Rabbit Hole
The first Jennette McCurdy book club pick for 2024
-
-
3.0 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $16.99
Publisher Description
**A Jennette McCurdy book club pick**
**Cosmopolitan, The 20 best books to look forward to in 2024**
**An Independent Book of the Month**
'I loved it: the fast pace, the wry protagonist, and how Brody painfully examines the measures we take to find closure' Jennette McCurdy
'A twisty, pacy crime thriller' independent.co.uk, Books of the month
'A compelling study of grief, betrayal and our complicated relationship with other people's tragedies' Guardian, Best crime and thrillers round-up
'A brilliant, dark debut about grief and the way in which the internet can magnify mania' Mail on Sunday
________________________________
A deliciously dark and twisted debut about family secrets, true crime, and destructive obsession – by a striking new talent
Teddy Angstrom is no stranger to morbid public interest in her family's tragedies. And when her father dies suddenly, ten years to the day after her sister Angie's disappearance, she intends to maintain as much privacy as she always has.
Clearing out her father's office, however, Teddy discovers her father's double life: a decade-long investigation into wild conspiracies from a Reddit community of true crime fans fixated on Angie. Repelled and compelled in equal measure by this new online dimension, Teddy finds herself falling down that same rabbit hole.
So when nineteen-year-old Mickey, a charming amateur internet sleuth, materialises in real life, Teddy determines that the two of them are going to team up to find out what really happened to Angie – and whether there's any chance she might still be alive.
But as she struggles to reconcile new information with old memories, Teddy doesn't notice that her obsession is making her increasingly self-destructive. And she's in way over her head before she's realises that Mickey, too, is not all she seems…
'A sensitive, psychological investigation into the impact of unresolved grief' Marie Claire, Best books of 2024 to curl up with
'A tale of grief, family secrets and addition, Brody 's debut has all the trappings of a true crime podcast' Observer
'A thrilling mystery' Cosmopolitan, 20 best books to look forward to in 2024
'A smart, chilling page-turner' People
'For anyone who's ever indulged in a late-night Reddit binge or has found themselves in the amateur sleuthing vortex of true crime junkies' Nylon
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brody's sure-footed debut paints a harrowing portrait of a life derailed by internet conspiracy theories. Teddy Angstrom is a 26-year-old English teacher at a prestigious prep school in coastal Maine. When Teddy was 16, her 18-year-old sister, Angie, disappeared. Now, on the 10th anniversary of that event, Teddy's father, Mark, has driven off a bridge to his death. Sifting through her father's belongings, Teddy discovers he'd grown obsessed with Reddit true crime communities dedicated to Angie's unsolved disappearance, many of which have developed far-flung conspiracy theories (including one that Mark killed Angie) to explain it. Equal parts horrified and fascinated by the discovery, Teddy starts to poke around the communities herself, quickly becoming addicted to the puzzles they present and neglecting her personal and professional responsibilities in the process. As she burrows ever deeper, her grasp on reality slips, and she begins confusing actual memories of her sister with some of the conspiracy theories. Did she really know Angie? Or her father? Narrating from Teddy's point of view, Brody explores in elegant prose potent themes both contemporary (internet addiction) and evergreen (grief), though she winds up delivering more of a twisted character study than a bona fide mystery. For genre fans who don't mind loose ends, this is worth the plunge.
Customer Reviews
Updike, redux
Author: American. Ex-high school English teacher. First novel.
Setting: Maine. Contemporary.
Summary: First person narrative by Theodora ‘Teddy’ Angstrom, a 26-year-old female high school English teacher. Ten years ago, Teddy’s older sister, then 18, disappeared without trace. Now her substance addicted father has taken his own life. She follows him down the titular rabbit hole of sub-Reddits and other social media in search of the long lost sibling. Makes bad choices along the way.
Positives: Strong prose that is surprisingly pacy given the number of interior monologues. Excellent character development.
Negatives: Not much happens. Unsatisfying ending.
Comments: Readers who infer from the blurb that this is a thriller will be disappointed. Readers who tend to get overly emotional about family pets, beware. The lead character’s name and the book title are salutes to Harry ‘Rabbit’ Angstrom: John Updike’s eponymous protagonist in a series of books starting with “Rabbit, Run” (1960). And, I suspect, a frequent topic of discussion in Ms Brody’s English classes back in the day.