A wonderful sampler of books being released in early 2021. I was happy to discovery some new mystery/thriller novels. This sampler is a perfect way to figure out which books I most want to read this year! Thank you to the publisher for providing this ARC.

Excellent selection of books! My favorite two being The Lost Village and Finley Donovan is Killing It. I already have and ARC of The Lost Village and I cannot wait to start reading it --has anyone pointed out how eerie the cover looks?!
I was also pleasantly surprised by Finlay Donovan; so relatable as a single working mom trying to make ends meet. She gets this crazy offer to earn $50K if she provides an unusual service to a stranger. Considering how bills keep piling up, this fat check might help her get back on track financially and stop being so dependent on her ex. Finlay cracks me up, yet represent a spread contemporary tragedy.

Top selection!

So fun and enjoyed the "sampler' aspect of this grouping. Can't go wrong with any of the writers. I will definitely purchase these books. .

I’ve heard some great things about these books so I’m so excited to get my hands on these samples to check out!

I love reading samplers! This one has so many hyped up books and it was great to have an opportunity to read a sneak peek.

This is my first time reading a sampler but it was such an honestly great idea/experience. I really hope to see more of these in the future from various publishers.

Before reading this sampler 2 of the 4 books were on my radar but not super high on my TBR and now I know where I stand with each of them. Because the sampler provided the first 75 pages or so of each (ebook format) book I have an excellent idea of which ones I'd like to actually read. This isn't a traditional review but I'm going to do a sort of before/after summary of each of the books included here to see how my opinions changed.

Finlay Donovan is Killing It: I had never heard of this before and honestly based on the description/cover I didn't really think it would be for me. If left to my own devices I probably never would have picked this book up. However, while reading the sample I really enjoyed the writing style and thought the book itself was a lot of fun. It sort of reminded me of Meg Cabot books I've read before and I'm definitely going to check it out.

Every Last Fear: I had vaguely heard of this one but it wasn't super high on my list. It's definitely the type of book I would have read but with how many mystery/thriller books are out right now I'm not sure if/when I would have gotten around to reading it. The sample really didn't give much away but it was enough for me to be intrigued and I was actually able to get an ARC of it here on NetGalley so I'll be reading it in the near future.

The Lost Village: This was definitely the book I'd heard the most about but also the one I was most on the fence with. I love thrillers but am less likely to read horror so I was really unsure if I'd actually read it even though the premise sounds amazing. The preview definitely convinced me and now I just want to know what's going on so I'm going to read it even if I'm kind of scared.

Deep Into the Dark: I had never heard of this book before but based on the description I thought I would end up really enjoying it; it's the kind of suspense novel I've read for years and it sounded really good. Reading the preview here is what actually convinced me of the value of the sampler as a whole. While I flew through the other previews I really struggled to get through this one. It was by no means bad, or poorly written but there was just too much going on for my liking and I realized that if I had picked this up on my own I probably would have forced myself to keep reading it and ended up not enjoying the experience. I now know this book isn't for me which is extremely valuable information and still makes reading the preview worth it.

Overall, I liked 3/4 books included in the sample and I've requested ARCs of them/will look out for them when they get released because the samples were enough to get me hooked. I really enjoyed being able to sample these books this way and will be on the lookout for similar samplers in the future!

Thank you Minotaur for this fantastic sampler. I loved being able to preview four of the upcoming novels, each of which were so good!

Love mysteries as I do? Don’t miss this thrilling sampler of four upcoming Minotaur novels, each one as fab as the next. I bet you’ll add four more titles to your TBR stack as I have!

5 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 03 Nov 2020
#TheMinotaurSampler #NetGalley

Thanks to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed each of the samplers. It left me wanting more. I will definitely be picking all of these up to finish them.
A great big thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to read them.

This was a sampler of 4 books, written by 4 women in the mystery/thriller genre. Such a great idea to give readers a taste of each book! While I had already read Every Last Fear (it was excellent!), I am very interested in reading the remaining 3 books in this sampler. The Lost Village is the next on my reading list - the first several chapters were engaging! I ordinarily wouldn't have picked up Finlay Donovan is Killing It because of the cover and the title of the book. However, after reading the first 5 chapters, I'm interested in giving it a go.

This review was also posted on Goodreads.

I was excited about reading this sample because Minotaur is known for amazing reads like Louise Penny and Anne. My only issue with this sampler is that it was just a tease!! I was able to read Finley Donovan is finally killing it., which was great!. Looking forward to reading more. Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur!

This was such a great mix of mystery, suspense, and thriller in this Minotaur sampler. I ended up requesting Finlay Donovan is Killing it and The Lost Village to read in full. I really want to complete the other two as well! I cannot wait to see how these come to a conclusion. Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur for an awesome selection of 4 books to sample!

Thank you so much for the sampler of four upcoming Minotaur books! This is such a great way to see if I want to request or read the full books. After reading this, I requested Finlay Donovan and Every Last Fear, both of which I loved.

What drew me to this sampler was, to be honest, that I already knew I wanted to read one of the books included in it. Additionally, I am always glad to get the chance of discovering new books that fit my reading preferences. All three other books did interest me so I didn't wait long to request it.

I can definitely recommend reading this sampler if the titles sound interesting to you. The samples are long enough to get a feel for the story and the characters. I definitely will add them to my TBR and can't wait for the full published versions!

I will be adding my opinion on each of the books included in the sampler for the individual books on Goodreads, my blog and Instagram as soon as I got a chance to read the published versions! :)

I was primarily interested in this sampler because I enjoy PJ Tracy's other series, Monkeewrench, so I was happy to get a peek at her new series. I'm SO happy it caught my eye, because the other 3 novels were immediately added to my "To Be Read" list. I may have grabbed this because of "Deep Into the Dark", but I'm looking forward to all of these upcoming mysteries, especially "The Lost Village" and "Every Last Fear".

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur for providing me with this sampler in return for my honest opinions. (And for adding to my endless TBR!)

This is a sample of four different stories by four different authors,,it gives you a taste of what the stories are about to peak your interest to read the whole book when it comes out. What a difference this is to me to do something different like a "Sampler Book". First story is Finlay Donovan Is Killing It,a mystery by Elle Cosimanano,5 chapters. The book comes out on 02-02-2021. Someone wants to hire a single woman to kill someone's husband...read The chapters,think you will want to read The whole book.The next story is Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay,7 Chapters,it's a murder mystery,this book comes out 03-02-2021..this is a story about a family dying in Mexico,dad,mom,brother,sister by a mysterious situation. Only ones left in the family is one of the older boys,Matt and his brother Danny who's in prison for killing his girlfriend. Did the family did because of what Danny did or was it just a accident? Read this book,I know I am.. The next book is The Lost Village by Camilla Sten, Chapters,I don't remember how many,this is a suspense story,this comes out 03-23-2021,this is a story of a girl's grandmother's entire family just disappearing leaving a woman stoned to death and a newborn. This girl,Alice starts to make a movie of what happened in this town and family.Follow about this mystery suspense story. Next one,the last is Deep Into The Dark by P.J. Tracy, 7 Chapters,book comes out 01-12-2021,this is a murder mystery about Sam who's back from the war has PTSD ,a girl gets beat up runs to San for help,boyfriend ends up read and the Investigation starts with a women Detective Margaret Nolan,that's all Sam needs. So,if your inclined,read all four books I sure know I am!! Received this from Net Gallery and I'm so glad I did! Hope this helps you decide to read at least one of the books!

This sampler was so exciting! Each book beginning made me want to read the book so I ended up requesting all of them. I can't wait to get into these! Thank you so much Minotaur!

I did not finish this book.
I was not interested after starting the first book.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

All of these are super intriguing but LET ME TELL YOU, I AM LIVING FOR FINLAY DONOVAN. I need the whole book immediately. My other favorite here was Every Last Fear--it's giving me some major Dark Places vibes and I love everything about that (well, love in a sense that I'm also terrified of).

Samples of mysteries from psychological thriller to suspense mysteries.

There is something for someone who prefers psychological thriller and something for someone who prefers suspense novels.

Personally, I thought the samples were too short.