The premise of this book definitely hooked me when I received the NetGalley widget from the publisher. I was excited to dive into this unique tale. But I’m sorry to say it’s just not working for me and I’m going to have to DNF. I think this book will find its readers as I’ve seen many positive reviews so far. Unfortunately, this one just isn’t for me. Thank you to the publisher for an ArC in exchange for my honest review.

Have to DNF this one. I tried reading and listening and just cannot get into this book. Maybe another time, but it was hard to relate, and all over the place. I got through 50 pages.

This was a well thought out cast of characters. Many woman scorned by 1 absolute shit of a human being. I am.not sure why it was set over 20 years ago...the timeline doesn't have much to do with the plot.
I will be on the lookout for more books by this author.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Yep, not a fan at all. What did I just read?? I almost DNF'd this book so many times but made myself keep going to give it a chance. This book had so many characters and did not give a clear understanding as to who was who, where it took place or an understanding of the motive. I was so interested in the description of it but it fell completely flat to me. The last 40 pages were probably the best part of the book and gave me more of a picture of the whole book.
I know that no book is for every reader and this one does have some positive reviews, but it was not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Received an audiobook early copy also via NetGalley - will be listening and reviewing on that NetGalley form. Thank you!

A dead man's head and seven women's stories..making you wonder who killed him but you'll keep wondering. Slow paced that I didn't find myself find myself hurrying to pick up to read. Lackluster ending.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

Full Instagram post will be linked closer to pub date

4.5 stars

Wow! Speak of the Devil is a complex thriller surrounding the stories of 7 women who are all connected by one man who has impacted their lives negatively in different ways.

We get to see a lot of the different ways that he had impacted them specifically for each character and it was a wild ride. It was so intense seeing how diabolical this man was in each of their lives.

This one wasn’t super fast paced but how it slowly unfurled made it even creepier and definitely added to the story!!

As the blurb says; the book opens with seven women in a hotel room, gathering around a head on the table. Who is this guy, what is the connection with these women and where is the rest of his body?
Each following chapter gives the reader a peek into the life of one woman at a time, events from the 1980's and late 1990's. That's a lot of back and forth and it took me almost to the end of this book to connect story and woman. But it doesn't matter; the main theme unfolds showing what the guy did to each of them and how not being heard by the authorities lead to drastic measures.
Speak of the Devil is quite slow paced, but not too slow to loose attention. The surroundings are well described and ring true. Throughout the book there's no indication of who dunnit. Eventually one of the last chapters just tells the reader what happened, which I found a bit disappointing. No big 'wow' ending, just The End.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Just a head, you say? If that doesn’t intrigue you, I don’t know what will.
Slow burn, but it picks up pace and we have a pretty good story.
Seven women, one severed head. Who is the killer?
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for the copy of Speak Of The Devil by Rose Wilding. I really had trouble with this one. I loved the idea of there being a bunch of potential suspects but I feel like I never really got to know any of the characters because there were so many of them! The book felt like a bunch of short stories instead of a cohesive book.
Jamie was a terrible person and got what he deserved. I just wish the journey to find out who was responsible for dealing out justice had been easier. I think this book appeals to the kind of reader who can keep track of all of the characters and is willing to read a lot about a real bad man. It just wasn’t the book for me.

Seven women. Seven women had a reason to kill the man whose head was found in a hotel room, the decapitated body missing. Each of their stories is a reason for revenge for his continuous evil actions. I would say I was entertained for 2/3 of this book but the ending was lackluster for me.

* OUTLIER ALERT *

DNF at 32%-no rating!
Perhaps something was lost in translation? I believe this book was translated from German.

It’s New Year’s Eve-1999

Earlier in the evening, seven women received a message from an unknown number asking them to gather in the “usual place” at 7 PM for an emergency meeting.

They took their usual seats around a makeshift alter in the center of the room, where under a pillowcase was the severed head of a man they all knew.

Each of the women - the wife, the teenager, the ex, the journalist, the colleague, the friend, and the woman who raised him - has a very good reason to have killed Jamie Spellman, but each one denies doing it.

Who is guilty?

Although this wasn’t a book I was planning on requesting, I received an electronic copy with an invitation from the Publisher to read it, and the PREMISE definitely intrigued me!

And, the opening TWO chapters which set up this concept, DID draw me in…

BUT at 32% I still didn’t have a CLEAR understanding of WHO everyone is, and it was frustrating!

The narrative keeps alternating between the seven women, and in addition to their name being listed at the start of a chapter-it would have been VERY HELPFUL to list their connection to Jamie as well. Examples: Kaysha, the journalist, Ana, the colleague, etc.

NOT ONLY did I not understand WHO is WHO, or WHERE this story was taking place, but I also didn’t have an understanding of HOW each woman knew the victim or WHY each had a reason to kill him.

More time was spent on their sex lives, than their connection to Jamie Spellman.

No book is for every reader.

I vowed to DNF books that weren’t a fit for me, as a New Year’s resolution, and this will be one of them. I want to get lost in a story-and I shouldn’t have to take notes, or start a flow chart to try to make sense of things!! You shouldn’t have to PUSH THROUGH a book-you should be excited to pick it up!

There are plenty of positive reviews so it must become clear eventually-but I don’t have the patience to persevere! Be sure to read a few opinions before deciding if it might be a better fit for you.

Expected Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Thank You to Minotaur for the gifted copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced reader copy. Oh what it is to be a woman scorned and get your revenge. If your that woman read this book and enjoy. Each character has a perspective and a story of how karma caught up with the individual missing his head! Hold on and try to figure out who did it and why.

I actually really liked the premise and the story. Where this got tricky for me was the fact that there were 7 main characters and a detective to keep track of. This is where I struggle. I cannot keep track of that many humans!

Seven women are tenuously linked to one another through their victimization by one man, and have informally grouped together to decide how he should pay for his crimes. When Jamie Spellman’s decapitated head mysteriously ends up at the center of their emergency meeting on New Year’s Eve, the women are left questioning who took matters into their own hands and supplanted the group’s wishes by administering their own deadly brand of justice. The mystery unfolds from the points of view of not only the victims, but also the investigating detective. The alternating women’s voices combined with a shifting timeline, serve to showcase Jamie’s history of predatory behavior. While no one is particularly saddened to hear of Jamie’s death, everyone is curious to find out who ultimately ended his life

If you like mysteries with multiple POV, look no further.

Seven women linked by one man, or in this case, his head.

Jamie is a manipulative, gaslighting, horrible excuse for a person. When his head appears in a hotel room on New Year’s Eve, six of the women he has hurt are trying to figure out which one of them has finally killed him and one is trying to figure out who it is so she can protect her.

This story was a little slow to hook me and I felt the ending was a little rushed, but despite that I find myself still thinking about it.

A good debut book by the author and I look forward to reading more by Rose Wilding.

I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a great debut. It starts off slow but hooked me about halfway through. The story is interesting and evokes a lot of emotion. Murdered guy Jamie Spellman is about as horrible as a character can be and he's done a lot of damage to the women he's encountered throughout his life. By the end, you'll hate him too.

The story is told by seven women that had all been wronged at some point by Jamie. I thought it would be confusing with so many points of view, and at first I did mix up a couple of the women. By the midpoint they were all developed quite well. It was difficult at first to determine who killed him but by the end it was pretty obvious. The ending is quick and I wish there had been more. I'd like to see what happened to the women afterward. Overall, it's an enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to reading more from Rose Wildling.

Thank you to Rose Wildling, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Seven women + one decapitated man's head = quite a story

The decapitated man is Jamie - a narcissistic, gaslighting, manipulative, abusive man who did something awful to each of the seven women. We hear from each of them about their experiences with Jamie, and they all had very good reasons to want him dead. I love a good vengeance story, and unraveling who actually did it was great.

I didn't quite understand how they all came together and thought the ending was a little abrupt, but the killer did end up being a bit of a surprise, so that was fun. I also appreciated the author's note about her inspiration for the book based on her personal experience - I think most women can relate to these characters in one way or another, so Jamie ending up the way he did was pretty satisfying.

Was this mindblowing? no
Was it well-written and worth reading? yes

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book to read and review. All of these thoughts and comments are my own.

This book was different for sure. The plot of this book is that seven women have met up because of a man named Jamie Spellman. Now, Jamie isn’t a kind man and all seven of these women have a reason for wanting him dead. So, when they meet up at a hotel and find Jamie’s head…only his head, they are suspicious of one another and are trying to figure out who did it.

While reading this, you go through multiple POV which are all the women and you read about why each woman had a reason for wanting Jamie gone. I will say flipping through so many POV’s got quiet boring and lost my attention a little bit. I think the plot was good and I did enjoy it for the most part but just having a bunch of POV’s and trying to remember who is who and what is what is just exhausting sometimes.

I did like the characters though, because they are relatable and I think we all have known a “Jamie” and we all have known someone or have been that someone who has went through the trauma these women have. I wasn’t really surprised about finding out who the killer was to be honest and I didn’t really like how suddenly the ending came.

All in all this book was interesting and like I said; I enjoyed it for the most part.

3 stars.

Very good "who done it" chiller with a cast of characters, each of whom have more than enough motive to fill a major sinkhole. Seven friends gather on New Year's Eve only to find themselves facing the severed head of a man who has, in his own way, tortured each of them in many ways, over many years.
After the shock of the gruesome murder, attempting to solve it becomes an intriguing and deeply complex task. What to do when everyone has a motive and everyone has an alibi and everyone agrees he deserved exactly what he got?
Gory beginning for sure, but solid plot with some really quirky but extremely interesting characters.
Hmm, speak of the devil?
I probably will be.
Many times👍