Say No More

by Caroline Overington, Anna Skellern (narrator)

Listening time: 5 hours and 47 minutes

Who is Audrey Hoedemaker? It's a question her sister Maureen has heard more times than she can count, and she doesn't know what the short answer would be. Little sister, troubled teen, backpacker, musical theatre coach, con artist, childcare worker. Murderer.

A tragic, traumatic childhood casts a long shadow on the Hoedemaker sisters. Maureen has worked hard to move beyond the violence of the past and build a good, honest life for herself. Audrey, however, just can't seem to do the same, careening from one state of chaos to another.

Maureen loves her sister, but when Audrey's criminal past catches up to them both, she will have to make some difficult decisions about the limits of family loyalty - and just how far sisters are willing to go to protect each other...

Genres: Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Suspense, Mystery Thriller

6 pages, Audible Audio

First published December 2, 2024

About the author

Caroline Overington is an Australian author and journalist.

She has worked for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and is is currently a staff writer for The Weekend Australian Magazine.

Caroline is a two-time winner of the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism. She won her first Walkley for a series of articles about a literary fraud, and her second for a series about the AWB oil for food scandal.

She is also a winner of the Sir Keith Murdoch prize for excellence in Journalism; and of the Blake Dawson Prize.

Caroline has published five books. Her first, Only in New York, was about working as a foreign correspondent in Manhattan.

Her second, Kickback, was about the UN oil for food scandal. It won the Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature.

Her first novel, Ghost Child, is about a child murdered by his parents.

Her second, I Came To Say Goodbye, takes the form of a letter from a grandfather to a Supreme Court judge. It was shortlisted for both the Fiction Book of the Year, and overall Book of the Year, in the 2011 Australian Book Industry Awards.

Her latest novel, published in October 2011, is called Matilda is Missing. It is set in the Family Court, and it is about a couple's war over custody of their two year old daughter, Matilda.

Caroline's books are proudly published by Random House Australia.

Caroline is a mother of delightful, 11-year-old twins. She lives with her kids, her husband, a blue dog, and a lizard, in Bondi.

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed this author's other books, but this one takes the prize! Wow.

Go in blind like I did. You will thank me.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rating

..and the universe works in mysterious ways, bringing together people who haven't seen each other for decades, forcing a reconnection... sometimes a reckoning.

This is the case for Audrey Hoedemaker. She has lived her life in many roles, not caring who she hurts in the process, but there is a reckoning coming her way.

Say no More is told through the voice of Audrey's sister (Maureen), who is trying to give the public answers to why Audrey has lived such a complicated life. Audrey has gone by many names. She has lived as a musical theatre coach, trained for the Olympics, worked as a childcare provider, been a con artist, and now is wanted in the kidnapping of a young girl.

Maureen knows that Audrey has always loved children and would never hurt them. She is writing everything down on paper to give the police and the public an insight into who her sister really is. Will it be enough to save her?

______________________________________________

Bravo to Caroline Overington for another wonderful yet complex story. I loved it! 👏

Trigger warning: child abuse

[Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

TWs: Sexual abuse of a child

A tragic, traumatic childhood casts a long shadow on the lives of two sisters.

This Audible Plus selection was pacey and powerful.

Had I known about the TWs, I never would have listened to the book.

Narration by Anna Skellern was brilliant.

I guessed the final twist.

[Charlotte Rebecca Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, but samey and boring, I feel like if I physically read this book I would’ve liked it better, I just don’t think I get on with audiobooks I just tune out and miss sections without realising 🥴

[EmG ReadsDaily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and twisted story.

Worth going in without reading the synopsis.

[Jo Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m either completely off my game or I’ve had an incredibly lucky run! I did not see the twist coming AT ALL!

Go in blind would be my suggestion for this title, the story is told in memoir like fashion and I really enjoyed that.

Narrated brilliantly!

Currently included in audible 🎧

[Mistelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

With everything that had gone on, I really needed a bit more resolution. An epilog. The title seems to be what Maureen or Audrey are thinking on the last two pages.

[Eva Edge · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐
Say No More by Caroline Overington is... I don't know. It's definitely not a thriller. For me, it felt like a memoir. For a while, I was confused about what I was listening to. At the same time, it kind of made you want to know what will happen next, probably to get you an answer - what exactly you are listening to!

This book has a good twist at the end!

A tragic, traumatic childhood it's like a shadow in Maureen's and Audrey's life. They both are affected but each in a different way. But you can't hide your past forever - there will be a day when you will need to face it and someone usually gets hurt!

This is one of those books where I am strictly in the middle between I liked it and I am not sure did I liked it. So you will need to read/listen to yourself to make your mind up.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

twist at the end that I did not see coming! left wondering at the end!

[Alina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished it and the ending was soooo disappointing. I was actually mad at myself for wasting my three days on this.
That being said, it was well written and it kept me interested but I am telling you, the ending ruined it all.

[Sammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe closer to 3.5 stars

[Ami Cormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to listen to, audio made it superb!

Really enjoyed this…twists and turns, and lots of shocks along the way.

Would recommend for thriller fans.

[𝓜𝓲𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓮 𝐆𝓸𝓲𝓴 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This just could not hold my interest. I'm sure that all the storylines come together at some point, but I didn't have the patience to listen until the end. I only made it 3/4 way through this book.

[Leah Orr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book and the way the narrator told this story. The ending was fantastic. I did not see that coming. A great, short listen.

[Karen Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this, it’s really good, I didn’t want the last chapter to end!

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I liked the book. I really liked the writing, the premise until the ending where they slapped a DID patch on it. I'm not a fan of that, so this review could have been much higher without that.

[Brittany Rodgers · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to this book because I was a little strapped for time this week, no time for reading….. I also picked this book because it was free. I know why it was free, if I had paid I would have greatly regretted it. Total waste.

[Brenda Adelsberger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very boring until the last two chapters, that’s the only reason I gave it the 2nd star.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up. I went back-and-forth on the ranking because I struggled with parts and the flow at times, but overall it was a good book. This is an Audible original, so (at least for now?) it's only available as an Audible audiobook. I'm not sure how I picked it. It was in my library and it was under 6 hours, so I picked it as a fast listen. It was a really fast listen and so intriguing, but by the time the twist came at the end, I wasn't surprised, based off of some details earlier in the book that didn't quite mesh for me, but they made sense by the end. It is left open-ended with not a definitive resolution, so that's sad/hard (related to the storyline/mystery), but I can see why the author chose to approach it that way, although as a reader I definitely wanted the concrete resolution. The narrator did an excellent job with the voices and even making telephone calls sound different, with the sound quality changing to sound like it would be on a telephone. Intriguing and interesting, and it was interesting enough to me that I will probably read others by this author as well in the future.

***Spoilers below for some content/triggers and a few other thoughts I have about the book.***




This book "reads" like a memoir, and I even had to stop and check the author's name and other info on Goodreads to make sure I hadn't picked a nonfiction book, but when the ending comes, that feeling made more sense to me. I kept waiting for the "awful" things Audrey did that Maureen kept referring to, and everything that was being relayed to the audience was so minor, but the awful thing does come at the very end, and we still aren't 100% sure what it is. (If you read this far, I did warn you about the spoilers ha ha)


Content: Child sexual abuse (mentioned, not described), mental health issues. Fairly clean as far as language; there may have been a few, but they didn't stand out to me, so they weren't frequently used or feel inappropriate so I forgot if there were any really.

[Bookish_Shann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was disappointing. Let me start by saying that I went in blind and I was still disappointed lmao.

It was boring tbh and somewhat interesting because I mean I finished it. It was a quick read/listen.

I definitely recommend checking the TW ⚠️ if there’s any because it had some sensitive topics.

I wasn’t flabbergasted nor was I surprised with the twist. I knew all along tbh 🥱

It’s free on audible right now.

Hope you like it if you read it!

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars rounded to 4. This isn’t my usual type of book, and from the beginning I thought I knew where it was headed. I ended up enjoying it nonetheless. I forwarded past a scene of sexual abuse which didn’t hamper my ability to follow the storyline.

This is a great audiobook that I listened to from the free section in Audible. The narrator is fantastic!

[Amy Lingbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ending. I usually see twists coming, but this one totally caught me by surprise. Worth the listen.

[Jan Martinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a free Audible listen, this was very good! Did NOT see this conclusion coming!

[Cassandra Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good story until the end…then it was just weird!

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Had a shocking twist, I gasped! But the last sentence took it from a 4.5 to a 3.5….. worth the read though! It’s free on Audible right now!

[Lucy Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a plot twist.

[Admeharg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I totally did not see that ending coming.

[Tammy Zarn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book and especially appreciated a plot twist that really surprised me!

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened on Audible. There were too many tales; there were some twists. An ending I didn’t quite follow. Please say no more.

[Lindsay Nixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a compelling read. Will definitely read more by this author.

Included with audible