I acquired a evaluate copy from the writer. This doesn’t have an effect on the contents of my evaluate and all opinions are my very own.

Overlook Me Not by Stacy Willingham

Mogsy’s Ranking (Total): 3.5 of 5 stars

Style: Thriller, Thriller

Collection: Stand Alone

Writer: Macmillan Audio (August 26, 2025)

Size: 9 hrs and 26 minutes

Writer Info: Web site

Narrators: Helen Laser, Karissa Vacker

Stacy Willingham has made a reputation for herself by writing twisty atmospheric thrillers, and her newest, Overlook Me Not, hits loads of the issues I often get pleasure from—and with a Southern aptitude as well. However whereas this audiobook was immersive and moody, it ended up being a blended bag for me.

The story follows Claire, an investigative journalist in New York who has just lately struck it out on her personal, however issues haven’t precisely gone to plan. Feeling like she’s simply spinning her wheels, Claire is in the course of making an attempt to determine her subsequent transfer when she will get an surprising name. It seems her mom has taken a nasty fall and may have somebody to assist look after her for the subsequent few minutes, so with little to maintain her within the metropolis, Claire decides to return to her hometown in South Carolina after a few years of being away.

However there’s a motive why Claire has stayed away for therefore lengthy. This place the place she grew up holds nothing by unhealthy recollections, ever since her older sister Natalie vanished greater than twenty years in the past. Despite the fact that an arrest was made for her homicide, many questions remained, particularly since a physique was by no means discovered. Now again on the town, Claire is pressured to confront all of the issues that remind her of that horrible time, together with the close by Galloway Farm, an outdated winery the place Natalie labored simply earlier than her dying. Pushed by a sudden need to really feel nearer to her late sister (and a determined want for funds), Claire impulsively agrees to take a job there as a seasonal employee, hoping the recent air will assist clear her head. However the discovery of a dusty diary hidden away within the guesthouse the place she is staying adjustments the whole lot, when Claire realizes that its proprietor and content material might trace at secrets and techniques that lead again to Natalie.

There are loads of issues about this e book that labored, particularly the audiobook version which strongly emphasised the e book’s mysterious ambiance and the languid, halcyon vibes of the South. Galloway Farm may look image excellent on the floor—acres of flavorful grapes rising on the sunbaked land—however the sense of isolation and the detachment of the winery house owners make it clear there’s one thing very incorrect happening beneath.

There’s additionally a artistic strategy occurring right here with the novel’s construction. Interspersed with Claire’s present-day narration are excerpts from the diary she’s discovered, however moderately than presenting these entries verbatim, Willingham stylizes them as a separate timeline and narrative. This transformation makes it in order that the author of the diary pages feels extra current and alive moderately than a distant echo from the previous, creating the sense that we’re witnessing occasions as they occur moderately than piecing them collectively after the very fact.

However right here’s the key space the place I felt the e book faltered: pacing. For practically half the e book, virtually nothing occurs. The setup is approach too drawn out as Claire struggles along with her failing profession, her strained relationship along with her mom, then all of her uncomfortable emotions about being house. Even after she settles into life on the winery, the story takes some time to achieve momentum as she slowly items collectively the puzzle of the diary and why it issues. In comparison with the writer’s earlier books, there simply doesn’t appear to be all that a lot right here to drive a thriller, making the story really feel unusually gradual.

With out giving an excessive amount of away, the ending was additionally very complicated, particularly when making an attempt to determine the timeline and the tangled internet of relationships. The story may need made up for its gradual begin with a climax packed stuffed with stunning revelations, however it got here all of sudden and at the price of coherence. Due to sure components within the thriller, making the connections was difficult, and the sheer density of the occasions and other people concerned made it more durable to see how the whole lot tied collectively.

In the end, Overlook Me Not is a slow-burn thriller that is likely to be slightly too gradual burning, which at instances will take a look at persistence and pressure believability. That mentioned, it does effectively at setting the temper and may go for readers who get pleasure from suspense with Southern Gothic vibes. Whereas I wouldn’t say this was anyplace near Stacy Willingham’s finest (for that, look to A Flick within the Darkish) there’s nonetheless a lot to understand right here, particularly when you try the audiobook. A particular notice on the narrators: Helen Laser and Karissa Vacker each did a superb job bringing the story and its characters to life, with inflections that made the dialogue really feel participating and pure. Even when the pacing lags, their performances stored me engaged, making this format a powerful method to expertise this e book.