The Appeal: The smash-hit bestseller

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it was very interesting, i didn’t figure out who did it but i did figure out some other things very early on which was good. When something odd would pop up I would mentally file it away and then wonder how it fit into the big picture. Did I really need to know about Issy having bought a new yoga mat at a sale and she could get one for Sam if she wanted?

The last minute evidence added after an initial report back to the senior partner clarified some things. They plan to start crowdfunding page , asking their friends, families, colleagues to share the link to raise more awareness. Between the original and meandering plot and the gripping premise, The Appeal presented quite the mystery from the very first word. When Martin and Helen's two-year-old grandchild, Paige's daughter Poppy, is diagnosed with a brain tumour, their friends and hangers-on immediately form a committee to crowdfund an experimental new treatment from America. They learn from Tanner that three correspondents have assumed false identities in some of their messages and actions, and one person does not actually exist.All said and done, I loved feeling like a fly on the wall throughout this sordid and mysterious tale. They appeal to the community for assistance which leads to an all-out crowdfunding effort (A Cure For Poppy) with everyone doing their level best to bring in funds to contribute to the cause. Janice Hallett studied English at UCL, and spent several years as a magazine editor, winning two awards for journalism. I think it’s clear that there is a murder at some point so the second appeal is to overturn the sentence of the person who is convicted for that murder. I was amazed at how quickly I formed an opinion on each character considering I was basing this on a paragraph or two, but that is proof of the skill of Janice Hallet.

The characters reveal themselves through their written words and we have to rely on versions of the truth as others present it. No matter how much I love them or how interesting they are, I do not ever enjoy reading books with THAT many characters.

I know Hallett has found lots of success with this book and clearly she has a mind for intricate plotting, but this one simply wasn't appeal-ing (sorry, I had to do it) to me. At the same time The Fairway Players continue to mount a production of All My Sons by Arthur Miller. So, DON’T get bogged down with the supporting cast, and how each is related to the others-it isn’t necessary. When I started The Appeal, I simply couldn’t stop, inhaling nearly one hundred pages with my morning coffee. Documents do not give the full story or the complete account of an experience, although they provide tantalising hints of what might be taking place off the page.

These documents are part of a QC's evidence bundle for an appeal against someone's murder conviction, but we aren't even told who the supposed victim is, let alone who is is in prison. They intertwine, but I was too distracted for the brain power needed (perhaps December was the wrong month for this one)! I felt like I was a fly on the wall, getting to peek into the lives of these people but I also knew that much of what was being written was meant to deceive.Her debut, The Appeal, was awarded the CWA Debut Dagger of 2021 and was a Sunday Times’ Bestseller, Waterstones’ Thriller of the Month and Sunday Times’ Crime Book of the Month. This is a thoroughly entertaining whodunnit with a cozy murder mystery feel and clever little clues which I didn’t actually pick up on until towards the end. However, I would not say their sections are mere cheat sheets for the reader, as their discussion sometimes contributes a red herring. What I could tell is that an amateur drama group is getting ready to put on Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. Easily the most successful element to this stunning novel, however, was the ingenious format itself.