This is one of several stories I have read recently that deal with a woman who has been duped into marrying an abusive man. They follow a very similar format: woman is on her own with a dependent of some kind (child, parent, handicapped sibling) and along comes a man who fits right in to the family. He is helpful, loving, and supportive. Usually there is an event where he is able to swoop in and do something beyond expectations and "save the day." Yep, The Walls follows the trope. But once Lance, the knight in shining armor, begins to show his villainous tendencies, the staid plot takes a twist. Why? Well because the woman he chose to pick on this time works with people on death row for a living. Kristy has seen all the ways a criminal has gotten themselves caught and thinks she is the one to be able to commit a crime and not get caught. And Lance has made it very clear that there is no way she is getting out of their marriage without serious collateral damage. The big question is whether she succeed. I really liked how much time Ms. Overton set up the scene with Kristy struggling to keep a balanced home life while working full time at a emotionally taxing job and the growing of her relationship with Lance. This was the meat of the book as the reader looked for clues to see whether Kristy was being a foolish woman and ignoring "the signs." But my favorite part was the relationship Kristy developed with one of the death row inmates. It brought a humanity to the people who are on death row and highlighted some problems with the system without getting preachy. Another enjoyable read from Ms. Overton!

These last few days have been great for me. I read five excellent books in a row. Yay!! And this was just one of them.

Single mom, Kristy Tucker, works as a PIO for the Texas prison system. She deals with the worst kind of human beings on a daily basis. Murderers, pedophiles, serial killers, rapists, she has seen and talked with all of them.

She also has been single all her life. Her 15 year old son, Ryan, has never known a father. His own or a substitute. When Ryan starts taking martial arts lessons from Lance, he really takes a liking to him. So does Kristy, unfortunately. When Lance's true nature comes out, Kristy has a problem. Lance is an abuser.

I almost put the book down during this phase, however, I am glad that I did not. My hatred for Lance was abominable. He was a horrible, horrible man and no one in Kristy's family knew, but her.

When she comes up with a way to get rid of him for good, the only way to get him out of her life, she finds much to her dread, I found myself cheering and egging her on.

An edge of your seat thriller that I read all in one sitting.

Huge thanks to Hatchett Book Group Redbook and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

How does love turn so quickly into something ugly and evil?

Kristy is a young, single mother with her hands full. She is raising her son Ryan while also caring for her ailing father. Kristy also works full time at the local prison as their public relations liaison for the inmates on death row.

When her son’s karate coach, Lance enters their lives he seems to fit in so perfectly and become the final piece to their family puzzle. Could everything stay this perfect forever? Of course not!

This is a very well-crafted thriller that takes you down the road of a battered woman and her fight to get her life back. A slow start that had me concerned at first. I thought I was journeying down the dreaded romance road! That quickly changed as did Kristy’s marriage. As her fear and fight for her life ramped-up so did the intensity of this book.
What would you be willing to do to protect those you love?

This was my first read from this author but I will definitely be going back to take a close look at her previous book Baby Doll.

Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, Hollie Overton and Hatchette Book Group for a readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well she reeled me in with her first book and then it was hook line and sinker with The Walls. I love an author that can pull off CREEPY. Highly recommend

3.75 Stars* (rounded up).

Kristy is a hard working single mom. She has always worked hard to provide for her son Ryan and for Pops, her ailing father - and her job isn’t one Ryan approves of - in fact he despises it. The thing is, she’s a single mom and kind of got stuck working after getting pregnant in high school. As for her job? It can’t be that be that bad, right?! Wrong. She works as a press agent for the Texas Department of Corrections and also oversees the executions of everyone on Death Row at The Walls.

Kristy has never let anyone get to close but then it happens. She meets two men, Lance Dobson, her son's Judo instructor - the man who builds her son Ryan up, gives him self confidence and turns him into a man; and Clifton Harris, nicknamed "Baby Killer Harris" - a man on death row accused of intentionally killing his two children in a fire. She gets to know Lance and Clifton very well. One of these men is a monster. Is it Lance or Clifton?

This story is Kristy's and Kristy's alone. It starts out a little slow but then the pace quickens and it builds up. It grabs hold like a corset and it holds tight till the very last page and finally that corset loosens and you can breathe again. The characters are real and well developed and they draw you in immediately. While it deals with some very sensitive topics that are hard to read, they are handled well.

This was my first book by Hollie Overton and I enjoyed it and would definitely read another.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hatchette Book Group, and Hollie Overton for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley, Goodreads, Amazon and Twitter on 9.24.17.

A single mom, Kristy Tucker, a Prison Information officer is tasked with working with death row inmates to gather information on how to commit the perfect crime. She needs this information because her family's life could depend on it.

I loved The Walls! Hollie Overton's first novel, Baby Doll, was excellent and her second does not disappoint. The internal struggle the main character, Kristy, faces with her job and personal life can be felt by the reader throughout. I cannot recommend this novel enough for thriller fans! I couldn't put it down!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was a slow boiling thiller.
The characters were well developed and the writing was very descriptive.
This was the first book that I read by this author and I would love to read whatever she writes next.

Not bad, but not particularly a thriller. It's a pretty straightforward tale. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't really full of suspense.

How far would you go to protect your family? Would you kill to protect them?

“The Walls” makes you consider the answers to those questions.

Kristy Tucker’s job is watching people die. That’s a blunt way of putting it and it’s definitely not the only part of her job, but it’s the part that really stands out. The people she sees put to death are all convicted killers, but it doesn’t make it any easier. Kristy has witnessed the execution of 37 people, and she can name them all.

This is definitely not her dream job. But as a single mother, working as a public information officer for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice pays the bills and offers good benefits. Kristy serves as mediator between inmates, the press, and the prison system. Her teenage son, Ryan really hates her job and is especially sensitive when it comes to the executions. He’s even started attending protests. On the one hand she’s proud of Ryan but she could lose her job if others found out.

Kristy has dealt with many different types of inmates. Some are the monsters people think they are but others are desperate people that got caught up in a bad situation. Then there are the ones who claim they are innocent.

Every day, Kristy walks past a sign that says:

NOTICE. NO HOSTAGES WILL EXIT THROUGH THIS GATE

“This sign served as a reminder that these inmates were not to be trusted, that in here, your life hung in a delicate balance”.

One of the inmates that Kristy visits is Clifton Harris. He’s been on death row for over eight years. He’s the one they call Baby Killer Harris. Although he’s been convicted of killing his two children, he has maintained his innocence all of these years.

Is he lying to Kristy or is he truly an innocent man?

Kristy’s job is never easy and when Ryan gets into trouble in school it adds to her list of worries. When she learns that Ryan has been taking martial arts classes behind her back, she gets angry. But then she meets the man training her son. His name is Lance Dobson. He reassures her and she soon sees that her son is benefiting from Lance’s tutelage. The more Kristy gets to know Lance, the more she likes him. Ryan likes him. Her Pops likes him. He seems like a wonderful man....

But is he?

And when push comes to shove....

How far will Kristy go to keep her family safe?

“Maybe she needed a monster to fight a monster”

“The Walls” deals with a lot of sensitive issues like the death penalty, domestic abuse, the justice system, parenting, and more. There are parts that were very difficult to read. There’s quite a lot going on, but I thought the author pulled it all together very well. I was glued to this book, it was very intense at times and I didn’t want to put it down.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel, though there were a few things that made me go hmmmmmmm... I started this book after reading a few mixed reviews, which may have helped me let go of a few things. At any rate, I was drawn in to this novel from the first page and found it to be an intriguing and action packed story with some great characters and an interesting plot. It was definitely thought-provoking and it really made me think about guilt and innocence in a different way. I liked how the author included some of the cases Kristy was working on. Kristy’s interactions with Clifton were a wonderful part of the story. There were a few things I wished ended differently but overall, I found it all came together in a satisfying way.

This was my first read from Hollie Overton but I can say for certain that it won’t be my last.

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Book Group for providing an advanced readers copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.

3.5-4 stars, rounding up

I very much enjoyed Baby Doll by Hollie Overton so I was very excited to see that she had a new book coming out. While I liked Baby Doll better than The Walls, I did enjoy this book and found myself racing to the finish. I had a hard time in the beginning adjusting to the writing style, as it is written in 3rd person and I don’t typically like 3rd person narratives. However, I got past that, I got very invested into Kristy’s story and the speed and tempo of the book really picked up.

For my personal taste, I thought there was too much of the story dedicated to the prison processes and procedures and Kristy’s job. I found myself skim reading over much of that because I wanted to get “to the good stuff”. Additionally, I thought the first 30(ish)% was very disjointed and I had to refer back to the blurb several times to remind myself what this book was about and where the story was going. There is a lot of information jammed in up front before you get to the part where Kristy starts to consider “the perfect crime”.

With all of that, this book still earned a rounded up rating from me because once the pace picked up, I could not put this book down. And while there weren’t any major twists or “holy cow” moments, the suspense just built and built and provided a very satisfying ending. Which is surprising because after I checked the blurb about 10x, I realized that the blurb gives way too much away. The fact that about 50% of what you need to know is the blurb of the book just proves how good a writer that Overton really is because it did not stop me from staying up past my bedtime to make sure that I finished it.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys intense family dramas, borderline psychological thriller.

Couldn't put this down. Really thrilling and makes for quick read when you need one.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. This Author does not fail. Couldn't put the down!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish! I really liked Kristy, a single mom raising a teenage son, caring for her ailing father, and working as a press agent for prisoners on Death Row. Kristy meets Lance Dobson who is a martial arts instructor teaching her son and they become very close. Kristy starts off feeling as though she may have met her knight in shining armor but after they get married he begins to abuse her and threatens her family. Kristy must stop this monster. This was a very engaging and suspenseful read. Highly recommend!

The Walls tells the story of Kristy, a single mother working with the department of corrections. She is a Public Relations Officer handling all things PR as far as death row.

At first, I didn’t know what to expect with this book. I couldn’t guess where the story was heading to. At some point, I had to stop and read the blurb which I had read weeks before when requesting the ARCs and so couldn’t remember it. Once I read the blurb, I sort felt like I already knew everything about the story. I don’t know whether to blame the blurb or the writing but there were no twists or reveals. I have edited the blurb to reduce the details but I think you can still guess what the story is about.

The other issue that I had with the book is to do with dramatic shifts mid plot-line. Understandably, the book covers a time period of three (very dramatic) years so a lot goes on. However, there was a shift between two chapters that sort of threw me off. It made the book feel disjointed. The author did try to minimize the effects of the shift by providing background details of events that took place before but it took some time to adjust to the changes. It felt like everything including the characters had changed.

Nevertheless, this was a gripping read. There is a second story-line about an execution. This was my favorite part of the book. This story-line introduced a character named Clifton who I really liked. This is where the tension was. You see, Clifton was about to be executed. Clifton was a likeable, likely innocent man. Getting to know this character and knowing the fate that lay before him made me very tense. I kept wondering if a miracle would happen to save him. I wondered if he was innocent or was he playing all of us? This kept me turning pages searching for answers. Unfortunately, I felt like the story-line wasn’t well developed perhaps because it wasn’t the main story.

This was an enjoyable read for me although I felt like something was missing.

Thanks to Netgalley and Redhook for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Kristy is a public relations officer for the prison and she is doing the best she can do until one day her son gets in trouble at school and she finds that he has been taking martial arts classes behind her back. When she confronts his teacher Lance, it ends up in a friendship that changes her life.

Soon he becomes a huge part of her life, and when she kisses him and then backtracks he disappears and when they finally have a talk she decides that she can't live without him. Meanwhile, Kristy finds herself developing a friendship with an inmate on death row. As she gets to know him she is convinced that he didn't kill his kids.

Kristy and Lance get married and then everything changes, first, it is just a pinch or a bit of a temper and soon he is hitting her. But what can she do everyone is convinced that he is a wonderful man, but she soon finds that he isn't everything he claimed to be. Kristy is soon faced with impossible choices as the walls close in around her, can she do what she needs to do?


I am still not quite sure how I feel about this book, because it causes me moral dilemna's, on the one hand, I totally get where the author is coming from and it is interesting... On the other hand, it glorifies and justifies something I just can't get on board. Plus the I loved the death row aspect and I thought it was going to have more to do with the story instead it was kind of a filler even though it did touch on the execution of an innocent man, but it really didn't do anything to shine the light or really address that issue.

I liked Kristy, and I just don't know that only person who notices that she changes is an inmate at the prison. I mean I get that the guy is charismatic and wonderful, but other people know he isn't soo I guess in some aspect it felt like a sudden change and a stretch for me. That's is about as much as I am going to spoil this, I did read it all in one sitting and I really enjoyed it even if I haven't worked out how I feel about it now.

Hollie Overton offers readers a novel that tackles the extremely difficult topic of abuse. She does so quite graphically, the scenes are harsh and upsetting at times (trigger). The theme of "What would you do to save your family?" was interesting to me. For the most part the story was solid, the pacing even and the settings detailed and realistic. I had a hard time connecting to the heroine, and I think that was a result of disconnecting from the domestic violence theme. The heroine's young son was a complex character, easily the most layered. When the subject turned to commission of the perfect crime, the plot became more interesting ; the second half of the book was more what I was looking to read.

Kristy works for the prison system and the worst of the worst inmates. When she sees no way out of an abusive marriage she considers the possibility of staging the perfect murder. She has some great role models right at work. Fast paced and full of suspense. 1st book I've read by his author.

The Walls is realistic fiction at it's most mediocre. Certainly, it will entertain the most leisurely reader, yet it leaves this girl wanting. The story unfolds in undramatic fashion as Kristie meets the love of her life only to find that he is a sadistic, violent monster after the wedding. Her traumatizing abuse occurs fatefully (and mockingly) under the nose of both her son and her live-in father, who think that her husband, Lance, may very well have hung the moon. I found the story to be banal and elementary, though clearly well researched and thoughtfully executed. I think Ms. Overton will gain confidence in her voice as she grows as an author. She is a talented storyteller that may one day graduate from grade school.

I loved Baby Doll by Hollie so I was stocked to see The Walls on Netgalley! I didn't read the description I just requested it! I was so excited that I went into this book completely blind because I saw NOTHING coming!! I love doing this with thriller writers that I love!
The Walls was so twisted and amazing! I fell in love with Kristy and her family! She has such an interesting job which has her spending tons of time with death row inmates. That part of the book was so interesting the first half I wanted more of her job especially more of Clifton!!! When I couldn't  read this book I was listening to it and when I couldn't read or listen I was thinking about this book and Kristy!!
Hollie is becoming one of my favorite mystery/thriller writers!! I can not wait to see what she comes up with next!