THEY DID BAD THINGS is truly an excellent suspense thriller. Comprised of flashbacks, multi-character POVs, and (select) journal pages, this novel will keep readers guessing until the very end.

Forry's eclectic mix of believable, uniquely-flawed characters--combined with a richly ominous setting--grabs hold from the beginning and doesn't let up. For fans of the thriller genre, this one isn't to be missed.

In 1995, six college roommates move into 215 Caldwell Street. They do not always get along but they do find time for holding parties and sometimes being there if life gets rough. After holding an end of term goodbye party, one of the roommates ends up dead and the secrets surrounding his death are locked tight in the minds of the other five roommates. And none of them are talking and move about their lives as nothing happened.

Now 20 years later, the five remaining roommates converge at a secluded mansion under pretenses that fit their current situations in life. Shocked that they are all at the same mansion, they become suspicious as to why they are all here as they have not spoken to each other since the death of the sixth roommate. Things take a dramatic turn when the roommates find the exact same furniture and the exact same room set up from the living room of the old university house. It is in the living room that they all realize someone else knows their secret from 20 years ago, someone wants to make the truth be told not matter the consequences.

Playing off Agatha Christie’s Then There Were None, each roommate is given the chance to tell the truth or face death. The only two questions remain- Who killed the sixth roommate and Who will survive their stay at Wolfheather House?

I enjoyed this book for the character building as the author did a fabulous job at describing each roommate and their inner demons. I thought the beginning was a little slow in laying down the plot, but it quickly became a faster pace as the story continues. Lauren Forry can throw in the plot twists right when you think the story is about to become a dead end. The only thing that makes this book hard to read is the different diary pages that are placed through out the story are not labeled or started on a different page making it feel as it is a page from a different book.

Thank you to Net Galley, Skyhorse Publishing and Arcade Crimewise for the chance to read this ARC

They Did Bad Things by Lauren Forry is a devilish take on a closed room mystery. 20 years ago 6 people shared a house during college. After an end of the year celebration, one of the housemates ends up dead. His death is ruled an accident by the police so the 5 remaining members of the house move on with their lives. Unfortunately, someone is watching and think this group of people are more involved in the death than they let on.

Now, 20 years later each member of the house is coaxed by various means to a secluded, decrepit mansion known as Wolfheather House. Each person arrives at the mansion to discover that they were led there under false pretenses. The housemates realize they are stuck in the house, with no means to get away and no cellphone or wi-fi signal. The group is forced to examine each others’ motives and role in their roommate’s death. The person orchestrating their gathering has offered them one way out of the house, confess or die. That’s it.

This novel was creepy, atmospheric, and surprising. Dark secrets are almost always a part of closed room mysteries, but this group…WHOA they ALL have lots secrets? I did not connect with the characters because they weren’t likable. That didn’t change my opinion of the book. I am always happy when I don’t quite figure out the twist! They Did Bad Things is fast paced, pretty dark, and filled with vengeance.
It is a fairly quick read and worth it! I rated this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars!

Thank you @Netgalley and Skyhorse Publishing for an advanced copy for my review.

This book goes on sale June 2, 2020!

i didn't like this book at all, found it tedious, boring, made myself finish it to take care of my responsibility to review but felt like i wasted my time reading it. what was the point

Many thanks to Netgalley, Skyhorse Publishing, and Arcade Crimewise for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book, but I’m afraid it’s not quite my cup of tea. The premise is interesting (the opening is impressive), and the action scenes got your adrenaline pumping in a good way! However, I think there was just too much going on and the story got drowned, unfortunately.

First, we have to give kudos to the author for taking an ambitious gamble: they chose to write (almost) all very unlikeable characters, deliberately to serve the plot. It can sometimes work, but more often than not, it makes readers lose interest. Alas, considering some other reviews that mentioned the same thing, I think that’s what happened here. I was determined to stick with the story to the end, for the purpose of the review, but I felt less and less invested as the book went on. When some twists were revealed, I felt indifferent, like I just wanted things to get moving. It couldn’t hold my attention.

There was also a lot of explanation in the background, extra story lines going on at the same time, lots of interweaving threads. These kinds of devices can serve a good purpose, but I think the author just used too many of them. It gets distracting and disorienting, not to mention boring. Partway through the story, I started skimming ahead to the faster-paced material. It seemed like everything eventually muddled together. I suppose if you’re someone who prefers things to progress at a slow pace, and likes a lot of small anecdotes spread throughout a book, you may like this story. However, this wasn’t my style, as much as I enjoyed some aspects of the action.

I thought this was a entertaining read, but there was something missing that I can't put my finger on. I liked the locked room style story where the characters get picked off one by one, but the characters were one dimensional & unpleasant. I liked the flashbacks, but I had the same issues with the characters.

Review for 'They did bad things' by Lauren A. Forry

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Skyhorse Publishing

This book is available to preorder for release on June 2nd

This is the first book that I have read by this author. I would be happy to read more of her work.

THE book is well written and flows quite smoothly for the majority. It is written from the perspectives of the 5 housemates in both past and present. It also has a narrator, as such, who describes what happened in the past. I found this worked well as it meant you got to see more of what is going on.

I was sucked straight into the book and found it easy to read until I hit about 70% which is when I thought it became a bit over complicated.

THE plot was fast paced and filled with murder, secrets, crime, mysteries, suspense, action, friendships and enemies. I did not expect the ending so a big well done as I hate it when I work out the plot at the beginning of a crime novel.

THE characters were quite realistic and strong but I didn't really 'click' with any apart from a bit with Callum and Hollis, not sure why really but these 2 seemed to be more interesting for me.

Until I hit about 70% I was going to rate the book 5/5 (I love it) but unfortunately due to the complications, which ended up losing the storyline for me, it lost a star.

I would recommend this book to fans of thrillers, suspense, action, fast paced and quick reads, crime, murder and mystery.

288 pages

£20.81 to purchase in hardcover on Amazon. I think this is an absurd price for any book regardless of how much I enjoyed it (sorry)

Rated 4/5 ( I enjoyed it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Co.uk and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

Feel free to add me on Goodreads for more reviews

#TheyDidBadThings #LaurenAForry #SkyhorsePublishing #NetGalley #BookReview
https://m.facebook.com/Bookworm1986/?ref=bookmarks

I liked this! I found it to be a fast paced story with a few twists. The story came together nicely at the end. It reminded me a bit of Clue.

Unfortunately, this wasn't for me. I liked the premise but I found it hard to get into. Twenty years ago, six rommmates had a part and only five survived it. They are lured to a remote house under mysterious pretenses, but hey- free trip, right? The characters were unlikable and I found their finger pointing tedious. For me, this one never got to that point where I'm like OMG I have to know what happened. There were some well placed twists, but the characters and their immaturity (despite being in their 40s) wore thing. Thanks to the publisher for my copy!

This took me a little while to get into it but once I did, I was hooked! If you are a mystery/ thriller fan, check this one out! The reason for 3/5 stars is because it did take me reading almost half to officially be super invested. Thank you so much to Lauren A. Forry, Skyhorse Publishing and NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for my honest review!

This wasn’t a firm favourite for me. I had high hopes after reading the description. But sadly it didn’t deliver. It was bland. Slow paced and easy to put down

Six students moved into 215 Caldwell Street, but only 5 survived the semester. 20 years later, the remaining 5 are brought together again to finally face their roles in all of this. Guilt and suspicion overwhelm them as everything unravels.
The reader hears this story from multiple points of view, and flashbacks to life at 215 Caldwell are carefully woven in.

I wasn't able to finish this book. I couldn't get immersed in the story.
However, I enjoyed the plot and the storyline. Sadly, it wasn't for me.
Thank you Netgalley for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Arcade Crimewise for providing me with a copy of They Did Bad Things, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review!



When six university students move into shared housing, they struggle to adapt to living with such varied personalities and before the year ends, one of them is dead.  No-one admits responsibility for his death and they all claim it was an accident and move on with life.  That is until a few decades later, when they all mysteriously end up at the same bed and breakfast for the weekend.  Each believing they were going on a holiday for a different reason, they quickly realise it's not a coincidence they've all been led to the same place.  Someone wants them to admit exactly what happened that night, years ago, in the shared house and not telling the truth could cost their lives.

With everyone a suspect and no-one able to trust anyone else, they enter into a dangerous race against time to find out who has set them up and why, before anyone else dies.

They Did Bad Things is told in alternating timelines - the past, leading up to the roommate's death and the present, in the holiday house.  I was really intrigued by the mystery in this one, and 100% needed to know who was to blame.  None of the characters were all that likeable, except for the roommate who died, and he was a little 'too' likeable - I understand the author really wanted to drive home how wonderful he was and how awful everyone else treated him, but it caused him to seem a little too perfect and 2 dimensional.  The suspense build up, especially with the interruptions to take us back to the shared house, worked really well and had me wanting to know more about each character and how they fit into the story.  Unfortunately the end got really....weird.  Sometimes a very unexpected ending is a good thing, but in this case, I felt like it really should have gone a different way.  All in all, there were some great twists and reveals that I thought were clever and shocking, but the ending just could have been....different.

I'm sad to say this book was just a complete and total miss for me. It was all over the place character wise and the plot was something I've seen done time and again. I thought this was going to be great judging by the description but it just didn't hold true once I started reading.

I want to thank Netgalleyr and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Five guests have been given the opportunity to stay for free at a remote getaway. This is how every horror movie starts off, but I'm intrigued.
Someone knows something....
There is denial, and everyone claims they are innocent . They are given the option to die or confess to a death that they all claim wasn't their fought. The death was ruled an accident, but was it really?

I thought the characters were likeable, and the story was great. My only complaint was that there was too many time jumps. It became difficult to follow, but if you stick with it you won't regret it.

I would recommend this book to any thriller lover.

I really enjoyed this book it was a quick easy read yet thrilling with a great twist at the end. One thing I really like in a book is when its told from multiple characters and this book had that. I believe it gives you a more in depth look into each character and are able to go into more detail. If your looking for a nice mystery read this is the book for you.

215 Caldwell Street. 6 roommates, 1 dead. 20 years later, the other 5 are reunited by trickery and are there to face their sins of the past.

I was told They Did Bad Things is a psychological thriller that is a mix of And Then There Were None and He Last Time I Lied. Those are two of my favorite books of all time, so this peaked my interest and had some mighty big shoes to fill.

I liked how it gave each characters point of view inside the chapter. I’m a short chapter kind of person, so breaking them down between characters helped me act as though it was short chapters. However, sometimes the flashbacks and the current events kind of ran together and it would take me a minute or so to realize I was in a flashback.

It was a good book, a quick read. I thought the end was the best part. Everything came together nicely. There were a few twists I did guess, but one I didn’t, which makes it successful in my book. Overall, another 3.5 book.

Thank you NetGalley and SkyHorse publishing first the eARC in exchange for an honest review. They Did Bad Things is set to publish June 2nd!

Pretty good book. The twists and turns in this story kept me hooked. I enjoyed reading it but the ending was a little too far fetched IMO. It was still a good book with great characters and will keep you up reading.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"You're not afraid of doing bad things. You're afraid of getting punished for them."
This book challenges your morality from the beginning. Is morality based solely on self preservation and, if you knew you'd never be caught, would your morality also dissipate?
Would you? Could you? What kind of person are you really?
These are the questions you'll be asking yourself throughout the book. And I love a book that challenges me and makes me think deeper.

The story is a classic whodunit reminiscent of Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None.'
Five friends reunite (or rather are lurked to) an old house. All of them share a dark secret from the past and all of them still harbor secrets worth killing to keep.

I loved this book! It had everything a good mystery is supposed to have:
1. An air of suspense throughout
2. A creepy and isolated setting (and a storm for good measure)
3. A cast of sinister characters, all of which are suspect
4. A narrative that blends past and present seamlessly
5. A few good and unexpected twists

And to top it off, the ending was so well done and satisfying!
If you're a fan of classic mysteries, give this one a try.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.