As the Wicked Watch by Tamron Hall

 Welcome Back, Booklovers! I feel like October has flown by and it's been such a hectic month. But despite the ups and downs I was still able to get some reading in. There are a lot of thriller releasing and As the Wicked Watch immediately caught my eye when I saw Tamron Hall's name attached. I received an advanced copy from William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.

Jordan Manning is a crime reporter with a forensic science background and a criminal investigation certification. Originally from Texas she's been living in Chicago for the past few years. She's reporting on the case of a girl who was found brutally murdered but the police are trying to paint it as if he was a runaway. This case is really sticking with her. The deaths of Black people especially Black girls often go overlooked and unsolved. As Jordan interviews people close to the victim she starts to uncover details unknown to the police and feels the need to take investigating into her own hands. 

It was clear Tamron Hall drew from personal experience as a reporter from Texas who moved to Chicago and has covered criminal investigations. It's hard not to compare her real life to Jordan's. There was never that feeling of urgency to know what would happen next. Which I should since this is the first in a series. Jordan would often ramble about random memories or we'd get mundane details about thing like her attire. Readers also introduced too many new people, some of whom didn't need introduced here because they served no purpose.

There was also a romance in here but I wasn't invested in it and neither was Jordan most of the time. His big declaration of love and Jordan taking him for granted because he was getting in the way of her ambitions just didn't move me.

There were some great things this story touched upon like sexism in the workplace, feeling caught between both sides as a Black person in criminal investigation, how the community often fails Black girls by protecting the wrong people, etc. The problem was were were told these things over and over again even when it could've just been implied and understood. And these things are often told to us in Jordan's thoughts. Jordan also wasn't likeable and I think for a series the main character has to be likeable. She uses people to get a story at all costs and it was hard to believe she actually cared about them or even the victims beyond being able to solve the case.

The audiobook has a great narrator who made it easy to listen to despite the heavy topics being discussed. The story easily stands on it's own, I just can't say I connected with Jordan enough to follow her across a series.