This book starts out with main character Paris Peralta waking up with a head wound next to her dead husband and covered in his blood. She is quickly charged with killing her rich and semi famous husband.
Now a whole bunch of characters join the story as it unfolds according to different view points and time frames, there is a true crime podcaster with a personal angle, a convicted murderess trying her hand at extortion, a victim of child abuse who gets dealt one bad hand after the other, a personal assistant who seems a bit too eager and the deceased’s best friend acting as defense attorney … The twists and turns of this book make the revelation very satisfying. Some characters in this book are very likeable and easy to root for, others are more dark and villainous all are intriguing well developed people.
The story flowed at a steady pace set in Canada and the US!

Thank you to Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC and ALC of this book.

Jennifer Hillier's books are always a must read! Things We Do in the Dark is captivating, slow burning, and filled with surprises along the way.
A page turner for all thriller book lovers!

⭐️(4/5) Things We Do In the Dark - Jennifer Hiller

✨Pages: 352

✨Genre: Thriller

This is the best thriller I’ve read so far this year! I haven’t read anything else by Hiller (I know I know, I gotta get on it) but wow. I was riveted the whole time with this one and very invested.

Paris Peralta is charged with murdering her comedian husband after being found covered in his blood. The circumstantial evidence doesn’t look good but Paris is more worried about the media attention surrounding her arrest. She knows it’s a matter of time before someone from her old life recognizes her. Ruby Reyes, a convicted murderer about to be released from prison, does indeed recognize Paris and begins blackmailing her from behind bars. Meanwhile, Drew (a friend of Ruby’s daughter) knows how terrible a mother she was and begins a true crime podcast surrounding her prison release. He is set on a path that uncovers secrets from both Paris and Ruby’s pasts.

The multiple points of view, layered crimes and dual timelines all worked so well here, making this a page turner. The characters were all very flushed out, which isn’t always the case with thrillers. The only reason this isn’t 5 stars for me is because I guessed a few plot twists early on. But if you want a captivating thriller, pick this new release up now!

⚠️Trigger Warning: Murder, Racism, Child Abuse, Death, Infidelity, Sexual Assault

✨Themes: Multiple POVs, Unreliable Narrator, Secrets

This book opens with a storyline that takes a complete turn in another direction as to what I expected it to be. Paris Peralta is in a May-December romance/marriage with her comedian, millionaire husband, Jimmy Peralta. They haven’t been married long but she really does love him and this seems to be a match made in heaven.

Jimmy has an assistant, Zoe, who can be a bit acerbic and not immediately likable and at times Paris isn’t even sure why Zoe is still needed. In walks Elsie; she is Jimmy’s best friend of 50 years, a past love interest for a spell, and just happens to be a lawyer.

Jimmy is murdered in the house he and Paris live in and the only suspect that makes sense to the police is Paris! She must fight for her innocence but has quite a checkered past and some secrets to boot. Can she hide what needs to be hidden and come out of this very unfortunate situation? Can Elsie help her with her defense or is she going to treat Paris as though she guilty and go after her?

Then…convicted murderer, Ruby Reyes, pops up and is in the know about Paris’ secrets. The story unravels from there and takes us places we don’t see coming.

Paris is a likable character even though she is a murder suspect and has such an unfortunate past. I was rooting for her the entire time. The other characters are not so likable but at times I wondered if I was just being too hard on them because of their prickly dispositions although they do change throughout the book. (Not really a spoiler statement)

I liked this book a lot. A couple of spots throughout became a bit dry but I pushed through them quickly and the book revs right back up. Great read! Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC.

3.5 stars rounded up

Entertaining mystery with well developed, interesting characters that kept me engaged throughout despite the ho-hum plot. The two plot twists were fairly predictable and expected, especially to readers of mysteries. Would recommend to patrons looking for a quick summer read, but would advise readers about the rape and child abuse content.

Hillier is one of the only people I trust to write a thriller that will satisfy me anymore. The pacing is on point, the characters are so well written, and the storylines always feel terribly real. I did guess a good bit of the plot fairly early on, but I don’t feel like that took much away from the story for me. The emotions and the flashbacks to the past kept me going to the end. And the audiobook was excellent as well.

Another great thriller from Jennifer Hillier!

When Paris is arrested in her home for the murder of her celebrity husband, somehow this isn’t the worst of her problems. With all the publicity surrounding the case, it’s only a matter of time before some recognizes her from her past and comes to ruin her carefully rebuilt life. Twenty five years earlier, Ruby Reyes brutally murdered her lover in a case that rocked Canada. Now unexpectedly up for parole, Reyes is the only person who can expose Paris. Left with no choice Paris must confront her past.

This was a solid thriller! Big fan of Jennifer Hillier’s two other thrillers I’ve read and this one just adds to the list. I always love thrillers that have a couple timelines jumping back and forth as well as perspectives and Things We Do In a The Dark does just that. It always keeps things interesting and makes it hard to predict where it’s going to take me. Be prepared though as this thriller gets pretty dark in a few different ways!

Not going to shy away from the fact I loved the setting too as one chunk of the story takes place in Ontario. It’s so nice to know the places Hillier writes about!!

Overall would recommend for thriller lovers who love a few good twists throughout the story!

Truly one of the best books I’ve ever read, this is a twisty tale that weaves a story of past and future. I absolutely was on the tip of my toes at the end of each chapter!

Another hit from Hillier. A woman is found over the body of her dead husband with a knife in her hand, and the story works back to uncover her complicated past. I loved the morally grey MC, and the author kept me guessing. This took a bit more time to build than some of her other books, but the tension and suspense was there.

"Things We Do In The Dark" is a novel about a woman with a very dark past that keeps coming back to haunt her. This has everything I look for in a thriller - a mysterious backstory, dark characters and twists at every turn. I did find myself able to predict some of the storyline but the final twist I did not see coming so overall, I did enjoy the book. Would recommend!

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If I were to rate this I would give it a one, but although I hated it, it doesn't seem fair. I should SO have paid more heed to the trigger warnings disclaimer before the book commenced, especially because it hit so many of mine. I'll happily read serial killer stories, forensic crime novels, even true crime and genre specific books correctly labeled horror, but I do not do child abuse, physical, emotional or sexual, and each of these scenes was not only explict, but comprised entire chapters. Found myself skipping alot (alot) and just couldn't bring myself to finish it. No way.

It's almost back to school time for the kiddos, and not a moment too soon. The second you pack them off, grab this book and read it, as your reward for making it through another summer. Jennifer Hillier may be the queen of the beach read, but Things We Do in the Dark is perfect for the fall. It's chilling, tense, and full of monsters.

Paris Peralta is in trouble. She's just been booked for the first-degree murder of her husband, beloved Hollywood comedian Jimmy Peralta. But it's not the murder of her husband that really worries Paris, it's all the attention. The paparazzi, plastering her picture in tabloids all over the world, is her fear manifest. Paris shed her old life like a snake skin, but there is one person who knows her true identity, a woman named Ruby Reyes. Nicknamed the Ice Queen by Canadian media during her sensational murder trial in the 90's, Ruby Reyes knows all about Paris' past. Now Ruby is being released from prison after 25 years, and she is blackmailing Paris, threatening to reveal everything she knows to the world. Although Paris has spent her life running from who she used to be, she knows she can run and hide no longer. The time to reconcile with her past and drag all her secrets out of the dark has come.

I really enjoyed this book! It was engaging and fast paced throughout. Paris Peralta is one of the most interesting characters I've read in ages. Hillier gave her such depth and backstory that I couldn't help but root for her. I did puzzle out the twist, but there were still some surprises in store. I thought the ending was excellent and I was left satisfied. I'll read anything Jennifer Hillier writes, and if you haven't read What We Do in the Dark yet, this is your sign. Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the chance to review this advance copy. Available now for purchase!

Jennifer Hillier's books are guaranteed to have me setting aside the housework, and ignoring the meals, so that I can dive in and disappear for a few hours into a twisty thriller. And Things We Do In the Dark is no different. I love a book that has me wondering if I really should be feeling empathy for the "bad guys". Are they really the bad guys? Or is the good guy the bad guy?

This book kept me guessing, and I felt oddly satisfied with how the story progressed. This is dark psychological suspense, and some may be turned off by some of the content. But if you like those morally gray characters, and masterfully plotted storylines, you will enjoy this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley, and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a complimentary eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

<b>Hillier's thriller jumps back and forth in time, deftly weaving a web of secrets and lies, daring escape, broken trust, revenge, and things that aren't quite as they seem.</b>

<blockquote>...and so this was her life, because it had always been her life, and it would either kill her, or she would survive it. </blockquote>
Paris Peralta is arrested in her home bathroom. She's holding a straight razor and covered in blood, and her celebrity husband Jimmy Peralta, a 68-year-old comedian who's been making a recent comeback--is dead in the bathtub with a cut across his femoral artery.

Paris loved her husband, and she's shocked and grieved that he's dead. But she's also alert enough to know that because of the inevitable publicity, the fiction of her current life--a peaceful, comfortable life that she spent so long cultivating--is about to be upended, and her safety along with it.

Because when photos surface of Paris being taken away in handcuffs, she knows that dark forces from her past will almost certainly come calling.

<blockquote>Because while you can reinvent yourself, you can’t outrun yourself. As a woman once reminded her a long time ago, the common denominator in all the terrible things that have happened to you is you.</blockquote>
Meanwhile, killer Ruby Reyes, the Ice Queen, was convicted of a similar murder twenty-five years earlier. She knows who Paris Peralta really is, and when Ruby is released from prison early, she's more than willing to try to sacrifice Paris and destroy her careful web of lies.

Jennifer Hillier weaves a gripping story that jumps back in forth in time from when Paris was a young victim to her present, in which she's taken charge of her life and controls her destiny--or so she thought.

<i>Things We Do in the Dark</i> involves mistaken identities, betrayals, secrets and lies, fierce loyalty between friends who are like family--and horrific cruelties enacted by blood relations.

I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.

Jennifer Hillier is also the author of <i>Little Secrets</i> and <i>Jar of Hearts.</i>

<b>To see my full review on The Bossy Bookworm, or to find out about Bossy reviews and Greedy Reading Lists as soon as they're posted, please see <a href="https://www.bossybookworm.com/post/review-of-things-we-do-in-the-dark-by-jennifer-hillier/"><i>Things We Do in the Dark.</a></i></b>

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REVIEW DOES NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS!

First of all, thank you so much Net Galley for sending me an arc of this book! Couldn’t read it sooner because of school and work but just finished reading it in one seating!

This book…was totally amazing. It always kept me guessing about literally everything! I managed to guess some of the plot twist (there are a lotttt!) but it did not make me enjoy this less. This was an unpredictable suspenseful wild ride that is worth it. Take the ride and enjoy it…even thought it’s pretty dark, filled with complex and mysterious characters.

Escape your past to land into another nightmare.
First a pre-warning that if you dislike reading about sexual and physical abuse of minors then do not start reading this book.
The story is very realistic, you realize the sexual abuse is happening but without the explicit sex scenes you so often encounter these days in books and for myself destroys the quality of the story.
I first listened to the audio book nonstop during the day and really loved the way Carla Vega the narrator told the story.
This is a very unsettling story and what got to me that after the mother was send to prison the child still loved her mother and wanted her mother to love and protect her. Realizing that her mother would always be taking care of her own and never protect her is the reason she acted the way she did at the trail.
It shows how the world looks at a marriage when a woman marries a much older wealthy man. When he is killed it has to be her so she could get his money is the typical thinking.
I think this book has a perfect ending.
I will not go into details of the story for that you can read the publishers blurbs.
I loved the audio version so much that a month later I grabbed the kindle version and reread the whole book with the same satisfaction as before.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I have become a fan of Jennifer Hillier since I've read my first book authored by her, she never fails to disappoint me in her stories and this one is another good example of her brilliant work.
A murder mystery unravels as we wake with our MC, Paris, in her home , when she realizes her husband is dead, and his blood is all over her. She doesn't remember killing him and she wouldn't, she loved him. But with his blood on her clothes and the weapon in her hand she's got some explaining to do.
Slowly the story unravels and Hillier takes us to the past to learn more about Paris, her friends and family. I enjoyed the ride and found I couldn't put this one down. It has a fair share of surprises that will keep the reader guessing to the end. A seedy story of a rise to stardom to only find herself back at the bottom, Paris's story is one you should follow and try to unravel, a puzzling story that suspense fans will flock to.

Jennifer Hillier is auto-read author for me. Since picking up Creep back when it was first published, I have been enthralled by Hillier’s ability to write a propulsory thriller.

Things We Do in the Dark is no exception, and Hillier forms this interesting plot around the death of a famous comedian, married to younger woman with a mysterious past that unravels as the novel progresses. Occasionally when a novel constantly time hops between past and present, it gets a a little repetitive, but Hillier really does a good job of keeping it interesting and making you second-guess where you think things are headed.

This was a fun ride!

Another great thriller from Jennifer Hillier! Paris is arrested for killing her older famous husband. She has many secrets in her past and she is worried how she can defend herself with the past secrets. This book has so many twists and turns that kept me going until the very last page! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

This is my first book by Jennifer Hillier and unfortunately it wasn’t a win for me. I really enjoyed the first quarter of the story from Paris Peralta’s perspective as she’s trying to navigate the criminal justice system after the suspicious death of her much older husband. I found this part intriguing and mysterious, but once it transitioned to the second part where the focus was on Drew, I just did not feel engaged with the story. I found Drew’s judgmental and slut-shaming attitude really through me off.

And just a heads up, there’s a huge focus on detailed child abuse and trauma, which I was not expecting from this book, and I probably wouldn’t have picked this one up if I had known that. As well, the mystery seemed to have just been figured out about halfway through, and then just when the tension started rising again, everything just sort of resolved itself, so it just left me feeling like everything wrapped up way too quickly, which was unsatisfying.

I did enjoy Hillier’s writing style though and I’d definitely still be willing to check out more by this author—if you’ve read anything else by her, let me know another of hers that I should pick up.

Thanks St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books & Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this one!