Ten years ago, 17-year-old high school volleyball star Callie Jones vanished from her quiet Wisconsin lake community. Her body was never found, and the case went cold, but the echoes of Callie’s disappearance still linger.
On the tenth anniversary, Ethan Hall—a former renegade detective turned doctor—is tapped to reopen the case. Ethan left law enforcement to escape his demons. But when his old partner makes a death-bed request to get the case off his conscience, Ethan reluctantly agrees to reexamine the evidence.
Word soon spreads and everyone in the small town of Cherryview feels a rush of hope that answers will finally be found. No one is more invested than Lindsay Larkin, Callie’s high school best friend. Now a psychologist and the architect behind a wildly successful online counseling platform called The Anonymous Client, Lindsay has publicly and relentlessly pursued the truth about what happened to Callie.
Amid a sweltering heatwave, and just as Ethan’s investigation gains momentum, a new client signs in to Lindsay’s online portal and makes a devastating anonymous confession: “I killed Callie Jones, and I need your help to forgive myself.”
Lindsay’s business and reputation depend upon keeping her clients’ privacy, so she funnels scant clues to Ethan hoping he’ll pick up the trail. But when Ethan’s investigation leads to another missing woman, he realizes there’s more to Callie’s disappearance than anyone imagined, including ties to his own dark past that some are willing to kill for….
Guess Again is an intricate and addictive psychological thriller with strong elements of cold-case crime fiction and small-town mystery—and just like the title, the story will keep readers guessing the entire time!
The story revolves around the reopening of a 10-year-old cold case for missing teen Callie Jones in a quiet Wisconsin town. Ethan Hall, a former detective turned ER doctor, is asked to lead the investigation when his terminally ill ex-partner, who’s been haunted by the case, begs him for help. Soon after Ethan begins his investigation, a surprising twist occurs—an inmate in maximum security claims to know what happened to Callie—and more. This kicks off a tense game of psychological cat-and-mouse.
The story is told from multiple POVs and a dual timeline. Ethan Hall is the main anchor POV who immerses readers into the investigation—as someone who has personal stakes in the investigation, he’s emotionally invested and meticulous in his efforts to solve the case. The past timeline flashback scenes are told from Callie’s perspective, giving her a voice rather than making her a cold case statistic in the story—and readers should pay close attention to her POV, as it’s full of planted clues and red herrings! The other main POV is Francis Bernard, the inmate offering information to Ethan in exchange for him being moved to a less secure prison—he’s a conniving, unreliable narrator that forces readers to question every piece of information he shares! The frequently switching perspectives help the novel move between past and present seamlessly without feeling jarring and keep readers always engaged!
Ethan Hall is a complex, emotionally compelling protagonist. His dialogue and inner monologues are compelling and relatable and will make readers invested in his emotional and investigative journey. Francis Bernard, the inmate feeding Ethan information, is actually the convicted murderer of his father, which adds complexity and intrigue to their relationship. Bernard is manipulative and psychologically dangerous—his dialogue with Ethan intensifies the psychological tension in the story and highlights Ethan’s struggle with trust and past trauma. Ethan’s girlfriend, Maddy, a detective on the police force, also shares a history with Francis—she believes he was the serial killer who mutilated her body before she managed to escape decades earlier, and she is determined to keep him locked up for life. All the overlapping relationships in the story not only make it more multilayered and unpredictable but also make it easy for readers to get emotionally invested in the characters!
The story is fast-paced and intricate from start to finish. Readers are often given more information than some characters—but never enough to solve the case. The second half is especially twist-heavy and unpredictable, with lots of misdirection and red herrings, making the ending nearly impossible to predict. And when the ending abruptly arrives, readers may feel like they’ve been gaslit—in the best possible way—and will be eager for a sequel!
Overall, Guess Again is a smart, fast-paced psychological thriller packed with jaw-dropping twists—and is being touted by many as Charlie Donlea’s best work yet! Fans of Donlea’s previous books and those who love unguessable, intricate psychological thrillers with shocking endings will absolutely devour this book!
Narrator Performance
The audiobook of Guess Again is a thrilling, addictive listen narrated by the talented voice actor Vivienne Leheny, who’s also narrated several of Charlie Donlea’s previous books!
Leheny portrays protagonist Ethan Hall with a grounded, slightly weary tone that authentically reflects his introspective nature and the lingering effects of past trauma. In scenes where Ethan is conversing with the villain Francis Bernard, Leheny shifts her performance to make listeners feel the animosity and resentment that Ethan harbors—and each exchange is entirely engrossing without tipping into melodrama. In contrast, when Ethan is in “investigator mode,” Leheny adds a more decisive cadence to her tone, making evident Ethan’s shift from reluctant investigator to determined case-solver.
The story has a relatively large cast, and Leheny makes each character sound distinct, convincing, and compelling—helping to keep the intricate multi-POV storyline coherent and easy to follow! Her portrayal of villain Francis is especially captivating, as she uses a very sinister-sounding voice and underlying dark humor in her tone to perfectly capture his evil nature and make him very unlikable! Leheny’s sharp pacing and tension in her voice always match what’s unfolding in the story—listeners will even hear the tension increase in chapter names when the drama and suspense are about to escalate, helping immerse listeners fully into this binge-worthy audiobook!
Overall, Charlie Donlea’s great writing is further elevated by Leheny’s excellent narration into an even more suspenseful and immersive experience that listeners will be raving about afterwards! If you haven’t listened to Vivienne Leheny’s narration before, this book (or any of the other books she’s narrated for Charlie Donlea) wonderfully demonstrates her voice acting talent and powerful storytelling skills—and you’ll likely want to add her to your list of go-to narrators afterwards!
Narrator Performance
The audiobook of Guess Again is a thrilling, addictive listen narrated by the talented voice actor Vivienne Leheny, who’s also narrated several of Charlie Donlea’s previous books!
Leheny portrays protagonist Ethan Hall with a grounded, slightly weary tone that authentically reflects his introspective nature and the lingering effects of past trauma. In scenes where Ethan is conversing with the villain Francis Bernard, Leheny shifts her performance to make listeners feel the animosity and resentment that Ethan harbors—and each exchange is entirely engrossing without tipping into melodrama. In contrast, when Ethan is in “investigator mode,” Leheny adds a more decisive cadence to her tone, making evident Ethan’s shift from reluctant investigator to determined case-solver.
The story has a relatively large cast, and Leheny makes each character sound distinct, convincing, and compelling—helping to keep the intricate multi-POV storyline coherent and easy to follow! Her portrayal of villain Francis is especially captivating, as she uses a very sinister-sounding voice and underlying dark humor in her tone to perfectly capture his evil nature and make him very unlikable! Leheny’s sharp pacing and tension in her voice always match what’s unfolding in the story—listeners will even hear the tension increase in chapter names when the drama and suspense are about to escalate, helping immerse listeners fully into this binge-worthy audiobook!
Overall, Charlie Donlea’s great writing is further elevated by Leheny’s excellent narration into an even more suspenseful and immersive experience that listeners will be raving about afterwards! If you haven’t listened to Vivienne Leheny’s narration before, this book (or any of the other books she’s narrated for Charlie Donlea) wonderfully demonstrates her voice acting talent and powerful storytelling skills—and you’ll likely want to add her to your list of go-to narrators afterwards!
The audiobook of Guess Again is a thrilling, addictive listen narrated by the talented voice actor Vivienne Leheny, who’s also narrated several of Charlie Donlea’s previous books!
Leheny portrays protagonist Ethan Hall with a grounded, slightly weary tone that authentically reflects his introspective nature and the lingering effects of past trauma. In scenes where Ethan is conversing with the villain Francis Bernard, Leheny shifts her performance to make listeners feel the animosity and resentment that Ethan harbors—and each exchange is entirely engrossing without tipping into melodrama. In contrast, when Ethan is in “investigator mode,” Leheny adds a more decisive cadence to her tone, making evident Ethan’s shift from reluctant investigator to determined case-solver.
The story has a relatively large cast, and Leheny makes each character sound distinct, convincing, and compelling—helping to keep the intricate multi-POV storyline coherent and easy to follow! Her portrayal of villain Francis is especially captivating, as she uses a very sinister-sounding voice and underlying dark humor in her tone to perfectly capture his evil nature and make him very unlikable! Leheny’s sharp pacing and tension in her voice always match what’s unfolding in the story—listeners will even hear the tension increase in chapter names when the drama and suspense are about to escalate, helping immerse listeners fully into this binge-worthy audiobook!
Overall, Charlie Donlea’s great writing is further elevated by Leheny’s excellent narration into an even more suspenseful and immersive experience that listeners will be raving about afterwards! If you haven’t listened to Vivienne Leheny’s narration before, this book (or any of the other books she’s narrated for Charlie Donlea) wonderfully demonstrates her voice acting talent and powerful storytelling skills—and you’ll likely want to add her to your list of go-to narrators afterwards!
