rabbit hole book review guardian

Book Review: Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody

By doreen sheridan.

Kate Brody’s arresting debut novel delves deep into the heart of a modern young woman trying to make sense of a life of tragedy with its unrelenting tides of grief. When Teddy Angstrom’s father kills himself on the tenth anniversary of her sister’s disappearance, Teddy and her mother Clare are almost too numb to react. Angie Angstrom hadn’t been her father’s favorite daughter, exactly, but he had been the only person capable of handling the teenage girl in the years before she vanished. Teddy had certainly relied on him to help protect her from her volatile elder sister:

When she did shake me awake so that she could yell at me for some perceived slight, some way that I thought I was better than her or ignored her at school or whatever, I would tune it out and wish for Dad. And most of the time, he heard me calling for him in my head. Most of the time, he was there within a minute or two to whisk Angie downstairs for a pot of coffee and a serious talk and a lot of crying.   Mom thought he was too soft, too sympathetic. She thought Angie was getting caught on purpose, so that she could get his attention.

Dad and Angie had both suffered from substance abuse issues, a problem that was only exacerbated for Dad after Angie went missing. Teddy had known that her father was damaged, but only discovers the extent of his grief after Clare asks her for help sorting through his personal effects and their bills. Teddy is horrified to discover how broke her mother is now, and mystified by the puzzling expenses her father had incurred before he died. As she seeks to close his accounts and make life easier for her mother, she finds that he had been involved with various online communities still seeking answers as to what might have happened to Angie.

Unable to resist carrying on his work, Teddy starts calling the numbers on his burner phone and making posts on the websites he frequented. Her inquiries soon bring her not only to a romantic entanglement with a figure from her past, but also into the orbit of a disarmingly quirky teenager named Mickey, who reminds her uncomfortably of Angie. And while, at first, her sleuthing is in service of her father’s memory, she quickly comes to the realization that this is all her way of dealing with her still unresolved anguish over both his death and Angie’s disappearance. At least she knows why her father died. No one in her family has yet been able to figure out what happened to Angie and why.

Because of this, Teddy is still tormented by her memories of her sister, and by her own actions ten years prior:

Other times—most of the time—I felt good about keeping Angie’s meaningless secrets. Angie— I would think, back when I still almost-prayed to her— Ange, I told them next to nothing . And in my prayers, she would pat my head appreciatively. I imagined her coming back and realizing how seriously I took our confidence. I imagined us growing closer than we’d ever been. Angie taking me seriously. Both of us in our twenties, in our thirties—best friends. Angie realizing that I was the only one who cared about who she was. The two of us living like sisters in a movie, laughing and giggling in the daylight together, crying with each other at night.

Haunted as much by the loss of her sister as an actuality as she is by the loss of her sister as a possibility, Teddy is driven to make increasingly risky choices in her pursuit of the truth. But when her own survival is at stake, will Teddy be able to prioritize her present instead of chasing after a shadowed past or a fantasy future that looks ever less likely with each of her impulsive moves?

Pensive and grave, Rabbit Hole examines how the Internet allows the emotionally unstable to not only escape from reality but also to find community, for better or worse. Instead of processing her grief, Teddy allows modern technology to distract her with hits of dopamine, in much the same way that older generations used mind-altering substances or other dissociative devices to cope with their pain. While this book doesn’t provide definitive answers as to what happened to Angie, the aftereffects of her disappearance are clearly outlined, with both unflinching realism and an almost painful level of empathy. Teddy is a disaster, but she’s also very human and vivid, the perfectly portrayed protagonist of this dark psychological thriller.

Learn More Or Order A Copy

Book Review: She’s Not Sorry by Jeff Ayers

Book review: cheater by karen rose, cooking the books: a catered quilting bee by isis crawford, book review: how to solve your own murder by kristen perrin, doreen sheridan.

ⓒ 2024 Foreword Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved.

• Book Reviews
• Foreword Reviews

Rabbit Hole

Kate Brody Soho Crime ( Jan 2, 2024 ) Hardcover $25.95 ( 384pp ) 978-1-64129-487-4

A father’s suicide shakes loose family secrets, reigniting interest in a cold case, in Kate Brody’s engrossing thriller Rabbit Hole .

A decade past her older half-sister’s disappearance, Teddy teaches in the high school where her last name became infamous. There’s still local sympathy—and judgment—around her family’s story: Angie, the disappeared daughter, was both Mark’s niece and his stepdaughter; Mark left his wife and son to marry Angie’s widowed mother. Though these decisions were all made before Teddy’s time, her childhood was still shadowed by their implications. When Mark drives off a bridge, Teddy’s mother is the only family member who she’s left with––at least, the only one who’s willing to talk to anyone in her family’s shunned branch.

Bereft, Teddy begins to investigate what pushed her father over the edge. A true crime message board proffers leads; it connects Teddy to Mickey, who’s morose, younger, and remembers Angie’s disappearance well, and to Bill, a former classmate who teaches her about firearms and in whose arms she seeks comfort. Pulled against her better judgment toward conspiracy theories and wild suspicions, Teddy begins to cross ethical lines. She brings a weapon to school. She forces herself into her half-brother’s family, prompting legal warnings. And she begins to wonder about becoming a mother herself, in a town where everyone would rather she not.

Teddy is a complicated heroine whose ill-advised decisions and self-destructive tendencies make her less than sympathetic, though also impossible to ignore. Her descent is swift and systematic, leading to sensationalist developments and voyeuristic turns. No one and nothing, she learns, should be trusted—including her own tangled memories.

The dark corners of the internet feed a teacher’s investigation into her sister’s probable murder in the contemporary thriller Rabbit Hole .

Reviewed by Michelle Anne Schingler January / February 2024

Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Taking too long? Try again or cancel this request .

Rabbit Hole

Isbn: 9781641294874, published: january 2024.

Press Materials

Hardcover $25.95

eBook $14.99

Description

A twisty, sexy debut exploring the dark side of true crime fandom and the blurry lines of female friendship, perfect for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Gillian Flynn,  My Favorite Murder , and  Fleabag

Conspiracy theories from Reddit seduce a disaster-prone woman into an obsession with solving her older sister’s cold-c...

Conspiracy theories from Reddit seduce a disaster-prone woman into an obsession with solving her older sister’s cold-case disappearance

Ten years ago, Theodora “Teddy” Angstrom’s older sister, Angie, disappeared. Her case remains unsolved. Now Teddy’s father, Mark, has killed himself. Unbeknownst to Mark’s family, he had been active in a Reddit community fixated on Angie, and Teddy can’t help but fall down the same rabbit hole.

Teddy’s investigation quickly gets her in hot water with her colleagues at the pretentious high school where she teaches English, her gun-nut boyfriend, and her long-lost half brother. Further complicating matters is Teddy’s growing obsession with Mickey, a charming amateur sleuth who is eerily keen on helping her solve the case.

Bewitched by Mickey, Teddy begins losing her grip on morality. As she struggles to reconcile new information with old memories, her erratic behavior reaches a fever pitch, but she won’t stop until she finds Angie—or destroys herself in the process.

A biting critique of the internet’s voyeuristic entitlement,  Rabbit Hole  is an outrageous and heart-wrenching character study of a mind twisted by grief—and a page-turning mystery that’s as addictive as a late-night Reddit binge.

Choose a retailer

“Vivid, beautiful writing and disturbing in the best way,  Rabbit Hole  is absolutely unputdownable.”

—Mila Kunis

“I fell down  Rabbit Hole  in an obsessive spiral. So many good twists! It's a pitch-black story about ambiguous loss, and a blazingly feminist take on the self-destructive pull of the internet. And it's poignant. And it's unflinching. And that ending! Kate Brody is a star.”

—Kate Reed Petty, author of True Story

“A searing portrayal of loss, adolescence, and grief with all the twists and turns of a thriller. Teddy is a fantastically compelling narrator and her relationship with Mickey is twisted yet perfectly believable. I tore through this in a few days—a mindblowing debut.”

—Heather Darwent, author of The Things We Do to Our Friends

“Kate Brody’s  Rabbit Hole  is a smart and edgy mystery that kept me turning pages feverishly from start to finish. I found myself tumbling down the rabbit hole right alongside Teddy, the novel’s flawed and fascinating protagonist, desperate to solve the mystery of her troubled sister Angie’s disappearance. This is a story about girlhood, grief, the slippery nature of memory, and our society’s true crime obsession, and Brody delivers insights on these themes in prose that is both raw and beautiful. As we follow Teddy on her downward spiral, we are forced to ask: How much is the truth worth?”

—Alexis Schaitkin, author of Saint X

“Blistering, sexy, concentric and dark,  Rabbit Hole  is the ultimate literary thriller for the digital age, a reddit whodunnit that is at once hyper modern, and grounded by the deep emotionality of Kate Brody’s enduring questions about grief and girlhood, caretaking and identity and how, in the absence of truth, to live a meaningful life. An unputdownable debut from a writer I would follow anywhere.”

—Allie Rowbottom, author of Jell-O Girls and Aesthetica

“A gritty, realistically ambivalent look at how insiders and outsiders experience crime, with a realistic main character to boot.”

—First Clue Reviews

Books | How Reddit’s true crime communities helped…

Share this:.

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)
• Food & Drink
• Amusement Parks
• Theater & Arts

Things To Do

Books | how reddit’s true crime communities helped inspire kate brody’s ‘rabbit hole’, the los angeles-based writer tells the story of a woman investigating the decade-long disappearance of her sister after her father dies in an apparent suicide..

We’re all familiar with Internet rabbit holes. You go to Google with one question, and before you know it, you’re knee-deep in obscure Wikipedia pages or YouTube videos featuring people very excited to tell you their analysis of something that happened decades ago.

Kate Brody knows this phenomenon well. Her debut novel, “Rabbit Hole,” tells the story of Teddy, a woman investigating the disappearance of her sister, Angie, 10 years prior; she’s spurred to take another look at the case after her father dies in an apparent suicide.

See also : Sign up for our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more

Teddy learns that her father couldn’t let go of Angie’s case, and frequently haunted Reddit communities that discussed her disappearance. Teddy falls down the same rabbit hole, becoming grimly fascinated with conspiracy theories surrounding the case, and meets Mickey, a college student who knew her father. One thing becomes clear as the novel progresses: Teddy is beginning to become unmoored from reality.

Brody talked about “Rabbit Hole” from her home in Los Angeles. This conversation has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Q: How did the inspiration for this novel come to you?

I was teaching high school English at the time, so I had Teddy’s job, and the kids I taught were really into Reddit. I was slightly too old to be into Reddit the way that they were, but I was curious about it. It was in the news as this kind of boogeyman at the time, a lot of the incel communities were springing up there. So I dug into it a little bit and it just seemed fascinating, especially the true crime communities on Reddit, which had almost an old-school Internet feel, a chat room feel. And I liked that about it. I knew that it was going to be a crime novel to some degree, but I had initially conceived of it as a road trip book too, so the Teddy/Mickey relationship was right there. Everything else changed a lot in the drafts.

Q: Teddy has lost her sister and her father. Did you find it difficult to write about those two similar but different varieties of grief?

The harder one was the parental loss because she’s in this really stagnant period of her life. The loss of her sister has kind of unmoored them all for so long. So the question of how the loss of her father would affect her when she’s already in that space was the one I wanted to answer with the book. I think that’s why her grief takes an unusual form. She just doesn’t have anything else to give. She’s kind of cried out, and it’s so complicated by all of this information she finds out about her dad, so it gets twisted into this obsession that finds an outlet in these conspiracy theories.

I had been working on different projects about grief for a few years. I lost my dad, and that kind of shook me up, and at least my experience of it was those first couple months you’re almost in a daze. So in the immediate aftermath of his death, it made a lot of sense to me that she would just busy herself. She jumps right back into work, she jumps into this new relationship, she jumps into these online conspiracy theories. Grief is such a huge thing that you can’t really process it at all until you have some space from it.

Q: What kind of research went into this in terms of the true-crime communities on Reddit?

I [initially] had a very negative impression of the site. Before I had even looked at the true crime communities, I was interested in the incel culture on Reddit. My sister went to UC Santa Barbara and there was the [2014 Isla Vista] shootings while she was there, with that man who had that misogynistic manifesto. But I ended up spending a lot of time on Reddit, and actually kind of grew to love it. I don’t use it that much anymore, but it is addictive. I understand what people like about it. The community aspect of it is interesting to me, and I wanted to include some of that in the book. I liked the idea that this is a place for people like Teddy, who are without community, to find people.

Q: Teddy descends into what you could almost call an addiction, and starts losing touch with herself. What is it about her that makes her vulnerable to that? Is it just the grief?

She is somebody who really never developed an identity of her own. She was a teenager with a lot of potential, the golden child of the family. And when her sister disappeared, she just stopped. She’s in this kind of arrested development. She hasn’t really left home. She doesn’t really have a lot of friends. She doesn’t think about the future. She doesn’t think about the past. She is just in pure moment-to-moment survival mode and she’s also adolescent in many ways. So when she meets Mickey, who is this very charismatic adolescent essentially, who also resembles her sister, she is very susceptible to that because she doesn’t really know who she is. She’s not really established as a person.

Q: How did you decide to write this novel in the first person present tense?

Teddy lacks self-awareness, so it’s hard to include a ton of introspection. She’s not going to understand why she’s doing these things all the time. But I also need the reader to feel that it’s organic and inevitable, so that was kind of a tough line to toe. I did feel that the first-person present tense was important for this story because she’s not really processing what happened in the past. She’s also not planning for the future or any kind of life for herself. So that present tense – What am I doing now? How do I get through today? – felt like the right avenue for the story. 

Q: I’ve got to ask this: Teddy’s last name is Angstrom and the book is called “Rabbit Hole.” Rabbit Angstrom is the main character of John Updike’s “Rabbit, Run.” Was that a kind of shout-out?

Yes, I was just kind of having fun with that. I’m not great at naming characters. I always struggle with it, especially last names. But I love “Rabbit, Run,” and that was a book that I had studied in grad school with Mary Gaitskill, who I adored and who I thought was such an insightful teacher. So it was just a little wink.

• Newsroom Guidelines
• Report an Error

More in Books

Books | Kathryn Scanlan published ‘Kick the Latch’ in 2022. It’s winning awards in 2024

Books | Rock star photographer David Alexander focuses on ordinary people for debut book

Books | ‘Sleeping Giants’ novelist Rene Denfeld explores the harm done in the name of helping

Books | This week’s bestsellers at Southern California’s independent bookstores

Home » Streaming Service

Rabbit Hole Season 1 Review – a highly enjoyable thriller with twists at every turn

There’s just something about a show that keeps you guessing where things are headed. In particular, when each episode ends with a twist and revelation you didn’t see coming. That’s what you have in the series Rabbit Hole . Led by the always interesting and dependable television star Kiefer Sutherland, this Paramount+ streaming series is a suspenseful, highly entertaining thriller with a well-timed sense of comic relief.

Table of Contents

Rabbit hole season 1 review and plot summary, is the tv show rabbit hole good.

• Where was the TV Show Rabbit Hole filmed - a breakdown of locations

The setup is an amusing one. Sutherland plays John Weir, a private espionage operative for hire. John isn’t like most data collection/intelligence workers. The man lives by a code.

He won’t help big companies manipulate citizens into cancer-causing products. Nor will he help governments topple opposing countries or squash uprisings, even if that’s where the real money is. John will rob the rich by pitting conglomerates against each other.

For instance, he cons a wealthy yuppy hedge fund manager by having them sell off an erectile dysfunction medication stock to tank the price in Tokyo so someone else can scoop it up at a fraction of the cost. One rich a*****e loses money. Another one scoops it up.

To John Weir, this is the circle of life, and he is happy to pick up scraps for profit. That is until he wants to hit a big payday from his estranged best friend, Valence (Jason Butler Harner) , who he has known since grade school.

Valence wants John and his team to take a couple of photos, nothing tawdry, of a Treasury Agent ( Rob Yang ) and the CEO of Baromar Group. Why? Because a rival corporation wants to feed the narrative that they are in bed with the Treasury Department.

The only problem is after the job is done, John is framed for the murder of that very government employee. He is now on the run, using what his father told him about going off the grid and figuring out why he was framed.

Rabbit Hole is the creation of John Requa and Glenn Ficarra ; you can see their fingerprints all over the series. The frequent collaborators have a wide and varied filmography, from comedies, and animation, to crime films that always aim to pull the wool over the viewer’s eyes.

That’s at the crux of Rabbit Hole’s enjoyment. As Sutherland’s Weir has you on the edge of your seat with an off-the-cuff confidence game, the star then has you laughing with a perfectly placed moment of comic relief. (The fistfight with a much younger opponent is the perfect example of adding welcomed fun in the most stressful situations).

The scripts also utilize flashback storytelling tools that set up the viewer for some remarkable reveals. The twists are quick and frequent.

This is a hard show to describe and go over performances because it gives away much of the fun in the first four episodes. I will say Charles Dance , who plays a John Ketchum type, a former Army psychiatrist, is terrific.

He’s cold, sinister, and often hilarious in the role. He has a great rapport with Sutherland. In fact, so do much of the cast. That includes Meta Golding , who plays Weir’s somewhat love interest.

They have a fun, bickering chemistry that is hard to ignore. Even the mutual respect Sutherland’s character has with Enid Graham ‘s trolling FBI agent is enjoyable.

I also want to mention there’s an actor who I cannot name, who is so funny with his obsession with making excuses for his unfaithful wife. I cannot reveal the actor or character because it would take away from the enjoyment of a well-written and plotted script.

While I have showered the show with praise, I will say some of the con games come together too cleanly.

You will also question how Sutherland can get into the most secure places without much resistance. Especially when only armed with an authoritative attitude.

Rabbit Hole is a series where you cannot possibly trust any of the characters and offers twists at every turn. The show is led by the steller Kiefer Sutherland, in his best role since 24 , and brings a welcomed comic relief to the role.

This Paramount+ series has become appointment television.

Where was the TV Show Rabbit Hole filmed – a breakdown of locations

Location 1 – ontario, canada.

Ontario, Canada (Image Credit to Fodors Travel Guide)

Rabbit Hole pretty much takes place in New York, and plenty of establishing shots set the scene, but would you believe, through the magic of filmmaking, one of the significant locations for filming was in Canada?

Ontario has long been used as a cheaper filming location, and the architecture and streets are very easily converted to look like the mean streets of New York. Filming in Canada took place between May and September 2022.

Location 2 – Toronto, Ontario

Toronto and its screen production industry are so adept at hosting film and television companies it makes the whole experience incredibly smooth and accessible. Toronto has been used as a location for New York.

Still, it also doubles well for Boston, Washington, Chicago, other US locales, and international cities such as Paris, London, Morocco, Saigon, and Tehran.

For the production of Rabbit Hole , the set for the New York police station was the Toronto Metropolitan University at 350 Victoria Street. Social media also provided some pictures from natives of the city who spotted cameras and crews filming at Adelaide and York Street.

This location included a fake entrance to a New York subway.

Location 3 – Hamilton, Ontario 

This location has seen quite a bit of filmmaking action over the years. Hamilton has been featured in productions such as Gone In 6o Seconds , Four Brothers, and The Mayor of Kingstown .

The team behind Rabbit Hole used a home on Amelia Street that was used as the house for one of the characters’ mothers. An area around Gore Park at 1 Hughson Street South was also scouted for some filming, and the Royal Connaught Hotel at 118 King Street East in Hamilton is changed into a New York City hotel called Decatur West NYC.

The set was dressed to make it more like New York. Some of the tricks used in production include lining the streets with yellow New York cabs, draping the outside of buildings with American flags, and of course, in case the viewer is particularly eagle-eyed, changing the license plates on cars on the set to US ones.

Instagram is a good way to see the on-set locations, and if you head to assistant director Rick Morris ‘ page, there are a few photos to check out.

What did you think of Rabbit Hole Season 1? Comment below.

More Articles on Rabbit Hole

• Will there be a Rabbit Hole Season 2?
• TV Shows like Rabbit Hole you must watch

Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin season 1, episode 6 recap - "Scars"

57 Seconds (2023) Review

This website cannot be displayed as your browser is extremely out of date.

Please update your browser to one of the following: Chrome , Firefox , Edge

• ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

RABBIT HOLE

by Mark Billingham ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 3, 2021

A great premise generates some powerful episodes. Only the identification of the culprit is a letdown.

The creator of DI Tom Thorne presents a stand-alone whodunit with a most unusual setting: the psychiatric ward of a northwest London hospital.

DC Alice Armitage, who suffered an acute case of PTSD when her partner was stabbed to death during a routine search for a culprit, became so disturbed that she conked her boyfriend, Andy Flanagan, with a wine bottle and was committed to the Shackleton Unit of Hendon Community Hospital. At least that’s the story she tells everyone who’ll listen. Though it’s clear that Al is a patient in the Fleet Ward, however, it’s far from clear to anyone else that she was ever with Met homicide; it may be that she’s just as delusional as posh drug abuser Lucy, bipolar chess player Ilias, compulsive singer Lauren, kilt-wearing Tony, needy young Shaun, or Graham, who bangs his head so frequently against a wall that the staff keeps having to repaint the spot. Ordinarily the question of Al’s professional employment would be moot, but when Shaun’s lover, Kevin Connolly, is smothered with a pillow and drugs are discovered in his room, Al swings into gear even though no one else accepts her bona fides—not the other patients, not Debbie McClure or any of the other nurses and staffers, and certainly not DC Steve Seddon or any of the other officers tasked with investigating. Al must launch an investigation on her own even as she’s confined to the ward, doped with medications, and treated to the opposite of cooperation from the officials.

Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-8021-5870-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly

Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021

SUSPENSE | THRILLER | SUSPENSE | CRIME & LEGAL THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE

Share your opinion of this book

More by Mark Billingham

BOOK REVIEW

by Mark Billingham

YOU'D LOOK BETTER AS A GHOST

by Joanna Wallace ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2024

Squeamish readers will find this isn’t their cup of tea.

Dexter meets Killing Eve in Wallace’s dark comic thriller debut.

While accepting condolences following her father’s funeral, 30-something narrator Claire receives an email saying that one of her paintings is a finalist for a prize. But her joy is short-circuited the next morning when she learns in a second apologetic note that the initial email had been sent to the wrong Claire. The sender, Lucas Kane, is “terribly, terribly sorry” for his mistake. Claire, torn between her anger and suicidal thoughts, has doubts about his sincerity and stalks him to a London pub, where his fate is sealed: “I stare at Lucas Kane in real life, and within moments I know. He doesn’t look sorry.” She dispatches and buries Lucas in her back garden, but this crime does not go unnoticed. Proud of her meticulous standards as a serial killer, Claire wonders if her grief for her father is making her reckless as she seeks to identify the blackmailer among the members of her weekly bereavement support group. The female serial killer as antihero is a growing subgenre (see Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killer , 2018), and Wallace’s sociopathic protagonist is a mordantly amusing addition; the tool she uses to interact with ordinary people while hiding her homicidal nature is especially sardonic: “Whenever I’m unsure of how I’m expected to respond, I use a cliché. Even if I’m not sure what it means, even if I use it incorrectly, no one ever seems to mind.” The well-written storyline tackles some tough subjects—dementia, elder abuse, and parental cruelty—but the convoluted plot starts to drag at the halfway point. Given the lack of empathy in Claire’s narration, most of the characters come across as not very likable, and the reader tires of her sneering contempt.

Pub Date: April 16, 2024

ISBN: 9780143136170

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Penguin

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024

GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER | THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE

DAUGHTER OF MINE

by Megan Miranda ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2024

Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.

The loss of her police officer father and the discovery of an abandoned car in a local lake raise chilling questions regarding a young woman’s family history.

When Hazel Sharp returns to her hometown of Mirror Lake, North Carolina, for her father’s memorial, she and the other townspeople are confronted by a challenging double whammy: As they’re grieving the loss of beloved longtime police officer Detective Perry Holt, a disturbing sight appears in the lake, whose waterline is receding because of an ongoing drought—an old, unidentifiable car, which has likely been lurking there for years. Hazel temporarily leaves her Charlotte-based building-renovation business in the capable hands of her partners and reconnects with her brothers, Caden and Gage; her Uncle Roy; her old fling and neighbor, Nico; and her schoolfriend, Jamie, now a mother and married to Caden. Tiny, relentless suspicions rise to the metaphorical surface along with that waterlogged vehicle: There have been a slew of minor break-ins; two people go missing; and then, a second abandoned car is discovered. The novel digs deeper into Hazel’s family history—her father was a widow when he married Hazel’s mother, who later left the family, absconding with money and jewels—and Miranda, a consummate professional when it comes to exposing the small community tensions that naturally arise when people live in close proximity for generations, exposes revelation after twisty revelation: “Everything mattered disproportionately in a small town. Your success, but also your failure. Everyone knows might as well have been our town motto.”

Pub Date: April 9, 2024

ISBN: 9781668010440

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books

SUSPENSE | THRILLER | PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE

More by Megan Miranda

by Megan Miranda

• Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
• News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
• Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
• Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
• Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
• More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
• About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

• Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Contact us: 1-800-316-9361 or email [email protected].

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Challengers Link to Challengers
• Abigail Link to Abigail
• Arcadian Link to Arcadian

New TV Tonight

• The Jinx: Season 2
• Knuckles: Season 1
• THEM: The Scare: Season 2
• Velma: Season 2
• The Big Door Prize: Season 2
• Secrets of the Octopus: Season 1
• Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
• Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story: Season 1
• We're Here: Season 4

Most Popular TV on RT

• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• Fallout: Season 1
• The Sympathizer: Season 1
• Ripley: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• Under the Bridge: Season 1
• Sugar: Season 1
• A Gentleman in Moscow: Season 1
• Parasyte: The Grey: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Under the Bridge Link to Under the Bridge
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

The Best TV Seasons Certified Fresh at 100%

Best TV Shows of 2024: Best New Series to Watch Now

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

Weekend Box Office Results: Civil War Earns Second Victory in a Row

Deadpool & Wolverine : Release Date, Trailer, Cast & More

• Trending on RT
• Rebel Moon: Part Two - The Scargiver
• The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
• Play Movie Trivia

Season 1 – Rabbit Hole

Where to watch, rabbit hole — season 1.

Watch Rabbit Hole — Season 1 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Although Rabbit Hole tumbles into one twist too many, Kiefer Sutherland remains compelling in his welcome return to the espionage genre.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Kiefer Sutherland

Charles Dance

Dr. Ben Wilson

Meta Golding

Hailey Winton

Enid Graham

Josephine 'Jo' Madi

Edward Homm

Popular TV on Streaming

Tv news & guides, this show is featured in the following articles., critics reviews, season info.

• Biggest New Books
• Non-Fiction
• All Categories
• First Readers Club Daily Giveaway
• How It Works

Rabbit Hole

Embed our reviews widget for this book

Get the Book Marks Bulletin

Email address:

• Categories Fiction Fantasy Graphic Novels Historical Horror Literary Literature in Translation Mystery, Crime, & Thriller Poetry Romance Speculative Story Collections Non-Fiction Art Biography Criticism Culture Essays Film & TV Graphic Nonfiction Health History Investigative Journalism Memoir Music Nature Politics Religion Science Social Sciences Sports Technology Travel True Crime

April 22, 2024

• ​​ On the first edition of Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language .
• An interview with author and historian Richard Slotkin
• The unique experience of writing in China

Rabbit Hole review: Kiefer Sutherland leads a ludicrous yet amusing thriller

The slick paramount plus espionage series starts slowly but eventually flourishes, thanks to its outlandish twists.

The relatively mild premiere episode of Paramount+’s new spy drama Rabbit Hole doesn’t do justice to the wild storylines about to unfold. The show , which kicks off March 26, opens with espionage agent John Weir (Kiefer Sutherland) in a church. While in the confessional, he says, “Maybe he [god] can tell me what the fuck is going on.” As a matter of fact, no one can explain what goes down in this timely but bizarre TV series, where it often feels like co-creators John Requa and Glenn Ficarra ( Crazy Stupid Love ) are making it up as they go. In each episode, they pull out a barrage of plot twists from their magical hat that effectively undoes what they’ve previously established. It’s all ludicrous, but against all odds,   Rabbit Hole turns it into a somewhat compelling series.

Related Content

Rabbit Hole feels like a CBS drama. (Think Person Of Interest or MacGyver, dialed up several notches.) The show takes advantage of its streaming platform to tell a jumbled but fast-paced narrative in its almost 50-minute outings (the first four episodes were provided for review), even though it takes a while to get going. Shocking cliffhangers and jaw-dropping reveals throw the show into a dizzying loop. Or down a rabbit hole, if you will. But it becomes a fun endeavor once the series’ gimmick is embraced for what it is: a vivid exploration of the surveillance age told through tropes and subtle hilarity.

Sutherland’s foray into this genre includes serious dramas such as Fox’s long-running 24 and the ABC-turned-Netflix political series Designated Survivor . Rabbit Hole allows the actor to portray a smug, more charming, and less vexed version of Jack Bauer and Tom Kirkman. Sutherland is clearly enjoying playing a cockier, more flirtatious protagonist who throws out one-liners every so often, and his performance keeps Rabbit Hole ’s kookiness bearable. Don’t worry; he still brings depth to John Weir (who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks) but without the constant crease lines.

John’s profession includes manipulating stock markets and other forms of corporate sabotage (think infiltrating focus groups, creating fake news stories, etc.) with the help of his recruits—in case you were wondering what an espionage agent does. When he’s accused of murders he didn’t commit, John teams up with misfits like former mentor Ben (Charles Dance), one-night hookup Hailey (Meta Golding), and Edward (Rob Yang), who works in the Treasury Department, to restore his reputation. The back-and-forth between Sutherland and Dance is particularly amusing because of their tense relationship, which is illuminated further by flashbacks.

John’s crew is up against an anonymous big bad called Crowley, and RH examines how data mining and excessive internet use have corroded every inch of our lives. Much like Peacock’s The Capture , this series unpacks the side effects of using AI and exploiting tech as John’s life is turned upside down thanks to hacking and manufactured footage.

RH isn’t as much a cautionary tale as it is a crime caper made for entertainment. It looks slick and expensive, with quality production design, cinematography, and direction. But the show can also get corny, like a wrongful arrest scene where John gets everyone on the street to chant “We see you” at the cops. Or when he’s kidnapping someone and says, “Patty Hearst had to be easier than this.” Cue the eye roll.

There are missteps in pacing because, after a slow start, Rabbit Hole suddenly shifts gears. The writing for characters beyond the four leads is downright tragic, especially for the FBI’s Jo Madi (Enid Graham). The financial crimes agent persistently follows John everywhere, hoping to arrest him by ... chatting him up? Making clear she’s gunning for him? Oversharing her personal life? She does all of these things, sometimes while belittling her wife and teen daughter in the process. It’s a confusing arc that, at least in the first four episodes, doesn’t improve.

Although Rabbit Hole arrives the same weekend as the return of Succession and Yellowjackets , it isn’t a prestige drama. It’s also not a thoughtful spy series like the recent Slow Horses . And that’s okay. It’s more of an “enjoy as you go” thrill ride. The four main performances are terrific. Dance and Yang get to play fast and loose with comedy, and Sutherland and Golding share an exciting chemistry. The show thrives on pulling the rug out from under us and delivering its twists with panache. Rabbit Hole doesn’t take itself seriously—so the audience doesn’t have to either.

Rabbit Hole premieres March 26 on Paramount+.

Down the Rabbit Hole

• QAnon and On: A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults by Van Badham Hardie Grant Books 471pp Published November 2021 ISBN: 9781743797877

My initial impression of Van Badham’s new book was hardly affirmative. On its cover, the words QAnon and On are set against a yellow background emblazoned with a white spiral. This is suggestive of a Swinging 60s pop record, and thus threatens to trivialise a phenomenon that has caused untold grief and suffering.

Actually, the cover might be a reference to falling ‘down the rabbit hole’. That phrase, lifted from Lewis Carroll, refers to the disorienting sensation of becoming obsessed with a particular internet narrative; that obsession escalates, and one’s critical faculties erode further, with every click. Mercifully, this kind of sensationalism ­­– a sensationalism that is further evidenced in the subtitle A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults – features sparingly in the pages that follow. The book has some strengths, though there are areas that could have been explored in far greater depth.

Badham commences by discussing her interest in ‘the internet’s extremist underworld’. This began in 2013, when she was writing for Guardian Australia and found herself on the receiving end of virulent misogyny from readers. These attacks unfolded around the same time as ‘Gamergate’, an online campaign premised on the anxiety that a misandrist

‘plot’ was brewing to destroy online gaming. Gamergate was energised not only by hatred of women, but also a distinct conspiracy logic; a sense that powerful actors (feminists, most notably the US commentator Anita Sarkeesian) were scheming to oppress and marginalise a vulnerable section of the community – in this case, male gamers.

Of course, conspiracies are not unique to the internet era. As Badham points out, though, the online world has provided fertile grounds for conspiracy theories to flourish. Thanks to social networking sites and other Web 2.0 affordances, these theories have spread across global borders at a speed that would have been unimaginable even twenty years ago. The author explores other factors that have contributed to the appeal of such narratives. These include the ‘tribal identity’ that conspiracies offer, the sense of being part of a collective that is awake to the carefully concealed behind-the-scenes machinations that threaten the populace. They also include a sense of feeling empowered in a situation where one otherwise has limited power (the past two years, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the ceaseless slew of apocalyptic headlines, spring to mind here). And finally, Badham discusses the ‘participatory’ nature of these conspiracies, their positioning of followers as fighters against invisible but insidious powers.

Badham surveys a number of popular internet conspiracies. These include ‘Pizzagate’, a 2016 theory that Hillary Clinton (then a presidential nominee) was leading a ring of child rapists whose headquarters were beneath a Washington D.C. pizzeria. She also consider theories that wealthy businessman George Soros, political staffer Huma Abedin and disgraced former politician Anthony Weiner belong to a ‘“cultural Marxist” conspiracy that the racist hard right … had been pushing for years.’ These theories all demonstrate a visceral disdain for ‘elites’ – individuals who have (or who are perceived to have) considerable degrees of cultural influence, not to mention money. The theories are also fuelled by anti-Semitism and Islamophobia (Soros and Weiner are Jewish; Abedin is Muslim).

The book focuses largely on the best-known online conspiracy cult, QAnon. This emerged on 4Chan, a social media platform that has enjoyed popularity within the Right, around 2017, and is based around cryptic missives posted by an omnipotent overlord known only as ‘Q’. These missives are known as ‘Qdrops’ and are designed to be decoded by followers. Qdrops call for followers to rise up and take action against the elites who supposedly rule the world. Qdrops also venerate Donald Trump, a man renowned for his stirring up of racism, misogyny and Islamophobia (before being suspended from the platform). QAnon supporters were amongst those who stormed the Capitol building on 6 January 2021, in response to the baseless conspiracy that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and that Trump had been robbed of the presidency. At a rally immediately preceding the insurrection, Trump urged followers to ‘fight like hell’ against this injustice. The Capitol insurrection led to at least five deaths and multiple arrests.

Badham traces the evolution of QAnon from a fringe phenomenon to mainstream news. In Australia, this mainstreaming was evidenced by an episode of the current affairs program Four Corners , which will be traversed later in the review. Badham chronicles the psychological and physical damage caused by this movement. This damage is what makes QAnon and, indeed, all the conspiracies discussed in this book so dangerous. Badham goes on to discuss some of the ways in which the influence and the violence of conspiracy movements might be mitigated.

Throughout QAnon and On , Badham quotes a number of social media posts pertaining to the topic at hand. Some are critical of internet conspiracies; for example, the book opens with a June 2021 tweet from Lucy Turnbull in which she recalls being confronted by a stranger who described her and her husband, Malcolm, as ‘paedophiles’(accusations of paedophilia are commonly lobbed by QAnon proponents). Many of the posts appear to have been penned by conspiracists; witness the warnings about ‘limp-wristed cuckserves’ and ‘Luciferian’ leaders, these also being terms of derision by followers of conspiracies such as QAnon. The posts appear suddenly within the text, suggesting how conspiracy (il)logic pops up unpredictably, without warning, in digital discourses. Yet while these posts might seem random, they are not; the posts from QAnon actors nicely buttress the points that Badham makes about the viciousness and irrationality of that movement.

QAnon and On is written with clarity and demonstrates a poignant compassion for conspiracy actors and their loved ones. An example is the chapter in which the author interviews members of both groups. This chapter eschews those stereotypes of conspiracy actors as erratic, tinfoil hat-wearing freaks. They are human beings, whose lives have been irrevocably impacted by bizarre online (and, increasingly, offline) narratives that include QAnon. Badham convincingly argues that conspiracy actors are suffering and that they should not be shunned, however tempting that might be.

Badham displays an impressive grasp of conspiracy rhetoric. She carefully defines key terms (e.g., ‘awakening’, ‘sheeple’), and the ‘us-and-them binary thinking’ – with ‘us’ being the all-knowing conspiracists and ‘them’ being not only the bad guys, but also those ‘sheeple’ who aren’t awake to the dangers afoot. The author demonstrates how this rhetoric is used to create and sustain conspiracy worlds. These are worlds in which dastardly plans are always being concocted by those in power – with the exception, of course, of Donald Trump, who’s got humanity’s best interests in mind, or so we’re led to believe. In these worlds, even innocuous items of clothing – red shoes, for example are read as being hints by the wearer that they are involved in nefarious activity. In conspiracy worlds, there is clearly defined ‘good’ and ‘evil’, with ‘evil’ represented by illiberal elites like Hillary Clinton and George Soros, and ‘good’ represented by those who have awoken to the malevolence surrounding them. Conspiracists frequently understand themselves to be quite literally on the side of God; their opponents are commonly aligned with Satanism.

Badham could have examined more closely why certain tropes have been conspiracy mainstays. The most notable trope is child sexual abuse, which figures prominently in QAnon narratives, and which also formed the basis of ‘Pizzagate’. This reader wondered how the potency of child sexual abuse narratives has been amplified by revelations of sexual misconduct against minors by institutions such as the Catholic Church and individuals such as the late UK comic Jimmy Savile. That latter point raises an issue that Badham really should have said more about, namely that conspiracies – even the outlandish ones like QAnon – do contain shreds of truth. More specifically, conspiracies acknowledge that real world injustices do occur, that power can be misused to sometimes excruciating ends. The existence of these real world injustices surely fuels cultural anxieties surrounding child sexual abuse, and makes allegations of such abuse the rhetorical tools de jour for conspiracists.

Elsewhere, Badham risks giving credence to the conspiratorial thinking she’s critiquing. See her discussion of Tim Stewart, the QAnon-supporting property developer who has counted Scott Morrison among his friends and who was the subject of a 2021 Four Corners episode. That episode made much of the suggestion that Stewart held a kind of sway over the Prime Minister. For example, in a national apology to victims of institutionalised sexual abuse, Morrison referred to ‘ritual sexual abuse’. The latter has been a common talking point amongst conspiracist and also a real world problem or at least, a problem that has its genesis in real world activities. The Australian criminologist Michael Salter uses the term ‘organised sexual abuse’ to describe crimes committed by network, groups and institutions (e.g., schools). Salter demonstrates how ‘ritualistic abuse and torture are practices through which perpetrators of organised abuse attempt to intensify relations of domination and subordination’. (Importantly, Salter has also been critical of how the term ‘ritual sexual abuse’ been deployed by QAnon to suit their agenda).

Yet no firm evidence is presented to show that Morrison’s reference to ‘ritual sexual abuse’ was in any way influenced by Stewart or QAnon. Badham does not acknowledge this, though she does write: ‘Discredited and dangerous and dangerous as [QAnon] may have been, there were sources suggesting that they were perhaps not entirely without influence upon the Australian prime minister.’ This is not entirely different to reading hand gestures and red shoes as evidence of one’s involvement in evil.

In fairness, Badham may be displaying what Paul Ricoeur famously called the ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’, which refers to the sense that even innocuous aspects of the everyday might be tools deployed by the powerful for oppressive purposes. Ricoeur detected that hermeneutics in the work of Marx and Freud, amongst others. Given her subject matter, Badham could have demonstrated more awareness about how a hermeneutics of suspicion informs her analysis, and of where the dividing line might be between a healthy suspicion and a propensity to spot evil where it may not be. Her failure to do this detracts from the credibility of her investigation.

Perhaps the biggest issue with QAnon and On is that it does not offer any genuinely original insights into the topics under investigation. Badham should have more carefully established how her take on internet conspiracies differs from, or builds upon existing accounts of these movements. Many of those accounts are listed in the voluminous bibliography; they include academic journal articles and media thinkpieces, as well as the US journalist Talia Lavin’s excellent 2020 book Culture Warlords (about online white nationalism). Turning the pages, this reader resisted a nagging urge to cry: ‘You’re telling me what I already know! What are you bringing to the table that is new?’

A possible answer to that last question is suggested in the final chapter, when Badham outlines efforts (actual and potential) to stem the spread of online conspiracies. This is an urgent task for the protection of public health and safety, not to mention the future of democracy. The author discusses r/ReQovery, the Reddit support group for those who have awoken to the reality of ‘the great awakening’ that conspiracies promise. She cites the disinformation researcher Nina Jankowicz’s recommendation for ‘the installation of “counter-disinformation” czars and a whole-of-government take on the problem.’ Badham describes the power of personal interventions in the lives of conspiracists: ‘The nuanced, orthodox practicality of personal contact is antithetical to the simplistic, seductive heresies of the online conspiracy cults.’ Badham recommends that

we can and must and should – keep contact alive with those we love who might be lured towards conspiracy communities and ensure that no matter how far someone travels down a rabbit hole, they can always find their way home again.

Badham’s suggestions are sound, but they need to be much more specific and to provide examples to support her points. For example, what might a ‘whole-of-government take’ on online conspiracies look like, exactly? How can individuals intervene to save loved ones without themselves experiencing harm, be this psychological or otherwise? These are not easy tasks; as Badham concedes: ‘Even if we could blow up the internet and every computer it connects tomorrow, we can’t erase conspiracy thinking.’ The book would have benefited from reflecting in greater detail about how policymakers, social media companies and everyday internet users might protect themselves and others from falling prey to cults such as QAnon.

Badham could also have mentioned the kinds of public deliberations required regarding those contentious issues that are connected with the regulation of online conspiracists. Those issues include freedom of speech, internet safety, platform governance, mental health, social inequalities of every kind. Discussions of such issues are bound to be tense and it’s unclear what formats they might take. Shouting matches on Twitter certainly won’t do the trick, and nor will partisan op eds. Such discussions do nevertheless need to happen; uncomfortable questions need to be asked. Stemming the kind of phenomena under discussion in these pages should be a ‘whole-of-government’ effort; actually, it’s everyone’s responsibility. A 2020 University of Canberra report on misinformation states that

… it is incumbent on every one of us, and especially on those of us who have attracted a substantial audience of social media followers through our personal or professional activities, to act with particular care as we engage with topics that we are ill qualified to comment on.

A failure to do this will result in even more misery, public violence, broken relationships and lost lives. Examples of these outcomes appear throughout Badham’s text.

QAnon and On ’s oversights are especially problematic given the author’s public profile, and her purported expertise on conspiracies and disinformation. Badham has written on these issues for Junkee and Guardian Australia , and tweets about them for her 100.9 K Twitter followers. Some readers will likely be learning about QAnon, Pizzagate and so on for the first time through her book. As such, the author has an ethical requirement to ensure that her text is as comprehensive and nuanced as possible; that she clearly identifies the problems that lie before us and sketches out realistic ways forward.

QAnon and On is eminently readable overview of online conspiracies, the devastating human toll that these have taken, and the pressing need to mitigate the damage they cause. The text brings little that is fresh to reportage on those movements, though it does illuminate future areas of enquiry – not least of which is the question of how to stop folk from tumbling down rabbit holes.

Works Cited

ABC Response to The Australian , 16 June 2021.

Mathieu O’Neil & Jensen, Michael J., Australian Perspectives on Misinformation . Canberra: News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra, 2020.

Paul Ricoeur, Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation , translated by Denis Savage, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1970.

Michael Salter, Organised Sexual Abuse , New York: Routledge, 2013.

Elaine Zelby, ‘ History of the Idiom “Down the Rabbit Hole” ’, Medium , 29 January 2019.

Dr. Jay Daniel Thompson is a Lecturer and Program Manger, Professional Communication at RMIT...

Related Essays

• Wear Next: Fashioning the Future by Clare Press Thames & Hudson Australia September 2023 320pp ISBN 9781760763152

Pick Your Pattern

From recycled textiles to photosynthetic sweaters, fashion has ostensibly committed itself to sustainability. But is it more than a passing trend? Reviewing Clare Press’ Wear Next, Carody Culver considers the complexities of both defining fashion and imagining the industry’s future.

• Hospital by Sanya Rushdi, Translated by Arunava Sinha Giramondo Publishing June 2023 128pp ISBN 9781922725455

A Lotus with a Long Stalk

Luke Carman reviews Sanya Rushdi’s Hospital, a translated novel depicting a linguist’s experience of psychosis and institutionalisation. As Carman argues, the novel’s distinctively ‘minimalist’ style underlines ‘a contingent relationship to sanity’ to which we are all vulnerable.

• Acrobat Music: New & Selected Poems by Jill Jones Puncher and Wattmann November 2022 220pp ISBN 9781922571571

Walking as a Jittery Mortal

About three-quarters through Acrobat Music: New & Selected Poems, Jill Jones nudges the reader knowingly in the ribs. ‘Difficult Poem’…

• Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature by Dan Sinykin Columbia University Press December 2023 328pp ISBN 9780231192958

Selling Tales, Telling Sales

Since the 1980s, fiction has become big business. In her review of Dan Sinykin’s wide-ranging study of American publishing, Alice Grundy argues for the importance of the demythologising effects of Sinykin’s institutionalist approach for both literary scholarship and industrial relations.

• Rules: A Short History of What We Live By by Lorraine Daston Princeton University Press December 2023 384pp ISBN 9780691254081

Critique of Pure Mindlessness

What makes sentient machines tick? In a review of Lorraine Daston’s ‘Rules’, Nicholas Heron traces the history of the algorithm, showing that at stake in the age of AI is our very understanding of rationality.

• Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
• Thrillers & Suspense

Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

Amazon Prime includes:

Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.

• Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
• Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
• Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
• A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
• Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
• Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access

Important:  Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.

Buy new: $15.63 $15.63 FREE delivery: Monday, April 29 on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon. Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com

Return this item for free.

Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges

• Go to your orders and start the return
• Select the return method

Buy used: $14.07

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime.

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. Learn more about the program.

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Rabbit Hole: A Novel Hardcover – August 3, 2021

Purchase options and add-ons.

Mark Billingham has crafted a mind-bending, heart-stopping and wholly original thriller.

• Print length 400 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date August 3, 2021
• Dimensions 6.25 x 1.25 x 9 inches
• ISBN-10 0802158706
• ISBN-13 978-0802158703
• See all details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atlantic Monthly Press (August 3, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802158706
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802158703
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9 inches
• #10,145 in Serial Killer Thrillers
• #24,676 in Murder Thrillers
• #71,795 in Suspense Thrillers

About the author

Mark billingham.

Mark Billingham is one of the UK's most acclaimed and popular crime writers. A former actor, television writer and stand-up comedian, his series of novels featuring D.I. Tom Thorne has twice won him the Crime Novel Of The Year Award as well as the Sherlock Award for Best British Detective and been nominated for seven CWA Daggers. His standalone thriller IN THE DARK was chosen as one of the twelve best books of the year by the Times and his debut novel, SLEEPYHEAD was chosen by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 books that had shaped the decade. Each of his novels has been a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller.

A television series based on the Thorne novels was screened in Autumn 2010, starring David Morrissey as Tom Thorne and a BBC series based on the standalone thrillers IN THE DARK and TIME OF DEATH was shown in 2017.

Mark is also a member of Fun Lovin' Crime Writers. Performing alongside Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre, Stuart Neville, Doug Johnstone and Luca Veste, this band of frustrated rockers murders songs for fun at literary festivals worldwide.

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Rabbit Hole review – parents torn apart in a tragedy haunted by Ibsen

Hampstead theatre, London Claire Skinner and Tom Goodman-Hill play a couple struggling to cope with their son’s death in a play handled with finesse by director Edward Hall

T his 2006 play by David Lindsay-Abaire predates his Good People , which stunned London audiences with its portrayal of a dysfunctional working-class mum, played by Imelda Staunton . While this earlier piece, filmed in 2011 with Nicole Kidman , has some perceptive things to say about coping with grief, it errs on the side of caution and offers variations of mood rather than of theme.

Becca and Howie are a well-heeled couple struggling to come to terms with the accidental death, eight months earlier, of their son Danny. They themselves are at odds in dealing with their loss: Becca wants to dispose of Danny’s possessions, while Howie sits watching home movies of their lost boy. Everything conspires to remind the couple of their situation, from the pregnancy of Becca’s sister to the way their mum rattles on about the tragedies of the Kennedy clan.

Lindsay-Abaire’s perfectly truthful point is that, however much you try to let go of grief, “you carry it around”. But I couldn’t help thinking of Ibsen, who, in The Master Builder and Little Eyolf , shows that parental trauma constantly comes into collision with the wider world. Here, although the play has its lighter moments and even introduces the notion of parallel universes, it never escapes from its overriding subject.

Edward Hall’s production handles the material with finesse and hints at the class distinctions between the characters. Claire Skinner , very good at suggesting the minutiae of pain as Becca, and Tom Goodman-Hill, as her risk-management husband, clearly inhabit the rarified world of graduate-filled suburbia, while Georgina Rich as Becca’s bruisingly candid sister and Penny Downie as the tactless, gossipy mum are palpably not on the same circuit.

One of the play’s best touches is to show that Becca relates more easily to a highly literate local teenager, nicely played by Sean Delaney, who was the inadvertent cause of her son’s death. But although Lindsay-Abaire claims this is not a tidy play, in the end it lacks the jagged edges of unassuageable loss.

• At Hampstead theatre , London, until 5 March. Box office: 020-7722 9301.
• Claire Skinner
• Hampstead theatre

Comments (…)

Most viewed.