Read as part of CBR14 Bingo: Shadow. The main character shadows around her favorite podcaster who may-or-may-not be dead, looking to see if she can figure out the cause of her sudden disappearance.
With the release of Adnan Syed from prison, I’ve been wondering if the podcast Serial did more harm than good. While it brought Adnan’s case to the forefront of the nation’s psyche, it was really Rabia Chaudry who did the legal heavy lifting to free him. And since season one of Serial ended, it’s spawned an infinite amount of lesser imitators pretending to be Sarah Koenig and acting like they’re one step ahead of the police.
Naturally, this has made fodder for crime fiction. Again, some good, some not so good. And then, there is If I Disappear, which features an obnoxiously podcast-obsessed straw man doing dumb things in the name of…what, exactly? It’s a sad life.
Eliza Jane Brazier has a legit great book in her. And I say that as someone who has mixed feelings about this one and quit her other one (Good Rich People). She has such an interesting writing style where she can make thin, annoying characters seem interesting just by setting off their inner monologue, like a performer who keeps spinning plates to wow the audience. I was annoyed and moved by the book and its controversial end (though I didn’t hate it as much as others did) but damn if I didn’t keep reading. I’ll probably still keep reading while waiting for that one book.
