Speak of the Devil was a darkly atmospheric thriller that blends mystery and horror with emotional depth. Also it has one of the strongest openings I’ve read in a while. The story follows a woman, struggling with the death of her father, as she uncovers family secrets linked to occult practices. Wilding creates a tense and eerie atmosphere, weaving themes of grief, guilt, and the supernatural into a gripping narrative. The writing is compelling, with vivid character development and a chilling exploration of the unknown.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept my attention from page 1. I could not put it down and read it in one sitting! I would definitely recommend this book.

Sadly this was a DNF for me. I felt that it dragged and I didn’t feel a strong connection to any of the characters.

I will be withholding my review of this book in solidarity with the St. Martin's Press boycott.

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books

🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio

This is the revenge premise dreams are made of: Kaysha Jackson gets the women who were victims of Jamie Spellman together as a group to figure out how to punish him. But when he turns up murdered, they have to figure out who did it. It seems very obvious one of the women in the group did it, and then are scrambling to come up with a plan until they figure out who. This was such a great scheme even if it turned into a murder mystery for them. The writing goes between past and present of different characters to build the mountain that is Jamie Spellman’s acts of cruelty. The writing was very engaging and then woman are all written very differently from each other but like able in their own way. They all have secrets and ties to Jamie so they could all be suspects. This was a closed door mystery where everyone went home at night.

This book has a few trigger warnings, so check into those if you need to. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, after reading reviews before starting.

I really loved this book and now I have to read the whole series! This book was like a really great episode of Law and Order: SVU. I loved the strong female lawyer main character and I really loved the details of the legal system and investigation. This book kept me turning pages to see what would happen. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more in this series.

I received Speak of the Devil as an ARC. While the story started a little slow and lots of characters, it picked up quickly. It was easier to keep track of all the main women than I thought it was going to be at first. The mystery of who killed Jamie, kept me guessing until the last few chapters. It was also a sad but true commentary of how women are dismissed and made to feel crazy when speaking up about how they are being abused and then not listened to.

Seven women, bent on finding "who done it". What the real story was is- it might as well have been all of them, or none of them. Most vital here is that he no longer is here.

I feel like the ads for Speak of the Devil were about a different book. I just felt a huge disconnect with what I thought it would be.

This wasn't my cup of tea, but I don't think it's a bad book! I did enjoy the multiple pov's, and the darkness within the pages, and love love loved supporting women's wrongs. All of these women are connected by one man, who's wronged all of them in some way. He was a destroyer and now these women are left to clean up one final mess.

I did figure out the ending but enjoyed the way it flowed. Definitely a great read for someone who enjoys a nitty-gritty rage novel.

OMFG. I can't believe I waited as long as I did to read this. I accepted an ARC ages ago from the publisher, but then school and life got in the way and I blew past the publication date.* Then there were so many MM Holiday Romances I just had to read, and this is where we ended up me reading it in January 2024, six months after publication, and then finally getting the review posted almost a year to the date after publication (six months after I read it but back-scheduling). OH, THE SHAME.

I won't lie though, it took a bit to get into it. For some reason Wilding started in medias res (Wikipedia link)  and it was a STRUGGLE. I had to re-read the first chapter multiple times to make sure I hadn't missed something, but ultimately, I powered through, and it was 100% worth it.

Speak of the Devil is the story of seven women, all from various walks of life in various stages of life, all wronged by the same man but in different ways. It's not clear whether one of them murdered him to begin with, but what is clear is that every one of them could have and would've had motive to do so.

Wilding writes a winding and twisty story with many of the vignettes overlapping and the characters interacting in flashbacks and present time weaving a complex tapestry of abuse (psychological and physical) and megalomania. As I read the book, I was convinced for some period of time that every woman was the murderer. Ultimately, I clocked who it was pretty early in the book, but I had no idea how or why or whether she did it on her own.

I loved that the book was set in Newcastle, England:

'Howay. We're off to The Prince.' (Chapter 9)

'You're the best, you, Mam,' Eloise said.
'Remember that next time I tell you to tidy your room,' Ana said, topping the glasses up with lemonade and passing them to the twins. (Chapter 20)

And that probably helped me push through to the end. I texted my friend Helen from Wallsend, Newcastle and was like EXACT QUOTE, you talk like this :-D

Wilding did a great job with the female characters across the board, they were incredibly diverse in age, race, sexual orientation, and place in life. It added true depth to the work.

The reason I knew this was a good book is that it still sits with me almost six-months later as I write this. I'll randomly think about one of the characters or the conversations they had or the suffering they experienced and realized just how powerful the novel was. 

Recommendation: Overall, worth the read. You do have to power through the first 2-3 chapters before you start to settle in and figure out who is who and WTF is going on. I know it was a good book, because it still sits with me months after I finished it. I think it just needed a more polished or different opening. It was powerful, the opening scene, but the way it was written/started was just really confusing and you had to really power through for things to start to make sense.

*I received a copy of Speak of the Devil via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

This was so well written. I was engrossed from the first page and it ticked all the boxes of my expectations . I would definitely recommend to others.

This was an exciting fast-paced thriller read! The title and first chapter drew me in. "All of us knew him. One of us killed him". What? Who? Everyone in this group of friends each have secrets, but does that make one of them a killer? As the secrets unfold and we learn about the traumas an tragedies these women experience, we wonder if the murder can be justified? This was a page-turner and I really enjoyed the characters and the unexpected twists.

December 31, 1999....seven women huddle in a seedy hotel room staring at the severed head of a man, Jamie Spellman, who has wronged all the women in some way. Any of them could have done it, but who.....

SALACIOUS!!! Jamie!! You are one vile dude! If you weren't a fictional character, I'd probably have killed you myself! I absolutely loved this book and quickly devoured it. I was nervous at first given the sheer volume of characters but had absolutely no issue keeping them all straight. I really liked the author's technique of taking the reader back in time to witness how Jamie wronged each of these women in the past. I loved seeing it all play out and how each woman navigated life with him in it. So many times I put the book down and said out loud "what an a$$hole!!!" Great mystery, nice twist, and super likeable (women) characters. Well done!

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read in exchange for me honest review!

I decided to DNF at 30%. Despite this book having a lot of positive reviews, I found it really hard to get into. I found it really boring and I spent a month trying to finish it until I finally gave up. I guess this book just wasn't for me.

Well this book had me guessing. What a thrilling read. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough …had me guessing to the very end and had me on the edge of my seat. My kind of book and highly recommend.

New Year’s Eve, 1999. Seven women stand in a hotel room in Newcastle. They gaze in horror at the centrepiece of the room - a man’s severed head sits on the table. Each woman knew this man and each had a reason to do this, although no one is admitting it. As the murder investigation begins, the story goes back to reveal the connections between each woman and the victim. Who killed him? And why?

This was a really dark and gritty read, it started with such a bang, I don’t read many first scenes involving a decapitated head! And the story flowed effortlessly from there. Detective Inspector Nova Stokoe is heading the murder investigation but she has connections of her own with some of these women, all of which are gradually revealed. The victim, Jamie Spellman, is a hideous person. It’s impossible to feel one shred of sympathy for him, his acts are all despicable. But while I didn’t care that he was dead, I was intrigued as to who had actually murdered him and done so in such a dramatic way.

There are a lot of female characters, eight to keep track of. I understand why they were all female but it did take me a little while to get to know them all. Thankfully the descriptions and style of each character helped differentiate them. And with so many characters this is very much a character driven book and I really loved hearing each woman’s voice, they were all were riveting and relevant.

Speak of the Devil is a powerful and vengeful tale of women taking back power. I loved it.

This was a mystery so nice I read it twice! That is rare for me because there is so much to read and so little time. It is a great mystery, and I definitely didn’t see it coming, but this book is so much more than that. It is so well written, and told in such an honest and unvarnished way that you can feel the truth of it. It explores the realities that many of us encounter constantly in our lives, but are so often told to ignore or brush off. Through the different perspectives of these women, we see the lifetime of wreckage this one toxic man has left in his wake. It also makes clear, in a way some people may only be able to grasp by reading it in a novel, the myriad ways a man can hurt and destroy a woman’s life without necessarily lifting a hand or even technically breaking a law. That sort of behavior is in there too, but the unique brilliance of this story, what lends it such a grounding in reality, is all the pieces the author includes that you can’t necessarily see with the naked eye. The author weaves this story together so beautifully, and brings the reader something maybe only a novel can provide, a well-deserved catharsis for the fury so many of us feel just under the surface. If you read the author’s note at the beginning of the book (which I highly recommend), that sentence will resonate.

This was a great read and will definitely recommend!! The cover is also so cute. Can’t wait to read more by this author.