My apologies to NetGalley who was good enough to let me have an advance reading of this book, because I can only, in good conscience, give it 2 stars. It felt like the longest book I had ever read. I can't find a page count, but there were 63 chapters. The many characters (especially in the first part) were so confusing, and I kept going back pages to discover who they were. I read two books on my phone while I was trying to get through this one on my Kindle, because it felt like punishment to get back to it. The many good reviews prompted me to finish it, but I still didn't like it. Sorry!

PS The writing, itself, was pretty good.

Thank you so much to William morrow and Lori Rader for my ARC of The Death of Us! I was so excited to read this before it came out Tuesday! I love a well executed domestic thriller and this one was just that! I really connected with this story, as at the core is a relationship between a mother and her son and the lengths a mother will go for her child! There were many layers to this story and twists that I did not see coming, and a couple that I did! It was such an enjoyable read and I loved seeing all the characters and storylines come together and shake me to my core!! The ending ties up all the loose ends and left me with a smile! Recommend picking this one up!

This is a slow burn thriller with family secrets and drama. This was a DNF for me only for the slow burn factor.

Thank you to Thrillerbookloverspromotion and William Marrow Books for my #giftefcopy

Quite the suspenseful read, this one starts off fast and keeps you on your toes throughout. There were a few characters to keep straight in the beginning, but I got it together and really enjoyed this twisty ride. Liss Kehoe became a mom unexpectedly when Ashley Hay dropped off her newborn son Callan at her door one night and left, never to be seen or heard from again. Liss raised Callan as her own, but she could never relax, always wondering if Ashley would enter their lives again one day. And she does, but not in the way Liss ever expected. It is a small town and when Ashley’s car is found at the bottom of the quarry pond on Liss’ estate, you better believe all of a sudden everyone has an opinion on what happened.

I could not put this down and got through it in a couple of sittings. I love small town settings such as this, mainly because I grew up in one, and the author was spot on with how the town would react in this situation. I loved the short chapters, the different POV’s, and the ending was satisfying to me. Overall a great read that I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to William Morrow Books and Thriller Book Lovers Promotions for the copies to review.

Fifteen years ago Ashley dropped by the Kehoe house and left Callan behind to never return. Liss and her husband just assumed his mistress ran off and no longer wished to be a mother until, present day and her car is pulled out of the quarry right by their house. Liss is left with many questions wondering if she can truly trust the man she had stuck by all these years.

This was an amazing domestic thriller that kept me hanging on until the end.

The Day I Died, Little Pretty Things, The Black Hour... these WERE a few of my favorite "things"....

That is until The Death of Us, hit the scene.

Lori Rader-Day, is an auto buy author for me. Rader-Day, could write out a grocery list and I would read it. Yes, my little kittens, she is THAT good and I need you to witness this literary genius' work for yourself.

Secrets, Lies, Family Drama.. oh my!!

Just kidding, count me in!

This book was fantastic! From start to finish I sped through the pages as if I couldn't get to the next chapter fast enough. Half way through I had it all figured out but I was dead wrong.

Before I slip and give something away, check out this teaser :

One rainy night fifteen years ago, a knock at the door changed Liss Kehoe’s life forever.

On that night, Ashley Hay stood on Liss’s front porch and handed over her brand-new baby Callan.

She was never seen or heard from again.

Since then, Liss has raised Callan as her own, and loves him as fiercely as any mother would. But in the back of her mind, she’s always wondered whether Ashley is still out there somewhere—and feared what might happen if she comes back.

When Ashley does reappear, it’s not in the way Liss expected. After all these years, Ashley’s car has been found… in the quarry pond on Kehoe property. But the discovery of the car dredges up more questions than answers. What really happened on the night of Ashley’s disappearance? Was it a tragic accident, or something far more sinister? Someone in town knows the truth, and they’ll go to great lengths to keep it quiet.

As tensions rise in the small community, Liss must fight to protect her family and keep her own secrets hidden—or risk losing everything she loves.

Wow! Just wow!

When was the last time a murder mystery/suspense thriller left you with tears in your eyes and a lump in your throat? For me, it was never but that was before I read Lori Rader-Day’s beautifully written, expertly woven The Death of Us.

The award-winning author of Death at Greenway and The Lucky One takes the reader on an emotional ride with rich characters, red herrings, subplots and suspects aplenty in Parkins, a small town where everyone thinks they know your story or they just fill in the blanks.

When a rusted old car with a dead body is pulled from the quarry down the road from Liss Kehoe, old secrets, wounds and gossip are dredged up that could destroy her and all she holds dear. Fifteen years earlier a young woman had shown up at her front door asking for her baby’s daddy, handed the infant Callan to Liss and disappeared into the stormy night. That now grown Callan and his friends had discovered the car poking out of the deep black water. What would happen if and when the truth came out?

I was reading The Death of Us on the beach practically oblivious to everything else around me except that my husband was trying to decipher a seller’s disclosure and condo association rules on a cell phone screen. I knew that I should really be paying close attention to the details – I did try – but my mind was with Liss and what was happening in the climax of this incredible novel.

I highly recommend The Death of Us to not only mystery and suspense fans but everyone. Lori Rader-Day is an amazing writer and I can’t wait to see what she has next for us.

I received this advance reader’s copy from William Morrow Books and William Morrow Paperbacks courtesy of NetGalley.

The Death of Us by Lori Rader-Day is a great suspense novel that left me eager for more.
A riveting thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat! I love the writing style and flow. The characters are well developed and believable.
I love how the suspense grows as the plot unfolds.
This author is fantastic with the plot twists and the sneaky ways that the story can be interpreted. It makes for such a fun read. The tension, twists and turns and secrets made this story even more gripping.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and William Morrow for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is a slow burn, suspenseful thriller that I found to be quite engaging. Liss has been in love with Link much longer than he deserves. They are presently separated. Fifteen years ago, Link Kehoe's mistress, Ashley, leaves a baby in Liss' arms and never returns. Liss has been raising that baby as her own ever since. Fast forward to today, and Ashley's car is pulled out of the quarry on the Kehoe land. The town's police, specifically Mercer, who is also Liss' boyfriend, investigates the case and dark family secrets are revealed.

There are many secrets in this domestic thriller! This was an exciting read that kept me up into the night. The characters are well developed and the plot is solid. Also the author's writing is solid!

Highly recommend!

4.5 stars. Fantastic, twisty book. I tore right through this novel. The characters are great - fully realized. Liss is amazing - strong and worried at the same time; Mercer is determined; Key has more going on that people realize; even the supporting characters are interesting.

"One rainy night fifteen years ago, a knock at the door changed Liss Kehoe’s life forever.

On that night, Ashley Hay stood on Liss’s front porch and handed over her brand-new baby Callan.

She was never seen or heard from again.

Since then, Liss has raised Callan as her own, and loves him as fiercely as any mother would. But in the back of her mind, she’s always wondered whether Ashley is still out there somewhere—and feared what might happen if she comes back.

When Ashley does reappear, it’s not in the way Liss expected. After all these years, Ashley’s car has been found…in the quarry pond on Kehoe property. But the discovery of the car dredges up more questions than answers. What really happened on the night of Ashley’s disappearance? Was it a tragic accident, or something far more sinister? Someone in town knows the truth, and they’ll go to great lengths to keep it quiet.

As tensions rise in the small community, Liss must fight to protect her family and keep her own secrets hidden—or risk losing everything she loves."

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

I didn’t love this book. It was a slow dragging start, and nothing really kept me wanting to keep going. I did think it picked up at the end, and I didn’t predict the end, so I liked that about it!

Wasn’t a fan of this one at all, had to force myself to finish reading. Super super slow and only picked up a teensy bit towards the last 20%. Also felt like you were thrown into the middle of the characters stories rather than being introduced to them.

Fifteen years ago, Ashley Hay stood on Liss’ doorstep in the pouring rain to drop her newborn son, Callan, off for one hour. It’s been fifteen years and no one has seen or heard from Ashley since that rainy night. Liss never got along with Ashley, but she always hoped that she left town to live happily elsewhere, but when Callan and his friends found a car floating in the quarry near their home…Liss’ heart sank because she knew in her gut that it was Ashley’s vehicle.

When the car was towed out of the quarry and a body was found inside, the small town goes crazy with speculations and blames Liss’ family for the tragedy. What happened after Ashley dropped Callen off at Liss’ house? Who’s to blame for Ashley’s death?

I admit, this book was sluggishly slow at the beginning but once it gained traction near the middle, I couldn’t stop reading. I loved the multiple POV’s, the love affairs, the mystery, and the family drama.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy of The Death of Us. Fifteen years ago, Ashley dropped her son, Callan, off with Liss and was never seen again. Fast forward to the present when a car is discovered in the quarry near Liss’ property and the questions as to what really happened are the focus of the tale. Relationships, loyalties, and truths are tested throughout. The story is interesting and has many twists and turns leading to a satisfying payoff. I found the pacing to be a little slow with action coming in spurts. There were so many characters introduced with different stories, not necessarily relevant, that it was confusing. That being said, I did like it for the plot.

The story follows Liss Kehoe, who is raising her stepson, Callan, while her marriage to his father is falling apart. When Callan was still a baby, his mother Ashley left him with Liss and disappeared without a trace. The story begins fifteen years later, when a car containing skeletal remains is found in a quarry on property belonging to Liss’s husband’s family. The body is assumed to belong to Callan’s mother, and before long, residents of their small town have pinned the blame on Liss’s husband. To keep her family together, Liss begins working to prove her husband’s innocence, only to uncover more secrets about her loved ones.

The Death of Us is the kind of book where once I finished reading it, I turned back to the beginning and began reading it all again. Part of this is because some brilliant twists along the way cast previous scenes in a whole new light. But beyond the great plotting, it’s worth re-reading because of the way Rader-Day’s captures her characters’ inner lives and the nuances of small-town life, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, and an exchanged look between friends can convey a lifetime of judgment.

Rader-Day’s portrayal of motherhood is also particularly poignant. I would think anyone who has seen their adolescent gradually pull away and grow into an independent person will identify with Liss. Because Liss is not Callan’s biological mother, and her relationship with his father is on the rocks, she’s in an even more tenuous situation of not just losing her emotional connection to her son, but also possibly losing custody. The Death of Us is perfectly titled because Liss is fighting for the life of her family as an unearthed crime and a pile of buried secrets threaten to tear them all apart.

So, yeah, you might have already guessed, but I highly recommend it.

From my blog: Always With a Book

I am no stranger to Lori Rader-Day, having read quite a few of her books, so I was thrilled to get my hands on her latest one…and boy, what a crazy ride it was! I love how twisty her books can be and this one was no exception!

I love a good small town domestic suspense and this one really kept me on my toes, guessing all the way through. While it is a bit of a slow-burn to start and there are a lot of characters thrown at you at first, I promise they are all necessary to the story. Everyone has a part to play in this mystery and I loved how layered this story turned out to be and that all the characters were so complicated and messy. As we all know, secrets never stay hidden for long, and it turns out this small town more than their fair share of them that are just waiting to be revealed.

While I did start to figure out parts of the story before they were revealed, this in no way detracted from my enjoyment because I didn’t have all the pieces. Watching it all unfold was so satisfying, with the twists and turns still managing to surprise me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and definitely recommend adding it to your fall reading list.

3.5 out of 5 stars (3.5 / 5) One night, a woman shows up at Liss’ door with a baby asking if “daddy” is home. She passes off the baby and leaves. That was 15 years ago.

Liss didn’t realize the woman, Ashley, who had been her husband’s mistress, was never going to return. She raises Callan as her own, loving him and never making him feel he was never wanted. His dad is barely in his life so Liss is the only caretaker Callan really has.

Then there is a car found deep in water. An investigation leads to discovering Ashley’s remains. There are so many questions! Did she die the night she left Callan? Did she die by suicide? Or could it possibly be murder? Liss is determined to find out.

Liss is a great POV to have for the step-in mom. She genuinely cares for Callan and sees him as a blessing. But with neither of his biological parents in the picture, Callan acts out.

The investigation reveals so much more and I loved putting the pieces together. I have to say I did not see that end coming! I was impressed how the story was layered so deep. This is a great murder mystery that I will be recommending to more!

Thank you to Thriller Book Lovers Promotions and William Morrow Books for the copy!

This was a quite atmospheric, moody mystery that erred on the detective style. There is a lot of good here - I enjoyed the general melancholy, the tension that ebbs and flows, and the webs all the characters weaved. I was anxious to pick the book up and keep reading every time I put it down, which makes it a great read in my opinion. I didn't have any particular attachment to any of the characters, although there were plenty of characters that were absolutely easy to see as "the bad guys." I almost wish there was just a bit more meat to the story, as there were some aspects that felt a bit rushed and perhaps a bit too tidy. Overall, a fantastic moody fall mystery read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

"These boys, she said, and Liss agreed. These boys will be the death of us."

WHAT a ride! This was my first novel by Lori Rader-Day. Where has she been all my life?! This domestic suspense novel truly showed us the dynamic of a mother and son relationship. The small town story where everyone knows each others business is one of my favorite settings to read. Day created realistic characters and a plot that kept me up reading late into the night. The twists and turns came out of nowhere and had me spinning! I am so happy I did a ebook for this book, because there were lots of characters to keep track of. With that being said, this was needed to really paint the story and set the plot. I would recommend this book to my bookish community and I cannot wait to read this author's backlist!

Taking a secret to the grave can affect more than just yourself...🤫

Special thanks to @thrillerbookloverpromotions , @loriraderday , @williammorrowbooks for this gifted ARC.

This one is packed with it all :

• small-town drama
• family secrets
• love triangle
• betrayal
• gossip
• bullies
• cheating

This is perfect to a great fall read, curled up with a blanket and some hot cocoa ☕️

PUB DATE:
Oct 3rd, 2023

QOTD❓️⁉️❓️ What's your favorite small-town novel?

.
.
.

#thrillerbooks #suspensethriller #thrillerreader #thrillerlover #thrillerobsessed #bookrecs #bookreview #bookstagram #bookaholic #booklover #bookstagrammer #booklove #bookcommunity #bookobsessed #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #booksofig #booksofinstagram #bookish #bookishfeatures #tbr #tbrpile #bookbuzz #mysteryandthrills #BookstaBFF23 #thrillerbooklovers #thedeathofus #loriraderday
.