True Crime Story

Knox’s (The Smiling Man) latest concerns a struggling writer named Evelyn Mitchell, who has become obsessed with the unsolved disappearance of a college student named Zoe Nolan seven years earlier. She researches the details and interviews Zoe’s friends, family, and acquaintances as she attempts to puzzle out what happened after the young woman walked out of her lodgings at the University of Manchester for the last time. Inconsistencies and odd details abound, and Evelyn turns to her friend crime writer Joseph Knox to help her make sense of her findings. It’s clear from the beginning that Evelyn was killed at some point during her investigation and Knox continued her efforts in the wake of her death, with this book combining the work they both did. The author, David John, Sarah Parks, Chris Thompson, Drew Dillon, Ciara Baxendale, Louis Bernard, Shane Zaza, Caitlin Griffiths, Conor McLeod, Dolly Webb, Grace Cooper, Isla Lee, Levi Brown, Noah Marullo, and Tara Tijani narrate, and while all do a good job with characterization, the sheer number of characters requires listeners’ close attention, at least at the beginning.