A suicide prevention hotline volunteer answers a call that turns her world upside down in this edge-of-your-seat original thriller by the bestselling author of The Perfect Child and The Best of Friends.
Felicia, a single mother and lawyer by day, volunteers at a local crisis center to give back to her tightknit community in a small Wisconsin town. One night, she answers a horrifying through tears, a frantic teenage girl tells her that she was a victim of sexual assault at a local house party.
Felicia is shocked, and breaking protocol, she begins communicating with the girl on her own, determined to keep her safe and hold her assailants accountable. But as she gets closer and closer to the truth, she can’t shake the feeling that she and the girl are connected by more than the phone call. As the girl shares more details, Felicia begins to think the unthinkable—someone close to her may be involved in this heinous crime.
As Felicia earns the girl’s trust and more facts emerge about the incident, she faces a gut-wrenching battle between her protective instincts and the moral responsibility to do what’s right. This taut thriller is perfect for fans of The Push, Wrong Place Wrong Time, and We Need to Talk About Kevin.
USA Today bestselling author Lucinda Berry is a former psychologist and leading researcher in childhood trauma. She’s written multiple bestsellers reaching millions of readers worldwide. Some of her bestselling works include The Perfect Child, Saving Noah, When She Returned, The Best of Friends, and Keep Your Friends Close. Her books have been optioned for film and translated into several languages.
If Berry isn’t chasing after her son, you can find her running through Los Angeles, prepping for her next marathon. To hear about her upcoming releases and other author news, visit her on social media (@lucindaberryauthor) or sign up for her newsletter at https://lucindaberry.com.
Well, I can understand why they say this is for fans of The Push.
Felicia is a lawyer and volunteers at a crisis hotline in her spare time. One evening she gets a call from a distraught teenage girl. The young girl is possibly going to self harm herself because of a SA attack she suffered and as a knee-jerk response Felicia ends up giving the girl her personal cell phone number so that she can try to do whatever she can to help the girl, even if it's just a listening ear.
Not long after, Felicia finds out that Chloe, the girl on the phone, attends the same private school as her son, Hunter - slowly Felicia starts piecing things together... how well do you ever really know someone?
Anyway, this was a great narration - chef's kiss for the audio. I, however found the story really predictable. I mean, we literally know who the villain of the story is within the first 10%.
The conclusion of the story is actually pretty thought provoking. As a mother, I immediately buck the idea of a mother's love not being unconditional. So, the ending certainly left me with a pit in my stomach.
╰⪼ In true Lucinda Berry fashion, she let's you just sit uncomfortably in the unthinkable. ꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷
╰⪼ For fans of The Push 🙋♀️ Yes please - also one of the narrators is A.J. Cook ╰┈➤˗ˏˋ JJ on Criminal Minds and Criminal Minds Evolution. 👀
Felicia volunteers at a suicide prevention hotline. Tonight, one caller will change everything!
A young teenage girl calls in threatening to kill herself following a sexual assault at a party. Felicia can’t stay detached. She feels a deep emotional pull to get involved and help beyond what the hotline provides.
As the girl's horrendous story unfolds Felicia quickly realizes that it will now be impossible to just walk away.
A short audio coming in at under 4 hours. But there is so much emotion packed into this novella. The characters were well developed, the storyline playing out at a perfect pace. Being this short of a novel it’s fairly easy to see where it’s leading, but I still enjoyed every bit of it.
Our narrators A. J. Cook and and Tessa Albertson were outstanding. Again, this was so much more than just a great audio!
It was a production! ✅Multiple narrators ✅background effects ‘These are two of my favorite things!’🎵🎶
⚠️Though there are triggers for sexual assault and suicide, both were handled delicately by the author. ⚠️If you still can…go in blind! The blurb gives away everything!
the setup… Felicia is a lawyer who volunteers at a local crisis center, manning the phones for national suicide prevention calls. One evening she takes a call from an extremely distraught teenage girl who is threatening to kill herself because of a video that’s being circulated at school by the boys that drugged and raped her at a party. Felicia breaks protocol in desperation, giving out her personal cell number after she realizes the girl attends the same private school as her own son. That marked the beginning of a roller coaster ride that seemed to have no good end.
the heart of the story… Felicia is a single mother and has raised her son Hunter alone since birth. He’s a straight-A student and star athlete, never having given her a single moment of real concern. But she’s troubled by the girl’s story and questions about Hunter’s time the night of that party. Her inner struggle with believing and trusting in her son versus pursuing the circumstances more felt honest and realistic. Her connection to the girl creates a conundrum as she has an equal desire to protect her as well.
the narration… It’s a short story so there’s so little time to effectively establish character identities but both narrators accomplished that right away. And the storytelling skills? Outstanding.
the bottom line… I had no idea where this would go but there were little crumbs along the way that ended up being helpful. And, throughout we get pieces of Felicia’s backstory that make her decisions even more believable. Can’t tell you anymore details so you must grab this audiobook and get ready for a great listening experience. That ending? Wow…just wow.
3.75 stars. Great story, OUTSTANDING audio production. I’m officially obsessed with AJ Cook as a narrator. But I was slightly disappointed in the predictability of this book.
I was SO CONVINCED that it couldn’t be what I thought because it was SO OBVIOUS and was very disappointed when there was no jaw dropping twist or turn and it ended exactly how I expected.
However, I did enjoy the book. I was completely captivated by it and didn’t find myself bored during the read at all. I just wanted more twists and turns I think.
Felicia is a volunteer at the suicide prevention hotline. When a teenage girl calls in and says that she’s ready to take drastic measures, Felicia snaps into action to try and help. As the story unfolds, she becomes emotionally invested in helping this young girl deal with her trauma.
There’s no real huge twist - it’s short, so rather predictable, but very entertaining.
I highly recommend the audio version for this one. The narrators were terrific and the added special effects put the cherry on top for me.
Some may need to check the TW before starting this one.
An intense, addictive, gut-wrenching, highly uncomfortable and thought-provoking story. Told through a brilliant and clever perspective, I will never forget listening to this book.
Warning ⚠️ Please check TW before reading this!
Audio rating: 5 stars! Audio narrator was fantastic and added immensely to my connection to and investment in the story. Highly recommend!
This is a well-written, fast paced, gripping psychological thriller. I listened to the audio book and the narrators, A.J. Cook and Tessa Albertson, are truly talented
One of Our Own follows Felicia, a single mother who is lawyer but also volunteers at a local crisis centre. One night she receives a phone call from a young girl who is frantic and distraught after saying she has fall victim of sexual assault at a high school party. As Felicia does all she can do the help Chloe, as more details are revealed, she finds out that her son Hunter also attended the same party that night. Does he know Chloe and does he have any involvement in the abuse?
I devoured this 3.5 hours audiobook in one sitting. The narration from A.J Cook and Tessa Albertson was phenomenal! All the emotions and anguish were so heightened, I could truly visualize it so vividly in my mind. I felt the urgency from Felicia to help the young girl (Chloe) and also the torment of parenthood to try and get the difficult answers that needed addressing. Chloe really broke my heart with all the suffering and stress she was going through.
What I love most about Lucinda Berry books is her moral dilemmas she put's out there for the readers. She really has you questioning what you would do in such difficult situations. If you have read Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry or We Need to Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver then I highly advise One of Our Own.
The last 30% had me gripped and as much as it was devastating I was happy with the outcome. I would love to see a short film based on this story. As it raises awareness for young vulnerable high school girls and the impacts it can have on family members and outsiders.
This was an intense and dark listen and I definitely advise to check your Trigger Warnings before you listen to it.
TW: Sexual Assault and Suicidal thoughts
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Audio and Lucinda Berry for sending me an early Audible ARC!
Like being a parent to a teenager wasn't scary enough. Thanks Ms. Berry. I'd like to forward my therapy bills to your office.
The clinician comes out again with this one, another thought provoking story. It's heartbreaking and terrifying. Even though I knew what would happen, I was still not prepared. It's hard to say too much because it's short, but still very much has the stamp of this author.
DOCTOR LUCINDA BERRY!!!!!!!!! HAS DONE IT… AGAIN. Wow, what an experience.. as someone who is a Criminal Minds, audiobook AND thriller lover, I was EATING IT UP.
A well-executed experience that left my jaw open. I don’t have too much more to say because I’m truly speechless but… man, this was a great listen.
The audiobook was absolutely amazing.. the recorded phone calls to the suicide line set such a tense tone for the opening scene, and the end twist was crazy.
It was also the perfect length for a quick read, 10/10 recommend!!
I knew it ... I knew it .... I KNEW IT.. this was very entertaining to say the least. Lucinda always writes some of the most sickest individuals masked in a ray of sunshine
I loved the audio narration of this audio only release by Lucinda Berry. The audio was really well done! However, I felt the story line was super predictable and there really weren’t any twists like I’m used to with Lucinda’s writing. This one just didn’t hit as hard as some of her others. But I definitely recommend picking it up for the audio alone.
This is a rough subject for some, so check your TW’s!
I listened to this on audiobook and through the narrators and special effects were done really well.
A traumatic experience for a young teen leads to her calling the suicide hotline. A lawyer who needs an outlet after her sister died, finds herself in the receiving end of that phone call. Breaching protocol, she tries to connect with this girl on a personal level. Finding deep compassion for the teen, she wants to keep her alive and making good decisions to help her navigate through such a horrible event.
The sorry itself was decent with just a few things that I found to be a stretch on the believability scale. I enjoyed the mystery and following out FMC (our lawyer) try to put pieces together since her son happens to go to the same school.
It’ll trigger you in every way and even though I can handle mine pretty well, I still cringed a little. Ultimately everything tied together really well and I was happy to eagerly listen to unravel the mystery
1. The narrator was cringy and gave appalling “boy mom” vibes throughout 2. I knew what was going to happen about 5 minutes into listening 3. There was massive potential to really deep dive into the complexity of the narrator’s feelings… human beings are imperfect and rarely make the right decision. 4. The outcome leans heavily towards nature in the ever-present debate of nature vs. nurture. I don’t know if I agree with the message that’s being sent.
It is an intriguing premise with a few bumps along the way. The story pulled me in right from the beginning with its suspense and emotional intensity. Lucinda Berry definitely knows how to create tension and raise important questions about morality and trust.
However, some parts felt a bit rushed or underdeveloped, especially toward the end. I would’ve liked a deeper dive into the characters and more buildup in certain plot points. Still, it was a solid and engaging read overall, just not quite as impactful as I hoped.
Felicia volunteers at a suicide hotline center to help others to avoid a tragedy that rocked her family years back. However, Felicia has had to deal with other adversities! I was riveted by her story and how she related to the poor young girl who called in! The young woman was drugged and assaulted at a local party. The events after have thrown her into desperate despair. Unfortunately, this story could be ripped from the pages of real-life and my heart went out to her! I was on the edge hoping that Felicia could help her.
Things turn more disturbing as Felicia realizes this girl attended the same party her son did a few weeks back. Dread creeps in as Felicia pieces together the puzzle of what happened that night.
I listened to One of Our Own straight through in one go. I needed to know how it all turned out! The audio isn’t very long, novella length, but the story packs an emotional punch!
I listened to an audio of One of Our Own. A.J. Cook’s (from Criminal Minds) and Tessa Altbertson’s performance enhanced this compelling story. A definite recommend!
I listened to an audio advanced readers copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This was a quick, pacy and propulsive audio read, with the excellent addition of telephone call vibes providing a good touch. I had not heard of this author until now, and picked this one up as it was a short book. A call centre volunteer that also happens to be a lawyer in her day job picks up the phone to a traumatised girl, ready to take drastic action after sexual abuse at a party.
The pacing is lightening fast, there is no stopping as Felicia's own life is drawn quickly into the mayhem. Most fictional mother's have a bias toward their own child when it comes to crimes and wrongdoings, but as the story progresses we see the author not veering down traditional paths.
Felicia becomes very close to the victim, she's very supportive, so at parts I was surprised by some actions of the victim and her family. Things are quite neat and it's quite easy to work out how this will all end, but I enjoyed the author's evident experience from her past life as a clinical psychologist and childhood trauma. I enjoyed this suspense novel as a quick read. A chilling and worrying read. Recommended.
Holy crap!! This book was so good! I listened to the audio, and it was phenomenal! This book gripped me from the very beginning. The suspense was intense. I straight ignored work for the few hours it took me to listen to this. It is a super quick read/listen, and is very entertaining. There were twists, and at points, I wasn’t sure who to believe. Add to your list if you like thrillers. I highly recommend the audio!