Who to Believe
by Edwin Hill
Pub Date: 23 Jan 2024

This story is told in a very creative way from the point of view of six main characters of which each character had their own secrets. The story is based on trying to find out who killed the character, Laurel.

Of course the husband is always the main suspect that is until there is another murder!

This page turner was hard to put down I must say! I couldn't wait until the end to find out who was responsible for the murders.

If you're looking for a good suspense mystery, look no further.

Many thanks to #NetGalley, #KensingtonBooks and #WhotoBelieve for providing me with an E-ARC of this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Books, Recorded Books Media for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this wonderful book by Edwin Hill and perfectly narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross, Jennifer O'Donnell, Robb Moreira, Nick Walther, Laura Knight Keating, Leah Horowitz - 4.5 stars!

In small town Monreith, MA, Laurel Thibodeau is found dead in her home by her husband, Simon, who is naturally a prime suspect.. But he's certainly not the only suspect. As a small group gathers to celebrate Alice's 40th birthday the following week, we see the chief of police, the Unitarian minister, the psychiatrist exchange theories and thoughts. Before the night is over, someone else in the group will be dead.

This story was told in such a creative manner - we hear the story from the POV of six main characters and even the dog who sees all! I always like hearing the same situation told from another viewpoint that will change the way I was thinking. And this book continued to do that until the end. Every character had secrets, motivations, and you'll be questioning all of them. It was so helpful to have the audio narrated by a cast to help keep everything straight. This is a new-to-me author and one I'm anxious to read more from!

This was my first Edwin Hill book and it was just okay. It’s told in different points of view of the main characters living in Monreith, Massachusetts, a small coastal town where everyone seems to know each other’s business. When restaurant owner Laurel Thibodeau is murdered in her home, her gambling addict husband Simon is the likeliest suspect, but there are many sketchy people in this town hiding lots of deep, dark secrets. The local psychiatrist Farley Drake and Unitarian minister Georgia Fitzhugh hear some juicy tidbits from the people they’re counseling. Police chief Max Barbosa grew up in Monreith and thinks he has great perspective on its residents. Alice and Damian Stone are relatively new to town. Damian is working on a documentary that could be relevant to this case. On the night of Alice’s 40th birthday party, another town resident is murdered and the town’s secrets start unraveling. It didn’t feel realistic that there were so many really shady characters in such a small town and it was hard to like any of them. Thanks to #netgalley and #kensington for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Edwin Hill is a master at making you think one thing and then shocking you with another. There were many twists and turns in Who to Believe and I literally never knew who to believe. A small town, a group of “friends,” what could possibly go wrong. Well, it turns out that so much can go wrong when the first body is found. Everyone has motive and everyone has opportunity but which one has the moral compass to allow them to do this? What stands out the most is Hill’s ability to create an environment that is so toxic, yet so impossible to leave. While all these characters were deeply flawed, their actions made total sense to who they were and always felt completely authentic. The switching of POV’s offered a view into this whole world and left me reeling at times with how the same situation could be seen so differently. There was one POV that was my favorite and I think once you read this, you’ll know exactly which one. Each character had a completely distinct voice and Hill was successful at making Chloe sound like a 13 year old. Who to Believe is a page turner, one that is impossible to put down! I’ll definitely be looking for more books by him.

Edwin Hill delivers his best yet, WHO TO BELIEVE —A twisty whodunit suspense mystery thriller set in a small coastal New England town where everyone has something to hide as dark secrets rise to the surface.

WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?

Welcome to the small town of Monreith, Massachusetts. There is a killer on the loose—the brutal murder of Laurel Thibodeau, owner of a popular restaurant. The first suspect is the husband, Simon, due to his gambling debuts and the life insurance policy.

When six friends gather to celebrate Alice Stone's 40th birthday, everyone has an opinion about the murder. From Alice's husband, Damian, the successful documentary filmmaker and cyclist, Georgia, the Minister, and her soon-to-be ex-husband, Ritchie, and their teen daughter, Chloe. Max, the cop, and the handsome, charming psychiatrist, Farley. Everyone is keeping a SECRET.

Secrets will lead to another death. Who can they trust? Who among them is capable of MURDER?

Told cleverly in seven parts, we hear from each POV—we get perspectives from each viewpoint.

Part one:
* Farley Drake… THE SHRINK

Part two:
* Alice Stone… THE PATIENT Financial advisor
* Damian Stone… (Alice's husband), the documentary filmmaker

Part three:
* Max Barbosa… THE COP

Part four:
* Richard Macomber… THE BOYFRIEND. The car mechanic with a secret addiction.

Part five:
* Chloe Macomber… THE DAUGHTER

Part six:
* Georgia Fitzhugh… THE MINISTER

Part seven:
Harper...THE DOG. The observer. The one who knows all. (my favorite)

One of these six will be dead soon!

From secrets, lies, affairs, jealousy, greed, betrayal, and revenge. WHO TO BELIEVE is a deliciously wicked, fun, and twisty domestic suspense that will keep you turning the pages (and listening to the audio) into the wee hours of the morning.

Cleverly crafted, a diabolically plotted mystery with a first-person narrator told in seven parts, giving you clues and an inside look into each personality. WHO TO BELIEVE is for fans of Big Little Lies and authors Ruth Ware, Riley Sager, and BA Paris.

I read the e-book and listened to the audiobook narrated by the fully talented cast: Jonathan Todd Ross, Jennifer O'Donnell, Robb Moreira, Nick Walther, Laura Knight Keating, and Leah Horowitz for distinct voices for each character, making the story come alive! I highly recommend the audiobook!

Thanks to Kensington Books, NetGalley, and RB Media Recorded Books for a gifted ARC and ALC for an honest opinion.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Jan 23, 2024
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This one was so good, and I am so thankful to Kensington Books, Edwin Hill, and Netgalley for granting me advanced audio, digital, and physical access to this one before pub day... January 23, 2024.

Who to Believe by Edwin Hill is another nicely twisty mystery thriller.
An excellent well-plotted story full of mystery, intrigue, and nail-biting suspense.
A gripping book with a great cast of characters and a complex plot that is so very well-conceived and written. It is entertaining, suspenseful, and fast -paced, with twists and surprises that will be totally unexpected.
Hill is superb at writing and creating a fun and wild ride.

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

I love a good thriller/mystery. And this right here is starting me off with high expectations for the rest of the other books I'll read this year.
You start off with a murder in a small town. They think the husband is involved with the murder and then we get the story started from there. This story is written in different perspectives of each character. You go through the same event that transpires through each character's pov. This is the first time l've read a book like this and I love this idea. Each character has their own secrets to tell and you, as the reader, just say alright and keep on reading on. But man oh man! What the heck is going on here. These secrets just get crazier and crazier. It's cool seeing how each character reacts and what little thing you didn't see the first way you hear the story.
I had a feeling I knew who the killer was but loved that they showed you what their thoughts were before they went through this.

Who to Believe by Edwin Hill is one heck of a roller-coaster ride, exuberant and thrilling. There's juicy small-town gossip, angst, relationship woes, fun and games and murder.

I really liked the tranquil (as tranquil as murder can be!) rural setting but disliked the characters too much to become entranced. Though multi-perspective narrative can be wonderful when done well, it doesn't flow beautifully in this case. The clever curveballs kept coming which did grab my attention but overall the novel didn't connect with me as I had hoped it would.

My sincere thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this twisty novel.

All I can say is wow and OMG… Wow! this book was so good the twist started 1/3 in and they were proper twist! This book is towed from seven different points of view the first is the shrink dr. Farley Drake, The patient Alice Stone, then it’s the cop Max Brogan, The boyfriend Richard Macomber The daughter Cloe Macomber The minister Georgie Macomber and last but not least is the dog Harper. Laurel Thibodeaux and her husband owned the local popular restaurant in town and she was found murdered on a night her husband Simon had an alibi for because due to his gambling habits he was out at the casino. The Doctor Who is new to town is living with the preacher George’s soon to be ex but they all seem to get along with a few extra scenes for the most part the book surrounds Alice’s birthday party. Alice and her husband Damien stone have lived all over the world he’s into making documentaries and Alice is it economist they may be new to town but have lived there long enough for Alice to be best friends with Georgie and her husband was best friends with Richie and still as that is why Richie his new boyfriend the doctor and sheriff Max are all invited to her birthday dinner Georgie is the pastor and she isn’t a pastor I would want my eternal life to be in the hands of but either way before marrying Richie she dated Sheriff Max but broke up with him to be with the Richie who she eventually married and had her 13-year-old daughter Clos with The scene at the birthday party plays out six different times from six different points of view or seven if you include the dog Harper after the party happens there is another murder which raises even more questions I wish I really could give a better summary of this book but they have so many twist that any detail I could tell you would give plot points away this is an awesome book and a solid read from each point of view you think they are the guilty party and before it’s over you realize there’s more than one killer in the book. A lot of times you read a review that says there were twist after twist after twist but only in this book am I not exaggerating this is a true and proper who done it and every time you think you know there’s more intrigue to come. This was an awesome solid read I loved it a definite five star thriller and an author I will definitely be looking out for in the future. I want to thank the publisher and net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

A fun, twisty domestic thriller that came to life with its broad cast of characters. I loved the multi POV and the retelling of certain scenes through different character’s eyes. Small town drama mixed with characters who all have their secrets made me change up who I was rooting for and against throughout most of the book. Bonus points for the all knowing pittie rescue, Harper! I will definitely be picking up another title from Edwin Hill.

This one… holy crap!

Trust NO ONE. Believe no one’s story. Don’t even trust your gut. The level of ‘whodunit’ woven into this tale is insane! Each section is the POV of a totally different character during the same events as others POVs.

I dunno what inspired this book, but I am here for it.

Welcome to Monreith, Massachusetts a quiet New England coastal town that is about to change forever.
When a group of friends get together to celebrate a birthday not all is as it seems and it will forever change the small coastal town.
The story is told in multiple POVs and one was a unique POV. At times it was challenging not knowing which POV I was reading but I just rolled with it. I enjoyed the setting and not knowing who the trust. I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t feel safe in this town and it makes you wonder if you can trust anyone in your circle after reading this sinister book. That ending was wild!

A woman in a small town is murdered. A therapist (who seems to be seeing a large number of town residents) is up to some sketchiness of his own.

For fans of multi POV books with a gossipy neighborhood feel and character with a lot of interconnection.. For me it was too many narrators which meant a fair amount of repetition and sometimes made it hard to know whose head I was in.

But it has its fans and I’m glad that this is finding its audience!

This thriller starts with a "newspaper clipping" about the murder of a woman whose body is found in her home. The murder is the talk of the town in Monreith, Massachusetts, and the victim's husband is one of the prime suspects. The story continues from there, with several different characters whose lives are intertwined, describing various events taking place from their point-of-view. The narrators include a police chief, a psychiatrist, one of the psychiatrist's patients, a boyfriend of one of the characters, a minister, the daughter of one of the characters, and even a dog!

What is unique about the storytelling is many of the same events are described by multiple characters. For example, one of the characters has a birthday party, so we see some of the same incidents through the eyes of more than one character. It's interesting to see the different insights and explanations in the retellings, however the repetition does slow the overall pace of the book. Each character reveals secrets, some of them HUGE, when telling their side of the story.

The plot twists are dizzying, which keeps you engaged in the story, but can be confusing. The interconnections between the characters and the various secrets and lies are hard to keep track of, but as a whole I found the book to be suspenseful and enjoyable to read.

I received an advance copy of this ebook at no cost from NetGalley and Kensington Books, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

3.5 stars. Clever mystery told through perspectives of six different people, all of whom attended a birthday party together on the day when most of the story takes place. They all have secrets, which may or not be relevant to the crimes in question. While this didn't blow me away, I did enjoy the way the full picture slowly came together every time we got a new perspective.

I have read a couple of Edwin Hill’s books before and enjoyed them, but this book was in a whole other league in its awesomeness. I loved the unique format of this book, sometimes it’s hard to find something that feels new in the murder mystery/thriller genre. The writing was excellent and once I got going into this one I could not put it down. This book is told from multiple perspectives, but unlike most books that do that each character gets one chance to tell their story before it moves to the next perspective. I think my favorite part is that when you heard one character’s perspective you dove into the next and realized they were a much more horrible person than the world saw (except Chloe and Harper, they were fabulous and the only ones I was rooting for in this book). I will also admit that there were a couple of twists I did not see coming which is always awesome. Small towns can hide big secrets and when a group gathers for one of their member’s 40th birthday events begin to unfold outing some of those tightly guarded secrets. What lengths would you go to for your secrets?

Solid mystery-thriller. I didn’t like any of the characters except the kid and the dog, but they weren’t fun unlikable so it grated on me a bit. I also found I didn’t care because it was basically awful people having affairs with awful people, and it’s been done and also didn’t appeal. Still, the pacing was good and structure was fun (same story told from multiple POVs) even if nothing new.

Middle of the road for me. The writing style was a bit overly descriptive and my biggest complaint is all the POVs were in first person but sounded exactly the same. You need a different voice for each character if you want multiple POVs.

Also the motivations for crime were pretty weak.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The wealthy oceanside community of Monreith, Mass., seems an idyllic refuge from the madness of cities, until the owner of a popular bistro is found dead in her home with a plastic bag tied around her head. The murder brings the sludge of nasty secrets bubbling to the surface and sets neighbors against each other. All pretty standard for a mystery, but this story is told in seven sections through seven characters: The Shrink, The Patient, The Cop, The Boyfriend, The Daughter, The Minister, and... The Dog. One guess as to who sees the most, hears the most, and knows the most. Every viewpoint changes the picture, shifts the reader's perceptions, and adds clues to the truth. This is a terrific, twisty mystery, all the way to the last line, which is pure genius.

Laurel Thibodeau is dead, and the small town of Monreith, Massachusetts is in shock. After all, Laurel didn’t just die, she was murdered.

After a small group of friends gets together for a birthday party, another murder occurs, and everyone who attended the gathering could be guilty. It could be Farley, who’s the town psychiatrist. Or Max, the police chief. Maybe Georgia, the town minister. Richard, her soon-to-be ex-husband. Damian, who’s been hinting at an explosive follow-up to his last documentary. Or Alice, whose birthday it was.

Everyone has motive. Everyone has opportunity. But who is the murderer? And could there be more than one?

I received an advanced reading copy of Who to Believe in exchange for an honest review.

Who to Believe is a domestic thriller by Edwin Hill. This is the third of Hill’s books that I’ve read, so I knew a little of what I was getting into, and quickly, I got swept away by the story.

Who to Believe is split into several parts, which feature different people who were at the birthday party. This was such a great method to tell the story, since we start out with a mystery and no answers, but as Hill puts the audience in each POV, each character slowly starts supplying pieces to the puzzle, and suspects begin to arise. And he did a great job developing the characters too, and giving everyone motivation, as well as a history to help inform their decisions.

While I occasionally struggled to remember whose POV I was in (I’m not sure why, but Richard’s section gave me the hardest time), I thought this strategy was effective. I liked filling in details, and the more I learned, the more questions I had. As for the tension in the book, we often get repetitions of the same scenes, with extra information added depending on whose POV it is, but I thought a lot of the driving force of this novel was mainly in trying to resolve who was behind everything. I was pretty hooked by it myself, and couldn’t stop guessing, or reading!

Who to Believe is a fun and quick read, one that’s perfect for reading while out at the beach or having a rainy weekend at home. I’d recommend this book to readers or mystery or domestic thrillers, and especially those who like to put clues together themselves.

Who to Believe will be released on January 23. You can preorder your copy from Kensington here.