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.

This book was a bit confusing at the beginning. One minute you're hearing about Paris the next minute you're hearing about a girl named Joey and her life story. It took me a bit to figure out what was going on. I really liked the mystery of Jimmy's death. So many characters in this book needed to be slapped. This was my first book by Jennifer Hillier but it won't be my last.

Wow! What a whirlwind to listen to this on audio. So many twists and turns, I'm hooked. I also got a physical copy of this book as well because I definitely want to read this again in the future.

Hillier does not disappoint with her latest twisty, dark thriller!

Paris has been charged with her husband's murder, and even she must admit that it looks bad... But that's not her only problem. She is also being blackmailed by a convicted murderer who will soon be released from prison. Paris must confront her past, and decide who she truly is, in order to save herself and move forward. Hillier's latest novel is packed with twists, turns, and the rich complex characters that we have come to expect from this writer. This is a brilliant read that you won't want to put down.

Thank you to Netgally for my advanced audio copy, and thank you to the author and publisher, Minotaur Books for my advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. I truly devoured this one! It just released - you grab it now!

this was a story i listened to but could not put down in the audiobook sense. this author did a brilliant job of making you feel as though you were there in the story and had you eager to hear what happened next. i would highly recommend this book to anyone! it’s a must read.

Brief Thoughts: An excellently crafted mystery story!!

This book easily held my attention from the second I picked it up and I found it very hard to put down. I found the dual timeline type of storytelling and character unveiling to be so well done and there were some significant twists and turns I didn't anticipate. I alternated between the audiobook and my kindle and the audiobook was so well narrated by Carla Vega. The characters were multifaceted and so many of them had obvious struggles brought on by aspects of their pasts. I definitely recommend this if you're looking for a book to hold your attention this summer - thrillers aren't my constant go-to genre but this one was well worth the time. Above all, without saying too much, I also found the ending quite satisfying.

Thank you Netgalley & Macmillan Audio for an ALC of Things We Do In the Dark by Jennifer Hillier!

Hillier is an auto-buy author of mine, so I was so excited to receive an audiobook copy of this one. In this book, Paris Peralta is a suspect in the death of her celebrity husband. Her long-hidden and twisted past comes back to haunt her as it threatens to destroy her future.

As with all of Hillier’s books, it’s extremely well written and the characters are well placed and thought out. I was invested in the story from the very beginning. This one was more suspenseful to me than thriller-vibes, with very dark themes (pay attention to trigger warnings on this one). The narrator fit the story. As always, an enjoyable book by this author!

This book was really well written and well plotted, had great characters and a lot of emotion. But... it was way to dark for me. That is completely a personal thing though so I'm still giving it 4 stars.

I got really sucked into this book from the start. It opens with Paris Peralta in the back of a police car after her beloved comedian husband, Jimmy, is found dead in the bathroom. Is she responsible for his murder? Police seem to think so, but it's not totally clear. Of course, since her husband is well known, the case is highly publicized.

I was intrigued from the start- we can tell Paris is lying about some things, but we're not quite sure what or why. Right when I was getting really into the story, Paris gets a letter from Ruby Reyes, also known as the Ice Queen, who is about to get out of prison and threatens Paris with a demand for money. From there, we go into a ton of back story of exactly who Ruby Reyes is and and the story of Drew, a journalist and podcaster who lost his beloved roommate, Joey Reyes, years ago. Obviously everything is connected, but I just had a really hard time getting into the back story.

Ultimately, the story just felt a little bit too complicated for me and things just conveniently lined up just so to make things work. I don't like to think too hard about potential twists and resolutions, but I feel like if you gave even a little thought to it, you'd be able to figure at least some things out fairly quickly.

This book has trigger warnings for rape, sexual abuse, and child abuse. It's definitely heavy at times, probably heavier than I like my thrillers to be. But so many people love this book, so it might also be the perfect book for you!

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier 🪒

“Paris and Jimmy live on Queen Anne Hill, right across the street from Kerry Park, which boasts the best views of Seattle. It’s a popular spot for both locals and tourists to take photos of the city skyline and Mount Rainier, and the crowd today was like any other, except the cameras were pointing toward the house instead of the skyline.”

Paris Peralta is a yoga instructor. A couple of years ago she married a famous comedian and despite being criticized because of their age gap, they live a happy and quiet life. But one day Paris finds herself standing in her own bathroom, covered in blood, with her husband lying dead in the bathtub behind her and holding the straight razor that killed him. She doesn’t know how to explain what happened, so she’s accused of his murder.

Paris’ husband was very famous in the past but had been inactive for years until recently when he decided to come back with a new show. This brings unwanted media attention to Paris who has always kept a low profile. After this, Paris receives a letter from Ruby Reyes, the Ice Queen, who had been convicted in Canada in the 90s for the murder of her lover. In the letter Ruby tells Paris that she knows who she really is and threatens her to expose all of her secrets if she doesn’t send her millions of dollars.

Now Paris has to deal with the murder accusations and Ruby’s threats, all while mourning the death of her husband.

I was immediately drawn into this story from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down. It became slower towards the middle but it kept me intrigued until the end. It alternates between two timelines and two different characters and it’s filled with unexpected twists and turns.

The audio version is narrated by Carla Vega whose voice kept me engaged throughout the whole book. Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for my review audio copy of this book!

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.

**3.5 stars** I liked this book but I didn't love it. That's pretty much how I felt about the other Hillier book I read, Little Secrets. Her writing keeps me interested enough to finish the book. This book was dark. But not in a good and thrilling way. The whole tone of the book was dreary and depressing. The child abuse (sexual, physical, emotional) was hard to stomach. I definitely enjoyed the present timeline with Paris more that the past timeline. The audio narration for this one was excellent. Things We Do in the Dark was good enough for me to want to read another by this author but I'd only recommend to people who like dark books with tons of possible triggers.

Thank you to NetGalley for an audio copy of this story. This was my first book by this author and I was hooked. The story is a slow burn mystery and some parts are a tad predictable but I did enjoy it.
Paris has so many secrets that she does not want exposed. However, when her famous husband is found dead and she is accused of his murder all her hidden secrets are in jeopardy of being revealed.
From an abusive mother, to several sexual assaults and child abuse this book is DARK. If you have any triggers to child abuse, child predators, suicide or murder best to stay away from this story.

The cover stands out in a pool of books. My eyes gravitated to the shimmering blue. I had the audiobook, narrated by Carla Vega whom I enjoyed.

The story immediately has blood-stained hands and a body. From there the typical mystery/thriller storyline ensued. Without spoiling, there was a clever twist that I liked involving a young Paris. A trigger warning for child abuse should be placed: physical, mental and implied sexual

The book was just okay for me. I waited wanting to know how Paris received her street knowledge. Not everyone can change all that she did, in conjunction with at minimum a big theft in their early teens. The writing fell short for me there. Fast forward to the ending, which did not come fast, and it was too much in a short period. The hide and seek trope is over done. I didn't feel Paris was written to be as smart as she needed to be to pull off the ending (which I liked).

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for accepting my request to read and review Things We Do in the Dark. I will look for other works by Jennifer Hillier.

I love a book that starts out with a disclaimer that seems to cover everything in murder to mayhem and misogyny. I just know it's going to be great.

This was not a normal Sunday and there would be no pancakes or watching her husband work in the garden because her husband has been murdered. Most people had no idea her famous husband had married for the fifth time until Zoey had published their wedding photograph. "Paris had been living in blissful anonymity with her retired husband and then it all went to hell. As Zoey would say, the optics were terrible."

I loved this story. As someone who was recently accused of murdering her husband of 31 years, I can understand how grief and anger get mixed up.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audio book.

Multiple trigger warnings on this novel. An ok plot twists. What had me shook was some of the details. Author is very descriptive in her writing which brought the darkness to life. I was a little lost via audiobook at first because Part I and II are different timelines but was hooked the last half. The title makes connects well to many of the horrible things that take place. A lot of unlikeable characters.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the audiobook in exchange for a review. I give this audiobook 3.5 out of 5.

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book, but not as much as I was expecting I would. The character development was done well. The mystery or suspense of the plot was very lacking. This one just lacked the tenseness that the author's previous reads had. And the twists were a little too easy to figure out, but oveall it was entertaining.

Happy Publication Day! I was lucky enough to get an advanced audiobook copy of Things We Do In The Dark from @netgalley @macmillan.audio @minotaur_books and the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

Paris Peralta is arrested in her own home holding a straight razor and covered in her celebrity husband’s blood. When she’s arrested, she of course doesn’t want to be convicted of a murder she didn’t commit but she’s more worried all of the attention will cause someone from her past to recognize her.

With all of the media coverage we soon find out that Ruby Reyes who is a convinced killer in prison in Canada claims to know who Paris is. She begins blackmailing her by sending letters to Paris’ husband’s fan mail address.

I really loved how the narration flipped time points so we could keep up with what’s happening to Paris now and what happened in the past. There were a couple of twists I didn’t expect which is always so good in thrillers.

This was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me.

"Dark" being the operative word here -- this was the darkest book I've read in a WHILE. I thought the story started off a little slow, but it quickly picked up and didn't slow back down at all. I loved the multiple timelines/storylines; this book was very well done. I'm excited to read more Jennifer Hillier books!

This book was very interesting. There were points where I questioned the feasibility of the situation, but it was very interesting, I cared deeply about the characters, I was invested and wanted to know more. It was hard for me to stop listening to this book. The narrator was engaging and really brought the characters to life. I will recommend this book to others!