Justin Childs is dead. He was killed in a car accident, leaving behind his wife Annie, his mother Carol, and a hip tech company that he built with his best friend Will. Justin was loved. He made friends wherever he went. Everyone adored him. And now he’s gone.
Annie met him one day when her car slipped on the ice when she had been on a skiing weekend. Justin had showed up to help get her out of the car, get her medical treatment, and even ended up giving her a ride back home. That was the start of their relationship, and from his epic engagement to their beautiful wedding, it was like a fairy tale for Annie.
Will was in business school, scraping by on a shoestring budget when he met Justin. Justin knew where to get the best food for the least amount of cash. When Justin had to leave school to help his family—his brother had tried to commit suicide, and he had to go home to help his family. But years later, Justin showed up out of the blue, and Will was thrilled to have his friend back. Justin had a new idea for a business and asked Will to be his partner. They were just getting ready to launch their virtual reality software when Justin was killed. Will is going to have to figure out how to run the company on his own.
Carol was a single mother. Her husband had been killed when Justin was young, and that’s after she lost her parents and sister to a house fire back when she was in high school. Life has not been easy for Carol. but she worked hard selling real estate, and she worked hard to keep her family together. And now she is alone again.
But once the funeral has passed and life is getting back to, well, as normal as possible, Will starts to notice some discrepancies at the company. Their biggest backer wasn’t as Will’s funeral, and when Justin has a mutual friend get in touch with him, the man claimed not to know Justin or his company. Then Will finds out that Justin had spent company money without talking to Will about it. He’d bought a boat. He had a second apartment. He had credit cards that were in Justin’s name, with high balances. And then Will finds out that there is an issue with their software.
When Will talks to Annie about what he finds, she takes a look at Justin’s home office. She finds out that their home is mortgaged. There are credit cards in her name with high balances. And when she finds out that a friend of hers has gone missing, that sets off a series of actions that will change Annie forever. But when Will is arrested, will Annie ever be able to figure out what is truth and what is lies?
Convince Me is a slow-burn thriller from Nina Sadowsky, a former entertainment lawyer and screenwriter who clearly knows a thing or two about building tension. This book is filled with slow reveals of a sociopath, with clues being thrown before readers like breadcrumbs, until the point where the real truth gets served up on a silver tray.
I really enjoyed Convince Me. I was sucked into the story early on and didn’t want to stop listening until it was done. It’s interesting and compelling. Told through three narrators—Justin’s wife, mother, and business partner, the story unfolds from different directions, as the reader gets each character’s story, each new piece of information comes together to add more color to the full picture.
This was a fun book to listen to. There are three narrators, each telling the story of one character. With Caitlyn Davies as Annie, Carol Monda as Carol, and Sean Kenin as Will, the audio book embraces the three main characters, letting each one tell their own story, and letting Justin’s story be told in the spaces between. I enjoyed experiencing the story this way, and I think readers who enjoy a good thriller about a sociopath or who loves a slow-burn story will enjoy it also.
Egalleys for Convince Me were provided by Ballentine Books through NetGalley, with many thanks, but I also bought the audiobook through Chirp Books.
