His & Hers by Alice Feeney #audiobookreview #20booksofsummer20

There are two sides to every story: yours and mine, ours and theirs, His & Hers. Which means someone is always lying.
Anna Andrews finally has what she wants. Almost. She’s worked hard to become the main TV presenter of the BBC’s lunchtime news, putting work before friends, family, and her now ex-husband. So, when someone threatens to take her dream job away, she’ll do almost anything to keep it.
When asked to cover a murder in Blackdown—the sleepy countryside village where she grew up—Anna is reluctant to go. But when the victim turns out to be one of her childhood friends, she can’t leave. It soon becomes clear that Anna isn’t just covering the story, she’s at the heart of it.
DCI Jack Harper left London for a reason, but never thought he’d end up working in a place like Blackdown. When the body of a young woman is discovered, Jack decides not to tell anyone that he knew the victim, until he begins to realize he is a suspect in his own murder investigation.
One of them knows more than they are letting on. Someone isn’t telling the truth. Alternating between Anna’s and Jack’s points of view, ‘HIS & HERS’ is a fast-paced, complex, and dark puzzle that will keep listeners guessing until the very end.

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Hi and welcome to my review of His & Hers!

Alice Feeney’s debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, was a cracker. I read her second novel, I Know Who You Are, last month and although it requires the reader to suspend disbelief to a large extent, I loved it too. So I just had to read His & Hers sooner rather than later, I had to know what Ms Feeney had come up with in her third novel, so I added the Audible narration to my Kindle eBook and dove right in.

His is DCI Jack Harper’s story. He is supposed to solve a murder. Only, he knew the victim. Intimately so. No one knew, no one can know. But clearly someone does, don’t they?

Hers is Anna Andrews’ story. A BBC reporter who worked her way up the food chain and became a news anchor, she suddenly finds herself out of the studio again, out in the field to report on a murder in her childhood town no less. And she’s livid. Until she realises that she knew the victim and has to ask herself what this murder means.

His is a career that might be on the line, and his private life isn’t particularly fabulous either. Murder after murder, victim upon victim, zero clues and no suspects, except, well, maybe Jack himself.

Hers is a warped state of mind with somewhat repressed childhood memories that come flooding back. It’s no wonder she left town as soon as she could. But how does her past bear on the present?

His seems to be a true account of the facts, his version seems legit. He’s not perfect but he’s trying his best. Right? Then why did I spend half a novel wondering whether I should suspect him? Did I really trust him, was he trustworthy? Hell if I knew! And what is up with his colleague? Too good to be true, hiding something? Aaaaaagh, it did my head in!

Hers seems to be a true account of the facts, her version seems legit. She’s not perfect, but she does try, and someone help her, she’s in danger. Or does she actually pose the danger? Oh my poor little grey cells had to work overtime to try and figure out this conundrum!

His is the voice of Richard Armitage. Stellar narrator, I could listen to him ‘til kingdom come! He has narrated C.J. Tudor’s books, and a ton of other novels, among which a whole bunch of classics.

Hers is the voice of Stephanie Racine. I knew her from The Phantom Tree, and she’s also narrated Alice Feeney’s previous novels. She has a beautiful accent and she’s a joy to listen to.

His & Hers has a third voice though, the voice of the killer. Is it His, is it Hers, is it someone else’s entirely? If you think listening to the audiobook helped, I’ll have to disappoint you: the voice is distorted in such a way that you can’t tell if it’s Armitage or Racine you’re hearing. I can tell you it’s super creepy though, when I was listening in the dark and it came on it scared the crap out of me!

His & Hers is a brilliant story. I was sucked in from the start, had to keep listening. It kept me guessing until the very end, and despite all my theories, I never even came close to figuring out the truth. Still, the ending made total sense. Despite my oblivion until the final reveal, I don’t feel like it came out of the blue, I have a feeling it was there all along, and it makes me want to reread, to find out what I missed the first time around. If you enjoy twisty psychological thrillers, I highly recommend you check this one out!