Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Blurb:
Benny Abbott and Joy Moore host one of the most beloved podcasts in the world. Each week, they delight listeners with a different “against all odds” survival story, gleefully finding the weird, life-affirming humor in near-death experiences. Since their first episode on Joy’s experience with severe narcolepsy, they’ve been the best friends everyone wants to befriend—and thanks to the meticulous management of Joy’s husband, Xander, they’ve built a lucrative empire.
The problem is, their next survival story may be their own. When Benny arrives at Joy and Xander’s one morning to record, he finds shattered glass and an empty house. The one clue shedding light on the couple’s disappearance is the incomplete, previously unseen first draft of Joy’s memoir. Benny will stop at nothing to find them, even as the police zero in on him as their prime suspect.
Millions of devoted listeners think they know the “real” Benny and Joy. But as the hours tick by, and the odds seem increasingly stacked against Joy and Xander being found alive, not even the most devoted fans could guess the terrible secrets their favorite famous BFFs have hidden from the world—and from each other.
My Review:
Maybe this just isn’t my month for five-star reads. I’m thinking perhaps I had too high expectations for this one. The title is intriguing; I like mysteries, and thought this is supposed to be one. I seem to be getting romance novels under the guise of mystery and by now you all know I’m not a fan of romance.
Joy and Benny host a podcast exploiting survival stories, the first of which was her own stemming from Joy’s experience with narcolepsy—an interesting little side device in the plot. Joe met and married Xander, who ends up managing the podcast and their direction.
Benny is not a childhood friend of Joy’s as they met later and formed a very close relationship. It was discovered early that they sparked off each other to the delight of everyone around them and found a way to utilize that gift.
The “mystery” starts when Benny arrives one morning at Joy’s home to find what appears to have been a break-in and both Joy and Xander missing. He finds a memoir Joy has left behind as a way to leave him clues and hides it before the police can discover it. This is where the storyline splits with Benny periodically reading another portion of the memoir and the ability to peer into Joy’s life with Xander—not the dream boat she’d imagined. (Enter domestic abuse theme.)
Eventually, Xander is found deceased and suddenly the police are looking at Benny. (Enter reader rolling her eyes.)
Okay. For the record, I was unable to invest in any of the characters, though Joy was well developed, found her relationship with Benny a bit much, the romance becoming a bore. The dialogue was rather immature, the pacing already slow being interrupted with the investigation to return to the romance. (Inner groan)
While some of it not already divulged in denouement, it wasn’t a surprise. All of a sudden everything was fine again. End.
It annoyed me throughout that both characters refused to acknowledge their friendship had gone deeper. Why weren’t they just honest with each other?
I’m aware that because I’m such a romance snoot and in the minority the majority of the time, I have to acknowledge that with so many enjoying the book, perhaps there again just not a book I should have attempted. If you enjoy romance, then maybe you’ll enjoy a predictable romance with an ending you already guessed.
Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.
Rosepoint Publishing: Three Stars 
Book Details:
Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Narrator: Julia Whelan, Sean Patrick Hopkins
Release Date: March 10, 2026
Title Links:
Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
The Author: Tiffany Crum grew up on a dairy farm just down the road from a maximum-security prison. A longtime Californian, she worked a variety of jobs in the film industry before earning her MFA in creative writing. She now lives in Atlanta with her husband, sons, and dogs, and spends her free time trying to keep her vegetable garden alive. This Story Might Save Your Life is her debut novel.
©2026 V Williams
Rosepoint Publishing 