom through the links below:

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Facebook

Giveway

Finished copy of I Hope You’re Listening. This giveaway is US only and ends on October 20^th.

To participate follow the link HERE

TWITTER| GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM