Title: The Appeal
Author: Janice Hallett
Series: N/A
Dates Read: 25 – 26/08/2024
Published Date: 14 January 2021
Genre: Crime/Mystery
Pages: 432
Pace: Slow
Content Warnings (May contain spoilers)
Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Stalking, Violence, War.
Who is this for? Young Adult, Adult
This book covers:
- The correspondence of those in The Fairways drama club – mostly in regards to the recent diagnosis of 2-year old Poppy
- 2 junior law students reading through the correspondence to see if an appeal can be made
- A senior lawyer believing that the incorrect person was convicted
Format/Disclosure: Library, paperback
Rating: 2.00⭐
Review:
We’re introduced to this book by a letter from a senior lawyer to his 2 junior law students explaining that there will be correspondence between various members of The Fairways amateur theatre club, as he believes that the incorrect person has been convicted. Spattered between pages of emails/texts between the members, we also see the conversation between the 2 students and their thoughts on who is suspicious.
Although there are a lot of characters to keep track of, the main ones seem to be Martin, Sarah-Jane, and Issy. There are mentions of other characters, namely the new couple in town – Sam and Kel, who are nurses recently returned from Africa and work at the same hospital as Issy.
Issy quickly comes across as very needy/clingy, sticking to Sam from the moment she first talks to her (via email). We never see Sam’s replies, however in some instances we can gather what the gist of the reply would be. Issy also has a friend, an ex-nurse from the same hospital, that she often talks to – seeming dismissive and almost better than her, while the friend portrays how Issy is – bright/bubbly and wanting all the gossip. Often we see Issy twist the truth to benefit herself, rewriting how an interaction went and making many situations seem as though it was her idea.
Sarah-Jane is rude and abrasive in all of her interactions, even to her husband. She appears to need control of every situation, and is demanding of everyone. She is especially rude to Issy, often insulting her when communicating with other members of the club.
Martin is another person we see a lot of, the grandfather of Poppy, a 2-year old recently diagnosed with a rare type of cancer/tumour. He is trying to raise money for an overseas drug, not yet available in the UK, to try and assist in Poppy’s treatment, as well as being the director of the theatre club.
Although we only see these characters through their correspondence, it’s easy to see what type of people they are. There’s an obvious hierarchy between the families/members of the club, and people are vying to try and get noticed. Although Issy clings to the new couple, it’s obvious she wants to be part of the “in” crowd, talking about future plays, etc.
This book is extremely slow-paced, and a lot of the first ~80% of the book honestly seems unnecessary. Majority of the book is discussing the treatment of Poppy, with some side tangents of Sam and why she had to leave Africa/her issues with other medical staff in both Africa & the UK. I wish the issues with Sam had been highlighted more, and less on Poppy, because after finishing the book, it just seemed like filler.
Although it seems there was an attempt to differentiate characters by their writing style, ultimately they all seemed the same. If these were real emails, I imagine there would be typos, lack of grammar, no capitals, etc. We would have distinct writing styles, words used by certain people, etc. Every character (except Issy) seemed to “talk” in the exact same way, and it took me out of the book quite a bit. There was also the main glaring feature – it’s 2018 and everyone is communicating primarily via email. Nothing in this book was especially modern, so it seemed odd that the author chose to set it in 2018. Having everyone communicate via texts, Messenger, or WhatsApp seems much more likely. However, bringing the year back to ~2008-2010 makes email a bit more believable.
I found myself flipping through this book quite easily, since it wasn’t entire pages of writing. I rarely paid attention to the date/subjects of the emails, and instead skimmed over the sender & recipient, so it made it easy to read. But, I wouldn’t say I was especially intrigued to find out what happened. Especially when the murder doesn’t even take place until quite late in the book, and then seems to be brushed over quickly. For a book that’s focused on solving who the murderer is, we spend a lot more time talking about Poppy’s condition and waaaay too much time discussing the play itself (Which then doesn’t even really eventuate to anything.)
Overall, my enjoyment wasn’t really there. I’d been recommended this book multiple times by different people, and I love epistolary books, so I was very keen for this one. But, I just didn’t enjoy it. Ignoring that it was a slow burn (Not what I’m used to), I just finished the book feeling a bit.. Confused. There’s so much backstory and then it turns out all of that was really for nothing. Everything is summed up for us by the 3 working the case at the end, and it made me wonder why I even bothered reading the book, when I could’ve skipped all that slog and just read the last ~50 pages.