The Appeal: A Novel

Written by Janice Hallett

Narrated by Daniel Philpott, Aysha Kala, Rachel Adedeji and Sid Sagar

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
Named a Best Book of 2022 by The New York Times, Air Mail, and more!

“[W]itty, original…a delight.” —The New York Times

Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell, this international bestseller and “dazzlingly clever” (The Sunday Times, London) murder mystery follows a community rallying around a sick child—but when escalating lies lead to a dead body, everyone is a suspect.

The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.

But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that the killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.

A wholly modern and gripping take on the epistolary novel, The Appeal is a “daring…clever, and funny” (The Times, London) debut for fans of Richard Osman and Lucy Foley.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Jan 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781797135670

Janice Hallett

Janice Hallett studied English at UCL, and spent several years as a magazine editor, winning two awards for journalism. After gaining an MA in Screenwriting at Royal Holloway, she co-wrote the feature film Retreat. The Appeal is inspired by her lifelong interest in amateur dramatics. Her second novel, The Twyford Code, will be published by Viper in 2022. When not indulging her passion for global adventure travel, she is based in West London.

Reviews for The Appeal

[Gloriana · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kudos to the audiobook readers! They all did such a fantastic job making the many, many characters in this story stand out as unique individuals.

Their talent meant that I didn’t give up on this book when I was seriously tempted to quit around 20%! Because this story requires so much patience. I kept waiting for things to make sense, any sense but they didn’t even start to happen until about the 70% mark.

It was very frustrating. But the character voices kept me going as a sponge just trying to absorb the details.

This is a very unique format as the story is told exclusively through correspondence. And who is telling the truth? Everybody speaks differently based on their relationships to who they are writing to and why they are writing. The agenda is a key clue and everybody has one. That and a motive.

If you can be patient I recommend this story. I’m glad I stuck with it.

[astray1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fantastic audiobook! I read dozens of thrillers and detectives novels every year ( among other genres) , including the most highly rated, which in my estimation usually don’t live up to their reviews.
I just came upon The Appeal by accident, and it’s a gem. Quite an original story , not a rehash of the overdone themes. Great characters, tightly woven, perfect pacing. Enjoy!

[Mary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed it. What a roller coaster the book went through.

[Felice Bickmore · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Had to stop after 2 chapters. Could have a fantastic story if I could stand to continue listening on. This format was too annoying for me to continue as an audio book. I might enjoy it as a print book where you can glaze over the correspondence format. I kept expecting it to change and when I realized this was the whole book format I had to abandon the cause.