Limetown

Today’s post is on Limetown by  Cote Smith, Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie. It is 287 pages long and is published by Simon & Schuster. The cover is white with a house on it upside up on top and upside down under the title. The intended reader is someone who is familiar with the podcast. There is mild foul language, no sex, and some violence in this novel. The story is told from third person of the two main characters Lia and Emile. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- On a seemingly ordinary day, seventeen-year-old Lia Haddock hears news that will change her life forever: three hundred men, women, and children living at a research facility in Limetown, Tennessee, have disappeared without a trace. Among the missing is Emile Haddock, Lia’s uncle.

What happened to the people of Limetown? It’s all anyone can talk about. Except Lia’s parents, who refuse to discuss what might have happened there. They refuse, even, to discuss anything to do with Emile.

As a student journalist, Lia begins an investigation that will take her far from her home, discovering clues about Emile’s past that lead to a shocking secret—one with unimaginable implications not only for the people of Limetown, but for Lia and her family. The only problem is…she’s not the only one looking for answers.

Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie are first-rate storytellers, in every medium. Critics called their podcast Limetown “creepy and otherworldly” (The New York Times) and “endlessly fun” (Vox), and their novel goes back to where it all began. Working with Cote Smith, a PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize Finalist, they’ve crafted an exhilarating mystery that asks big questions about what we owe to our families and what we owe to ourselves, about loss, discovery, and growth. Threaded throughout is Emile’s story—told in these pages for the first time ever.

Review- An interesting addition to the Limetown lore but unnecessary overall. As a huge fan of the podcast I was thrilled when the novel was published. It happens before the podcast and gives background into the two most important people in the podcast. But the novel, while it adds to the backstory, does nothing to advance the narrative. It is set in the past by some years for Lia and many years for Emile. We see Emile from a young age, already different and struggling with his abilities, when he finds out that those abilities run in the family. Lia does not remember her uncle Emile at all when the city Limetown is destroyed and no one wants to talk about it. She becomes obsessed with what happened. I did enjoy reading about Emile and what happened in his life to make him create Limetown but I also feel that this novel was wasted potential. If you are a huge Limetown podcast fan, you should enjoy this but if not then you should miss this novel. 

I give this novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this novel with my own money.