Paris Peralta gets arrested for the murder of her famous husband - a murder that looks eerily similar to a murder committed by Ruby Reyes twenty years earlier. Paris knows her arrest could jeopardize her long-buried past. Now, it’s only a matter of time before someone recognizes her. Well, Ruby Reyes knows exactly who Paris REALLY is, and when Ruby is unexpectedly released from prison, Paris must confront the past she thought she escaped.

I’m really impressed TWDITD! Unlike a couple of Hillier’s other books I’ve read, this one didn’t have a major twist, at least not for me. I figured out “the who,” but “the why” is the winner here. Hillier develops a character-driven psychological thriller that slowly unveils the lasting effects of abuse, neglect, and childhood trauma. The toxic relationship between mother and daughter is written brilliantly, riddled with emotional abuse, physical abuse, and generational trauma. Bravo to Hillier for putting the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book because this one tackles lots of dark themes.

I love Carla Vega’s narration! I definitely recommend this format. Vega nails the Filipino accent and sings song lyrics. 🤩Overall, the narration elevates this dark tale.

Jennifer Hillier is a great storyteller. The story of Paris Peralta's life is, at times, difficult to read, but like a car wreck, keeps you intrigued. There are times, though, that the story moves very slowly, and the moving between past and present gets a little tedious after a awhile. I loved the references to Filipino food and culture. There are several twists and turns that may be surprising but breadcrumbs are left for you to figure it out beforehand. I enjoyed this but it could have benefited from closer editing to shorten the length.

Audio was well done, no issues - although the pronunciation of "turquoise" was not one I'd heard before.

Jennifer Hillier has created a fantastic home suspense thriller, Little Secrets, which is a fitting sequel to her prior work. The interesting narrative begins off with a BANG and just gets better as the storyline progresses with various twists and turns. There is a wide cast of characters, including the heroine, Paris, a young Canadian woman of Filipino origin, and Drew, a black investigative male journalist, and there are several fascinating narrative threads that come together well at the conclusion. Excellent usage of split timeframes and several points of view. As she strives to overcome the horrors of her childhood, the main character is incredibly simple to cheer for. The plot is driven by a murder, but I found the development of the multifaceted characters to be just as compelling. An intriguing, astute thriller. This author can always be counted on to give a well-planned, well-written, interesting, and enjoyable book.

This audiobook was so amazing!! The narrator did a wonderful job with accents and voices. Usually audiobooks lose my interest and I don’t pay attention, but between the narrator, and twists and turns in the story, I was ADDICTED to this one!!
The story of Paris/Joey was so interesting and I had several “gasp out loud” moments.
If you like twisty, turny thrillers, this is a MUST READ! This one is going to leave me with a book hangover for sure!

This was such a great read!! True crime/ thriller with lots of twists and turns. I loved this story, very original plot. An addictive read!

Great audible narration! Definitely pay attention to the trigger warnings stated at the beginning to know what the writing will entail going in.

This dark thriller was full of mystery and suspense all the way through! I could not wait to find out if Paris actually killed her husband and what each aspect of the story would bring in the conclusion. Even if I did guess parts before they were revealed, I still enjoyed listening. I can’t even think of any questions left unanswered. Claps all around for this one!

Oooh that was so good!! Dark, but good. Complex characters with a riveting, unpredictable story. I’m not usually a thriller gal but this was very well done and I could not stop. The audiobook really brought it to life- so much so that I listened to it all in one day! Absolutely a must-read.

🪒Things we do in the Dark🪒 by Jennifer Hillier
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
🪒Paris finds her husband (a wealthy comedian 30 years her senior) dead in the bathtub. When questioned by the police if she killed him, she cannot remember and she doesn't know why she's holding a straight razor. As the police dig deeper into the crime, Paris's past slowly gets revealed.
🪒I enjoyed the premise and idea behind the plot- however this was a very dark and emotional thriller.
🪒This was a slow burn thriller with some trigger warnings of child abuse, drug use, murder and gang violence (It's alluded to but not described in detail).
🪒Available today🥳🥳 Thank You @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for this #arc. I really enjoyed reading and listening to this one.

Paris Peralta is in trouble. After being discovered in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor, with a straight razor in her hand, her celebrity-husband, Jimmy, dead in the bathtub behind her, she's promptly arrested for his murder. Not a great way to start a day, following a night she can hardly remember. It appears Paris suffered a head injury at some point during the night. This must be why she can't remember what happened.

A flurry of media activity immediately flocks to the action. Jimmy Peralta was a well-loved comedic actor, who had recently made a giant comeback. His death is big news. Paris is devastated and swears that she is innocent. In spite of everything happening around her, Paris actually has bigger worries.

When Paris and Jimmy met, she was a yoga instructor and he attended her classes. He was smitten fairly quickly and she was as well, but she was never truly honest with Jimmy. She never told him about her past. A past she has been hiding from for years.

Twenty-five years ago, Ruby Reyes, dubbed the 'Ice Queen' by the media, was convicted for the murder of a man in Canada. It was a very high profile case, with people still discussing it to this day. Ruby feels like she knows who Paris really is and she spends the final days of her prison stay writing Paris threatening letters. Apparently, blackmail is a hobby you can participate in from anywhere.

Drew Malcolm is an investigative journalist turned podcaster. His specialty happens to be my favorite: true crime. When he hears that Ruby Reyes is going to be released from prison, he can hardly believe it. Drew grew up in the same area where Ruby lived and committed her infamous crime. He feels personally connected to the case and decides to make it the next hot topic for his podcast.

Using alternating perspectives, as well as both past and present timelines, the Reader gets taken on a real journey in Things We Do in the Dark. I didn't pay much attention to the synopsis before I started this, Jennifer Hillier's name on the cover was enough to get me to read it, and I'm happy I went into this pretty much blind. I was so surprised each time the direction and perspective of this story shifted.

Unsurprisingly, Hillier's writing drew me in from the very start. I loved Paris as a character and her relationship with Jimmy. I found it completely fascinating.

For me, Jimmy was that quintessential stand-up comedian turned actor, who suffers from depression and substance abuse issues. He found this beautiful young lady who truly seemed to make him happy and he started to turn his life around. I loved that aspect. I felt like I knew him, even though he really didn't play a role in this story.

As far as Paris was concerned, I just got her. I liked her. Learning about her past, I truly felt for all she had been through in her life, all she had overcome and achieved in spite of it. Additionally, Drew was a fantastic character. I liked how much his investigative journalist background contributed to the story. This man was on a mission.

I had so much fun with the reveals in this, as the three threads begin to weave together. I felt this was expertly-plotted and a great way to escape the world for a while. I did listen to the audiobook and felt that is was super well done. I was enchanted by the narration. Once I started, it was really hard to put it down for anything.

Dinner, that can wait. Sleep, who needs it? Work, it will be there tomorrow.

In short, I loved this. Fast-paced, compelling and with so many elements that I tend to enjoy, Hillier won big for me with this one!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. It's clear I am a huge fan of Hillier's work and this one is no exception. I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!!

This book was phenomenal both in audio and in print and might be one of the best thrillers that I have read this year so far! I have been going back and forth between 4 and 5 stars on this one all day! These characters are so morally flawed and twisty that you truly just do not know what is going to happen next and when everything is going to unravel. I appreciated that this book went back and forth between the past and the present to slowly piece together what is going to happen. This book definitely has some harder topics like physical and SA of a child so please keep that in mind when going into it.

Rating: 3.5

Please checkout the Trigger Warnings if you're interested in reading this one.

I found this one to be pretty solid and quite good. I listened to the audiobook and am glad I did because I feel like I might not have enjoyed it physically. I say that because at times it would be pretty slow and a lot of backstory information would be thrown at you. I don’t feel as though all of this information was necessary so it just ended up feeling like padding.

I will say this one started out with a BOOM. I was immediately hooked but then about 30-40% in it started to really slow down. It didn’t help that at that point I already guessed the ending and the more I listened the more I knew I was right. In this instance knowing the truth did ruin the book for me because it took away all of the suspense. Even though I hate last minute twists I was really hoping for one to happen but sadly it didn’t.

Overall, I would say if the synopsis sounds interesting to you then I say give it a try.It was a good book to listen to while doing housework or driving. In my opinion, its not a book that you can just sit down and listen to but that is probably just me. I’ve been seeing this one get great reviews so I might be in the minority on it and as always I do hope you all enjoy it if you give it a try! But please check out the TW’s because this book deals with some serious topics and gets very descriptive.

Thank you so much @macmillanaudio for the gifted copy on #netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#ThingsWeDoInTheDark:⁣
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“If you deny something over and over again, and for long enough, people might eventually believe you. It works for politicians. Bonus: You might even convince yourself it’s the truth”. ⁣
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Fun fact, Billy Joel is one of my favorites. It’s a reason my husband and I connected because at 18, no one understood his greatest hits like we did. She’s Always a Woman is my favorite song ever. So, if you’re going to start a book off with that, you better deliver. Jennifer Hillier did. ⁣
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This book had so many funny moments from the audio that I couldn’t help but giggle. “Don’t go looking for her” next page “of course he’s going to look for her” ⁣
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The audio was okay. I wasn’t blown away by the performance, but I definitely wasn’t bored by it either. There’s some audio readers that can make or break a book, and I am glad that did not happen with this. ⁣
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I didn’t know where this book was going. The twist was not what I was envisioning, but I liked it. This did keep my interest and instead of reading other books, I just kept gravitating towards Things We Do In The Dark in the different media because I wanted to know what was going to happen! ⁣
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Overall, another solid Jennifer Hillier book! She’ll always be an auto buy author for me. I was worried TWDITD was getting *too* much hype and it wouldn’t deliver, but she hasn’t let me down yet! Thank you so much @minotaur_books and @macmillan.audio for the gifted copy! Things We Do in the Dark is out 7/19!

I feel like I have a very unpopular opinion of this story. Straight from the beginning, there was a great hook, and I was excited to listen. As the story went on, it felt like it was really dragged out. I think a lot of the details were important, but there could have been away to not draw it out for so long. The twists were slightly expected, but the ending was actually pretty good.

Even so, this was my first book from Jennifer Hillier, but it won’t be my last.

Sadly, 3.15 stars. It seems I am in the minority here because there are so many positive reviews for this one, so don't listen to me because you might love it. I was looking forward to it because I have enjoyed this authors work in the past, but I just wasn't feeling this one.

When a younger woman marries a much older man she's automatically deemed a golddigger and that term only intensifies when the husband is rich and famous. Then he turns up dead...with the wife possibly holding the murder weapon, thus making her the likely suspect. But who is Paris really?

Told in 6 parts with A LOT of backstory throughout the whole book.

I liked Drew and his investigative skills as he worked on his podcast.
I didn't really care for any of the other characters ~ Paris was blah, Zoe was too much, Elsie seemed like an old hag, Ruby was just the worst or all worstness. Actually, I did like the 4 year old cousin, Carson, and Deborah seemed nice.

I was lucky enough to receive a kindle copy and an audiobook. Quite a long listen at 11 hours and 50 minutes and Carla Vega was a good narrator, but I did prefer reading and not listening.

TW ~ child abuse, sexual abuse, pedophilia

Overall, most of the story was predictable, twists not very twisty and the story dragged at times with repetition. This was not my favorite by Jennifer, but I would read her work again.

Jennifer Hillier has written a very good book. This is my first time reading one of her books. There are a couple of storylines and I figured them out pretty quickly. There are good twists and turns and one element that I wasn't expecting. I listened to the audiobook for this title and enjoyed the narrator very much.

I wasn't completely sure where this suspenseful domestic thriller/women's fiction was going. It delved into the serious topic of child abuse yet also managed to balance an intriguing who done it mystery. It was about survival and transformation. I enjoyed the themes and thought they were carved out nicely.

The ending was satisfactory with some great twists. I was rooting for the MC all the way through.

It did jump around in time a lot from present day in which Paris was being arrested for murdering her wealthy husband to the past in which Joey, a child, is being abused by her mother. The latter parts were heartbreaking and sometimes difficult to read. The two timelines converged nicely at the end.

Audio performance was good. No complaints. Good range of voices by the narrator. Her voice had a haunting quality that fit the MC perfectly.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NG for an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
#macmillanaudio #thingswedointhedark

4/5 Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the eAudioARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Jennifer Hillier read. Many of her books keep appearing on my TBR list; but this is the first to actually make it to the top. I definitely wasn’t disappointed! It’s dark and disturbing, and oh so good.
The character development was well done, but the jumps between different POVs was a little jarring. That’s the only reason that this wasn’t a 5/5.

The book starts with one POV: Paris Peralta is arrested in a bathroom of her house where her much older celebrity husband had bled out in the tub. Things look bad: she has a straight razor in her hand and she cannot remember anything that happened after arriving home the night before. Paris and her rich husband were living the good life. Things seemed to be going well with him making a comeback on the standup comedy tour and Paris working at her yoga studio; but now he is dead and Paris’ hidden past is threatening to come out. She had reinvented herself, but finds that she cannot outrun herself.

The next POV is Drew, a former investigative journalist in Toronto, who now has a true crime podcast. He learns that the mother of an old friend is about to be released from prison which drags up old memories of his relationship with her daughter. Originally, he had vowed to never delve into the mother’s story, but it’s been years and he starts to investigate. The mother was dubbed the Ice Queen for various reasons, one of which is the brutality of the murder committed.

The last POV is from Joey, or Joelle; the daughter of Ruby, the Ice Queen, and former friend of Drew. Her part of the story tells the history of Ruby’s murder and incarceration.

In the end, all three POVs are brought together into a single line and the conclusion was very satisfying.

The narration was very well done. Carla Vega did a wonderful job of keeping the story interesting with her voice modulation and expectant pauses.

There are a couple of twists (both of which I guessed). Was this good or bad writing? It’s difficult to say, but it was still a well-rounded story. I’d recommend the book.

2.5 stars rounded down.

Let me preface this review with I have not read a mystery/thriller book in over a decade, so I was not sure if I still enjoyed them or not. It would seem that either I do not or this book just wasn't it for me...and I'm not sure which is the case.

Our main character finds herself sitting with her dead, wealthy, older husband, covered in his blood, and holding a blade. While she tries to uncover the mystery of her husband's death and avoid murder charges, she also finds that the past that she has been desperately running from for her whole life is finally finding her with a vengeance.

This story feels less like a thriller and more like a drama, while the mystery aspect remains. There is so much going on with the story (different timelines and perspectives and storylines), that it feels more confounded than necessary. Additionally, none of the characters were particularly likeable, which makes it extremely difficult for me to care about the story. If even one character, main or not, was likeable I might have felt more invested in the story.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. The narration style made perspective switches and timeline changes difficult to quickly orient myself too, which does not have to be the case. Overall, I did not enjoy the story and would not recommend, even to those who tend to enjoy mystery/thrillers.

Please check trigger warnings for this one, while also noting that doing so may give minor spoilers to the story.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Carla Vega, via NetGalley. An advanced reader's copy of this audiobook was provided to me via NetGalley by Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

This book has everything you could hope for in a crime/suspense novel: a dramatic opening that draws you in, and a main character with a problematic past. Paris Peralta yoga instructor married to the much older and wealthy comedian Jimmy Peralta. Paris finds Jimmy dead in his bathroom lying in a tub full of blood-tinted bath water. Paris is found passed out in the bathroom and has been accused of killing Jimmy. What happens after that had me vacillating between her guilt and innocence. Even when I thought I had it figured out, something else would come straight out of left field wondering yet again of Paris' guilt or innocence.
Good writing and an exciting story. I would recommend this book to my library for purchase.
Anyone triggered by stories of child abuse or sexual assault may want to avoid this book as depictions of these themes may be too intense.

I’ve said this before, I know, but every new Jennifer Hillier @jenniferhillierbooks novel is my current favorite, and Things We Do in the Dark continues the steak.

In the dark, monsters are real. In the dark, it never happened. In the dark, she could be anyone.

This is my favorite kind of thriller. There’s just the right amount of characters so that you can listen to it on audio (which by the way is fantastic) and be able to easily follow along, and the plot is perfect paced to make it oh so bingeable. Also, if you’re not rooting for Paris from the very first page, send me a DM, because you need to explain yourself.

Thanks to my partners at @minotaur_books for my glow-in-the-dark copy (which charged up perfectly on the beach) and to @macmillan.audio for my audio copy.

Link to 7/19/2022 post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgMuO5Frf_Q/