We Already Dug the Grave

 

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Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the gifted ARC.

Apparently murder is a family bonding activity in this book.

Milly used to be able to read the future in tea leaves, until one deadly night made the gift go silent. Now she’s estranged from her sister Francis, who married into the most powerful family in Alabama and hasn’t spoken to Milly in years. Not since what happened in that meadow when they were teens. But Francis shows at Milly’s door needing help, and Milly can’t say no, especially once the tea leaves start talking again. 

This is a Southern gothic thriller with strong Sharp Objects meets Practical Magic vibes. I liked the past and present timelines showing how Milly's and Francis’s childhood with their two no nonsense aunts shaped everything they became. The pace is steady and then revs up as the twists keep coming. Aunt Ruth and Aunt Hattie May stole every scene they were in. 

This one is a perfect choice if you love family drama with a pinch of the supernatural. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

 We Already Dug the Grave is out September 8. 

You can preorder a copy from Bookshop.org and help an indie bookstore while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you might be interested in my review of the supernatural thriller Molka.

About the Author

Emma C. Wells is the USA Today bestselling author of This Girl's A Killer. Follow Emma on Instagram or visit her website for more news an information about her books.

No Prisoners

 

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Hannah Lyon's entire job is to question how the world works. She's a physicist. So why can't she figure out what happened to her own husband?

Ellis Blake’s No Prisoners is set in New Mexico in 2008. Adam goes out one night to run an errand and that's the last anyone sees of him. Five weeks later the police think he just walked out of his life and into a new one. Hannah knows better, so she starts digging, while Detective Lou Hunt does the bare minimum on the case.

Here's where I have to be honest with you. I'm an action oriented reader. I like a fast pace, and this is a slow burn that tested my patience. The first two-thirds is a lot of Hannah driving around and a lot of Hannah trying to get someone, anyone, to take her seriously. I had to power through.

Then she notices a red SUV following her every move, and that's the moment the whole story starts to pick up a bit. Once it does, the mystery gets twisty and I did not see all of it coming. That's what saved it for me.

I'll be straight about the rest too. I didn't click with these characters. Hannah's under enormous stress and she's the only one fighting for Adam, but she reads as brittle the whole way through. Lou Hunt starts out sympathetic and then loses me, and I can't tell you why without spoiling it. Same with Adam.

Three stars from me, almost entirely about the pace. But I know plenty of readers live for a slow-building thriller, and if you're a patient reader who loves a family drama that takes its time, you are going to feel very differently than I did. This one's for you.

Thank you G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the ARC. No Prisoners is out July 21. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org and help an indie store while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you might be interested in my review of  The Last Thing He Told Me.

About the Author

Ellis Blake is the pseudonym of Ben Sanders, award-winning author of American Blood and other books in the Marshall Grade series. He lives in New Zealand. 

Somebody Worth Killing

 

Mommy tracked.

By her assassin agency.

An assassin who only kills bad guys AND is a devoted mom? I was sold on page one. In Somebody Worth Killing by Jessica Payne, Nadia Davis is a devoted mom, loving wife, and a hired assassin who only takes out certified bad guys.  She’s got a code, a handler, and a school pickup schedule to juggle.

When Nadia discovers she’s been sidelined for bigger jobs because she’s a mom, she pushes back and demands a real assignment. What she gets is a mark she never saw coming. It's her own husband. 

The premise alone had me in. It delivered. Nadia is a genuinely great character. She's a devoted, loving mom who also happens to be a psychopath, and she knows it. The humor is woven in naturally, and the pacing builds steadily without feeling rushed.

My one complaint: the early chapters repeat Nadia’s backstory a few too many times. Once the plot really kicks in, though, I was hooked and didn’t want to put it down.

This is the perfect popcorn thriller. It's light on the darkness, heavy on the fun. Think Finlay Donovan vibes with a dash of Dexter. If you want something entertaining without needing a true crime recovery period after, this is your book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for the gifted ARC! Somebody Worth Killing publishes June 16th.

If you enjoyed this review, you may be interested in A Sociopath's Guide to Murder.

About the Author

Jessica Payne lives in Washington State with her daughter and husband and an internet search history that would raise eyebrows. A firm believer in strong coffee and stronger women, she writes about mothers who know how to handle a sniper rifle and a carpool schedule with equal precision. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her trail running through the forests of the Pacific Northwest as she plots her next fictional murder. She is the creator of the Substack community One Tired Mother.

The Last Time We Saw Her

 

This one had everything I usually love, but it fizzled out.

A cold case disappearance, a locked-room setup, and an island I'll never get to visit in real life.

Let me start by saying this is going to work for a lot of you, and I want to be upfront about that. It just didn't fully click for me, and after 20 years of handing books to readers I've learned that "not for me" and "not good" aren't the same thing.

Here's the setup. Ten years ago a teenage summer camper named Sydney vanished on São Miguel, a remote island in the Azores, while chasing a rumored treasure. Now her family and friends are back on the island for a memorial weekend marking the anniversary, and a documentary crew is poking at the case. Everyone's together again, and all the secrets and lies they've been sitting on for a decade start surfacing.

What pulled me in: the location. The Azores are completely exotic to me and I loved being dropped somewhere I'll probably never go. The setting is genuinely atmospheric, and I'm a sucker for a cold case plus a locked-room vibe. The multiple POVs and the timeline shifts back to Sydney's disappearance kept things moving structurally.

Where it lost me: the pace. It's a slow burn, which is fine, but I needed more tension to fill that space and it just wasn't there for me. The bigger issue was the characters. They felt bland and broadly drawn, and I never connected with anyone enough to care who was hiding what. That's a shame, because the bones of a much sharper, twistier thriller are right there. And the ending? One thing in particular had me shaking my head going "there's no way that's possible." No spoilers, but you'll know it when you hit it.

If you love a slow-burn thriller heavy on family and friend drama, multiple POVs, and a strong sense of place, this could absolutely be your kind of book. I really wanted to love it more than I did, and I have zero doubt it'll land just right for plenty of readers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC. Out June 16.

If you enjoyed this, you might also be interested in The Safari.

About the Author

Jaclyn Goldis is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and NYU School of Law. She practiced estate planning law at a large Chicago firm for seven years before leaving her job to travel the world and write novels. After culling her possessions into only what would fit in a backpack, she traveled for over a year until settling near the beach, where she can often be found writing from cafés. She is the author of The Chateau, The Main Character, The Safari, and The Last Time We Saw Her.

For more information on Jaclyn and her books, visit her website.

Reality Bites

 

A scientist walks onto a reality dating show. No, this isn’t a joke. It’s her only shot at saving her lab.

Thank you Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the gifted ARC.

Reality Bites by Amy Mass is the romcom your beach bag is waiting for. 🐸

Grace Lambert is a serious scientist dedicated to saving an endangered frog species from extinction. Her entire family? A bunch of influencers. Her mom has an HGTV-style Instagram, her dad runs a yoga YouTube channel, and her brothers are all over TikTok and Twitch. Grace has never had social media a day in her life, and she’s perfectly fine with that.

Then her lab loses its funding and suddenly the cash prize on a reality dating show looks a lot more appealing.

So Grace shows up on set with zero idea what a reality show is and no interest in the other contestants. And absolutely no intention of falling for anyone. Especially not Andrew, the show’s attorney, who she immediately annoys and who immediately annoys her right back.

You can probably guess where this is going. And it’s a blast getting there. Reality Bites hits every romcom trope you love: fish out of water, nerdy girl who doesn’t realize she’s gorgeous, enemies to lovers, the third act breakup, the grand gesture, the HEA. It hits them well. The banter between Grace and Andrew is sharp and genuinely funny. But my favorite part was watching Grace’s family, the influencers she never quite understood, rally around her when she needed them most and use their skills to fight for her lab. That family dynamic gave the book a little extra heart.

This is a debut novel, and Amy Mass (a TV comedy writer who worked on Last Man Standing and The Goldbergs) clearly knows how to write funny. It shows. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Out May 12. 

If you liked this review, you might enjoy my review of Fangirl Down. 

About the Author 

Amy Mass began her career in advertising in New York City. She moved to Los Angeles, where she wrote for hit television comedies, including Last Man Standing and The Goldbergs, for twelve years. During the pandemic, she moved to rural Georgia, where she writes romcom novels and films and lives with her family.

Five

 

Five strangers. A train platform. One of them won’t make it home. 🚂

I was warned. My friend Kristin raved about Five by Ilona Bannister and told me to get to it immediately. She was not wrong.

Here’s the setup: five strangers are on a train platform. In five minutes, the 7:06 to London Victoria arrives. One of them is going to die. You know it’s coming. They don’t. And the narrator, speaking directly to you, is making sure you’re paying attention.

Before that train pulls in, Bannister takes you deep into the backstory of each of these five people. A young gambler. A cantankerous old woman. A mother and her tantrum-throwing child. A successful, damaged businessman. None of them are saints. All of them are complicated. And the more you learn about them, the more you find yourself doing something uncomfortable: deciding who deserves to walk away.

This book has full Twilight Zone energy with an all-knowing narrator who pulls you into a tragedy you can see coming but can’t stop. That feeling of dread creeping in while you’re completely powerless to do anything about it? Bannister nails it.

This is not a locked room mystery, exactly. These people could leave the platform. The circumstances just make that nearly impossible. It’s a distinction that matters, and it makes the whole thing feel even more claustrophobic and propulsive.

I devoured this in less than 24 hours, which almost never happens for me. The format is unlike anything I’ve read. It pulls you in as a participant, not just a reader. Some characters had me rooting for them. Others… not so much. And the way those feelings shifted as each story unfolded? That’s the whole magic of this book.

Go in knowing as little as possible. Just trust me on this one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Crown Publishing and NetGalley for the early copy. Five by Ilona Bannister hits shelves May 5th and it’s worth the wait.

Looking for more thrillers? Check out Five Fast Paced Mysteries You Can Read in a Weekend.

About the Author

Ilona Bannister, born and raised in New York, lives in the UK with her husband and sons. Her first book, When I Ran Away, was longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize.

For more news and information about Ilona's books, visit her website. 

Caller Unknown

 

This book had me gripped — right up until the ending asked me to believe a little too much.

Gillian McAllister’s Caller Unknown opens with a premise that hooks you immediately: a mother’s daughter is kidnapped, and the terror that follows is visceral and real. McAllister absolutely nails Simone’s panic and desperation. That part worked.

What also worked was the relationship between Simone and Lucy. Simone is smart and capable — even when I didn’t agree with her choices. She has strong convictions about motherhood, including one I pushed back on a little myself. But she’s a compelling character and I was rooting for her the whole way.

Where the book lost me was the ending. The resolution hinged on a sequence of events that required me to suspend a lot of disbelief. I’m talking serious luck, not convincing plot. No spoilers, but let’s just say the characters’ survival depends on circumstances that felt more miraculous than realistic. My inner high school English teacher kept whispering deus ex machina.

McAllister’s fans will enjoy this one. She knows how to move a plot and pile on the emotions. I just needed the payoff to live up to what came before it. If you’re looking for a fast, propulsive thriller for a beach or pool read, this delivers. Just don’t look too closely at the seams. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC. Caller Unknownpublishes May 5.

If you enjoyed this review, you might like Forget You Saw Her by Noelle W. Ihli. 

About the Author

Gillian McAllister is the New York Timesbestselling author of Reese's Book Club Pick Wrong Place Wrong Time, Famous Last Words, Just Another Missing Person, Everything but the Truth, The Choice, The Good Sister, The Evidence Against You, How to Disappear, and the Richard & Judy Book Club pick That Night. She graduated with an English degree before working as a lawyer. She lives in Birmingham, England, where she now writes full-time. She is also the creator and co-host of the popular Honest Authorspodcast. 

The Great Houses of Pill Hill

 

The premise sounded irresistible. The execution? Not so much.

The Great Houses of Pill Hill had everything going for it on paper: an interior designer who builds miniature crime scene dioramas, a murder, and a house full of secrets. Cookie, the main character, even has two dogs, which honestly got her further with me than anything else in this book.

But here’s where it went sideways for me: the dioramas. The dioramas were whole reason I picked this up. They barely factor into the story. There’s a Lizzie Borden diorama scene that could have been genuinely thrilling, and then it just fizzles. The murder mystery gets buried under a tangle of subplots that pull focus in every direction. The characters felt flat. The dialogue is written without quotation marks (which made it nearly impossible to separate Cookie’s inner thoughts from actual conversation), and by the end I’d lost the thread completely. I don’t know if the no quotation marks was just an ARC thing or if it’s the author’s style. 

I wanted quirky and clever. Instead I got overwhelmed and a little bored.

If you love literary, character-driven fiction and aren’t too hung up on a tight plot, you might find more to love here than I did. But if you’re coming for the mystery and the miniatures, this one might leave you wanting. 

Thank you Soho Crime for the gifted ARC. The Great Houses of Pill Hill publishes May 5.