Blog Tour & Review: Never Look Back by Alison Gaylin

Title: Never Look Back

Author: Alison Gaylin

Published: July 2019, William Morrow Paperbacks

Format: ARC Paperback, 368 pages

Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

Summary: 

Reminiscent of the bestsellers of Laura Lippman and Harlan Coben—with a Serial-esque
podcast twist—an absorbing, addictive tale of psychological suspense
from the author of the highly acclaimed and Edgar Award-nominated What Remains of Me and the USA Today bestselling and Shamus Award-winning Brenna Spector series.

 
When
website columnist Robin Diamond is contacted by true crime podcast
producer Quentin Garrison, she assumes it’s a business matter. It’s not.
Quentin’s podcast, Closure, focuses on a series of murders in
the 1970s, committed by teen couple April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy. It
seems that Quentin has reason to believe Robin’s own mother may be
intimately connected with the killings.

Robin thinks Quentin’s
claim is absolutely absurd. But is it? The more she researches the
Cooper/LeRoy murders herself, the more disturbed she becomes by what she
finds. Living just a few blocks from her, Robin’s beloved parents are
the one absolute she’s always been able to rely upon, especially now
amid rising doubts about her husband and frequent threats from internet
trolls. She knows her mother better than anyone—or so she believes. But
all that changes when, in an apparent home invasion, Robin’s father is
killed and her mother’s life hangs in the balance.

Told through
the eyes of Robin, podcaster Quentin, and a series of letters written by
fifteen-year-old April Cooper at the time of the killings, Never Look Back asks the question:

How well do we really know our parents, our partners—and ourselves?

My thoughts:  This is the second book I’ve read of Alison Gaylin and I have to say I am now a fan! Last year I read If I Die Tonight, which I really enjoyed, and this latest one is just as engrossing.

I love the way this story was told – using dual timelines, but with a bit of a twist. The past was told through letters that April wrote to her future daughter in a journal. I thought this was such a unique way to tell this part of the story and really kept it interesting. The present was told from multiple perspectives and again, this allowed us to get inside all the characters, each who had pertinent roles in this story.

I devoured this book. There are so many twists to it and I loved that I was completely sucked in right from the start. I kept thinking I had everything figured out, that I knew where this book was heading, but then a twist would be thrown at us, and I would be thrown off kilter.

I enjoyed the idea that this book had a podcast premise to it, even though the podcast never quite comes to fruition. I’m just getting into podcasts myself, so anything remotely delving into this topic is of interest to me, especially when it comes to true crime! 

This is definitely a binge-worthy type of read and I can’t recommend it enough. I definitely will be adding Alison Gaylin’s backlist  to my tbr as I wait for her next book to come out. Do you find yourself doing that when you discover a new author you absolutely love? And if you love true crime, can you recommend any podcasts? 

About the Author: Alison Gaylin is the award-winning author of Hide Your Eyes and its sequel, You Kill Me; the standalones Trashed and Heartless; and the Brenna Spector series: And She Was, Into the Dark, and Stay with Me.
A graduate of Northwestern University and of Columbia University’s
Graduate School of Journalism, she lives with her husband and daughter
in Woodstock, New York.

Authors Links:  Website   |   Twitter   |   Facebook    |   Instagram

 

Purchase Links:   HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Be sure to check out all the other stops on the blog tour and follow the tour on Twitter (hashtags:  #TLCBookTours & #neverlookback).