Only Girl Alive
Series: Detective Eve Bennet #1
Author: Holly S. Roberts
Narrator: Stacia Keogh
Published: January 13, 2023
Audiobook: 7 hours 35 minutes

Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: January 9-11, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars 

Book Description:

As day breaks over the Tanner family home, the house is deadly silent and the door is firmly closed. Upstairs, the whole family lie cold and lifeless in their beds. All with the same look of fear in their unblinking eyes…

Detective Eve Bennet takes a steadying breath as she enters the main bedroom of the Tanners’ modest home in the tight-knit town of Hilldale, Utah. Mrs Tanner’s high-collared nightgown and her long plaited blonde hair are soaked in blood. Next to her, Mr Tanner’s hands are clasped together in a final prayer.

Filled with dread, Eve forces herself towards the children’s rooms. But instead of two children, she only finds one. Where is the youngest daughter, Hannah? And why are there long scratches across the walls?

Eve tracks Hannah down to her uncle’s house nearby. But he won’t let her step foot in the house. Eve knows what it’s like to be held captive by a family member, and fears for Hannah’s safety. What is he terrified Hannah might reveal?

Back at the Tanner home, Eve makes a shocking discovery in the dust covered attic. Mr Tanner was hiding a dark secret from the rest of the community—the kind of secret someone would kill for.

Realizing another family could be in danger, Eve runs from the house and stumbles into the path of the one man she spent years trying to forget— and he won’t let her get away this time. Can Eve escape the evil that has haunted her whole life? And will she catch the killer before another innocent family is murdered?

Jessica’s Review:

Only Girl Alive is the first in the new Eve Bennet crime thriller series, and I am looking forward to the upcoming novels! Only Girl Alive is a fast moving and quick read that is also short: at just over 7.5 hours or around 275 pages this one got pulled me in from the beginning and I never lost interest!

Polygamist communities are an interesting topic to read about for me, both fictional and factual and we are dealing with one such community in this novel.  Detective Eve Bennet had been a part of this community in her past and we also get to see that in flashbacks. We see how her past affects the present and how her knowledge with the community helps with the case.  I don’t know if what was mentioned in the novel with polygamist community is factual, but it can be downright frightening what these women are forced to go through!

The reasoning for my four-star review was two things:  I was not surprised to find out who the killer was, it was a bit predictable for me.  The second reason was the narrator.  It took a while to get used to her voice. Keogh came off as nasally to me, but over time I adjusted and was able to really enjoy the audiobook. 

I was not surprised to find out that Roberts is a retired homicide detective, and she takes her knowledge and gives it to us in this fictionalized novel. I look forward to future installments of the Detective Eve Bennet series!

Many thanks to Bookouture Audio for granting me an audio arc to listen to and review. 

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK