Thanks to @Negalley and @putnambooks for giving me access to Little Threats by @emilyschultzwriter in exchange for my honest review.

Little Threats picks up just as Kennedy Wynn is being released from prison for a 16 year sentence for the brutal murder of her best friend. The thing is, Kennedy was tripping on acid and has no clue what happened that night. Thus begins the search for the truth. That premise alone is enough for me to strap in for the ride.

This book was a bit of a slow burn, but that honestly didn’t deter me at all. The story along the way was interesting enough for me to keep wanting to know more. It was creepy at times with a ghostly element, and of course, the twists that everyone craves.

An awesome story that keeps you guessing as the tale unfolds. The story of Kennedy is told both in the time period when she is accused of murdering her best friend and then alternates with after she is released from prison from being convicted of that crime. For some little has changed since the murder & thanks to an investigative show....new evidence may be able to shed light on what really happened that fateful night. The novel deftly weaves the past and the present along with a cast of characters who all may seem like likely suspects for the actual killing! The perfect fall mystery!

I absolutely loved this book. I'm a big fan of Laura Lippman's writing, and this is very much a read alike for fans of her work. Richmond stands in for Baltimore here, but otherwise, it's a great read alike. This book addresses themes of family, innocence, and truth in ways that are riveting and exciting.

This book held my interest even though it wasn't the faced paced page turner of a mystery/thriller book. It is about teenage twin girls whose father named them after presidents of the United States; Kennedy and Carter. I found that interesting because come on, who does that! The girls came from a well off family and had more than their friend Haley. They were very rebellious in their teenage years and would experiment with drugs and boys. On the 4th of July a terrible thing happens and Haley ends up murdered. Kennedy is charged with the murder but she can not remember anything that happened that night. Thus starts the story and the unravelling of the truth. It has a wild ending that I didn't see coming. Definitely would recommend this book.

Thanks to #netgalley and #GPPutnam'ssons and #emilyschultz for allowing an ARC of this book.

Three.five stars for Little Threats, a dark and disturbing novel about the murder of a young teenaged girl, Haley, and the effects of her murder on her friends, family and the town she lived in.

Kenneday is released from prison after serving 15 years for a murder she wasn't sure she committed. No one around her is sure either, but they don't like having the case brought to life again with her return home. And they certainly don't feel comfortable around her!! The more flashes of memory Kennedy has about that time, and the more she talks with Carter, her twin sister, and other people she knew then, the more she's convinced she didn't kill Haley after all.

This is a slow-burner of a novel, with lots of secrets, grief, betrayals and pain. The ending left me bereft. "How could you!?!" I wonder if you'll have the same reaction?

My thanks to NetGalley and GP Putnam and Sons who allowed me to read an ARC of this book. It is to be published 11/10/2020. All opinions expressed here are my own and are freely given.

Based on that intriguing synopsis, I expected Little Threats to have a little more mystery and a little more thrills than it actually produced. Unfortunately, I just found it a little – maybe a lot – disappointing.

As I read this book, two words continually came to mind. Pretentious and Familiar. I can’t even count how many thrillers out there revolve around a character not being able to remember some violent and tragic event. It’s a cliché for a reason, though, right? Some books use it really effectively and some not so much. Also, the whole “poor little rich girl” thing. The girls who have every opportunity and advantage rebel against their privilege by doing inane things like shoplifting and drugs and dating bad boys. I’ve read it a hundred times before and I found myself just really bored for so much of the book. And the characters, with the exception of Everett, were truly awful. So much of the story is just them being in their own heads and the writing was so pretentious I couldn’t really take it seriously.

I found the mystery pretty underwhelming, as well. I read some reviews that talked about multiple twists throughout the story and a shocking ending and I didn’t get any of that. I thought it was predictable and completely lacked suspense.

Overall, Little Threats was not for me. I found the plot cliched, the writing pretentious and the pace extremely slow. The book was heavily character focused, which might have saved it if I had cared anything about them. Everett was the one character that came across as sympathetic, but again, this wasn’t enough to turn the book around for me. This isn’t one that I would recommend, but I have seen some good reviews on it, so it might just be me.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 2 Stars

I received a digital advance readers copy of Little Threats by Emily Schultz from the publisher (G.P. Putnam). Little Threats is scheduled for release on November 10, 2020.

Little Threats begins with Kennedy’s release from prison for the murder of her friend fifteen years ago. While Kennedy confessed to the murder in response to pressure from the police and the older boy both she and her friend were involved with, Kennedy has no actual memory of the murder.

Kennedy returns to her childhood home where her twin sister expresses her distrust of Kennedy and their father works to keep all of the family secrets neatly tucked away. The arrival of a true-crime show with questions about Kennedy’s guilt challenges a history most of the town has long accepted.

Schultz does not present us with a large cast in the novel. The focus is kept tightly on Kennedy and the handful of people she interacts with on a daily basis. This small group of characters is relatively well developed, with Kennedy and her twin clearly represented as two separate individuals with a tightly interwoven history. The trouble I had with the characters in this novel is with their motivations and how those advanced the plot.

This novel is a whodunit. Did Kennedy kill her friend? If not, who did? Yet, for me, Kennedy seems relatively unconcerned with her own guilt, not actively pursuing information that could prove her guilt or innocence. To some extent, this is fear on her part. She does not want to know for sure that she did it. Unfortunately, this lack of engagement made the plot feel a bit draggy to me. Kennedy did not have anything pushing her forward, no desire that moved the plot toward its conclusion. Rather, she sits back and takes in what other people find and present to her. As a reader, I felt that I had more desire to know if Kennedy did the deed than she did.

What Schultz did well is present us with a handful of possible suspects. Virtually everyone we meet in the novel could be responsible for the murder. In the end, the responsible party was revealed, and while it was not a huge surprise, I also did not know until the reveal who really committed the murder.

Overall, Little Threats is a well-written mystery, though I would have liked more initiative and drive from the main character.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kennedy is released from prison after serving time for the murder of a close friend. Due to her drug usage, she is unsure what happened on the night of the crime. She returns to her affluent father's home, and she tries to repair her relationship with her twin sister who wonders about her sister's guilt.

The novel is painful and raw. The life of the victim is revealed to have been painful and tragic.

The ending is stunning and devastating. I absolutely did not see that coming.

In the spring of 1993, Kennedy wakes up with no recollection of what happened the night before. She remembers dropping acid, sure, but everything after that is a blank. It's why, when she's charged with the murder of her best friend, Haley, she takes a plea deal: she doesn't actually know if she's innocent or guilty. When she's released from a jail in 2008, Kennedy still feels stuck in 1993, even though it's very clear everything and everyone else has moved on without her. Like her identical twin sister, Carter, who hadn't come to visit at all in the last month before Kennedy's release -- a drastic change from the way their relationship had always been up until now.

Kennedy's release catches the attention of a well-known true-crime TV show. This brings the spotlight not just to Kennedy and her family, but the other major players in the case. The world may have moved on, but this small Virginia town is thrown back to that spring morning as more questions are asked and more truths are uncovered. And more motives for why Haley was murdered. Kennedy might have gone to jail for Haley's murder, but she hadn't been the only suspect back then. Many think she was just the suspect that didn't have enough money, since the other person arrested -- Berk, the son of wealthy grocery store owners -- only ended up being convicted of a drug charge. Today, he's free, working, moved so beyond what happened, and will do anything to keep it that way (unless someone's willing to pay a good price).

In this dark, fast-paced psychological thriller, Emily Schultz has crafted the perfect spooky season read that explores how far a traumatic event can ripple through time. With strong southern gothic elements, combined with personal essays Kennedy wrote in prison, Little Threats is absolutely for fans of Tana French's In the Woods and Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects.

Dark, tragic, and disturbing, Little Threats is a slow burn thriller that pushes the boundaries of family and sisterhood. Twin sisters, Kennedy and Carter, are separated at age 16 when Kennedy goes to prison for the murder of their friend, Haley. Now, fifteen years later, Kennedy is released and Carter has done her best to move on in the aftermath. When a true crime series sets out to find answers and truly solve Haley’s murder, it sets into motion a series of events that open up new memories, old lies and deception and with new suspects at the forefront, begs the question: what else is being buried?

This is a thrilling read that I found compelling and engaging; the characters are emotive, flawed and relatable; each still experiencing some form of pain and distress over the event that happened in 1993. Although the plot is what I would describe as a slow burn, it doesn’t make it any less powerful. The speculation over Kennedy’s guilt or innocence kept me turning pages.

This is a unique psychological thriller with strong dysfunctional family elements perfect for any fan of the genre! My thanks to Shelf Awareness, G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Group, NetGalley and Emily Schultz for providing me with a DRC in exchange for my review.

The year is 2008 and Kennedy Wynn is finally being released from prison. Maybe now she can find out if she is really guilty or not.

It’s the summer of 1993 and the Wynn twins, Kennedy and Carter are doing what every teen does and seeing just how much they can get away with. They don’t worry about money, they have plenty and are well known in their Richmond neighborhood.

But one night of partying leads to one friend dead and another accused but not remembering anything that happened.

This was a really slow burn for the longest time. When it finally all came together things heated up nicely and the ending was satisfying.

There are a lot of hard to read portions. But in the end, I was glad I stuck with it!

NetGalley/ November 10th, 2020 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons

The premise of this book reeled me in. Kennedy and Carter are identical twin sisters. In 1993 they are 16 and are rebelling against their upper middle class background. Kennedy is into the grunge scene and flirting with a college boy who supplies her with drugs. Enter Haley, their best friend, from the wrong side of the tracks. As Kennedy says they make her popular. The morning of July 5 Kennedy discovers Haley's dead body in the woods. Having been high on acid the night before she can't remember anything. Wanting to blame someone Kennedy goes to jail for 15 years for the crime. As other reviewers have said this is a slow build study of dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy, more than a mystery of who killed Haley.

I loved the flashback to the 90s with the pop culture references since I was also in high school in the early 90s. Definitely a feel of nostalgia as things were mentioned. And the premise of the story was good, but I didn't feel it was executed well by the author. Sentence structure was clunky (what woman calls a bra a front loader even when writing from a man's perspective) and I never felt connected to the characters. I was also annoyed by the town full of gross perverted men. I don't think every single one needed to have some perverted reaction to teenage girls. I know there are a lot of creepy men out there, but there were too many in this story. It felt like an easy way to try to throw the reader off the trail of who the murderer was.

If you like a slow paced character study story this a short read. I'm sure there are readers who will enjoy this book, but it didn't hit the spot for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I must applaud Emily Schultz on this psychological thriller with a disturbing twist. Calculate all the must haves to make a literary suspense novel and this one qualifies. The story drifts to the past and present and told in 3 POVs. In 1993, a horrendous murder of a young high school girl, Haley, was committed. Her best friend, Kennedy, was the last to see her and charged with her murder. Although Kennedy cannot remember the night due to the acid trip Haley and her were both on, Under the testimony of a college boy they both loved sealed her fate, forcing Kennedy to enter a guilty plea.
Fast forward 15 years later upon her release, she returns home to her father, Gerry, and twin sister, Carter, who believes Kennedy committed this crime. The twins’ father tries to protect the family’s delicate bonds and secrets as new suspects emerge. Memories from the night are slowly resurfacing as she tries to get her life back as a True Crime Podcast brings new questions and opens old wounds. This is a story of love, trust issues and the power of guilt. Get ready for a shocking ending.
Can’t wait to read more from Emily Schultz. Thanks to NetGalley for the complimentary copy in exchange for my review! #LittleThreats #NetGalley

For the most part I liked it. The writing itself is solid, the story a steady building one as a woman, Kennedy, is dealing with her release from prison after 15 years for the death of her best friend, even though she can't remember the events of the fatal night. The tale goes back and forth between Kennedy, her twin sister who is still trying to cope, their father, and Berk, a boy the girls were involved with way back when.
While the story itself unfolded reasonably well, it got to a point where about 70% into the book the tale still just dealt with the sisters and Berk (and a few others) trying both to remember and to forget the past, yet very little actually transpired to move the story forward in a significant way. And somewhere in the second half a possible supernatural element began popping up, but as it's not even marketed as a supernatural thriller this felt a bit out of place. In the last 20% of the book several critical events take place, but at times they felt rushed, and suddenly time just jumps ahead by days. While it was fine not to have to read mundane chapters about the times inbetween, this still threw off the rhythm of the novel even more than the dragged out first 70% did. I think a little polish and better editing would have made for an overall more solid story.
In the end, Schultz's writing was good enough that I would consider reading future books by her. 3.5/5*

While I'm so thankful to NetGalley for this ARC, I have to be totally honest that this was a DNF (Did Not Finish) for me. I was so excited for this book and the premise sounded great, but I found it to be incredibly disjointed and slow, and I couldn't connect. It's not for me, but I appreciated the book opportunity!

Fifteen years ago privileged twins Carter and Kennedy Wynn, along with their friend Haley, embraced everything that defined the grunge era: partying, boys, and drugs. But after one acid-fueled night, Haley was dead and Kennedy had no memory of what happened, only that she woke up by her dead friend. Now, Kennedy is getting out of prison after serving her plea-bargain sentence.

Despite their parents faith, Carter Wynn isn’t convinced that her twin was innocent. While her sister has been in prison, Carter has tried to live in a community that looks at her and sees only her sister—and her sister’s crime. At thirty-one, Carter still has no career, no education, and no plan for what to do with her life. The one thing she does have is Everett, and although she can’t admit her true feelings for him, she can’t bear to think of losing him. But will their secret relationship be able to endure when Carter’s sister is released from her sentence for the killing of Everette’s sister?

Kennedy’s release brings to life old secrets and potential suspects, as well as a renewed interest in the death of Haley Kimberson.

Little Threats is a slow-building, dark whodunnit that expertly casts suspicion on several people throughout. It definitely has a slow build, but at some point you realize you’re too tied up in the storyline to turn away. The final reveal about who really killed Haley wasn’t as mind-blowing as I generally like, but it was still a satisfying conclusion.

*I received a copy of Little Threats from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Little Threats is a psychological thriller that engages you to continue reading. In 2008 Kennedy Wynn released from jail after serving eighteen years for the murder of her friend Haley in 1993. However, for Kennedy, it time to find out the truth about the day her friend died. The readers of Little Threats will continue to follow Kennedy Wynn to find out what happens.

Little Threats is the first book I have read of Emily Schultz. I found Little Threats an enjoyable book to read. Emily Schultz did an excellent job of incorporating the psychological twists in the plot of this book. I like Emily Schultz portrayal of her characters and the way they intertwine with each other throughout this book. Little Threats is well written and research by Emily Schultz. I enjoyed the way Emily Schultz describes the settings of Little Threats that complement the plot of this book.

The readers of Little Threats will understand that there can be an unlined course for teenagers to rebel. Also, the readers of Little Threats will understand the trauma on a person and their family when convicted of a crime they did not commit.

I recommend this book

After a night of dropping LSD, Kennedy woke up in the woods to find her best friend, Haley, dead. And she couldn’t recall what happened. Being the last person seen with Haley, and that she had a lock of Haley’s hair, she became the suspect. But with no concrete evidence, she was forced into a plea, called an Alford plea, that is to accept the charge without contest but assert innocence.

15 years later, she was released. Kennedy was 31 and lived with her father, Gerry, while her relationship with her twin sister, Carter had turned sour. Her sister still blamed her for their best friend’s death. Kennedy was determined to find out exactly what happened that day.

This novel didn’t take off until towards the very end. I’m quite a patient reader and this story really tested it to the limit. Since the story stalled and nothing really happened from the start, I tried really hard to like the characters, so they could at least be the reason I turn the pages, but I just couldn’t like any of them. Honestly I had a tough time finishing it.

I’m not even sure if this could be categorized as a thriller. If you enjoy a really slow paced thriller, you might enjoy this as some other readers did.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for providing me with a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

"We've walked into the flower called Nowhere. Come find us," Kennedy said.

It's the 90s.
An idyllic wonderland of a time.
Tamagotchis, butterfly clips, Spice Girls.
Murder.

The murder of a young girl. Body broken and punctured with stab wounds.

It's the 90s and in the height of her teenage rebellion Kennedy Wynn is pushing the limit and testing the patience of her wealthy and frustrated parents. One night the limit is spent and she finds that out the hard way when after a night of partying in the woods, doing drugs, she stumbles upon the corpse of her best friend Haley. Blame is quickly placed on Kennedy. She has no alibi, no memories of that night, and the college aged boy she and Haley are in love with testifies against her.
It's the 90s and one death destroys the lives of many.

2008 and Kennedy is released from prison to a world she no longer knows, to people who no longer know her. Her twin Carter, once a fervent supporter, has grown distant as she begins to question her sister's innocence. And her father Gerry just wants his family back together again. He is eager to begin anew and eager to keep the family secrets just that, secret.

But Kennedy's release has awoken something. A true crime show is intent on solving, really solving Haley's murder. Memories come to light and new suspects emerge. In the end what comes to light might break all involved. The truth might be too much to handle.

This was an outstanding read. A very, very difficult but great read. It starts off hard and it doesn't let up not even at the end. I really adored the twins as characters and even though I wanted to shake Carter at several of the choices she made I could completely understand it. However, her arc was one I felt was kind of unnecessary? I do completely get it though but it didn't click with me as much. Please be aware that this book can be very triggering as there is sexual abuse and let's not forget that college aged fuck face is messing with underaged girls. He was such piece of shit to me that I forgot his name but may he rot.

(His name is Berk.)

The writing is gorgeous and strong and the ending left me shocked and disgusted and shocked. I felt like I was hit with a brick. It's a lot. But I enjoyed it thoroughly. We're getting a lot of good thrillers this year. I'm very happy for that.

If you're a huge thriller fan like me check this out and if you're not still check it out! Guaranteed you'll enjoy this one.

Thanks very much to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy of my ARC. All opinions are my own.

"Little threats. That's what it always was with you. If you're going to make a threat, make it a big one."

Thank you G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin Group and Netgalley for the advanced copy.

This was almost a DNF for me. The premise of this initially drew me in, but the overall execution was lacking.

As this is is an ARC, these examples may be edited with the final version, but writing like this really threw me through a loop.

"Everett watched her retrieve a pale pink bra from the floor and put it around her shoulders. It was a front-loader..." A FRONT-LOADER. Please tell me how a woman, writing from a man's perspective, landed on the phrase "front-loader" to describe a bra. If this were a different book, with a different tone, or perhaps a different author, this could have come off as funny or satirical and we could have loved it, laughing at Everett together, but this was not the case and is a great example of some of the awkward word choices/writing within Little Threats.

And also, "Carter was seven years older than he was, and her body showed it. She was attractive when dressed, but when naked her torso and hips showed a quilt of wars won and lost - lovely but also loose in places." Carter is only 31 by the way. Big cringe.

Other than the weird, awkward-reading depictions of women (the men don't really get the same weird treatment, but in truth the off-putting descriptions aren't limited to the characters - it's more like the writer's style?), the story itself felt like the book had been written in pieces and not sewn together quite right. The big reveal felt empty. The pacing was slow without the pay off of experiencing a great character-driven novel. This one just really was not for me.