Once I got into this book, I was enthralled and could not wait to find out who did it. The problem? It took me SO long to get into it. This book has a LOT of characters and in the beginning, it was difficult for me to keep them all straight. Once I learned who they were and was able to connect some dots, I enjoyed this book immensely. It was not anything spectacular, but I did enjoy the journey.

If The No Show by Beth O’Leary was a thriller (and SPOILER for TNS, if Joseph Carter was actually a terrible person).

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

I received an ALC from the published through Netgalley. Thank you!

2.5 stars. Too many characters to keep straight and it's too long. Much of it is back story and how the charcters are linked each other and to the murder victim. And for a 10 hour listen, it ended kind of abruptly. I also had questions that weren't answered (but that gets into spoiler territory).

The narrator is good. She differentiates between the varies characters and accents well (which helped me figure out who was who).

Overall, I liked the idea of this one, but wasn't keen on the execution.

3.7 stars

I'm surprised by the low average/poor ratings this book is getting. I rather enjoyed this book; perhaps the difference is that I listened to the audio. The narrator/different voices were terrific. I also liked how this story was told; it was striking in how different it is compared to most stories in this genre (more below).

SUMMARY: Jamie has been murdered. There are multiple suspects; a number of women that he has harmed over the years. Examples include his coworker whose work he stole, his wife that he's abusive to, the woman he raped in college, the teenager he had an affair with (etc).

The only hard sell to the book is that these women all know each other and have formed a sort of support group. This was totally unnecessary for the book. Nevertheless, the book switches between "now" when Jamie's death is being investigated and the various "Thens", meaning the different times Jamie was involved with one of the suspects and detailing what he did to them.

Admittedly the reveal as to which of the women killed him was a little bit of a putter. It wasn't that I was let down as much as it was just "oh." I appreciated there was no long drawn out confessional. It was a bit anticlimatic if I'm entirely honest but I also can't imagine a different resolution. The ending also felt abrupt, so much that I checked three times I wasn't missing a chapter but the more I sit with it the more I see the book couldn't have continued. It had circled back to the first page, sort of like how these crime TV shows do.

What I liked most is that in each "then" you get the fully backstory of the woman. She is very developed and I liked reading about each of them far more than about Jamie. To that extent this book is an honest portrayal of women and I think that is why I liked it as much as I did.

If you're a fan of who-dun-it, this may be a refreshing selection for you. For those who like psychological thrillers with the wife or girlfriend, I think you would enjoy this.

Thanks netgalley for my ARC/ALC

Thanks so much to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC copy of this book!

I have scheduled promotional posts around release day for this book and I will provide a full review on my Instagram once I am able to get to this read.

Rating 5 stars on Netgalley as a placeholder for me to update later once the review is complete.

Will also complete a review on Goodreads once read.

Thanks again!

Book Review 🦅-
Lately I’ve loving romance and contemporary books but went back to my thriller/mystery roots for this one.

Swipe for synopsis 👉🏼

What I liked ❤️:
•I really enjoyed how every women’s story was revealed through the story. Honestly they all had a valid reason to kill him 😆
•I liked the crime procedural also taking place while we are trying to figure out what went down that night.
•Although I did predict the killer closer to the end, the how of it all was still a twist.

Things I didn’t like as much 🖤:
•the pacing was slow at times. I combined digital and the audio and listening to it helped for those sections.

Overall, I liked it. It was mind blowing but still kept me interested!

Thank you @netgalley , @stmartinspress and @macmillan.audio !

Speak of the Devil comes out June 13th!

The concept of this one was so intriguing- seven women, all with reasons to hate the man whose decapitated head has just been found. Who killed him?

The story takes a deep dive into each woman’s connection to Jamie, the dead man, and all the ways he has wronged them. There are multiple POVs, multiple timelines, multiple different accents, and a lot of confusion for me while listening.

The book has too much going on for it to be easy to listen to, at least in my opinion. I ended up requesting the ARC instead and finishing the book that way, as it was just too confusing to listen to.

The narrator did a fantastic job with the multiple voices, the slang, and all the different accents.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Jamie is a total dirtbag, but good news! He's been murdered. Decapitated, even. Seven women sit in a room with his severed head trying to figure out who killed him, since every single one of them seems to have enough motive to do so. We walk through their stories, simmering with rage (them and me), and finally figure out what happened to this skulking excuse for a man.

Fair warning — this is a heavy read that will likely enrage you. Jamie is not a nice dude at all, and he wrongs each woman in a different horrible way. Check the TWs before you dive in. Also a warning, there are a lot of characters that were tough for me to differentiate between in the beginning, but the story does start to make sense and each of their POVs becomes distinctive as it goes on.

I don't want to outright say I ENJOYED this story, because it's tough to read about what happens to these women, but I flew through the book and do recommend it. I wouldn't call it a thriller, it's more of a light mystery, so don't go into it expecting a thriller-genre style. It's interesting, horrifying, and ultimately satisfying, but truthfully more contemporary (ish? 1999?) fiction.

Thank you to Rose Wilding, Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for my advance physical and audio copies.

3.5 stars rounded up. I’m having a hard time figuring out how I ultimately feel about this book. I loved the concept - seven women all wronged by the same man in varying awful degrees who come together to take him down. Before they can decide what to do collectively, he’s murdered. It’s up to them to figure out who and decide whether to help cover it up or take the murderer to the police. Most of the characters are fairly well fleshed out. With so many, there are some more than others that fade into the background and are more caricatures. The writing was compelling and fluid. I enjoyed the narrative voice and style.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was lovely. She didn’t really try to change her voice for the different characters which was actually refreshing.
Here are a few issues that are holding me back personally from really loving this book:
1. There is a lot of animal abuse and sacrifices that go completely unpunished. Excused away as “kids will be kids”. The police actively choose not to do anything about it. Additionally, this part wasn’t really necessary to the plot. At all.
2. There isn’t a lot of back story for Jamie and why he becomes the way he does. Or maybe there are too many hints. As though the author couldn’t decide and just threw everything at the wall- emotional abuse, orphan, neglect, overzealous religion… take your pick. At the same time, I understand this isn’t his story. It is the women’s story so maybe it doesn’t matter.
3. The whole story could have been about 100 pages shorter. I found myself wanting to skim some parts. There was almost too much back story for each of the seven women. That’s a lot of characters.
4. After a while I really wanted the women to have more agency. They continued to excuse and excuse Jamie’s awful behavior and didn’t hold him accountable. They refused to believe any evidence to the contrary and even when they finally did, still let him get away with things.

Overall, the story was compelling. I enjoyed the ride. I hated Jamie and was frustrated with the lack of punishment for him and how often his charm was enough to get him out of repercussions. He’s a good character to hate. The ending wasn’t really a surprise, but it did make sense. It does end kind of abruptly and we aren’t really sure what the ultimate fall out will be for the women. The police are completely inept.

Trigger Warnings: animal abuse, child abuse, domestic violence, suicide, rape, rape deniers, transgender/transphobia, lesbians, gay bashing, abortion, emotional manipulation

I would like to thank NetGalley, the author, and the publishers for providing this ARC copy to read and review. All the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading the book.

This book does an amazing job looking beyond abuse - to the victims. The scrutiny of victims - but not the rapist. His ruined life valued above justice for the victims. Needed commentary. Lack of support, lack of community support and belief. A charming man who repeatedly abuses women yet no one believes the women.
These characters each have a story about Jamie Spellman. None of them end well. Until his murder. Then they are free - but who killed Jaime?
I loved this group of women - the support their provided each other, recovery, safe spaces to heal and reveal their trauma.
Loved the narrator.

Title: Speak of the Devil
Written by Rose Wilding
Narrated by Colleen Prendergast

I received an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this audiobook through Netgalley.

It took a little while for me to get used to Colleen Prendergast’s accent. Nothing wrong with her accent at all… I just had trouble with it at first.

This is a very good whodunit book. It reminds me of several of Agatha Christie’s Poirot books.

The pace is slow and steady throughout the whole book. Normally, I love a fast paced story, but this is one exception to the rule.

Seven women are mistreated by one man, and he ends up dead - was it one of them? Someone close to him? Someone else?

The good thing I can tell you without ruining the story is that you will find out the answer. I love a definitive answer at the end of a thriller.

The women are the heart of this book. Jamie, the dead guy, is a huge part of all of their stories. But, he’s just the catalyst to each finding themselves after he came in like a tornado.

I really enjoyed this new author’s book. And, the narrator was good… but I just am not always great with strong accents - that’s my own failing though and no reflection whatsoever on Colleen.

I give it a solid thumbs up.

Takeaways: Murder mystery, jilted women, and the “devil” who did them wrong.

Thank you Macmillan audio for the review copy of Speak of the Devil. This is a book I wanted to like more, excellently and thoughtfully narrated (accents, slang well done) but it might be with so many characters and POVs that this just does not work well in audio format, at least not for me. It was hard to feel connected to any one character, which is something I kind of need as a reader/listener, and while the plot is important and engaging, the execution of the story is limited for me. This is a case of a well acted audiobook and strong narration being the star of a kind of flat, not great for audiobook, book.

So what exactly did I just read/listen to? This one gets 2 stars from me because I managed to stick with it till the end, but that was a struggle. There are too many people and stories to keep straight, and the flipping back and forth between timelines, with so many characters, is a struggle. Also, it takes way too long to discover who killed Jamie, even though all of them had very valid reasons for doing so. And what the hell was with that very abrupt ending? You made me sit through all these backstories of the various characters, but there is no resolution on what happens to all of them. The premise was great, but the execution was not so much.

Bonus points because the narration was good. You got to love that Geordie accent.

Jaime Spellman is found dead, but a little worse…decapitated. Seven women want him dead, but who did it? This was a slow read and ultimately you find out who killed Jaime. Did he deserve it? Read to decide! At first I thought this would be a little more horror and gruesome, but nah. You’ll be alright! Thanks to Net Galley and Minotaur books for the ARC!

On New Year’s Eve 1999 a group of seven women meet in an old hotel room, their usual meeting place, after being summoned to an emergency meeting. When they arrive they find the head of a man they all had a reason to kill. All deny knowing anything about it, but someone is guilty? Told in many POV’s this was a cleverly put together and started slowly. It did take a little bit of effort to figure out who was who (especially when listening to the audio), but once the pace picked up it was a good read/listen.

This is a thriller about 7 women affected by the same man: Aunt, wife, the ex, rape victim, teenager, co-worker and friend. One of them has murdered him. The rest of the book is about finding out which one of them it was. The book is well-written and fast paced. I liked that the author wrote in the Scottish accents and slang but I didn't like that some of women had really thorough backstories and others didn't. Jamie is a complete jerk and has no redeeming qualities, so the murder isn't really a surprise. The surprise is that he didn't get murdered earlier. The ending is completely plausible and understandable. Lots of rep in this too. Loved it.

This was an audio ARC ...usually when I listen to audios, I can't wait to get back to them in order to continue the story. With this one, not so much which is surprising since mystery is my genre of choice. For me, there was to much what ifs or unfilled desires from the characters such as her life should have/could have been different and then the description of it as well as their romances.
Seven woman are together, each having received a text to gather, while one man, who they all have a connection to, is dead. Well, beheaded In addition to the seven women, there is an additional POV of Nova, a cop, who is trying to figure out what happened and she also has a connection to the women. The dead man was awful to each of the women and each have reasons for wanting him dead. Therefore, the whodunnit keeps unraveling. the rage they each felt is well documented in their back story. This is also written in third person which may have added to my losing interest at times. It was a lot to juggle as an audio being there is no voice changes by the narrator. However, characters are relatable and the situations are understandable--the end was surprising.
Thank you to NetGalley for this audio preview.

I think part of my issue was listening to the audiobook instead of reading it. I had a hard time keeping track of all the names, because there are a lot of characters in this story. None of them really had a distinct enough voice (maybe because it’s in third person?). Idk but the POV situation was a little messy and hard to follow for me. It led me to feel disconnected with the story in general and not caring enough for the plot reveal. I also wasn’t expecting the procedural part of it either. I think perhaps the description just didn’t set proper expectations for me as a reader. I also found their relationships to each other a bit odd and perhaps a little unrealistic. The drama was definitely dark, and while I normally like that (and it brings up some important issues for discussion), it just seemed maybe a little too over the top for shock value? The premise sounded fantastic but the execution of it just wasn’t engaging or compelling enough for me.

I have been listening to a lot of audio books lately, but I think I would have enjoyed this one more as a kindle or physical book.

It was a fantastic story - the author did an amazing job of telling the backstory of each character, how they were connected to Jamie, and why they may the the one who killed him. It kept me on my toes for sure, and the twists and turns (and interconnectuivity of the characters) - I honestly did not expect who they found to be the murderer!

The narrator was great as well - though she didn’t differentiate much between the character voices (I have been spoiled lately with some GREAT character reads!), I think that it worked with this book! I just feel I would have enjoyed actually reading it more because I found myself wanting to rewind and relisten, and I think it is easier to reread rather than relisten :)

Overall, I will definitely snatch it up on my kindle once it is out to read it without the audio - and I will most likely change my rating :) but I do recommend this book! Snatch it up…it would be a great vacation read if you love mystery and love triangles, or octagons? There was a lot of love going around…hehe

Two immediate feelings on this book upon completion: great story; way too long and confusing. With some heavy editing this would be stellar, and it's so evocative I could naturally see the movie that could be made based on it.

First, all the women were interesting, realistic, knowable, flawed, sympathetic, dark, damaged, and complicated. I came away with multifaceted images of each without there being the beautiful one, the smart one, the nice one, etc., like we would usually see in an ensemble of females. Two whole stars for that alone. I contemplated more stars for that, but really, stories are *supposed to* have this dynamism. Doling out extra points because too few others bother isn't really right either. Do your jobs, storytellers! Present book excluded.

Very unique premise -- another star for originality.

One of the most heinous and despicable victims I've ever met in a book. Every horrible act he did I took solace in knowing he was decapitated by one or more of his own victims. That got me through all the nasty, triggering crimes against women, so a star for one of the most celebrated murders I've read in a while.

There are some partial stars added for tackling hard topics, some for having strong LGBTQ+ characters, and some partial stars deducted for the meandering storyline, bouncing back and forth from character to character, to the utter confusion of the reader. So those were a wash.

4 big stars total!

Jamie Spellman could tell a person that they've never blinked before and somehow they would believe him.

New Year’s Eve 1999, seven women and one dead narcissist that connects them all together.
They all had a motive to kill Jamie Spellman. They all swear they didn't.
But in order to protect one another, they have to find out who did.
Secrets are discovered and truths comes to light.
Murder... Suicide... Mysteries...

I loved how this book starts and ends in the same scene, coming full circle. You really feel the impact this one person had on so many lives. He manipulated these women, and got away with horrible acts for so long... until he didn't,

Thanks to Net Galley, Macmillan Audio & Rose Wilding for this ARC! Release date: June 13, 2023!

Speak of the Devil
By: Rose Wilding
Narrated by: Colleen Prendergast
Release date: 06-13-23
Publisher: Macmillan Audio