Deviant Quill
More After the Break (Audiobook)

In More After the Break, Jen Maxfield revisits ten memorable stories from her career as a TV news reporter, describing in heart-pounding detail how the events unfolded and revealing what happened after the cameras went away. She introduces listeners to unforgettable people who will inspire you with their hopefulness, even when confronting life’s greatest heartbreaks: a young man who lost both legs in a ferry crash, an endurance athlete with stage-four lung cancer, a fifth grader on a doomed field trip, an Ivy League undergrad sentenced to decades in prison, a young woman who gave her life for an animal, a Wall Street executive on an ill-fated bike ride, a preschooler whose health hinged on an immigration battle, a family who lost everything in a hurricane, a mother who fought back against domestic violence, and a man who stood up for his rights while seated in his wheelchair.
Returning to find these people years—even decades—after she featured their stories on the news gives Maxfield an opportunity to ask the burning questions she had always pondered: What happened after the live truck pulled away? What is the rest of the story?
My review: A stunning account of the story behind the story. As a journalist by trade, I don't need to know how hard this job is. I know it well. This book is for everyone who doesn't know that. It's for the watchers/listeners who don't believe in "the story", who believe a story is "not that horrible if one can casually talk about it". Jen Maxfield investigates the news pieces that marked her, years after they aired on TV. The years she spent in the media have turned her into a prolific storyteller who can keep her audience enticed for hours on end. The fact that she narrated her own book is an excellent move. Nobody else could have shown genuine emotion during this process. A 10/10
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press (July 12, 2022)
Language: English
Hardcover: 256 pages
Audiobook: 7 hours and 44 minutes
ISBN-13: 978-1626349605
ASIN: B0B2C7WL23
Audiobook review copy provided by Greenleaf Book Group Press @ NetGalley