Backstory

by Gabriel Bergmoser, Emma Harvie (Narrator), Zahra Newman (Narrator)

Five friends, one university creative writing course, one weekend away to celebrate. Nobody expected it to end in disaster.

Ten years ago, promising young writer Keith Brooks fell to his death during a weekend getaway with his university friends. The official story? A tragic accident. But when disgraced journalist Phoebe Black stumbles upon conflicting accounts from Keith's surviving friends, she uncovers a web of lies that suggests something far more nefarious happened on that fateful night.

As she delves deeper into the past, Phoebe uncovers a group of once-close friends torn apart by jealousy, lies and ambition. With each revelation, the lines between truth and fiction blur, and the consequences of that night reach far beyond Keith's death. Phoebe must confront her own past and the nature of truth itself as she races against time to catch a killer.

Whose version of events is accurate? And how far will these people go to hide their dark secrets?

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

Audible Audio

Published October 7, 2025

About the author

Gabriel Bergmoser is a Melbourne based author and playwright. After starting out in the youth theatre scene with his early plays Windmills, Life Without Me and Hometown, Gabriel completed his Masters of Screenwriting at the Victorian College of the Arts. He co-founded the independent production company Bitten By Productions, entering the Melbourne theatre scene with the one-act comedy Reunion and the futuristic Babylon Trilogy of noir thrillers. Gabriel's 2015 Beatles comedy We Can Work It Out opened to sell out shows and rave reviews – it has also been performed in Queensland and returned to Melbourne stages for the 2018 Fringe Festival.

In 2015 he won the prestigious Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award for his pilot screenplay based on Windmills and was flown to the International Emmys in New York to accept. The same pilot was later nominated for the Monte Miller Award. In 2016 his first young adult novel, Boone Shepard, was published by Bell Frog Books; it was later shortlisted for the Readings Young Adult Prize the day after the sequel, Boone Shepard's American Adventure was released. The third book, Boone Shepard: The Silhouette and the Sacrifice, was released in 2018 and a television adaptation is currently in development with Pirate Size Productions.

His 2016 plays The Lucas Conundrum, Regression and The Critic opened to excellent reviews while his early 2017 play Springsteen sold out its entire season. His play Heroes was nominated for the 2017 Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing and went on to win several awards, including five for Best Production and three for best script, on the 2017 VDL One Act Play Festival circuit. His first musical, Moonlite (featuring original songs by Dan Nixon) was performed as part of the 2018 Midsumma Festival; it received rave reviews, sold out its entire season, and was later selected for the highly sought after Home Grown Grassroots development initiative. His 2019 play, The Trial of Dorian Gray, sold out its entire season, was extended, then sold out again. Several of his plays have been published by Australian Plays.

In 2019 Gabriel signed a two book deal with Harper Collins, with the first, The Hunted, scheduled for publication in July 2020. The Hunted will be published in the UK by Faber with translation rights having sold to Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, Italy and France. The film adaptation is currently being developed in a joint production between Stampede Ventures and Vertigo entertainment in Los Angeles, with Gabriel writing the screenplay. He has since signed a second two book deal with Harper for his YA coming of age novel The True Colour of Little White Lies and a follow up.

Reviews

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This audible had me absolutely hooked and I couldn’t stop listening until the end. We get several unreliable POVs as Phoebe, a disgraced unemployed journalist, and her former coworker Sarah, investigates the death of inspiring writer Keith. Five friends go away at the end of their uni experience together to celebrate and announce Keith’s big news, only to end in a death, so each of the surviving four friends (Annalise Troy Veronica and Devon) write a memoir of the events leading up to that night and the night itself, with none of the details matching. As the listener, we are left guessing which details are true, if any. The stories were laid out in an easy to follow way and the pieces finally fall together as we get towards the end. I wasn’t left with any questions or plot holes and found this engaging from beginning to end.

[Linda Smiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually pretty good for a freebie from Audible. Twisty.

[Edie Kennard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Backstory by Gabriel Bergmoser is a thriller that ultimately struggles to live up to its name. While it attempts to build a complex web of mystery and tension, the execution left me feeling more disconnected than intrigued.

The Character Connection
The biggest hurdle for me was the lack of character depth. I found it nearly impossible to care about—or even connect with—any of the players in this story. They felt more like placeholders moving through a plot than actual people. In fact, there were several instances where I actually forgot which character was which; because none of them had a distinct "voice" or a personality that resonated, they all started to blur together after a few chapters.

Reality and Realism
The narrative also suffers from a significant realism gap. While thrillers often require a bit of suspension of disbelief, Backstory pushes it to the limit. Many of the plot points felt incredibly far-fetched, making it difficult to stay grounded in the story. It felt less like a gritty reality and more like a series of unlikely events strung together to force a "shocking" conclusion.

Final Thoughts
If you are looking for a quick, mindless read where you don't mind a lack of logic, this might pass the time. However, for those who value character-driven narratives and a sense of grounded tension, this one might miss the mark. It wasn't "bad," but it certainly wasn't memorable.

Bottom Line: A middle-of-the-road thriller that lacks the emotional stakes and realism needed to truly grip the reader.

[Chelsi Ulrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. It was very writer scorned vibes. I loved the twists and the back and forth communication between certain characters. It was a bit predictable in my mind. Though I loved the true exposure it gave to the types of people in both HS and college and how reinventing yourself doesn’t change the damage we have done.

[Sharon Josepha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entertaining enough and I always enjoy a full cast, but it was predictable and nothing riveting in the least.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW

[EmG ReadsDaily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clever story that blurs the line between fiction and truth.

[Jude Samson]

I had to dnf this - every character is utterly unlikeable. There is no one to root for and the "plot" is barely known. All we know is someone died but from the sound of it, who cares! Everyone in the group is utterly entitled, arrogant, obnoxious, self-absorbed, ego-manics. And the main MC reporter woman is all those things rolled up into one and INSTANTLY unlikable. The writer gives us zero reason to want to know why anyone was murdered nor will we care if it's anyone in the core group that did it because they've already established how obnoxious everyone is there's no reason to lament the guy's loss or be excited for the eventual downfall of the murderer, as their character is already so low.

[Hunter Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoilers-be-warned. Mean-spirited characters all around. The twists were ridiculous and absurd. It took a reporter some years later to figure out there was a nanny cam? The police or parents wouldn't have figured this out? The group of jerks, I mean "friends," gathered at rich Kieth's house and he had a big reveal!!! He was writing a contemporary look at uni life but didn't want to share it with them. Hmm. I wonder what the reveal could be??? What? It is about them and their faults? No way! Really disliked absolutely everyone.

[Ellen (the_plentiful_library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a top notch audiobook this one was fantastic!

Five friends from the same writing course go away for a weekend to celebrate finishing their degrees. It ends in tragedy when one of them falls to their death.

Ten years later, the remaining four are writers with varying degrees of success and they all have a different account of what happened that night.

Disgraced journalist Pheobe Black is determined to get her job back and finding out the truth of this story is the perfect way to do it. But with five different accounts, which one is the truth?

I love a multi narrator audiobook and this one had a different narrator for each character which makes it all the more engaging, some of them were well known Australian actors and actresses...Michael Caton and Brooke Satchwell to name a few!

Not only was it easy to get sucked into the whodunnit of this one but I really enjoyed the exploration of truth. If multiple people are experiencing the same event, Is there only one ultimate version of truth or is truth subjective to the people experiencing it and therefore different for each person?...had me hooked!

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Honestly best audible freebie I’ve listened to in forever.

[KATHY Dorris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a little while for me to get into this one. I’m glad that I stuck with it. It delivered an interesting story.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five aspiring writers go away away for a weekend. One of them ends up dead. Years later the other four have told their version of events... But which is the most accurate, and what is the real truth?

I really enjoyed the structure of this book! Getting the different stories of the same event had me trying to piece together what matched up, what didn't and how much of it was true. A full cast narration is also always enjoyable.

[NAS (Nikki) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF-I hate to do this so early in the year

I hate this kind of stories. I don’t know what category to call it, but they’re exactly the same and there’s no redeeming qualities to it or anyone in the story.

This book 😑

When I started reading this book, I literally had to go back and restart it because it made no sense and nothing was happening. I was five chapters in.

It was kind of hard to grasp the way it was written. You’re either reading emails back-and-forth or reading manuscripts of past characters we as the reader haven’t met yet.

I read a few of these type of books last year, and they all got one stars. Because they are all the same. 😒
There is a bunch of students who are self-centered, selfish, arrogant, terrible people. Someone the friend group dies under “mysterious circumstances”. Everyone suspects everyone because everyone had a selfish motive to do it.
And as a reader, we’re supposed to sympathize and care about these characters who act privileged for no reason, and no one even shows remorse-they just don’t want to get caught with a dead body.

Just swap out the characters names in the situation and the school or vacation that they’re at…..It’s all the same formula. 🙄

[_biancasbookclub · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this Audible Original. It grabbed me right from the start and I was fully invested the whole way through.

The story looks at what really happened the weekend Keith Brooks died — an “accident” that never quite added up. Ten years later, journalist Phoebe Black starts digging, and the more she interviews the friends who were there, the more the cracks start to show. Everyone remembers things differently, and the shifting perspectives keep you guessing right up until the truth finally clicks into place.

And honestly, the audio cast is what makes this shine. All the different voices bring so much life and personality to the characters. It felt cinematic, dramatic, and so incredibly immersive — exactly why I love a good multi-narrator audiobook.

A gripping, twisty listen that had me hanging on every chapter. Loved this one.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

Backstory by Gabriel Bermoser is a fast-paced mystery thriller that blends suspense with investigative journalism in a clever, engaging way. Told through multiple points of view (hard to follow at first but I got the hang of it), the novel keeps you guessing as the pieces of the puzzle slowly come together in a fun, modern take on a whodunit. While the shifting perspectives can be a little challenging to keep straight at times, they ultimately add depth and complexity to the story and make the twists more satisfying. I changed my mind several times about who the liar was. The surprises land well, and the tension builds steadily throughout. I especially enjoyed the audiobook experience—the narrator does an excellent job bringing the story to life. Overall, it’s a solid, entertaining mystery that I’d recommend to fans of suspense and crime fiction.

[Leah Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t expect the style of this novel but once you are finished you will wish lots more were written in this manner. It’s a murder mystery told by a journalist who’s looking back into an old story of college friends who all became authors except for one who died mysteriously. Once we jump through all of the different perspectives from each author we get the full picture. It’s lots of fun and refreshing to have a different twist for this type of story.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was just okay. I couldn’t find myself interested in any of the characters, none of them seemed believable (who would seriously care THAT much if someone used you roughly as inspiration for characters in their novel where names had been changed? Just deny it)… and I only kept reading to find out what happened but almost didn’t finish.

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a crafty and well-written audiobook with a twisty and suspenseful plot, unreliable narrators, and a fabulous cast of voices to bring the story to life. this is an audible original that is free to listen to with membership. so, if you’re out of credits and/or looking for a great listen, definitely check this out!🎧👀📑📚💞✨

[James Livermore · Rating 1 out of 5]

The good news it was free. The bad news it is not well written. I literally despised every character.

[Alie James · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, a very curmudgeonly and mean group of characters. It honestly reads like a very poorly written first draft. There is no mystery, everything is painfully obvious.

[A.Y. · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Gabriel Bergmoser’s Backstory Tricked Me into Finishing It

There is a distinct moment about one-third of the way into Gabriel Bergmoser’s thriller audiobook, where Veronica recounts her deep, bubbling frustration. She is looking at Keith, the arrogant, brilliant star of their university group and realizing that his invitation to a remote holiday home wasn't an act of friendship.

It was a summons. He brought them there to drop a bomb about his own success, explicitly because he thought he was superior to them, and because he knew exactly how each of them would predictably, insecurely react.

As I listened to Veronica’s bitter, sharp account, punctuated by the visceral, unsettling image of a spider crawling out of her meticulously controlled keto salad: a realization hit me.
I felt somewhat the same way about the author.

The "Keto Salad" Phase of Reading

My trajectory with Backstory mirrored Veronica’s internal state. Veronica is a character defined by an aggressive attempt at control, forced discipline, and keeping up appearances. For me, this audiobook started the exact same way. I added it to my reading list with the best intentions, hit play, and quit after a minute or two. Something else would catch my attention.

But the story stayed in my reading list. Partly because the cover looked unique. Because the plot felt different than the ones I'd seen before. A story of five friends.

Weeks later, I’d force myself back to it, only to put it down again. It was a disciplined, persistent cycle of stops and starts, forcing myself to digest a narrative that felt heavy, much like Veronica forcing herself through that strict, unappealing salad just to maintain her armor.
But then, I persisted past the opening act, and the author's trap snapped shut. There was no escape now.

The Frame Story as Structural Bait

Looking back, I realize how Bergmoser intentionally engineered this experience. He didn’t drop us straight into the dense, dark history of the five friends. Instead, he baited the hook with a brilliant frame story: the tense, sharp correspondence between two journalists, Phoebe and Sarah, who have had a massive fallout.

This professional friction is snappy, immediate, and highly readable. It gave me an easy runway into the book. It was a comfortable dynamic that kept me listening just long enough for Bergmoser to pull off his ultimate bait-and-switch.

Once the listener is comfortably locked into the journalists' drama, Bergmoser begins dropping the heavy, meaty, hour-long memoirs and interviews of the surviving friends.

By the time I reached Veronica’s chapter and realized the true weight and length of what I was listening to, it was too late. I was too deeply enmeshed in the mystery to back out. The author had successfully anchored me to a six-hour journey, and I simply couldn't quit.

Gabriel Bergmoser's Maze

This is what makes Backstory such a fascinating, meta-textual listening experience. The book isn't just about a toxic group of creative writing students being manipulated by a smug puppet master; the book is a manifestation of that manipulation. Only to reveal that who I thought would be the puppet master was the puppet himself. And the master, they created such an image of themselves that one wouldn't read between the lines.

As an author, he sat back and structurally predicted reader behavior with laudable accuracy. He knew when the listener might get bored, introducing the snappy journalist fallout. He knew exactly when we would be hooked enough to endure the slower, psychologically grueling character deep-dives.

Backstory proves that a great thriller doesn't just tell a story about psychological warfare. It wages war against the audience. I still have hours left to go, but the author has already won the battle of wits.

And by the time the story came to a conclusion, it felt more like a baton was being passed off. The message at the end isn't just a message, it's a reality of the reader who arrives at that point. We start as detectives, as investigative journalists, all suited up and rearing to see things pan out the way we wish them to. But humans are like sponge, we can't help but absorb things ourselves. That's what happened, as I subconsciously absorbed the implications and arrived at the lessons and morals this story delivered.

Every character has a critical flaw that determines their every action. I can't put it all up here, but what I can say is this. There's a lot to learn from this audiobook. And I'm glad I went along to the very end.

• Be sharp, but know when to exit gracefully.
• Never let a job or a single person become 100% of your identity.
• Keep your hands on the steering wheel of your own life.

And, dear fellow reader, my best wishes to you!

[Sheryl Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twisty turns take us through the story as we re-examine the sequence of events that led to the central tragedy of the book. Versions vary amongst friends about the dynamics within this group of five university students who all aspire to be famous authors. One person's version is different from the others. He includes details highlighting how the group came to be.

The solution lies somewhere in the details about a book the deceased was writing. He claimed it was a fictional account of a group of friends at university. Hmmm, was it really ficti0n or the renaming of the truth? It seems that each person had unpleasantness in their past and if that knowledge became public it could ruin them.

So, then, which of the four killed the writer?

It's a wonderful setup that reminds me of Murder on the Orient Express where everyone has a motive. At first, I had a hard time keeping up with the characters because they are only briefly introduced before becoming part of the storytelling. In time, I sorted out who was who, especially toward the latter part of the book when a journalist is reading each friend's version of events and then interviewing who she could.

There is an interesting side story here woven into the main narrative. It is a story of two journalists, their differing styles and how some writers, even if they are journalists, seem to have a sixth sense about things.

It was a very good book, well-paced and engaging enough to not feel any drag or dull points. It is an especially interesting book for people-watchers and those who love to dive into human behavior and motivation. In a way, the book is a bit of a psychological look at the friends, but without getting bogged down in labels and diagnoses. Types are subtlety taken into consideration, but again from an organic perspective rather than a scientific one.

Definitely recommend this book for all you amateur sleuths out there and those who just love a good story.

[Carly Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always been intrigued by stories centred around writers, so Backstory by Gabriel Bergmoser immediately caught my attention. The premise is fascinating—an author dies in suspicious circumstances after writing a book that was never published, leaving behind more questions than answers.

The story follows a journalist investigating his death as she interviews his old university friends, who are all authors themselves. Some have gone on to enjoy successful careers, while others have struggled, but they all share a connection to the deceased. As each interview unfolds, more of the past is revealed, along with the relationships, secrets, and events that may explain what really happened.

The mystery kept me engaged throughout, and I enjoyed seeing the story unfold from different perspectives. It was easy to follow, well-paced, and had me wanting to know whether the truth would finally come to light.

If you want to discover what really happened, you’ll have to pick up the book or give the audiobook a listen.

[Juan Rivera · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I finished **Backstory** (Backstory) with mixed feelings.

The premise is *great*: five “friends” from a writers’ program, all convinced they’re equally talented, until one of them starts pulling ahead. He’s about to publish his “masterpiece” — a novel that includes all of them, especially their flaws. You can feel the jealousy and tension creeping in.

Then the deaths begin. What looks like an accident doesn’t stay that way for long, and when a second of the five dies, an investigative journalist refuses to believe it’s coincidence and digs until she finds the real answer.

So why only three stars? Because it didn’t hook me. I kept going mostly because I’d already started it, not because I couldn’t put it down. The frustrating part is that it *really* improves at the end — the pace tightens and the payoff finally lands — but for me, it arrived too late to elevate the whole experience.

[Sheena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one. The story pulled me in without me trying to “solve” it the whole time, which honestly made it more fun. I didn’t really piece together who the killer was until the end, and I liked that.

The themes around truth, masks, and personal bias hit in a way that felt really real and relatable. It made me think about how people present themselves versus who they actually are.

The characters were also well done because I found myself liking and disliking all of them at different points—which to me means the author did their job.

I also really enjoyed the podcast element and the back-and-forth between Phoebe and Sarah. Their dynamic added another layer with its own story of truth, friendship, and betrayal.

Overall a solid read.

[Jennifer Broder · Rating 1 out of 5]

Backstory by Gabriel Bergmoser was a solid 3 star read for me. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. It wasn’t stellar, but it definitely kept me interested.

What I really enjoyed was the way the mystery was told. You’re following a reporter conducting interviews with different people, and everyone has their own version of what happened. You KNOW someone is lying, but the question is who? As the mystery unfolded, I kept changing my mind about whose version I believed and trying to figure out the truth right along with the reporter.

Finding out who actually murdered who through all of these different perspectives was such an interesting way to present a mystery. It kept me guessing and made for a fun, solid read.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very slow start for me but it ended up being a good book. Five friends all aspiring to be great authors. They were taking time to celebrate their time at the university and writing course. Little did they know it would end with their friend Keith falling to his death.
Three of the friends each gave a slightly different account of the evening but all had claimed Keith's fall was an accident and the 4th friend was lead to believe somehow it was his fault.
Until Phoebe Black a journalist discovered several discrepancies and started investigating each story.
A few twists and surprising ending

[Evelynn B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Backstory by Gabriel Bergmoser and others was a great story. I listened to it on audible and there they and about seven different voice actors who made it a lot easier to follow. Since it would keep flipping from past to future. At first it felt like 4 different stories since each account was a little different from one another, but it eventually becomes all one in a beautiful way. I would recommend this to anyone who loves to figure out who the killer is in books. With out it being kind of obvious in the begging. Honestly this a good book to read when you need something to do. And just a context warning there is a lot of swearing so if you don't like that than just be weary.

[Lanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book by Gabriel Bergmoser that I’ve read. I was very impressed! The way the story unfolded was very intriguing and the readers in the audible version were very good - they kept me interested the whole way through. All the characters were very intriguing and you learn about each one not just by what they say but what other characters say about them. I don’t want to give anything away, but it was a fantastic journey, definitely has good replay or re-read value. I will read other books of his as well. Just enjoy the ride!!