Middletide by Sarah Crouch #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Atria Books #partner, for the advanced copy of Middletide in exchange for my honest review. 

Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster ALC

Published: June 11, 2024

 

Summary:

In this gripping and intensely atmospheric debut, disquiet descends on a small town after the suspicious death of a beautiful young doctor, with all clues pointing to the reclusive young man who abandoned the community in chase of big city dreams but returned for the first love he left behind. Perfect for fans of All Good People Here and Where the Crawdads Sing

One peaceful morning, in the small, Puget Sound town of Point Orchards, the lifeless body of Dr. Erin Landry is found hanging from a tree on the property of prodigal son and failed writer, Elijah Leith. Sheriff Jim Godbout’s initial investigation points to an obvious suicide, but upon closer inspection, there seem to be clues of foul play when he discovers that the circumstances of the beautiful doctor’s death were ripped straight from the pages of Elijah Leith’s own novel.

Out of money and motivation, thirty-three-year-old Elijah returns to his empty childhood home to lick the wounds of his futile writing career. Hungry for purpose, he throws himself into restoring the ramshackle cabin his father left behind and rekindling his relationship with Nakita, the extraordinary girl from the nearby reservation whom he betrayed but was never able to forget.

As the town of Point Orchards turns against him, Elijah must fight for his innocence against an unexpected foe who is close and cunning enough to flawlessly frame him for murder in this scintillating literary thriller that seeks to uncover a case of love, loss, and revenge.

 

My thoughts:

I’m so glad my book friends put together a buddy read for this one…it was the perfect book to read together and discuss and bonus – we got to chat with the author during our discussion! This atmospheric debut thriller is definitely going on my list of favorites of the year…it was so captivating from start to finish and I just know my review is not going to do justice to this amazing book.

This book is what I would classify as both a psychological thriller and a literary thriller and while it is definitely a slow-burn, I was completely engrossed and invested in these multi-faceted characters. The moving timeline really adds to the tension, giving just the right amount of backstory as needed for this cleverly crafted whodunit. It is a unique take on a book-within-a-book trope that I haven’t seen done before and that really kept me interest peaked as that is one of my favorite tropes, along with a good whodunit and this one really kept me on my toes as I desperately tried to figure out who was behind the death. Several red herrings are thrown out and believe me, I definitely fell for them as I was completely shocked at the reveal.

This is the type of book that as soon as I finished it, I wanted to start reading again to see if there are indeed clues I could have picked up on that I just somehow missed. This is without a doubt a book that will be staying on my bookshelf and one that I will be recommending to everyone…it is just so good!

 

Audio thoughts:

This book was amazing on audio, narrated by Kaleo Griffith. He really did a fantastic job bringing the story to life. I did have the book on hand, though, to help keep track of the timeline, as it is nonlinear. But other than that, I highly recommend the audio if you enjoy listening to audiobooks.

 

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