Bookwild - Thrillers with Podcasts with Gare and Steph

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

In "honor" of National Podcast Day on September 30, Gare, Steph and I share some of our favorite thrillers with podcasts in the plots!Books We Talked AboutThe Night SwimDon’t Forget the GirlThings We Do in the DarkListen for the LiePenanceGirl, 11Truth Be ToldMargo’s Got Money TroubleSadieAll the Dangerous ThingsThe Last HousewifeAlmost Surely DeadNone of This is TrueThe Weight of BloodSix Stories Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

This week, I'm back with Steph and Gare. I have to enunciate it because Stefan Gerr. GPT thought it was Stefan Gerr. Damn. It's my favorite. Yeah. Yeah.

So we, well, you guys always know. I realize this. Like, everyone knows from the title, but we're going to talk about books with podcasts in them. Because Steph brought to my attention that it's, is it national podcast day? National podcast.

September 30th, it's National Podcast Day. I was looking it up because I was looking at like trying to find books each month for a book club. And I was like, oh, I wonder if there's a podcast day. And you know how like it could be like four different days of the year, depending on which Google site you click? But I liked September 30th. I'm down. So we're just being, we're being holiday. We're a holiday podcast this week.

We love to celebrate a good holiday. Yeah. And we're a podcast, so it's kind of, it works in both ways. Yeah. I think that's such a great idea. I love it. We could have brought 16th, but I forgot. Well, I have my 64 ounces of my emotional support water bottle, so that can be celebratory.

I have water because I sound like I sound like I had gravel for dinner last night. I have an icebreaker. I have an icebreaker. I have an icebreaker I'm so excited about. I think it's going to be kissing it that I didn't forget about it. So I recently read a book by one author, like five stars, absolutely loved it. Read a book by another author. Five stars absolutely loved it.

And then I was like, these are kind of like similar in tone. So my icebreaker is if you. could pick any two authors to co-write a book together, who would you pick? That's a good one. Oh, boy. I call it last. So that means I'm going first. Okay, two authors together to write a book. Oh my goodness. Okay. This is too hard. I needed to have it as like homework last night. Oh, I should have done that. We can start doing it because it's like making me think of like how some authors do have similar tones in their books, but some of them don't.

So it's also like, how do I think I don't think they have to be similar in tone. I think it can be any two authors you want, like you know what like you don't mean, like whether it's because of their storytelling capabilities or their character. Right. Yeah. I think that's a good idea to like mix just two elements that you really like. Yeah. Okay. Oh my goodness.

I feel like Ashley Winstead and Omina Oktar could write a really snarky thing that was probably like some social satire too. And I'd probably be obsessed with it like you are with bright young women. I don't even know if they're friends. I feel like the two of them combined would also be like unhinged. Like you know that that ending would be one that you would not forget for a very long time. Yeah, I agree. So the books that I read that made me think of the Icebreaker was the last party by A.R. Tor. And saving Noah by Lucinda Berry.

That would be F up. up. Like, I love ARTor, but like sometimes I'm reading. And like, you know when you, you know when you like read a synopsis to a book and you're like, oh, this sounds really dark and then you kind of like start reading it and it's like not as dark as you like thought it was going to be. These were the opposite. Like ARTor's books like you're like, oh, that sounds like it could be kind of dark or have some dark elements. And then I was reading the last party and I was like, this is one of the most dark, like, fucked up books I've ever read my life. And then even, like, the Lucinda Berry book, if you tell a lie, was kind of dark and fucked up. So I was like, these two together, like,

would just write such a good, like, dark thriller. And I'm here for it. Because I am on a Lucinda Berry kick right now. And, like, nothing is going to get in my way. I know. You have, you have lots of them to burn through too. I have eight more read. It's interesting. She's so prolific. I was also thinking about

AR tour myself because I love just like how she goes there. Yeah. And like short chapters and like I was singing like the girl in 6E because I like it's kind of sexy

too. So I'm like I like dark unhinged sexy short chapters. But then I was like I need someone that can put in like something that'll make me cackle a little bit. And like, I'm trying to think about that. Because there's a few ones that like make you laugh a little bit. Maybe like Faith Gardner or something.

Oh, yeah. I feel like I write in books or in book reviews all the time. Like, oh, and I also laughed out loud, but now being put on the spot, I can't tell you what any of those are. Jamie and Hendricks is pretty snarky. Yeah, that's a good one too. I've laughed out of some of her little like one-liners. Yeah.

Yeah. All right. So that's good. Maybe I'll do that. I like it. Highly read. Well, you guys kind of talked about what you read recently there. Yeah.

I haven't read since Sunday. Oh my God. I'm reading so slowly, you guys. I told me it was like molasses. I've like made eye contact with like one eye open with the book cover like as I've been leaving my house every day. Sorry. I did finish Noel W. Iley's new book. Oh yeah.

You loved it right? Yeah, it was good. It was different than her other ones, but like the binge ability of it was still there. Nice. Wow. It was very violent, but it was a. true story and like the thing that blows my mind is um i realize like the darkest things and the most violent things are real life like it's not a fiction it's the stuff that's based on things that

really happened and like it's so messed up but it was so good but it was the one of the first books where it was like kind of hard for me to read is wild you're going to join bleak billings in his bleakness it was it was we're really going to be Stefan Gare. You are. Two people who are like dark and bleak and like disturbing. We love it. But then I also feel like we belong to

a country club or something. It's very like bougie sounding. Yeah. It kind of is like what's that Patrick Bates? Like this kind of that's person. Oh yeah. That's such a fancy name that he's like fancy but also dark. Patrick Baitman.

Describes your vibe. Yes. Not Bates. Not the hotel one. The one. I had such a crush on Patrick Bateman when I watched a hearing. That explains a lot. That's the one from American Psycho, right? I think I guess. Correct. Yeah. I mean, obviously, like, obviously, like, not the killing part, but like his, like, just, like, deadpan, like, Yes. Don't touch me. This is where we're going to dinner. I'm like, yeah. Box me around.

Just tell me what to do. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Okay. So that's all the new time I have on that. Oh, I did start society and lies. And so far, I also feel like that would have been a good pick for Tell Me Lies episode.

But I'm only 50% still after like a week. You and Gare both. I'm 100 pages in. It's your farther than me. Yeah. Yeah. I'm interested. I've just been like getting done work and like hopping in my car and like flying off into the world. Flying off into the world.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And then I go to record a podcast with you guys and I'm like, I don't know why I sound like this. How could it be? I don't know. What is it? Eight hours to sleep in three days? Who knows? Well, yolo, I guess. I went from like being a book influencer to like a book influencer to like a book.

vodka influence. Just, just like that. Yeah. Hey, maybe we'll get sponsors. Start, start mentioning the brands. I actually saw this TikTok today that I wanted to like send you so badly, but like I accidentally closed out of the app and then it disappeared. I don't know how to find it.

But it was like a girl and it was like, she's standing there and it's like, if you are one of those friends that asked me to go out to the bar and then like, the next slide is like, I want to be at home reading my book. And then the next slide is like, but I'll probably still join you at the bar. And I was like, oh, my God. This is my era. TikTok gets it. Yeah.

Well, do you want to get into our podcast e-books? Yeah. On our book podcast. Yeah. I picked four. I picked multiple because I didn't know. I feel like we're going to have some crossover is how I felt. So my intention is to mostly talk about three, but I think I picked like six.

I have six as well, just in case. I figured some would be repeats. You guys know that the ones that are going to be like the crossover are probably going to be the four that I picked and you guys have six. I know. Now it's like exciting to see how it plays out. no. Oh my gosh. Speaking of that, I'm reading a book called House of Hunger. I couldn't, I can't not talk about it because you just said Hunger Games. But it's, I read an academy for liars by Alexis Anderson and was

obsessed with that. And it's like dark academia with like horror and magic and fantasy and thriller. And so then I want to read more of her books. So I just started a House of Hunger. And the very short gist of it is that it's like in a society where blood maids exist and you basically like bleed for your master but you become like extremely wealthy and like get to live it's supposed it's supposed to be like almost like vampiric but then like a thriller because she starts it's like the outsider comes in and is like elevated to wealthy status because of it but then and she finds out dark things that are going on. And it's, like, kind of out of my genre, but not really.

And it was making me think of Hunger Games because she, like, rides a train to the, like, wealthy area. And that's, like, the same visual you have in Hunger Games. So I just, I just had to share my house of hunger. You are, like, really in your, like, fantasy, like, magical realism era. Like, it is so. you are so interesting to be friends with because like you get into these like little pockets like spy thrillers female rage and then like dark academia now like a little like fantasy and like when you get in them you will like search high and low for like the best of the best and that's what I find very interesting what I love

it is I was I mean I wasn't like patting myself on the back but I was having a similar thought I'm patting you on the back you just hold your book Earlier today, I was like, ooh, I found another one. I found another little subgenre that works for me more often than I realized. So I am kind of more interested in like horror fantasy that's still like action. Oh, yeah. So. While forgiving. But anyway.

I will say that I read the book Burner by Robert Ford. And it was the. the darkest book I think that I've read in a very long time and it was actually almost a little too bleak for me. So like I finally found the book that made me want to like be like maybe I should read something with like a snitch of happiness in it. I've never heard of that book. He recapped it to me because I knew I wasn't going to read it and it is very sad. It's like dark and so sad. So it's about a woman who finds her husband's burner phone after he dies.

And you think that like it could be like a mistress sort of situation. But the book like trigger warning deals with sex trafficking. And it's not like the camera pans away. It's like this is like some of the dark things that happen. Like there's like definitely some like torture and like horror-ish parts. Yeah. That are like hard to read. but there are also like a lot of things that like are said in the book that you're like like you know what's going to happen to like some of the people so it's like very much like the you may not get like the full details of like what happens but you're like oh shit like i know this isn't good you know yeah oof so good well i mean whenever you hear burner phone you're kind of like oh i'm intrigued and it could go a lot of directions yeah and i'm always obsessed with like almost every single one unless

It's like, I'm a shady business man. Okay, can I tell you one thing? We found a second phone in AJ's, at the time, 13-year-old's pillowcase, and I was like, juicy, but I don't think it's juicy at all. I think it was just like, I don't know how it got there. I'd be cool if it was a juicy story, but also he's like too young to have juicy stories, but I was like, I was young. Ooh.

Wow. I was just sitting on AJ's desk and like, no, nothing, no information is. been found and I'm like, this is lame. Like, this could have been, I could have got. You're like, this was supposed to be exciting. Yeah. I was like, oh, dang, he's going to get in trouble. If something crazy is happening, I haven't heard of a single thing.

I feel like my own cell phone gives me anxiety enough. So if I had a burner phone with like a ton of secrets on it, I would be like, okay, who's going to like watch me like choose Xanax for dinner? Oh, my God. Yeah. Generally, the need for a burner phone means you're also just doing something that's, like, adding stress. Yeah. Like, I don't have a timer energy for that.

I do. It's just a little exciting. I'll do it. I'll do it. All right. Fine. I pick the short shot. I'll do it for you.

And that's what our next episode is going to be. Bleak Billings burner phone. You can tell we. all read thrillers. Yeah. Yeah. Well, should I go first? Yeah.

Okay. Actually, when I was looking for these, this reminded me that I need to read the second one in the series that came out, but the Nights Swim by Megan Golden was like one of the first podcast books. Did I take one of years? I actually didn't know that one. All the rest of it. Oh, this is going to be fun to see how this plays out.

You guys can't go back and forth until I have none left. Well, I'm just going to read the synopsis because I read it so long ago that I would probably give spoilers or something. So, ever since her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krawl has become a household name and the last hope for people seeking justice. But she's used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield addressed to her begging for help. The new season of Rachel's podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer dust in pro-lympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief.

Under the mysterious, under, oh, where I lost myself completely. Oh, but the mysterious letters keep coming. Someone is following her and she won't stop until Rachel finds out 25 years ago. Officially, Ginny Still is tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered. And when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody in town wants to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncover startling connections between the two cases and a revelation that will change the course of the trial and lives of everyone in fall. I remember like really struggling to put this one down.

Like there were so many moving parts. Yeah. And the cover's so pretty. Just going to hold up the ones. I remember this is in the beginning of my reading journey. I saw in someone's like bookstagram being like, this one's so good. It's really sad.

And then I immediately saw it at the store and I was like, better get it. And it was good. It is. That's one of my favorite books in the entire world. It's so good. I need to read the... I can't remember what the next one's called.

Dark corners. Dark corners. That one was really good, too. Yeah, I need to read that one. I highly doubt mine will be stealing doors. I think you can go next. Okay. I think most of the ones on mine I've talked about on here before at some point.

But my first one is don't forget the girl. by Rebecca McKana. Did you read this one, Gare? Uh-huh. I love that. Love, love, love, love that one. Yeah, it's so freaking good. Twelve years ago, 18-year-old University of Iowa

freshman Abby Hartman disappeared. Now, John Allen Blue, the serial killer suspected of her murder, is about to be executed. Abby's best friends, Bree and Chelsea watches Abby's memory is unearthed and overshadowed by Blue and his flashier crimes.

The friends estranged in the wake of Abby's disappearance, and suffering from years of unvoiced resentments must reunite when a high-profile podcast dedicates its next season to blues murders. Tense and introspective, don't forget the girl, is an astonishing review thriller that minds the complexities of friendship and the secrets between us that we may take to the grave. I would say like this is a really good, I really like female friendship books. And this one was like, it was just a lot of complex elements of friendship after a tragedy.

And I think people like blame themselves and sometimes blame each other. And then they blame the whole situation. I mean, the whole situation sucks, right? So it's like kind of bleak, but just really like it had me sucked in so much. Mm-hmm. I also love how like realistic and like messed up her characters were following the tragedy. Like it's not like they were like, oh, I had this like friend that got killed in college. but like now I'm just thriving, you know?

Like it was like super like dark with like psychologically. Mm-hmm. Yes, like how it, how it affects the people around the situation forever. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's such a good one. Um, okay.

Well, my one and probably only. I'm just going to steal it. Um, If you want dark and immersive. Murphy does not. So, if we want dark and bleak with unsettling characters. Let's go. The Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier.

Yes. Yeah. And this one is about Paris Peralta, who is suspected of killing her celebrity husband and her long hidden past now threatens to destroy her future. When Paris is arrested in her own bathroom, covered in blood, holding a straight razor, her celebrity husband dead in the bathtub behind her, she knows she'll be charged with murder. But as this looks, it's not what worries her the most.

With the unwanted media attention now surrounding her, it's only a matter of time before someone from her long hidden past recognizes her and destroys the new life she's worked so hard to build, along with any chance of a future. 25 years earlier, Ruby Rays, known as the Ice Queen, was convicted of a similar murder in a trial that riveted Canada in the early 19. these. Ray's knows who Paris really is, and when she's unexpectedly released from prison, she threatens to expose all of Paris's secrets. Left with no other choice, Paris must finally confront

the dark past she escaped once and for all, because the only thing worse than a murder charge are two murder charges. That's such a good synopsis. Yeah, I totally forgot there was a podcast element in that. Yeah, I did too. But it so long ago. I gave stars, yeah. I was like thinking of like podcast books, but I also have like a list of books that I want to reread that I've like only read once. And that was on there and I was like, I think there's like a hot guy who's like a podcaster. Oh. Yeah. Uh-huh.

There's a hot guy podcaster. Yeah. Oh yeah. And Kate, I mean like I probably would have forgotten about the podcast element if the guy who did the podcast wasn't hot. Still bleak, still slutty. Well, maybe I will jump off of that because another one with a hotty, hotty podcaster is Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintara. So he was pretty memorable. Oh, I got one. I got one of Seths.

I knew you would pick it, but I was... Yes, I couldn't help. I couldn't help. Yeah, I love this one. So Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town. Pretty smart and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all.

And if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy's blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. It's been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can't remember anything about. And she has since moved to L.A. and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit True Crime Podcast, listen for The Lie, and it's too good-looking host.

Even showed up in the synopsis. Ben Owens have decided to investigate Savvy's murder for the show's second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again. to solve her friend's murder, even if she is the one who did it. This one has, like, so many of the things I love, because it has a snarky character in, like, a small town kind of making fun of small-minded people, which sounds like a really harsh subgenre to enjoy, but here we are. And hot podcaster, and, like, the chapters are, like, fast-paced.

I just loved it. The grandma's awesome. Yes. Yeah. When I see negative reviews of that book, I'm like, okay, whatever. I'm like, well, you don't agree on that one. Yeah. Yeah.

What does it feel like to have zero taste whatsoever? Yeah. I mean, no judgment, but. Right. I hope you're enjoying this episode of Book Wild. And if you are, could I ask you a favor? Could you go and rate and review this podcast and whatever platform you're listening? Ratings and reviews make the biggest difference in discoverability of the podcast,

and I definitely want to find all of our fellow thriller readers out there. So if you could go rate the podcast and leave a short review, that would make a huge difference. Thank you. And let's get back to the show. Like thinking of that, it makes me think that I've read a book with that kind of content lately. like but I now I couldn't think of what it was to be honest but I love that as well I like that you brought that up yeah I literally was thinking the same thing like there is another book that like sounds kind of similar to that with like a podcast element and like someone returning to a small town and still is like snarky and I can't

think of what it is I think it's because it happens like kind of a lot probably multiple books, but I love it. I think it's great. Okay, I don't know which one to do. I'll do one that I haven't really talked about before. I'm not sure if you all have read this, but Eliza Clark's penance. I think he also wrote boy parts, which I think was kind of popular. But I happen to see this on someone's review page, and the chapters are kind of long and dense. So I did audio and I loved that the narrator kind of sounded like, like a British narrator of almost like a nature show, but in like the best way.

So if you're an audio person or like a documentary, it sounded legit documentary-ish, I would say. On a beach in a run down seaside town on the Yorkshire coastline, 16 year old Joan Wilson is set on fire by three other school girls. Nearly a decade after the horrifying murder, journalist Alec Z. Corelli has written the definitive account of the crime, drawn from hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, painstaking historical research, and most notably, correspondence with the killers themselves. The result is a riveting snapshot of lives rocked by tragedy and a town left in turmoil. But how much of the story is true?

Compulsively readable, provocative, and disturbing penances a cleverly nuanced, unflinching exploration of gender, class, and power that raises troubling questions about the media and our obsession with true crime while bringing to light the depraved side of human nature and our darkest proclivities. Wow. Yeah. Okay, so not necessarily like trope-wise, but if you like the boogeyman book by Richard Chisner, it's kind of like that where I think it's, it sounds like it's, it sounds like it true, but it's written like it's true, but it's fiction. And then it, like the commentary it has about how much we believe true crime and like the podcast and stuff, and it may or may not really be true was like really interesting to me. Yeah. But so if you're, you're looking for

one that's like, is it, it sounds like a true crime for real, but it, it is it, it sounds like a true crime for real, but it is fiction. This one's a good one. That sounds really good. I had never heard of it. I added it to my like, um, want to read shelf on good reads. Me too. Because we probably did it at the same time. Probably. Probably. I love the Richard Chismar book with like, like it's one of my favorite books in the entire world. Yeah, the format of it. It reminded me of that a lot. Also, it brought up, like it takes place in England. Like being from, like, being from, Wisconsin, it touched on the Slender Man case. And I was just kind of like, oh shit, that where it like was across like across the ocean, people were paying attention to that. So it was kind of interesting,

a little like, I don't know, it touched on cases that I, that were familiar to me. And I found really fascinating. Yeah, I'm excited to do you ever find that like sometimes you read books that like take place in like England or something? But like it just sounds like a place in the US. So you like picture it in the U.S. the whole time. Probably. Like watching you by Lisa Jewel, I could have swore took place in like San Francisco

because it just gave me like such Oh yeah. So many like seaside towns are kind of similar. So it's like Yeah. Oh my God. That sounds so good. It does. I know right.

Um well I'm in sleep in here at least to it. Do it. My next one is Girl 11 by

Amy Suter-Clart. Oh, I haven't read that yet. Was that on your list? No, but I've, like, ever since I interviewed her, I've wanted to read that one. So that's what I was reacting to. Okay. So, like, I thought that you had already read and loved this one. But it was her other book that you had read.

Yeah. Uh, Why can't I think of it? Let me down. Lay my body down. Lay your body down. Yeah. So like I was like, should I pick this one?

But I'm glad I did because it's so good. It's one of my favorites and it's super dark. Yeah. El Castillo, once trained as a social worker, supporting young victims of violent crime, now hosts a popular true crime podcast that focuses on cold case of missing and abducted children.

After four seasons of successfully solving these cases in Minnesota's Twin City, Elle decides to tackle her white the countdown killer. That doesn't sense. Tackle the countdown killer, I guess. 20 years ago, TCC was terrorizing the community, kidnapping and ritualistically murdering three girls over seven days, each a year younger than the last. Then after he took his 11-year-old victim,

the pattern and the murders abruptly stopped. No one has ever known why. When Elle follows up on a listener tip, only to discover the man's dead body, she feels at fault. Then within days, a child is abducted, a young girl who seems to fit suspiciously into the TCK sequence halted decades before.

While media and law enforcement long ago concluded that TCK had committed suicide, Al has never believed that TCK was dead. She had hoped her investigation would lay that suspicion to rest, but her podcast seems to be instead incited. lighting new victims. It sounds so dark. And, um, yeah.

Yeah. Like, I mean, it's, it's like, atmospherically dark, too. But, like, when you're dealing with, like, a serial killer who is, like, ritualistically, like, murdering children, like, it just gets really, really dark and intense very quickly.

And it's a fucking smoke show of a story. Like, she does not hold back. The pacing's incredible. Yeah, it's just, it's so good. I need to read it this fall. Yeah, like if you want to read something like on Halloween, that would be like a good one to read around like Halloween.

If you want something that's like really dark and sinister. I also know that Olivia that you've been on each other's shows, Olivia Day Wallace, said that it's really good on audio. I just saw as like totally full cast. So if people are into that format, I've heard good things about that as well. I do love that you have audiobook input for the people. For the people. Yeah. Well, I do know that a narrator makes a huge difference. It does. I can imagine. It's like a big reason I don't trust audiobooks. Oh, totally. I can't do it because I have the attention span of a walnut.

Oh, yeah. So I'm like, if I'm not holding the book and focusing on it. Yeah. These cans are just going to be taking me places and I'm just going to be like, wait, what was that? Who's this? Like, I just like, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, my last one, I guess, maybe. We'll see if we have a bonus round. I like it because it functions as a TV recommendation too. because Truth Be Told by Kathleen Barber was turned into an Apple TV series that I think has three seasons.

Okay, Harley's whining at me in the background. Hopefully you can't hear it. But it used to be called Are You Sleeping Before the TV show is made. So if anyone read it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I think that's the TV series poster. So good. Yeah, it's so good. Yeah. Harley. Okay, this book cover is, well, maybe it's the cover for the TV show, but what? That's gorgeous. Oh, yeah, that's what it was. Mm-hmm. The hard cover is so fucking amazing too. That was actually the first art I ever received. Whoa, that's cool.

Yeah. Well, my dog is gone. So for everyone listening here, Here's what it's about. The only thing more dangerous than a lie is the truth. Josie Berman has spent the last 10 years trying to escape her family. Following her father's murder 13 years before, her mother ran away to join a cult, and her twin sister betrayed her in an unimaginable way, leaving Josie alone. Now Josie finally has a happy new life in New York with her fiancé, Caleb. The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her

past, starting with her last name. When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell reexamines her father's case on her hit podcast, Josie's world begins to unravel, and then the unexpected death of her mother forces Josie to return home. Now she must confront the secrets from her past and the lies on which she has staked her future. It is so good. So good. And the adaptation is really good. And the other seasons have been really good too. Oh my god. The one with Kate Hudson. That one was amazing. So much fun. Like so underutilized. I agree. Yeah. So crazy. Like her range is fucking incredible. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I love the book. Can you say the name an author one more time? Truth Be Told Kathleen Barber.

Okay. I'm going to go to this one because I'm I'm actually seeing this author in October. Margo's got money troubles. I won't shut up about it. But I did this one on audio. I think that L. Fanning did an incredible job as... Oh, yeah. But as this book is funny.

It makes you think about like today's society. And you'll see why. Okay. As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millett's always known she'd have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can't imagine how she'll ever make a living. She's still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor. And while the affair is brief, it isn't brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone's advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naivete,

and a yearning for something bigger. Now at 20, Margot is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of a She needs a cash infusion. Fast. When her estranged father, Jinks, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with child care. Then Margot begins to form a plan. She'll start an only fan as an experiment. She soon finds herself adapting some of Jinks's advice from the world of wrestling, like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she's turned into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Marx's. Margot's problems, or does internet fame come with too high of a price? Blisteringly funny and sharp and filled with sharp insight, Margot's Got Money for Troubles, is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who's struggling to rest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. I think, like, I love books about how, like, life is so messy. And people who you'd probably be like, ugh.

real life. Like, you actually are like, wow, their story is really touching and like everything is so nuanced, but it's also like funny and tender. So I've learned that I really like books like that. That's awesome when you find like a whole other subgenre. We felt that way about Mad Woman too. Like life is fucking messy and it's crazy. But there's also like these awesome moments as well. I agree. You're both finding your subgenre. We are. Yours is like dark male-male romance.

Your newish one. Yeah, that is true. I do like a little devilish, soul-breaking things in my male-lian romance. Just like. hidden scars, which has the most fucked up toxic relationship between a father and a son that I've ever read. But the evil laugh. I'm so excited that you guys did not pick this one yet because this was my like first pick. Mm-hmm. Nice. And it is Sadie by Courtney Summers. Oh, I've never read that. It is, okay, so it's Y-A. But like when you're reading

this book, like, you're going to be like, I love her. I love this book. I love Courtney Summers, but I also am kind of like, how did they get away with considering this a YA book? Because it's like very dark. Yeah. But Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Maddie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. When Maddie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

When Wes McCrae, a radio personality working on a segment about small forgotten towns in America, overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. Starting his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened. He hopes to find her before it's too late. Wow. Damn.

Sounds vengeful too. It's like POV. It's like just, I mean, like dark, female rage. There's like, you know, a whodunit element. And there's like, the thing that I like about it is like sometimes I think when they give you like a murder story, they're like, oh, like, this is what we think happened. But like, when you read this, you're actually like feeling like you're in the same. shoes as Sadie with like getting like tidbits of information and then like the podcast element transcripts and stuff and the ending is just like mind-blowing.

Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like it would be a good TV show. Oh. Yeah. It would, I think it would be a really good TV show. She actually, she actually has another one called I'm the Girl.

That is also very, very, very dark. And, like, you would not believe could be passed as a YA book. That would also make a very good TV show. Nice. Is that the one that's, like, white with a girl's face on the cover? Like a white. Yes. I remember you talking about this because it's on my TVR.

And when I saw the cover, I was like, oh, yeah. Yeah. So good. So good. That is such a cool cover. Her books are, like, actually, like, really, really, really good. And YA can be on kind or miss for me. Same.

Man, she just crushes it every time. Wow, she's written a lot of books. She's... That's exciting. Yeah. Well, we didn't take all of yours. No. And I actually thought of another one, too. Go for it.

Well, do you guys have more? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, then we can just do another round. One more round? Okay, well, I guess I should go then, technically. Which one should I do? Okay.

There's one I totally thought you was. would do and you haven't done yet, so I wonder if you'll do it now. Well, that makes me want to say the last housewife. That's not even what I was thinking. Okay. That one was my like backup, backup because I talk about it so much anyway. So I get so, well, my other one is all the dangerous things by Stacey Willingham. Oh, that's a good one too. Yeah. So this one one year ago is, is it about Drake's life changed forever. Her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabel cannot rest

until Mason is returned to her, literally, except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time. She hasn't slept in a year. Isabel's entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can't go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true crime podcaster, but his interest in Isabelle's past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning, paired with her severe insomnia, has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabel starts to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason's disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust, including herself.

But she's determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads. It was very fun. I like this one a lot. I couldn't put that down. Yeah. It was so good. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, like treat, treat sleep problems is what I meant to say.

Sleep problems and the like, can I trust what I'm thinking? It's typically so suspenseful for me most of the time. Yeah. Yeah. the one I thought you were going to pick was almost surely dead. Oh my gosh. That one too. There really are so many.

There are so many. I suck at this. I suck at this. You guys have like listed because you guys are like listing so many books and I'm like, oh my God, I love that book. I forgot about the podcast. Like my memory is like legit like a scrambling. I think just different ones stood out to all of us.

Yeah. I know. but like I just like like you're like book about podcasts and I'm like oh I thought I thought of like those three and then like the night swim and then I like I was like I can't think of anymore and I like even was like staring at my shelves and I was like huh huh but like I'm like looking at these books and I'm like yeah I love that and you're like there's a podcast and I'm like oh yeah it's like actually common well I think there's bigger ones too like I feel like Stacy Willingham's is pretty popular and then like the last housewife or at least some artist pretty popular and then like let's say Lisa Jule none of this is true or pretty popular so like I was kind of like some of those I figured someone else would pick or most people know about them already yeah um the last one I had which was speaking of YA I've mentioned this one a bunch on here but was the weight of blood by Tiffany D. Jackson um because the I really liked like especially at the end I've okay I've never read Carrie so I I know this is like

its own way of retelling or like inspired by Carrie. But I know that the end of the book, like the recap of the situation with the podcast was just like really well done in my opinion talking about like the issue is that I'll just read that. So when Springville residents, at least the one who are still alive are questioned about what happened on prom night. They all have the same explanation. Maddie did it. An outcast at her small town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies,

and she dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning, a surprise rainstorm reveals her most closely kept secret. Maddie is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the behest of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington. After a viral bullying video, back the curtain on Springville High's racist roots, student leaders come up with a plan to change their image. Host, colon, host the school's first integrated prom as a show of unity. The popular white class president

convinces her black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddie to be his date, leaving Maddie wondering if it's possible to have a normal life. But some of her classmates aren't done with her just yet. And what they don't know is that Maddie still has another secret, one that will cost them all their lives. I've got to read that one. Oh my God. It's so good. Yeah.

So there is like, fuck me. Yeah. It's so good. And like you get like so rage filled because this takes place in like I mean, I don't know. I'm not from the South, but this takes place in like the 2000s and there's like this Georgia town where

there's still segregated prams and like people are so nasty to each other. And it's kind of what, um, like did Maddie do it? is kind of the whole name of the podcast. And I'm like, I fucking hope Maddie did it. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. You're like, go Maddie.

Yeah. So it's good. Sometimes I see like videos on TikTok or like Twitter or something where it's like somebody like says something racist and then it's like they're ass handed to them. And there's like so much like satisfaction when like somebody like just fucking knocks them out or something. But like I also like see those videos. and I get, like, so enraged because I'm like, who would still be racist? Like, who would be racist, like, at all at any point in life? But, like, to this day, like, there are still people.

Like, it makes no sense to me. So, like, I felt the same way you did. Like, when it was describing, like, some of the trending videos of, like, the racism that she dealt with, I was like, like, there's going to be people like me that think this is far-fetched because, like, I can't, believe that there are people out there that like act like this. I know. I'm probably there probably are people that read this and be like, that doesn't happen. And then it's like get real.

Yeah. So yeah, but it's so good. Um, when you were asking about authors that we, I would like that should join forces, like I was thinking about Tiffany D. Jackson because she has such amazing books about just like tough issues, um, that like are so heartbreaking, but so good. I've heard her book allegedly is like one of like the best books in the world. The ending is insane. Yeah. I want to read it so bad.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. I need to read all of her things. I think that was her debut too, which is like wild. Wow. It says 2017. Yeah. There was a book.

I can't remember what book she was like reading, but I think it was behind her eyes. Oh, yeah. So Tiffany G. Jackson and she was like, I threw the book. I was so frustrated because that ending was like, crazy and she was like this like now I know like everybody who yells at me about like the crazy ending of allegedly like she's like now I know how you guys feel because like I'm like fucked up oh my gosh so I really want to read that book now I want to read both of these well get ready because you're going to have everyone to add oh my gosh go for it so I read this book

years and years and years ago and the format of it stuck with me and like how tricky it was. There's a book called Six Stories by Matt Wessalowski, W-E-S-O-L-O-O-W-S-K-I. And I just, this is like probably the first book I ever read that had a podcast element in it. In 1997, Scarcloth fell, the body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an outward bound center. Verdict, Misadventure, but not everyone is convinced. And the truth of what happened, happened and the beautiful but eerie fell is locked in the memories of the tight-knit group of friends who embarked on that fateful trip and the flimsy testimony of those living nearby. In 2017, enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast of examinations of complicated cases has rivaled the success of serial with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure. In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group,

of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffrey's mysterious death. As every interview unveils a new revelation, you'll be forced to work out for yourself how Tom Jeffrey dies and who is telling the truth. That cover is so cool. It's so cool. And it's also like the first and I think like a set of like six series, but like they have like that podcast format. Whoa. Yeah. That's meta. That it's a six story. series called six stories wow yeah i mean each book is like a different case they all have good ratings

yeah each book is like a different case but like i just like love the whole like yeah here are six people and like there's a very vast difference like if we were in a situation like you might say like oh like step ran out of the room and then like garret and i had to like you know try to like escape through the window but then like when step tells it she's like i helped them escaped in I ran out of the room. You know what I mean? So, like, it's like, why are like there's such a huge difference and, like, saying certain things and, like, the order of it. It's just really good. Yeah. Yeah. So.

Have you ever read the problem with confessions? Confessions? No, but that cover is so cool. By, um, Kenay Minato. It just reminds me of that because, like, a situation happens and you get, like, these different, like, six different, different viewpoints. Yeah. And it's interesting because some people find it so, so, so good. I think it was good. Then there's people are like, it's repetitive. And so I'm like, but that's kind of like the point is that we're trying to nitpick like what happened. I like those normally. Yeah. Yeah. I like those covers a lot. And the cover is so cool. Yeah. The six story covers.

Mm-hmm. Ooh. Whenever there's, like, a deer skull, the one called deity, whenever there's, like, a deer skull, I'm just like, it just reminds me of, like, a cult sacrifice. And I'm, like, it's, like, creepy, but, like, cool.