Before You Knew My Name

 

Author: Jacqueline Bublitz

Narrator : Penelope Rawlins

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Year: 2022

🎧 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 🎧

“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍. 𝑻𝒘𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏—𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅—𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄 𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓.”

I haven’t seen Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz crossing my bookstagram timeline too much. That’s a damn shame because it deserves more hype. 

Alice Lee arrives in New York City with a couple hundred bucks and a stolen camera. She needs a fresh start. With a little luck and some help from a new friend, she starts building a life. Then one month later, she’s a Jane Doe murder victim. 

Australian Ruby Jones also desperately needs a fresh start too. She impulsively moves to NYC and knows no one there. Then Ruby discovers a body by the Hudson River and her life changes. 

The story is told from the duel POVs of Alice Lee and Ruby. I usually think using the dead girl as a narrator in a mystery is kind of gimmicky. But with Bublitz’s deft writing, it’s anything but. It comes off naturally and helps the story highlight the loneliness of the Alice Lee and Ruby.   It also really allows the reader to get to know Alice Lee. 

This book has so much that booktagrammers love- dual POVs, sympathetic main characters, an excellent cast of secondary characters, and great slow-burning storytelling.  Also, Penelope Rawlins provides an excellent narration for the audiobook. This was the author’s 2022 debut novel. I thought the writing was very polished for a debut. Definitely give this book a try. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

Thank you @simon.audio and @librofm for the #gifted audiobook. 

QOTD: If your life needed a fresh start where would you go? 

I’d go to Ireland. It’s such a beautiful place and the people are wonderful. 

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