Since I'm pretty new in NetGalley and doesn't have a 100% success rate in getting approved for By Request ARCs, I grabbed at the chance to read this Minotaur Sampler that features four of its debut and anticipated by mystery, thriller, and suspense fans. Are you not getting enough approval? Try the Minotaur Sampler and take a peek of not one but five of these incredible books! Now, this is what I call a treat! What a better way to receive a little piece of fast-paced, thrilling, and riveting novels than not having the ability to sample them at all because of limited ARC copy or not getting more approval from publishers because you are a newbie here.

Thank you for The Minotaur Sampler for this creative idea and a great benefit to those who haven't had much success on approvals for by-request high-demand books.

The Minotaur Sampler includes the first few chapters of the following must-awaited books expected to be published next year.

Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano is a contemporary mystery with Finlay Donovan, a suspense author having a hard time making ends meet as a result of a recent divorce from his cheating husband, as the main character. Fast-paced with lots of single mother angst. I read the first five chapters from this sampler. The scheduled publication date is on February 2, 2021.

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay is a psychological thriller about the mysterious death of every member of the Pines family while on vacation in Mexico. Except for Matt Pines who stayed in NYU at that time, and his older brother, Danny, who is serving life in prison charged for the murder of his girlfriend, were the only survivors. Anticipated to be published on March 2, 2021, the first seven chapters gave me a glimpse of the story told between the past and present and has several POVs. It is a sensational thriller that promises to deliver.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten is a historical mystery & suspense novel set in 1959. Told alternating between Now and Then has five chapters in the sampler. Alice Lindstedt is a documentary filmmaker fixated on discovering the mysterious disappearance of the residents of The Lost Village. This disturbing thriller's expected release is on March 23, 2021.

Deep Into the Dark by P.J. Tracy, a mystery fiction set in Los Angeles stars LAPD detective Margaret Nolan. Here, you will find seven chapters of fast-paced, captivating, and sometimes funny narrative. The book features two well-developed main characters that are marvelous comic, likable, and spirited. The scheduled publication date is on January 12, 2021.

I love when I get a sampler and this Minotaur sampler is 4 books that I devoured. GAH I loved them all. I want to read them all. I can't wait to get my hands on them all.
The Lost Village- Blair Witch meets Midsommar, oh I am all in. I loved the writing of this one. I was pulled in immediately.
Every Last Fear- This was the one I was initially the most excited about and it was completely founded. What an intriguing story that made me want to read more.
Deep Into the Dark- I am not usually a huge fan of procedurals but this one read very well and while it was my least favorite in the sample, I would still love to read a full copy.
Finlay Donovan is Killing It- this was the surprise for me. I really loved this sample. Not my normal read but I this I walked away from the sample with this as my most wanted!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review.

I LOVE that Minotaur puts this out. It lets me take a quick look at some of their upcoming books and decide what I want to read! Out of the four, Every Last Fear was most interesting, a speedy thriller by well known Alex Finlay. I just requested it and was approved for the full book. Looking forward to getting to it. I'll likely check out the others, too.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read excerpts of 4 great books in this sampler! This book sampler introduced 4 stories that I am really looking forward to reading and reviewing in their entirety. I hope to get the opportunity to do so!

This sampler introduces novels set to release in early 2021; Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, Every Last Fear, The Lost Village, and Deep into the Dark. All of them look fantastic.

St. Martin’s Press is a publisher of only the very best and this is a clear testament to that standard.

Finlay Donovan is Killing It- so far, I’d give this book 4 stars! I can already tel I will live Finlay as a character and I can’t wait to see where this story takes her. The storyline is so intriguing! I cannot wait to get my hands on this one and finish it!

Every Last Fear- 4 stars so far! I can see that this book is gonna be a twisty-turny ride and I’m here for it. I can’t wait to find out the mysteries that this book will hold. Another that I will definitely get my hands on and finish.

The Lost Village- unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me. I tried to get through it but I didn’t feel it gripping me in any way and ended up skipping the rest of it.

Deep Into the Dark- again, this one wasn’t my favorite. I would be willing to read a little more just to see if my interest is piqued further into the story, but I’m not sure it’s my kind of story.

Overall I really enjoyed 2 of them and will be purchasing them to finish!

All of these beginnings were excellent. I am eager to read all of them.

Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano - The opening sentence is wonderful and so true! I liked Finlay and empathized with her.

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay - I liked the way the story is told from multiple points of view. I really felt for Matt and want to know more about him. The whole idea of the story is intriguing. I can't wait to read it.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten also sounds like a wonderful mystery. I was intrigued by the setting.

Deep Into the Dark by P. J. Tracy also sounds wonderful. I think Sam Easton will make a great main character.

I loved this sneak peek into some of the new books from Minotaur! I've already read Every Last Fear, but the other books look great too!

There were 3 books in this sampler I had my eye on and couldn't wait to get a sneak peek of.

The first read was Finlay Donovan is Killing it. The feel of this book made me think of the best of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series.
5 stars for this sample

The next was Every Last Fear, a thriller with a 'true crime' angle. I can't wait to read the rest of this book. I think I'm going to love it.
5 stars for this sample.

The last was The Lost Village, a scandi thriller. A bit more slow burning, but has good atmosphere, I will definitely check out the finished book.
4 stars for this sample.

I didn't read the last sample book, as I was not really interested in that title.

For the 3 samples I did read, 4.75 rounded up.

Thank you to Minotaur Press and St Martin’s for offering this sampler selection! All four books are great - I enjoyed the previews of every one of them. My favorite is Finley Donovan is Killing It, because of the snarky humor thrown in - love it! The other three are guaranteed to keep you turning pages and wanting to read the rest!

I love reading a little sample of a book to see if I think I’m going to enjoy it because you can usually tell very early on if you’re going to get hooked on the story or not.
The Minotaur Sampler went one step further and offered 5 chapters for each story which was enough to have me heavily invested in the stories when the sample was finished, so well done The Minotaur Sampler, very clever!

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, Every Last Fear and The Lost Village had such strong starts I definitely need to know how these end!!
Deep Into The Dark wasn’t for me, it didn’t suck me in like the others unfortunately.

Wow, so now my reading list has increased by at least 2 more titles thanks to Minotaur books and NetGalley!
This sample of four books swept me right in with the first book, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It. I can’t wait to find out what Finlay does! The first few chapters had me laughing and feeling sorry for her all at once. Now, what will she do for fifty thousand dollars?
The second book, Every Last Fear, left us with a cliff hangar as well...did Matt actually see what he thought he did all of those years ago. I think I will read this one too.
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten is just plain creepy, in a wonderful way. Hoping I get approved for the full length ARC as I would hate to wait until March to read it. Atmospheric, great premise with Alice’s family history with the village, her proposed film sounds like one I would love to watch. This is a definite for me!
Finally, Deep Into The Dark. This is the one I liked the least. Although I like dark stories, I ‘m not fond of main characters that are quite this flawed. None of them are particularly like able so I just wasn’t rooting for them. If our library gets a copy I might borrow it and give it a try.
I appreciate the sampler, it’s a wonderful way to introduce us to new authors and stories.

Samplers are the best! It's such a great way to become familiarized with upcoming titles nd 5 chapters is generous sample size, great to start getting into a book and want to continue. I am immediately intrigued by The Lost Village and Every Last Fear, but honestly I would be happy to read all four of these books!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Love getting book samples because I can get a good handle on whether I might want to read the entire book without committing to do so. The samples presented were all engaging mysteries; however, the last three were a bit too dark for my tastes. I did love the excerpt from Finlay Donovan is Killing It. It caught my attention with its humor and made me want more. I have requested the entire book through Netgalley.

Thanks for this preview and letting me in on a new series that I will be sure to follow.

I read the sampler with a great deal of interest. I know I'll be looking forward to reading at least 2 of the novels.

An interesting overview and sampler of upcoming books, which is worth a perk for anyone who likes to keep their eye on the ball and ensure they don't miss anything really special from the publishing world.

What a great idea to do a sampler like this.

The first book was Finley Donovan - and that hooked me in right away. I requested a full book already because I was sad when the preview ended. A great fun, quirky, mystery.

Every Last Fear - what a creepy tale. Really enjoyed this one and glad I already have been approved of the full copy. Mysteries like this are something I really enjoy.

Deep Into The Dark - I can definitely see myself wanting to read the full copy. Great detail of the characters and sets up the mystery very well.


The Lost Village - super creepy, maybe a little too creepy. But a book I definitely want to know how it ends.

This sampler is a great way to explore new titles and authors. I particularly liked Finlay Donovan is Killing It. I always enjoy a good story with a theme regarding how far people will go when their back is to a wall, and the sample of the book has me eagerly anticipating the rest of the story. It is relatable, raw, fast-paced, and full of suspense, just the type of thriller I enjoy. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to peruse upcoming novels.

This is a good sampler of excerpts from only four books. I like that there aren't too many books to overwhelm you . There was enough teasers to get me interested in looking further for the rest of the book on several of them.

The Minotaur Sampler
The best book I’ve read this month kind of.....
First, let’s start by saying 2/4 books contained in this sampler were awesome and I quickly added the titles to my to be read list for 2021. The other two, I'm going to pass on.

Let’s start with the great:
FINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved, loved, loved 🥰 this little sampler. It was such a fun and interesting introduction to the story. The characters were interesting, fallible but likeable. The plot was going along at a nice pace and it ended right where I wanted more. It was almost perfect.
I can’t wait to read the rest of the story when this title releases FEBRUARY 2, 2021

And I also really enjoyed the second book in the sampler:
EVERY LAST FEAR by Alex Finlay. Which publishes sometime in 2021.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I fell in love with one character in the book almost immediately. I wanted to see more into their life and story. The plot was also interesting 🤔 The sample left off at a very twisty point, leaving me guessing and having to wait until next year to get my answer. Very smart! Can’t wait to finish!

The third book in the story was ok but left me wanting more and not in a good way.
THE LOST VILLAGE by Camilla Sten.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The sampler left me feeling like I didn’t really understand the characters all that well. The story was not structured in a way that I like. It did have an interesting premise and the spooky vibes were there so I think some people might really enjoy the book. I recommend it to people who enjoy Jennifer MacMahons work. And yes I did get see a resemblance to MIDSOMMAR.
So if that intrigues you please look for Sten’s release March 23, 2021

The last sample I enjoyed the least.
DEEP INTO THE DARK by P.J. Tracy.
Which releases July 12, 2021
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
In this story the characters were rough. Which isn’t always bad. I do however prefer characters I root for to have at least some redeeming qualities or else I feel no connection to the story or their character arc.
And I really didn’t enjoy the storyline either so there really wasn’t much in it for me and I do not recommend it.

Thank you to @netgalley for this free #ebook in exchange for my honest opinions.

What could be better than diving into these chilling book samplers by Minotaur is actually getting a real taste of the books you want to read beyond just blurbs or recommendations. I look forward to reading them. Every Last Fear, a true family crime story, Deep int Dark and the rest will probably mean I will lose sleep but thanks to these samplers it will be worth it! Thanks to St. Marin's Press, Minotaur and Net Galley for these !