Instinct follows rookie cop, Mary as she adjusts to her new role in a small town. There are murders with mysterious circumstances and a small town where news travels as fast as your morning coffee. I appreciated a strong woman protagonist. If you are a fan of a slow burn mystery and police procedural novels then this is a good read for you.

I think the beginning of this book was a slow read. At times, I did find the dialogue and the details to be rather tedious rather than adding to the plot or setting of the novel. With that being said, I appreciated how this book did have a focus of a small town setting to it and it definitely felt like that to me. For myself, this isn't a genre I resonated with but the book was just okay for me.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Welcome to Silvertown, Washington. Population 602 (for now)."

Fun read. Lots of conspiracy theories with just enough reality to make you wonder what is real - or not.

4☆

This book was intriguing and somewhat mysterious as to what was going on with the residents of Silvertown. When Mary Whittaker has to take over for the police chief when he takes a leave of absence and she gets some really strange calls that has her wondering what is going. First, she finds a man that wrecked his motorcycle sitting in the middle of the road. He later disappears, only to break into her house later that night and tries to kill her. She also finds a hiker killed by a bear after making no attempt to get away from it. Everyone's instincts are off kilter and Mary has to get to the bottom of it.

This one was a fun, quick read but was not without it's issues. I don't think the author's decision to use a first person point of view worked as a narrative voice for this novel. The main character also comes off at times as a little too "girl trying to be one of the boys" for my liking. While not having the strongest ending and a bit of an implausible plot, I did quite enjoy the first half of the book and the ride this novel took me on.

Would recommend this one if you're looking for a mystery/thriller in the vein of a Blake Crouch novel.

Welcome to Silvertown, Washington. Population 602 (for now).

Mary Whitaker, police officer and new to Silvertown, is finding the local residents acting oddly. A tourist smiles in the face of a bear mauling him alive, a local teen and gamer that rarely ventures outdoors falls from a cliff while hiking, a helicopter mom abandons her twin toddlers to show a stranger around town. What is going on in this godforsaken place?

What an intriguing premise and I thought Mary was a delightful character, however, this book I found was a slow burn and a bit boring. I skimmed a great deal of the middle of the book and the last third is when all hell breaks loose and it's non-stop action. This is a case of a book not being the right one for me. Part of my problem is my own preconceived notion that this was going to be creepy and it wasn't. The entire time I was reading this I kept thinking to myself "This is not what I was expecting" and I just could not shake that feeling. It took me 5 days to get through this book if that is any indicator of my interest level.

Let it be said that Mr. Hough is a talented author and I think many people are going to love this. It just wasn't for me. 3 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the digital ARC.

I'm a big Jason M. Hough fan, I've read all his books and enjoyed them all. I knew he was working on this story and that it was due out soon. So, I was overjoyed when this came up on NetGalley. I loved this book, it's a bit different of a type of story than Jason usually writes, but it's great. This is that type of book that pleases almost every sort of reader out there. It satisfies many different needs a reader has. From time to time you need that short, quick read, that is fun and hard to put down. That's what kind of story this book is. The story is good, very good, maybe not exactly groundbreaking or great, but strong. There's action and intrigue and cliffhangers abound. This reminded me a lot of Cold Storage by David Koepp from 2019. I hope people will like this as much as I did, and there was a fun shout out to Sykes and Wendig, so that's fun.

Silvertown, Washington -- a small mountain town, with a population of less than 1000. However, it is home to more conspiracy theories than any other place in America. This is a pretty intriguing premise, even before you learn of any specifics of the plot.

Officer Mary Whittaker is acclimating to the daily weirdness of life in Silvertown. When her superior goes on leave, Whittaker becomes the entire police force in the town. But things are starting to get really strange - people appear to be losing their survival instinct, with strange deaths, accidents, and more.

Hough has written an interesting, entertaining mystery novel. There's a lot of action, perhaps too much, but it's well-written (and perhaps shouldn't be a surprise if you've read any of Hough's other books).

If you're looking for something a bit different, give this a try. It's an enjoyable, fast-paced read.

I requested this because of Pierce Brown's seal of approval, and I was pretty pleasantly surprised.

The premise is absurd, and it's not explained very well (or at all, really), but it's a really fun book that's reminiscent of Wayward Pines, Twin Peaks, and Christopher Rice's Burning Girl series.

I absolutely adored this premise - a town full of conspiracy theories?! In beautiful Washington? I was sold before I even grabbed a copy of the book. The story did not disappoint. So well written and well developed. I loved watching the main character navigate a new town and there were some twists thrown in that were unexpected and so good!

Instinct was a fun thriller with a great main character – police officer Mary Whitaker was a smart and strong opponent against the forces of evil, or in this case, an evil mastermind bent on hijacking one’s sense of self. I loved the beginning of the book but would have liked a stronger story line, it meandered a bit toward the end. That all being said, I would absolutely read another book by this author, hopefully there will be another with the same characters.

INSTINCT is in the categories of both psychological thriller and Horror. Authored by Jason Hough, who is also noted for his excellent Science Fiction
I liked the build up of this story as Mary put the clues together. The last 20 to 25% of the book is basically an action sequence. Many people enjoy all that action, but I thought it dragged on too long. I was expecting a horror or sci fi story, and that is not what I got. This is a thriller. I also thought that the premise behind the strange events was shaky at best. Really, the goals could have been, and are being, accomplished with so much less effort. The book did hold my interest though. 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed Mary Whittaker and the tale of this small town under "siege" from an invisible enemy. It took me a while to narrow things down which is always a sign that the book is well written! It kept me guessing! There was lots of action and even a little romance. Very quick read and solid mystery/thriller. Thank you for the ARC!

This was a slow burn, thrill ride! Well written, intriguing, and mysterious. The characters, especially Mary, were well developed, which made me much more invested in the story. I couldn’t give a complete 5 stars, because I did find that it was a much slower book for the majority (which is not my fav), but the last quarter really is a thrill ride and a half! Has some unique storylines, thrills, chills, and shocks! Would highly recommend to my fellow thriller lovers, especially if you like the slow build, action packed ending type of books!

Will buzz around platforms, use lower amazon reviewer number on release date!

While the summary paints this book as a sci-fi or horror book, INSTINCT falls more in the thriller genre. The book does drag a bit, but it does hold your attention. Bare through the dragging parts because for the last quarter of the book it's a white-knuckle rollercoaster and totally worth the read.

With crisp, efficient writing and a reasonably deft use of language, the book moved at a propulsive pace. But once the final page was turned, I was left with a want for a deeper understanding of each of these characters and a more elegant connection for the lead's redemption to the conspiracy writ large. Beyond that, what was motivating the primary antagonist's decisions never felt earned and character choices throughout were rendered some puzzlingly. A solid read on a technical level, but one that felt hollow for me by the time the conclusion began unspooling.

Mary Whittaker is a recent addition to the police force in the sleepy little mountain town of Silvertown, Washington. When the Police Chief takes an unplanned leave of absence he leaves Mary, the only other officer in town, in charge. Nothing much ever happens these days, so what can go wrong? It turns out, a lot. Strange, unexpected behavior seems to have gripped the populace. People are forgetting their normal phobias and doing things they never did before. Mary is determined to find the cause, but she ends up putting her own life in jeopardy.

The novel has a unique storyline, but telling it now would ruin your enjoyment, so I’ll let you discover it for yourself. The writing is excellent, although some actions are a bit unbelievable and distract from the story. Mary is a strong lead character who displays unimaginable bravery to the point of foolishness at times. INSTINCT is a good action-packed thriller with an innovative plot.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for my enjoyment and review.

INSTINCT is in the categories of both psychological thriller and Horror. Authored by Jason Hough, who is also noted for his excellent Science Fiction, INSTINCT is set in a tiny mountain community in the Cascades of Washington State. Silvertown once boasted an active Silver mine (resulting in tons of toxic outflow into the nearby stream) but a decade ago the Police Chief uncovered corruption and shamed out the ruling family corporation. No longer a company town, Silvertown relies on tourism. Mary, a rural California native and former Oakland patrol officer, was hired two months ago. When Chief Greg takes a sudden leave of absence to visit his ailing mother in Virginia, Mary is literally the only law enforcement in the quiet town. But then, folks begin acting strangely, behaving wildly out of character; and even Mary discovers in rare lucid moments that she herself is changing. People are no longer acting according to their own instinct. In a community where "Conspiracy Theories" are a way of life, it's not easy to recognize; it's even more difficult to seek out the source.


What a strong character is Mary! Imagine the Terminator in terms of determination to succeed, to help the townspeople, to stop what is really wrong: that's Mary.

3.5 stars
Mary Whitaker is a great MC and Silvertown was a good setting. It took a while to get into this story, almost like a slow burn, but not. Once it grabbed me, almost half way through, it was very exciting, until it wasn't, just started to drag on and on and on.

Nothing is as tranquil as it seems in this small town where residents begin to act strangely. With Instinct, Jason Hough provides a fast paced thringling page turner that will have you hooked. Down side, is the ending is a little disappointing.

This was a fun read. Really loved the main character, Mary. She was strong and sassy, and reading her story was exciting and felt realistic as to how she would react to the insanity she was facing. Won’t give anything g away, but I will say this was closer to a 4 star, than a 3 star rating. I may bump it up after I’ve though about it a bit more. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy!