What do you think?
Rate this book
After You've Gone
2 hours, 59 minutes
A gripping story of friendship and murder from acclaimed author Margot Hunt—created as an immersive audio experience!
Tessa and Charlie have been best friends since childhood. Now Tessa is a famous travel writer who documents her adventures on social media while Charlie rarely leaves the safety of her home, living in fear after narrowly escaping a vicious attack years earlier. But despite their different lives, their bond of friendship remains unbreakable … even in death.
When Tessa is found murdered in her luxurious French Quarter hotel, the New Orleans police go down the wrong trail. Knowing the killer is still out there, Charlie must do the unthinkable in order to solve the crime: face her fears and step outside her comfort zone. She starts her own social media channel, hoping to find someone who saw Tessa on the night she was killed, and travels to New Orleans to investigate Tessa’s final days—all the while knowing that the killer may come for her too.
This twisty, harrowing thriller will remind you that even in our most frightening moments, we can somehow summon the courage to survive.
A gripping story of friendship and murder from acclaimed author Margot Hunt—created as an immersive audio experience!
Tessa and Charlie have been best friends since childhood. Now Tessa is a famous travel writer who documents her adventures on social media while Charlie rarely leaves the safety of her home, living in fear after narrowly escaping a vicious attack years earlier. But despite their different lives, their bond of friendship remains unbreakable … even in death.
When Tessa is found murdered in her luxurious French Quarter hotel, the New Orleans police go down the wrong trail. Knowing the killer is still out there, Charlie must do the unthinkable in order to solve the crime: face her fears and step outside her comfort zone. She starts her own social media channel, hoping to find someone who saw Tessa on the night she was killed, and travels to New Orleans to investigate Tessa’s final days—all the while knowing that the killer may come for her too.
This twisty, harrowing thriller will remind you that even in our most frightening moments, we can somehow summon the courage to survive.
Audible Audio
Published June 28, 2024
About the author
Margot Hunt
9 books1,180 followersMargot Hunt is the author of LOVELY GIRLS, THE LAST AFFAIR, FOR BETTER AND WORSE, and BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. She has also written the Audible Original novellas TELL HER STORY, THE HOUSE ON THE WATER and BURIED DEEP. Her next book, THE GUESTS, will be released in January 2024.
Learn more about Margot and her forthcoming books at
margothunt.com.
Learn more about Margot and her forthcoming books at
margothunt.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews
September 29, 2024
Just a basic thriller, not a lot of twists, but the audiobook was cool.
July 1, 2024
Not bad! Nice and short, perfect for keeping my attention while tidying up the house before the long weekend.
Happy Canada Day! 🇨🇦🥳🍁🌞
Happy Canada Day! 🇨🇦🥳🍁🌞
September 28, 2024
Story 3.5 stars**
Audio 4.5 stars**
Narrators
Stephanie Einstein
Tyla Collier 4.5
Dina Pearlman
Brian Telestai
York Whitaker
Audio 4.5 stars**
Narrators
Stephanie Einstein
Tyla Collier 4.5
Dina Pearlman
Brian Telestai
York Whitaker
July 17, 2024
2.5 rounded up — this was fine? The plot was ho-hum and obvious, but it kept me entertained enough while I was doing other stuff. I did like the full audio production, which is what saved it for me. It also seems like it could be a decent setup for a series (maybe it is already a series?) with more internet sleuthing to be done.
July 7, 2024
After You've Gone by Margot Hunt
2h 59m narrated by Stephanie Einstein, Tyla Collier, Dina Pearlman, Brain Telestai, York Whitaker
Genre: Crime Thriller, Mystery, Short Story
Featuring: Audible Original, Travel Influencer, Blogger, Social Media, New Orleans, Louisiana; Best Friends, Agoraphobia, Cafe Du Monde, Florida, Dog, Murder Investigation, Hypervigilance, Friend Requests, Videos, Stupidity, Incompetence
Rating as a movie: R for adult content
My rating: ⭐️⭐️½🧳🤳
My thoughts: This was kind of slow and uneventful. Like a bad episode of Columbo. I felt like it skipped over scenes as it was very jumpy followed by light exposition dumps.
Recommend to others: If you have time read it, if you're looking for a good thriller skip it.
2h 59m narrated by Stephanie Einstein, Tyla Collier, Dina Pearlman, Brain Telestai, York Whitaker
Genre: Crime Thriller, Mystery, Short Story
Featuring: Audible Original, Travel Influencer, Blogger, Social Media, New Orleans, Louisiana; Best Friends, Agoraphobia, Cafe Du Monde, Florida, Dog, Murder Investigation, Hypervigilance, Friend Requests, Videos, Stupidity, Incompetence
Rating as a movie: R for adult content
My rating: ⭐️⭐️½🧳🤳
My thoughts: This was kind of slow and uneventful. Like a bad episode of Columbo. I felt like it skipped over scenes as it was very jumpy followed by light exposition dumps.
Recommend to others: If you have time read it, if you're looking for a good thriller skip it.
September 12, 2024
A really well performed short whodunit Audible story. Enjoyed it.
July 5, 2024
This book only made me want to hit my head against a wall because of the stupidity of the main character. Why would you just accept instructions from a stranger without thinking about what consequences there would be? The book was too short for any character development to rectify some of the irritating aspects of the main character. Again, not the smartest character, putting herself in danger without any thought. There was hardly any information about the murdered woman to onto the character and feel the urgency of the crime. It was easy enough to figure out who was behind the crime because the direction the author took the story would've been too good to be true. The only cute character in the book was the dog who didn't contribute anything to the story except for one crucial moment towards the end.
August 13, 2024
3.5 ⭐️
August 15, 2024
Really basic mystery story that is predictable the entire time. It would probably remind you of a cheesy lifetime movie.
July 16, 2024
2.5⭐️
It was okay. Predictable than a m'er-f'er, but would probably make for a good filler audiobook to hold you for a few hours through a reading slump if you don't need anything too heavy. For that, it'll do. It was nothing special though.
It was okay. Predictable than a m'er-f'er, but would probably make for a good filler audiobook to hold you for a few hours through a reading slump if you don't need anything too heavy. For that, it'll do. It was nothing special though.
July 1, 2024
A quick read that focuses on FMC stepping out of her comfort zone to find who unalived her bff. It was an okay read but great narration. I just wished there was more depth with the characters cause I felt meh?
September 8, 2024
I listened to this audiobook and it was really good until about 30% and then I pretty much felt that I had solved the mystery here. What I did really love though about this story was the addition storyline of two mysterious callers to the FMC (Charly) who are both versed in solving crimes and want to help Charly solve the crime of her best friends murder.
That part was very interesting to me and made me still really enjoy the book despite the fact I was reasonably certain I knew who had done it.
Overall though it was a great short audiobook.
That part was very interesting to me and made me still really enjoy the book despite the fact I was reasonably certain I knew who had done it.
Overall though it was a great short audiobook.
July 25, 2024
Good and short, very predictable plot.
August 10, 2024
This was a quick listen with a predicable plot. It was obvious who the killer was.
August 30, 2024
Audiolibro para pasar el rato, puntos extras por el perrito
September 17, 2024
A quick audiobook listen with a great mystery!
September 23, 2024
This was just okay. The story was kind of predictable but I did enjoy the graphic version of the story.
July 17, 2024
I picked this one up because it was included in my Audible subscription and I really enjoyed it! I would definitely read more by this author.
September 18, 2024
It was a quick read while I am waiting for my credits to reload on audible 😂 I enjoyed the narration of it. Totally different and unique. Unlike most of you though I had no idea about the plot twist so that was new to me. Nothing thrilling but it was .. cute?
August 29, 2024
While the story was engaging, it didn't quite break new ground, sticking closely to familiar tropes and making the twists predictable. The characters showed potential but lacked the depth needed to make them truly memorable. This audiobook is a solid choice for thriller fans looking for a reliable listen, but it may not leave a lasting impression.
August 29, 2024
3.5 ✨
Plot: I felt the plot was paced very well especially considering it is a short story and therefore does not have the luxury of building to the climax and conclusion a full length story would. I do feel the murderer was a bit predictable (okay very) and there were some missing pieces of the story. However, as I previously mentioned I know this is a short story and therefore I can’t hold it to the same standards as a longer book. The ending somewhat threw me off because it didn’t necessarily make total sense to me that the NOPD wouldn’t take what Charlie said seriously. I am not saying there isn’t massive negligence in police departments but given that she could prove she was best friends with a victim that had a huge following on socials, you would think that they would have prioritized what Charlie had to say - yet she was turned away each and every time. Aaron showing up at Charlie’s place also didn’t fully make sense to me. Why would he take the time to come after her and not think everything else through? His reasoning just seemed far fetched in my opinion.
Characters:
Tessa-
Even though we only were able spend a little time with Tessa, I found myself really liking and connecting with her. It made me really sad knowing what was going to happen to her and then dealing with her death afterwards. I do wish we had had a bit more insight into her relationship with Aaron prior to their breakup though.
Charlie - I very much enjoyed her as a main character & found myself taken in by her life as well as the issues she faced in her past, in addition to her journey to find her best friend’s killer. I loved seeing her develop and heal while working through her own grief. Life is often times difficult in the sense it can throw multiple things at you at once and you have to adapt as best you’re able.
Greg / Emily - though I did mostly enjoy these side characters, I didn’t love how truly aggressive Emily was towards Charlie. She basically interrogated Charlie on their first meeting and bullied her throughout the story to further her own investigation. It felt like Emily often forgot that Tessa was a very real person and Charlie was her best friend. Charlie was dealing with so much while navigating her grief. She didn’t need a high school student bullying her into doing what she wanted when she felt like it needed to be done. I also thought that her doing intense background on Charlie and digging up her trauma was not necessary and gave me the ick when she *again* bullied Charlie into sharing something she was clearly not ready to deal with yet. I also really didn’t care for the way Emily made it clear that she found this to be a “fun hobby” and that she was going to use all of her experience solving all these murders as topics for her college essays. And unless I missed it completely; I find it really weird and a little creepy that an older man was spending time with a high school student. Another issue I had with Greg’s character is that it was never explained why he “wouldn’t travel”. I understand there needed to be a strong reason to get Charlie to go to New Orleans but it felt a bit lazy to just simply state that he wouldn’t go without a real explanation. This especially felt off as nothing Emily and Greg kept pushing that this was extremely important and “their” investigation (🙄). If it was so important, why didn’t Greg go? What was the plan if they hadn’t made contact with Charlie?
In conclusion, I overall really enjoyed the story and can see myself recommending this story to other people. I will continue to try more of the author’s work in the future.
Plot: I felt the plot was paced very well especially considering it is a short story and therefore does not have the luxury of building to the climax and conclusion a full length story would. I do feel the murderer was a bit predictable (okay very) and there were some missing pieces of the story. However, as I previously mentioned I know this is a short story and therefore I can’t hold it to the same standards as a longer book. The ending somewhat threw me off because it didn’t necessarily make total sense to me that the NOPD wouldn’t take what Charlie said seriously. I am not saying there isn’t massive negligence in police departments but given that she could prove she was best friends with a victim that had a huge following on socials, you would think that they would have prioritized what Charlie had to say - yet she was turned away each and every time. Aaron showing up at Charlie’s place also didn’t fully make sense to me. Why would he take the time to come after her and not think everything else through? His reasoning just seemed far fetched in my opinion.
Characters:
Tessa-
Even though we only were able spend a little time with Tessa, I found myself really liking and connecting with her. It made me really sad knowing what was going to happen to her and then dealing with her death afterwards. I do wish we had had a bit more insight into her relationship with Aaron prior to their breakup though.
Charlie - I very much enjoyed her as a main character & found myself taken in by her life as well as the issues she faced in her past, in addition to her journey to find her best friend’s killer. I loved seeing her develop and heal while working through her own grief. Life is often times difficult in the sense it can throw multiple things at you at once and you have to adapt as best you’re able.
Greg / Emily - though I did mostly enjoy these side characters, I didn’t love how truly aggressive Emily was towards Charlie. She basically interrogated Charlie on their first meeting and bullied her throughout the story to further her own investigation. It felt like Emily often forgot that Tessa was a very real person and Charlie was her best friend. Charlie was dealing with so much while navigating her grief. She didn’t need a high school student bullying her into doing what she wanted when she felt like it needed to be done. I also thought that her doing intense background on Charlie and digging up her trauma was not necessary and gave me the ick when she *again* bullied Charlie into sharing something she was clearly not ready to deal with yet. I also really didn’t care for the way Emily made it clear that she found this to be a “fun hobby” and that she was going to use all of her experience solving all these murders as topics for her college essays. And unless I missed it completely; I find it really weird and a little creepy that an older man was spending time with a high school student. Another issue I had with Greg’s character is that it was never explained why he “wouldn’t travel”. I understand there needed to be a strong reason to get Charlie to go to New Orleans but it felt a bit lazy to just simply state that he wouldn’t go without a real explanation. This especially felt off as nothing Emily and Greg kept pushing that this was extremely important and “their” investigation (🙄). If it was so important, why didn’t Greg go? What was the plan if they hadn’t made contact with Charlie?
In conclusion, I overall really enjoyed the story and can see myself recommending this story to other people. I will continue to try more of the author’s work in the future.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 5, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is my personal 5 star rating system because I’m too lazy to write a review for every book.
5 stars -> OMFG. I couldn’t stop listening. I was engaged from beginning to end. The story & narrator was amazing. I 100% recommend this book & author. I was able to clearly follow each and every character.
4 stars -> It was pretty good. I would’ve rated 5 stars, But either the ending was lacking, I struggled to keep up with characters, or the story didn’t keep me fully engaged. The narrator was pretty good as well. I’m on the fence about recommending this book, It could go either way.
3 Stars -> It was boring at times & I missed chunks of the story. I most likely struggled to keep up with character developments. The only way I would recommend this book is if it was part of a series. The narrator was most likely average or just couldn’t fix a mediocre book.
2 Stars -> It was pretty horrible. I used it as background noise because I hadn’t had a chance to search for another book. The book either had a bad narrator, The character development was non existent, or the story was hot garbage. I would not recommend this book.
1 Star -> The absolute only reason I listened to this book was because i had no time to search for another one & I needed background noise. It was 1 step up from listening to the radio. I wouldn’t recommend this book to my worst enemy. Everything about this book was terrible. This is only recommended for people on death row and have absolutely nothing else to read.
5 stars -> OMFG. I couldn’t stop listening. I was engaged from beginning to end. The story & narrator was amazing. I 100% recommend this book & author. I was able to clearly follow each and every character.
4 stars -> It was pretty good. I would’ve rated 5 stars, But either the ending was lacking, I struggled to keep up with characters, or the story didn’t keep me fully engaged. The narrator was pretty good as well. I’m on the fence about recommending this book, It could go either way.
3 Stars -> It was boring at times & I missed chunks of the story. I most likely struggled to keep up with character developments. The only way I would recommend this book is if it was part of a series. The narrator was most likely average or just couldn’t fix a mediocre book.
2 Stars -> It was pretty horrible. I used it as background noise because I hadn’t had a chance to search for another book. The book either had a bad narrator, The character development was non existent, or the story was hot garbage. I would not recommend this book.
1 Star -> The absolute only reason I listened to this book was because i had no time to search for another one & I needed background noise. It was 1 step up from listening to the radio. I wouldn’t recommend this book to my worst enemy. Everything about this book was terrible. This is only recommended for people on death row and have absolutely nothing else to read.
August 31, 2024
3.5 cute read that kept me walking and listening.
Best Friend, beauty and influencer, makes plans to hook up with a guy described as having cute eyebrows (now I've heard it all!)...The police have arrested a culprit who could not have been the perp and in order to find her BF's murderer, MC must overcome her fear and trauma from being attacked while out one evening, by two villains who force her to take her to her flat when, after debating on whether or not it was too risky to rape her, instead locked her in a closet where she was trapped for 20 hours before her roommate returned from an overnight trip. Once out, she found the apartment trashed and that the duo had stolen everything and anything of value.
But the plot works fine without the above background which adds nothing to the story.
In MC's attempt to get any information that might help solve her BF's murder, she puts a plea online and is joined by a HS amateur online detective and elusive very rich mogul tekkie partner, and that's when the plot gets fun as they fly her out to New Orleans to try to track down the murderer who was to meet BF for dinner while on location for a photo shoot.
There's a cute dog mystery in the story for animal lovers.
Audible+ freebie, if you subscribe. Morgot Hunt can be hit or miss for me. This was a hit.
Best Friend, beauty and influencer, makes plans to hook up with a guy described as having cute eyebrows (now I've heard it all!)...The police have arrested a culprit who could not have been the perp and in order to find her BF's murderer, MC must overcome her fear and trauma from being attacked while out one evening, by two villains who force her to take her to her flat when, after debating on whether or not it was too risky to rape her, instead locked her in a closet where she was trapped for 20 hours before her roommate returned from an overnight trip. Once out, she found the apartment trashed and that the duo had stolen everything and anything of value.
But the plot works fine without the above background which adds nothing to the story.
In MC's attempt to get any information that might help solve her BF's murder, she puts a plea online and is joined by a HS amateur online detective and elusive very rich mogul tekkie partner, and that's when the plot gets fun as they fly her out to New Orleans to try to track down the murderer who was to meet BF for dinner while on location for a photo shoot.
There's a cute dog mystery in the story for animal lovers.
Audible+ freebie, if you subscribe. Morgot Hunt can be hit or miss for me. This was a hit.
July 28, 2024
Okay, well just because there's technically a strategy for writing books like a whole blueprint for it. Audible has really run with this idea and just keep producing the same mind-numbing nonsense that I feel like maybe AI wrote. It's just technically. Yes, it works. But is it good? No. Is it something that I regret I could scrub for my mind? No I wish it was good though. I mean this has the capacity to be a good book but it's just not at a lot of audibles books are like this. At least the audible originals. You can take a blueprint and make a book as I said before. But should you I don't know. I don't think so. I feel the same way about shows that use a recipe such as young Sheldon or any of the myriad of NCISS. I just feel there's nothing really great about them. Do they work technically? Yes are they enjoyable? No
July 8, 2024
🎧: After You’ve Gone by Margot Hunt
⭐️: 3/5
The gist: A friendship that endures distance, trauma, and even death. Tessa is a travel influencer staying in New Orleans when she’s found murdered in her hotel. Her best friend, Charlie, still reeling from an attack years prior, needs to find resilience she didn’t know she had to help find what happened to Tessa.
The good: The friendship thread followed through the story beautifully, start to finish. A quick listen, this listen wraps up in under 3 hours.
The eh: An overall average thriller with a decent amount of predictability and no major twists that made me stop in my tracks.
⭐️: 3/5
The gist: A friendship that endures distance, trauma, and even death. Tessa is a travel influencer staying in New Orleans when she’s found murdered in her hotel. Her best friend, Charlie, still reeling from an attack years prior, needs to find resilience she didn’t know she had to help find what happened to Tessa.
The good: The friendship thread followed through the story beautifully, start to finish. A quick listen, this listen wraps up in under 3 hours.
The eh: An overall average thriller with a decent amount of predictability and no major twists that made me stop in my tracks.
July 9, 2024
I liked this book quite a bit actually. It was fast paced but I was invested in the story. I loved the addition of phone calls, text messages, and newscasts in the audio. This was the perfect book to have on at work. This is an awesome book for those transitioning into listening to more audio books and great for those who love thrillers and/or true crime. Overall, I great read!
July 10, 2024
this book was good, it was short and able to keep my attention while i was struggling to get through some bigger books. was a cute little story that did really well with the social media/ video chat aspect . the author definitely took some inspiration from a fairly recent high profile murder and put their own spin on it - loved the dog
July 11, 2024
I really liked this book. It was short but complete enough not to leave me with any questions. I liked the friendship between Tessa and Charlie. Gus/Buddy was great too. It was an interesting way to solve a murder case that the police didn't seem to be doing a good job of solving. The extra things like various voices and newscasts made it even better.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews