It’s so unfair. Had this book been written by anyone else, I would probably have rated it four stars. But since it’s Jennifer Hillier’s and those not generally but always stun me into shock and amazement, I feel disappointed and want to give it three stars. I won’t though just because of my expectations, because again; it’s unfair. However, this is the first time a Hillier thriller doesn’t work for me. Yet, everything was in place: great characters—the good and bad ones—intricate plot, mystery of course. BUT a) I easily got the twists, and b) it was too slow-burning for me.
Hillier remains on my shelves of favorite authors nonetheless; and I will keep reading her—and expecting hugely from her :)

“There’s a time and place for erect nipples, but the back of a Seattle police care definitely isn’t it.”
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Paris Peralta is startled to find herself covered in blood, in her husbands bathroom surrounded by police. All she remembers is her husband, hitting her head and now the police and Zoeys screams that she murdered Jimmy. Everything happens so quickly now she’s facing a murder charge, grieving her husband and worrying about her secret.
Drew Malcolm never got over the death of his one true love, Joey Reyes. She died too soon, a house fire they said. When the twenty five year marks the release of her mother, Ruby Reyes. The ice Queen, arrested for the murder of her lover and the child abuse of her daughter Joey. Drew plans to run a special about the ice Queen on his podcast “things we do in the dark” only to uncover secrets long buried.
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“But sometimes, the only way to start over is to burn it all down.”
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As Paris burns yet another letter from the ice Queen she is faced with figuring out how to handle this situation. The secrets she left in the past are threatening to expose her. Ruin everything she has worked for, threatening her very being….Ruby is black mailing Paris, requesting money for her silence, for keeping her secret. But the real question is, how are these two connected?
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Finished in 4 hours! ADD THIS TO YOUR TBR LIST. Right now. Seriously, wherever you buy books - preorder now or add to your list. You definitely want to read this one!! This was awesome!

Thank you #netgalley and #stmartinspress #minotaur books for the eARC.

First and foremost I’d like to thank NetGalley and St. Martins Press for my gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. The mystery. The characters. The twists. I love how expressive the author is when showing us details and man oh man… the character development. Gahh. I wish I could read for the first time again. This book is going to stick with me for a long time.

📖: Things We Do In The Dark
✍🏼: Jennifer Hillier
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️// 5
Release Date🗓: July 19, 2022

🤔💭: First off, thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press (Minotaur Books) for providing me an eARC and I am voluntarily leaving my review! This one definitely hooks you in and is told from multiple points of view and flashbacks to past and present which show us how all these stories are connected to each other. Paris Peralta wakes up horrified to discover her celebrity husband dead, she’s covered in blood with the alleged murder weapon, which doesn’t look good for her when the cops arrive. Now with all the heightened media attention surrounding this case, Paris is worried that someone from her long, hidden past will recognize her and destroy this new life that she worked so hard to build. Now let’s flashback to twenty five years prior, Ruby Reyes known as “The Ice Queen” was convicted of a brutal murder that was pretty high profile in Canada in the 90s. Ruby knows who Paris really is and when she’s set to be released from prison, she threatens to expose all of Paris’ deep hidden secrets. Paris must confront the dark past she escaped while also having to deal with her current situation. This book definitely had some dark and twisted elements with some twists along the way.

Recommend: ✅ Definitely would recommend so make sure you add to your TBR for when this is released in July! 👍🏼

Ok. I have to confess, I moved this book to the top of my list immediately after receiving it, and I am so glad I did. I always enjoy reading anything by Jennifer Hillier, and this was no exception.
Hard to do a deep dive without giving anything away, but Paris Peralta has a complicated life. When her husband is found dead, her past intersects with her present, and we realize what she was running from.

First line from the book:
“There’s a time and a place for erect nipples, but the back of a Seattle police car definitely isn’t it.”

Now you know why I love Jennifer Hillier! From that first line alone, she got me well and good hahahahah!

I might be a tad biased since she is my all-time favorite thriller author, but all I can say after reading Things We Do in the Dark is that she did it again!!! Hands down 5 freaking stars for this book! There wasn’t a single moment where I wasn’t on edge — she just kept the suspense coming from start to finish.

As I’ve come to expect from JH books, the characters are always alluringly flawed with heart wrenching backstory, and like a moth to a flame, I’m always drawn to them. Probably because she exposes their vulnerability despite having questionable personalities. This book is not an exception. Paris Peralta is not your usual goody goody main character. She had a past and even though we can somehow guess what it was that she ran away from, we still get a lot of surprise plot twists along the way! Drew Malcolm is another character that I enjoyed reading. His investigation into Joey’s death was very thorough and I like his methodical approach and calm demeanor.

If her previous book Little Secrets was “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, then the theme for Things We Do in the Dark is “I'm a survivor; I'm gonna make it; I will survive; keep on surviving”! Joey Reyes’ story is perhaps the most heartbreaking — she suffered so much and you really want to put her mother Ruby Reyes behind bars!!! You just can’t help but want to root for Joey to have HEA!

I’d like to laud JH for doing a thorough research and giving us a great insight into the work of poll dancers/strippers. It was written very tastefully.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Kudos to the author as well for having Filipino characters in the story. Although in her previous books there’s always extra Filipinos mentioned, they weren’t as prominent and as integral part of the story as in this book. And because this is JH, expect some gruesome elements to be included. Some trigger warning: child abuse, sexual abuse, violence, and murder.

This book comes out on July 19, 2022. I know it is still a long wait, but you can pre-order it already! I promise you’ll not only get a twisty and nail-biting thriller but also an intensely satisfying story!

Thanks to @netgalley for my e-arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Paris Peralta is living her best life. She owns a yoga studio and finds love with an older man, Jimmy, a retired comedian who is making a comeback. What could interfere with her pretty perfect life? The death of Jimmy, and perhaps the fact that she is arrested for his murder. Nothing like being taken away in handcuffs when your entire world has just turned upside down.
The POV switches to Drew Malcolm, who became well known for his podcast, Thing We Do In The Dark. He is livid because Ruby Reyes, a woman who went to jail for murder is about to be released. Why is he so determined that Ruby never gets to enjoy her freedom? She was the abusive mother of Joey, a girl Drew loved and lost.
Paris, Drew, and Ruby's paths will cross, and none of their lives will ever be the same. A very character-driven tale that comes together in unexpected and heartbreaking ways. My favorite character was Jimmy. Even though Paris has lost him when the story begins, we learn how much his love and stability gave her. As you will discover, Paris deserved good things in her life.
I couldn't flip the pages fast enough and just devoured this book. The author has done it again!

Jennifer Hillier as a fabulous storyteller! The story Things We Do in the Dark is no different in terms of the dynamic writing that Jennifer uses within the pages of details that she writes. Being the wife of a Filipino man, I loved the references to Filipino food, Filipino culture and the Filipino language in this book.
This particular book weaves a tale throughout the years that works together so masterfully and Jennifer does a terrific job of wrapping up the main character’s story at the end.
Just a word of caution to those who may have sexual assault, poverty, abuse, or foster care in their background (like myself): there should be a trigger warming at the beginning of this book.

Things We Do in the Dark is an awesome thriller, and it's the first book of 2022 I couldn't put down until I finished reading it! The character development is strong and full-bodied while the settings are descriptive and detailed in a way that makes them super easy to visualize. This novel had so many strategic layers both to the plot and to the people. As each layer was pulled back, it only got more flavorful and interesting. I love Jennifer Hillier's writing, and she just keeps getting better and better! One of the things I love about Hillier's writing is she always looks at life and tough topics from an unexpected perspective. Her stories are rich and the tougher plot points in this novel around parental abuse are gritty, feel authentic, and have a lot of emotional impact. Love, love, loved this novel so much!

When Paris Peralta is arrested in her own bathroom—covered in blood, holding a straight razor, her celebrity husband dead in the bathtub behind her—she knows she'll be charged with murder. But as bad as this looks, it's not what worries her the most. With the unwanted media attention now surrounding her, it's only a matter of time before someone from her long hidden past recognizes her and destroys the new life she's worked so hard to build, along with any chance of a future. I will devour anything this author writes and this story was every bit as brilliant as her other books. Full of interesting surprises and twists it kept me guessing almost until the end. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Paris is found covered in blood and holding a razor while her husband Jimmy, who is rich and 30 years older than her lies dead in the bathtub. Paris is arrested for his murder, which she claims to be innocent of, but she has a checkered past and there are things she doesn’t want to be revealed.

This was another winner from Jennifer Hillier. I was totally engaged in this story and never got bored, wanting to know what Paris was hiding. There are flashbacks to Paris’ past and we know she has some connection with a convicted murderer Toronto. There was a lot going on, all of it entertaining. I am never disappointed with this author.

Jennifer Hillier is one of my go-to authors, so when she releases a new book, I usually rip through it as soon as I can get my greedy little hands on it. I've adored her writing style, wit and storytelling ability ever since reading Jar of Hearts. Having read pretty much everything she's written, I feel fairly qualified in saying that her latest thriller, Things We do in the Dark, may be her best book yet.

This book had me hooked from the first sentence to the final page. There were a few really fun surprises along the way, and even though I suspected at least one of them, it did not detract one bit from my enjoyment. It may be early in the year, but I predict that this will be one of my favorites of 2022.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Things we do in The Dark showcases Jennifer Hillier’s talent as a writer. For me it wasn’t a book of jaw dropping twists (I found the major twists a little easy to spot), but I still gave it 4 stars because the quality of the writing and storytelling kept me engaged. It still had its suspenseful moments, but it was also a heartwrenching narrative with characters I genuinely cared about. That doesn’t always happen in the thriller/mystery genre.

As a Canadian I also appreciated all the Canadian content in the story. The scenes in Toronto, the references to our justice system, the tiny bit of French, and of course The Tragically Hip references. It was so refreshing as the majority of books I consume are set in the US or UK. I had a chuckle wondering if non-Canadians were scratching their heads at Joey putting 4 loonies in the tip jar at juniors the same way I don’t really know what a pound looks like or what actual value it holds. I also enjoyed the main character being Filipino, as BIPOC tend to be underrepresented in this genre.

My one critique is that I found the beginning of Part Two dragged a bit as I waited for Drew to piece together what I already knew; however, it provided a lot of important back story.

Overall, a great read I would recommend! I’m still on my library waitlist for Jar of Hearts and this book just made me more eager to read it!

Jennifer Hillier is one of my favorite authors, and she's truly done it again with this book. I found the ending to be a bit predictable, which I did not see coming in her other work, but it wasn't enough to give this book anything less than 5 stars. The writing, the characters, the different storylines, I was absolutely hooked. Paris and Joelle are such likable and unfortunately relatable characters, you always like to see the good guy win out and this book gives you that. Ruby was written in such a way where you have a small piece of you that does feel for her, but also want the worst for her, which was so much fun to read. Jennifer really did such amazing work in this new book. I'm so excited for it to be released and for people to be able to love it as much as her other work. 10/10.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Jennifer Hillier's unputdownable new novel, Things We Do in the Dark. I became a fan after reading Jar of Hearts and her newest thriller lived up to -and surpassed- all of my expectations.

Paris Peralta is accused of murdering her much older, much wealthier husband after she is found standing over his body covered in blood. She knows that she's innocent but convincing the rest of the world is no easy feat.

Joey is an innocent child whose mother has committed countless crimes, ranging from abusing her own child to murdering her married lover in a fit of jealous rage. But when she helps put her mother behind bars, her life continues to spiral downhill.

Jennifer Hillier ties together the stories of her characters in a way that will have you captivated from the very first sentence. Her original style of storytelling makes her one of my favorite authors, and the twists and turns in Things We Do in the Dark are sure to keep you up all night.

Oh YEAAAAAAAAAH!!! This is the thriller I have been waiting for!! I don't read a lot of thrillers because I tend to get really bored, but this was not the case with this one. I should have known this was going to be great considering I loved Little Secrets.

From the vert beginning I was HOOKED. I kept trying to hide from my two year old just to sneak in a few pages because I just could not put this sucker down. Even though I figured out some of the twists I was still highly addicted to this story. There were so many things happening, but Jennifer Hillier is so talented at keeping you interested that I didn't feel lost or confused at all.

I cannot wait until her next book! I'm going to read some of her older books now!!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for granting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to learn I had been approved for an ARC for Things We Do in the Dark that everything else got put on hold.

Every book by Jennifer Hillier has knocked it out of the park and this one was no different for me. A five star read!

The evil villain known as the Ice Queen, who murdered her lover twenty years ago, has a connection to a seemingly unrelated case of a dead comedian, turned actor, in Seattle whose wife has just been charged with murder. Paris Peralta, wife of the famous Jimmy Peralta, has been caught with a weapon in the same room as her dead, rich husband. It seems like an open and shut case that Detective Kellogg (a.k.a. Detective Mini Wheats 🤣) has no problem forwarding to the prosecutor’s office for murder charges. Paris is less concerned about being charged than maybe she should be. She is more concerned that people from her past will find her once the media frenzy begins.

Carefully plotted with enough clues to give the reader some strong suspicions but nothing that ruins the story, Things We Do in the Dark is an edge of your seat thriller with a satisfying conclusion. Hillier knows just how to grab the reader and carry them along for the ride. The multi-faceted characters are not always likeable but draw emotion.

The author has chosen to write the settings in two places she knows well, Seattle and Toronto. I absolutely loved the title tie in to the storyline.

I have read four of this author’s previous books and have 2 more on my bookshelf to read. It’s a tight race but this might be my new favourite.

Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress and @minotaur_books for this arc in exchange for my honest opinions. Things We Do in the Dark comes out July 19, 2022. Preorder now!

Trigger warning for sexual assault.

I love Jennifer Hiller. She is one of my favorite authors and I have read every single one of her books. This one was good but not my favorite of hers. Lots of POVs and a little lagging in the middle. There’s a lot goin on in this book. There are a lot of characters with lots of action. Thanks NetGalley for this advanced copy of this book.

Author Jennifer Hillier never disappoints and always brings the "creepy" factor to her books.

Things We Do in the Dark was a carefully plotted with enough clues to give the reader some strong suspicions but nothing that ruins the story, Things We Do in the Dark is an edge of your seat thriller with a satisfying conclusion. Hillier knows just how to grab the reader and carry them along for the ride. The multi-faceted characters are not always likeable but draw emotion.