If I Die Tonight

A Novel

By: Alison Gaylin

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Reminiscent of the best sellers of Laura Lippman and Harlan Coben - with a dose of Big Little Lies or Stranger Things - 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 best-selling and Shamus Award-winning Brenna Spector series, in which a seemingly open-and-shut police case with a clear-cut hero and villain turns out to be anything but simple.

Late one night in the quiet Hudson Valley town of Havenkill, a distraught woman stumbles into the police station - and lives are changed forever.

Aimee En, once a darling of the '80s pop music scene, claims that a teenage boy stole her car, then ran over another young man who'd rushed to help.

As Liam Miller's life hangs in the balance, the events of that fateful night begin to come into focus. But is everything as it seems?

The case quickly consumes social media, transforming Liam, a local high-school football star, into a folk hero, and the suspect, a high school outcast named Wade Reed, into a depraved would-be killer. But is Wade really guilty? And if he isn't, why won't he talk?

Told from a kaleidoscope of viewpoints - Wade's mother Jackie, his younger brother Connor, Aimee En, and Pearl Maze, a young police officer with a tragic past, If I Die Tonight is a story of family ties and dark secrets - and the lengths we'll go to protect ourselves.

©2018 Alison Gaylin (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Great storyline

Makes me hurt for all the false information that gets told on social media by kids and adults alike. Very truthful representation of what happens in our society today. Great characters and narration.

Single Mom Raises Two Teenage Sons: One Moody & Difficult, The Other Sweet & Careing

The location is in Eastern USA and the audiobook ends with the three driving to California or a yet, unnamed area of the West. High school is where both boys are. The police are concerned about the behavior of the older boy as are the school’s principal and teachers. But the mom has hope for both. The town’s neighbors are nervous about the troubled boy and suspect that he drove a car into a neighbor’s boy killing him. Yet police do not arrest him. The audiobook is long. Because I have listened to many audiobooks that are much better, my rating is 4. Kingsolver’s Deman Copperhead is an example of a prize winner that I listened to.

Good story but a bit long

It was interesting but overall took too long to get to the ending which ironically felt rush compared to the rest

Gripping Family Drama with Suspense!

This was my first book by this author and I can’t wait to read another one! This book held my interest from beginning to end. The very first few sentences of a young man getting on his mother’s Facebook page and announcing his impending suicide grabs the reader and you just have to keep listening to find out more and more of the complicated complex story. Narrator was excellent as well! Highly recommend!

Good story

It was a little slow at times, but ultimately worth it. Most of the characters weren’t very likable, except for Pearl.

Beautifully written. Contemporary. Believable!

Exquisitely written, carefully woven details that intersect flawlessly through this story. This artistic mystery captured me from the first sentence-skillfully narrated, which can make or break a novel. As the story unfolded, I knew in my heart who was NOT the killer but I did not know who was until it was revealed. With every paragraph, I could visualize the action & the characters-so realistic. I’ve not read other novels by Alison Gaylin so I don’t know if there’s a “sequel” to this one, but it would be quite interesting. I won’t give away the ending so I’ll just say it was a relief compared to other endings in other books. Not every story has to end in pain.

Slowed down to a crawl

Started out great but slowed down to a crawl about an hour in. A lot of pontificating, speculation and ‘oh dear me’ and not. a lot of action. Oh well.

Slightly too long for the Storyline

While the story was good and well written, I felt that a great deal of time was spent repeating certain parts making the book longer than necessary. It is a heartbreaking story revolving around how social media can ruin people in a heartbeat.

Just okay

I don’t know why, but this one never grabbed my attention fully. It was a slow burn and I started to get bored. It wasn’t the worst I’ve listened to, but it wasn’t exciting either.

I thought it would be suspensful... it was not.

slow burn about teenagers. kept waiting for it to pick
up and get to the heart of it