The Tapes – ARC Book Review

‘If you’re listening to this, I’ve been murdered.’

Eve is clearing her father’s house when she finds an old cassette player and a box of tapes. Though grieving, she smiles at the spark of nostalgia.

One tape is labelled ‘Eve’ – in her mother, Angela’s, scrawled handwriting. She disappeared for good more than ten years ago.

The tape whirrs. A voice crackles. ‘My name is Angela’. Tears fill Eve’s eyes at the familiar voice, at the thought this message is just for her. But the next words make her heart pound.

‘If they say I’m missing, I’m not. If you’re listening to this, I’ve been murdered.’

Desperate for answers, Eve has no one left to ask – only a box of tapes that could lead to the truth. But the more she listens, the more she realises she can never go to the police…

Because Eve’s mother had her own secrets. But what if her killer is still out there? And what if Eve is next?

Eve is clearing up her father’s house after his death with the intention of selling the house. While cleaning, she comes across an old cassette player and some cassettes. Curious, Eve starts listening to them and was surprised to find that her own mother was the one who had been recording those cassettes. Her mother had made the cassettes for her and her mother confess something to Eve–a secret–about who the serial killer known as Earring Killer is and that by the time she made this tape, she would probably be dead. Eve’s mother disappeared mysteriously and so Eve is determined to find out what exactly happened to her mother and from whom her mother was actually running away from.

This has a very interesting and promising premise–the plot was good. However, I felt it was a little slow paced and was slightly boring. Nonetheless the story went on and I liked all those little excerpts from the book describing about the victims and about the Earring Killer.

This could have been better but in my opinion it was an OK book. Worth 3.5 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.