When she was thirteen years old, Samantha Newsom’s family was murdered and their Catskills farmhouse set ablaze in an unsolved crime that left nothing behind but ashes.

Twenty-two years later, Sam is pulled back to her hometown of Carney, New York, under the shadows of the grim tragedy she’s never forgotten or forgiven. Authorities mishandled the evidence, false rumors were seeded about her family, suspects yielded nothing, and the case went cold. Not anymore. Investigator Travis Meacham has been assigned to the case, and he has news for Sam: a prison inmate has come forward with a shocking admission. Sam’s baby sister, presumed dead in the fire, made it out of the house that night.

It’s not the only reveal that upends everything Sam thinks she knows about the crime and her family. But Carney protects its secrets. And this time, Sam might not be able to escape the town alive.

I've read other books by Kara Thomas, but I think this is the first one that isn't a YA thriller.
Sam's family was killed 22 years ago when their family home went up in flames. Now, a man claims that he saw someone leave the home with Sam's 20-month-old sister Lindsay. Sam goes back to her hometown to reconnect with her roots and see if she can find out exactly what happened the night her family was killed. She ends up finding out a lot more than she bargained for.

I thought this was a fast-paced psychological thriller. The author did a great job developing Sam's character; she had a lot of flaws, but was still pretty likeable. The author has a great writing style - she is descriptive, without being overly so; she made the story dark, but also added some humor and lightness; the twists were well-thought out and realistic. This is an author I enjoy reading!

Rating: 3.5 stars

It’s always interesting to see an author switch genres, especially when it fits the usual genre but ages up. It was nice to read another book by Kara Thomas and I thought that she did well outside of YA.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Samantha Newsom. She didn’t have a rough childhood until her family is murdered and that is when her woes started. I can definitely understand why as well. For twenty-two years she has never forgotten and always wondered what if. I wouldn’t say that she was always tactful though when trying to solve the mystery and ask questions. There were times she folded her cards way too quickly and put herself in danger, even others too. I had a love/hate relationship with her because of it.

There are some minor characters that take a more prominent role but are also still there to help move the plot along and speculate who could be the murderer. Thomas was good at keeping me off the trail until it was time for the big finale. I really did have no clue and would have never guessed it.

Some of the plot twists were pretty intense and for a content warning the book does talk about rape in a past memory as well as mentioning it about other characters. I think that is the biggest one but there is also drugs and overdosing as well. One of the plot twists with a character was just real sad. Although, a lot of them are. Some characters just shouldn’t get that type of plotline!

Overall, I was pretty pleased with this book. It did take me a bit to get into but once I did I was flying through. If you have read her other books or enjoy Adult Mystery / Thrillers then definitely check this one out.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I've loved Thomas' YA books and was thrilled that this book was a Read Now. Getting to read this book on vacation was a bonus. Despite some heartbreaking plot involving a young girl losing her whole family to an unknown murderer, there is hope in this book.

Samantha Newsom was 13 years old when while staying over at her friend Caroline's house overnight, her parents and uncle were murdered, along with her almost 2 year old sister Lyndsey. The house was set on fire and burned down,,leaving no survivors- although her sister's remains were never found. Samantha was told she was too young to leave behind evidence.

Fast forward 20 years. Sam is an ICU nurse in Long Island City and her uncle Gil is dying of cancer. Sam helps Gil reach his end, but not before Gil confesses something to Sam. Then she meets someone with the New York Police, Meacham, who is investigating a new lead with the case. The suggestion of an unreliable witness that her sister survived the terrible night of September 8, 2001 is a loose string Sam can't help but pull. Of course in the days following the murders & fire were overshadowed by September 11. Sam, as an adult uses her nursing knowledge to pull some clues and possible wrong ones from an eyewitness. If she starts getting more traction the danger to her increases, as she asks questions nobody wants to answer. Unfortunately the truth is too close to home. Trigger warning for addiction, sexual assault, murder, grief for parents and corrupt police officer.

The ending leaves the reader wondering a few things and if there will be a continuation. I hope there is. Samantha deserves it. May 1, 2023 5/5☆

When her mother’s foster brother dies, Samantha Newsom returns to her hometown and gets pulled back into a tragedy that happened over twenty years before. When Samantha was thirteen, someone murdered her parents before setting fire to the family home, which burned down with her parent’s bodies and baby sister inside. The police never identified the killer. Raised by aunt, Samantha later moved away, went to college and became a nurse and tried to get on with her life as best she could. But when a state investigator contacts her and tells her he is reopening the investigation into the murders, she learns new information about the crimes and begins investigating on her own, determined to learn what happened to her family.

Samantha’s strong emotional drive to find out what happened to her family is understandable and makes her an engaging character lead that it’s easy to feel empathy for. But her passion to learn the truth causes Samantha to behave a little too recklessly with her own safety, a writing technique that builds tension and high suspense by design. In Out of the Ashes, Thomas cultivates the psychological intrigue using a first-person character viewpoint narrative but offers readers more than only one vibrant and compelling character in this story told in highly accessible prose.

This novel is not without its weaknesses. Only about the halfway point did the pacing produce a strong desire to keep turning the pages, but the pacing picked up nicely down the stretch. Overall, I found the book an engaging mix of psychological drama and mystery, which I enjoy reading, with twists that readers will enjoy and not likely see coming.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher for review purposes.

In this mystery book, we follow Sam while she's trying to discover what happened to her family twenty years ago.

I liked the plot and the characters, but in the middle of the book, the pacing seemed slow and repetitive.

I enjoyed the plot twists. I didn't expect most of them. But, at some point, it feels like there are way too many! Like, I get it. Small town, with many secrets. But every single one is about the same family? Every bad thing that has happened, happened to the same two individuals?

In general, it was a quick and nice mystery read.
I got an ebook copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

Close to a 4.5, so many threads to grasp at throughout. I couldn’t put it down. Excellent pacing

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

First of all, thank you SO much NetGalley for my gifted ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book had so many eerie similarities to my life... I just couldn't shake it. First of all- my name is Lyndsey and very rarely do I meet people, much less book characters, who share the same spelling. So that was really cool. But then there was a character named Taylor, and that's the name of my significant other. Then a character named Kaylee, which is my sister in law's name and spelling. Then there was a Dani, my best friend's name. It was like Kara Thomas stumbled upon my instagram page or something and that's how she picked her character names. It was so cool but so creepy.

This was a slower paced thriller, but once it got going, it took OFF. I loved how deeply atmospheric it was, I really felt like I was in that gritty smalltown, and I lowkey hated it because it reminded me so much of my own crooked hometown. It's told only from Sam's POV, but I would have really enjoyed another POV. Perhaps a dual timeline situation POV from a family member?

I feel like there were so many secondary characters, too. It was kind of hard to keep them all straight. The ending had me absolutely SHOOK, and had me really hoping that Kara Thomas writes a sequel, because I need a reunion between siblings to happen. They both deserve it, after everything.

One of my new favorites from Kara Thomas!

The beginning of this novel made me think of another book, Gillian Flynn's Dark Places. Although the tragedy involving the main protagonist is similar in both books, the way the mystery unfolds in later parts of the story is vastly different.

Samantha Newsom is the sole survivor of a mass massacre, in which her entire family was killed, including her parents, her twenty month old sister and her uncle Scott. Sam escapes her hometown, Carney, after college and she is trained as a nurse. When she returns back to her hometown, twenty two years after the tragedy struck her family, Samantha is beyond shocked to receive news that her baby sister might have after all survived the fire that consumed her whole family. In a small town like Carney, where there are no secrets within families and there is evil lurking just beneath the surface, who can Samantha trust. As Sam tries to uncover the events leading to the fire in her farmhouse, there are family members and friends from her past she had fled from and is now forced to confront.

I found the beginning and end of this book really solid, I mean the intrigue and the cast of characters really grab your interest. The middle, though, I found it to be meandering with Sam investigating the missing girls in her town and the sudden plunge into the subplot. It felt more like a young adult book with the focus shifting to her life during her teenage years. But the book is really well written, especially how it ended. I enjoyed reading it. Hope to read books from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for sending an advance copy of the e-book for review.

Small town, unsolved murder…..what more could you ask for in a novel? This is my favorite type of novel to read. Fiction that reads like true crime always pulls me on. This novel felt so real - I did not guess the ending which made me love it even more. Spectacular!

wow, this books was very intriguing. this book had so many shocks in store, but the saved the best till last -AMAZING!

I loved this book! It had fast pacing, it's has a dark and well-developed storyline. The book is a heart-wrenching psychological thriller with a wonderful twist! The main character, Sam, was realistic, and learning about her past was interesting. I recommend this book if you love adult thrillers.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy.

Fantastic!!! I loved the writing style and the characters were very likeable. This is a suspenseful and thrilling ride. Highly recommend

Sam's family was murdered when she was 13, and no one was ever charged, although there were plenty of rumors of who could be responsible. Twenty-two years later, after her uncle passes away, she's drawn back to her hometown. When she's contacted by an investigator who's looking at the case again, she's shocked to hear a witness has come forward and claims that her baby sister made it out of the fire.

Could her sister be alive after all this time? Who really was responsible for killing her family? Can Sam find out, or are something things left better buried. Because whoever killed her family is still out there, and might be someone she knows.

This grabbed me, and didn't let go. There were a bunch of twists, and I thought I knew where the story was going, and I didn't. A really smart weaving of family dysfunction, small town secrets, and characters that were multi-dimensional.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC!

What a wild ride…I never knew who I was going to pin this on, but in a good way. Samantha had so many crappy people in her orbit, any number of them could have killed her family.
When Samantha is called home by a dying family member, she begins a journey to solve her families murder once and for all, prompted by a maybe self serving state investigators.
But not even Samantha is ready to find out the truth, and maybe not knowing is sometimes better.

I was consumed by this one. I was hanging on to every single sentence. I love books about normal women trying to untangle a family mystery. I loved every single character in this book and by that I mean they were all fleshed out realistic people.
The ending was also perfect.

This was a really strong adult entry for Kara Thomas! I have really enjoyed all her YA thrillers, so I was so excited to see her branch out into the adult thriller space. This book kept me interested from beginning to end. The MC is rough around the edges, but rightfully so. The mystery and all the players around it were really interesting and I definitely did not see the reveal coming!

This was my first Kara Thomas book and I really liked it. It’s well-written with lots of twists and turns and definitely kept my interest. Samantha Newsom is a nurse working in NYC, but she grew up in the small town of Carney in upstate NY. Her mother, father, and two year-old sister were murdered when she was 13 years old. Their house was set on fire and burned to the ground. The crime was never solved. Sam was the sole survivor because she was at her friend’s house. Twenty two years later, Sam has to go back to Carney to see her dying uncle. When she starts digging in to what happened to her family, many secrets and lies are exposed and Sam puts herself and others in grave danger. Thanks to #netgalley #thomas&mercer and #karathomas for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the beginning of the book and the ending. some of the middle got bogged down for me and at times, there were so many characters, i couldn't keep track of them. but overall I loved it, almost a 5 A small town mystery, lots of unsavory characters, a damaged heroine, who hasn't recovered from being the sole survivor of a family massacre. determined to find out who killed her family, in the process risking her life and all of what she believed to be true

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley. Thank you for the early read.

There was a lot going on in this book but it was well written. I didn't connect very well with the main character only because I haven't experienced any loss like that character. The book had me very hooked on wanting to know what happens. I quickly read this and loved it.