I was three hours into a branding project for a local bakery - you know, the kind where the client keeps changing the color palette - when Madeline Mackenzie's voice (via Caroline Lee) cut through my creative frustration like a knife through butter. And honestly? I forgot about the damn logo for a solid forty minutes.
This book felt like sitting on my abuela's couch watching her telenovelas, except everyone's white and lives in Australia and the drama happens at school drop-off instead of haciendas. Same energy though. Same delicious mess.
Caroline Lee Made Me Feel Things I Wasn't Ready For
Okay, so here's the thing about Caroline Lee's narration - her Australian accent threw me for maybe the first twenty minutes. I kept thinking "wait, this is set in Australia?" (Yes, Elena, it is. The book literally tells you this.) But once I settled in? Velvet and honey, people. Velvet and honey.
She does this thing where each woman has her own emotional register. Madeline is all sharp edges and barely-contained rage - Lee delivers her lines with this bite that made me want to be her best friend and also maybe hide from her. Celeste... god, Celeste. The way Lee's voice gets quieter, more careful when she's narrating Celeste's chapters? I had to pause while designing because I couldn't see through the tears. You know it's coming - you KNOW something is wrong in that perfect house - but Lee lets you feel it creeping up on you instead of hitting you over the head with it.
And Jane. Sweet, traumatized Jane. Lee makes her sound so young and so tired at the same time. There's this moment - I won't spoil it - where Jane finally tells someone what happened to her, and Lee's delivery is so restrained, so matter-of-fact, that it wrecked me more than if she'd gone full dramatic. I ugly-cried at chapter... honestly I lost track. My spreadsheet says three separate crying sessions for this one.
The Vibes Are Immaculate (With One Small Caveat)
This is a rainy Sunday book. Or in my case, a Tuesday-through-Thursday-while-working book. The pacing is slow but never boring - Moriarty does this clever thing where she intersperses the main story with snippets of interviews about "the incident" at trivia night. So you're constantly going "wait, who died? WHO DIED?" while also getting invested in kindergarten politics and ex-husband drama.
The mystery unfolds like... okay, imagine you're peeling an onion, but the onion is made of secrets and also the onion is judging your parenting choices. Each layer reveals something new about these women, and Caroline Lee adjusts her performance accordingly. The Madeline of chapter three is not the Madeline of chapter thirty. Same voice, different weight.
Now. Fair warning. Some people find Lee's pronunciations distracting - she says certain words in ways that might pull you out if you're not used to Australian English. I barely noticed after the first hour, but Diego (my orange tabby, the judgmental one) did give me a look when Lee said "controversy" and I repeated it back to myself three times. It's not wrong, it's just... different. If you're the kind of person who can't handle accents, maybe sample first. But honestly? You'd be missing out.
My Heart. MY HEART.
Look, I knew this book dealt with heavy stuff. Domestic violence. Assault. The way women are constantly judged for everything from their bodies to their lunch choices. But I wasn't prepared for how Moriarty - and Lee - would make me FEEL it.
There's this scene where Celeste is getting ready for a party, and the way Lee reads it... you can hear her checking herself in the mirror, covering bruises, putting on her perfect wife mask. No melodrama. Just quiet devastation. Frida jumped on my lap during that part and I held her so tight she squeaked.
Abuela would have loved this one. She would have gasped at the reveals, clutched her rosary during the Celeste chapters, and probably guessed the ending before I did because that woman had a sixth sense for drama. Miss you, Abuela.
Who Should Listen
This is for you if:
- You love messy women making messy choices
- You want a mystery that's more about the WHY than the WHO
- You appreciate narration that trusts you to feel things without being told how to feel
- You have 16 hours and access to tissues
Maybe skip if:
- You need fast-paced action (this is a slow burn, baby)
- Strong accents genuinely bother you (no judgment, we all have our things)
- You're not in a place to engage with domestic violence content - and that's completely valid
I listened at my usual 1.0x because rushing Caroline Lee would be a crime. Let her breathe. Let the pauses land. Let yourself feel it.
The chemistry between these three women - their friendship, their secrets, their fierce protection of each other - is chef's kiss. By the time trivia night arrives, you're so invested that the reveal hits like a truck. A very satisfying, dramatically appropriate truck.
This book made me feel seen in weird ways. The judgment between mothers. The way women perform perfection while falling apart inside. The desperate need to protect our kids from the ugliness we've survived. Heavy stuff wrapped in sharp humor and kindergarten drama.
Go listen. Cry. Text your best friend about it. That's the whole point.
