Someone's Listening by Seraphina Nova Glass ~ a Review

by MK French

Faith Finley is a psychologist that published books and has a successful radio show. Her marriage to food critic Liam Finley is perfect until the day he disappears. Police either suspect her or think she's crazy, and she gets notes with phrases from her books advising women how to leave abusive partners. This escalates, and the mystery of Liam's disappearance intensifies.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

July 2020; Graydon House; 978-1525836749
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); thriller

Faith may have had a popular radio show and was getting popular with her books regarding domestic violence, but her personal life was messy. As much as she was in love and they had a great relationship, cracks appeared as soon as there were aspersions on her character. They were pretty big accusations of child abuse leveled against her, which would definitely be enough to wreck careers, not just marriages. Following this was the car accident that Liam disappeared from, and Faith coped by drinking too much and taking more Klonopin for her anxiety than usual. For someone who grew up in an abusive home with a junkie mother, this seems to be a really poor decision. Then again, children in those households usually do the exact same thing or separate themselves and become the exact opposite.

Faith is the kind of stubborn person that has to take control in some way when she feels out of control, and so much of the situation is out of her hands. She's a flawed heroine, at least. She's not perfect and definitely makes poor choices along the way. This makes her human and approachable, even as she can be frustrating at times. I wanted to yell at her "They just told you NOT to do that!" in response to some of her actions. But at the same time, other choices she made that I thought were dumb turned out to be not as disastrous as I thought they would be. (Trying not to spoil the ending here, sorry if that's too vague.) So again, she's real in that sense. Sometimes we make dumb choices under pressure, and somehow it turns out okay.

The conclusion of the novel tied it off neatly and quickly, with an exciting payoff for all of the building tension in the second half.

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Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

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