Every town has its well-known upper class families, the ones everybody knows and gossips about. They host fabulous events, are pillars of the community, and everyone rushes to do their bidding. In Lockwood, that family is the Hayward family. The are the driving force behind The Fairway Players, the local theatre company that is a hub of community and friendship in the town. The Haywards announce devastating news that two year old Poppy has brain cancer and needs an expensive course of treatment. The community rallies around them and launches a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the treatment. But behind the smiling faces, there are tensions, jealousies and secrets. Money goes missing from the account, tensions run high and then someone dies, a victim of foul play.

The Appeal has a unique style, in which the reader is presented with the story as revealed in a file of emails, letters, Whatsapp discussions and other documents. A legal team is reviewing the file to assess whether the correct person was charged with the murder, the reader follows the paper trail with them while they consider the suspects.

The style does take a little while to get used to, so I was a little slower reading this. I was thoroughly engaged and enjoying it until the last 100 or so pages. In my view, it just took too long to do the reveal. The legal team had proposed so many possible solutions, the ending felt somewhat anticlimactic. I did enjoy the novel, however it lost some of the intrigue and momentum in the last part of the book. A solid three star read.