I love stories where a bunch of people are stuck together in a locked room or house. She Left was pretty engaging. But, the ending was a bit too predictable for me. I was hoping for some more unexpected twists in a thriller.

Some people found it hard to follow all the characters in the story, but I didn't think it was too bad. I thought the characters were written well.

Although, sometimes it took me a minute to figure out which character was talking or thinking.

Overall, it was a good book, but I was hoping for more thrills and excitement.

This was an interesting book with a compelling plot that kept me enthralled. It's a locked room one by one mystery. My only issue was too many characters with not a lot of detail to keep them separated. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who was who. This frustrated me. But overall it was a satisfying if not shocking ending. I'd definitely recommend this one. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a wonderful and enjoyable read!!!! I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre. Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Twenty years ago, Amy Brewer stormed out of a cabin in the woods, leaving five friends behind. When she finally arrives home she finds out everyone she left behind was killed. Now, going by her middle name of Therese and working for the FBI, she's been invited to another cabin along with nine other people connected to the incident in one way or another on the premise of a journalist writing an article about the massacre. But soon everyone discovers the getaway isn't what it seems. And then guests begin dying. With a house full of suspects and a storm threatening everyone's safety, Amy needs to figure out who's willing to kill to keep a decades old secret.
After a bit of a clunky start, once the main story really gets going, it becomes a fairly enthralling mystery. Though the premise sounds like it's another version of And Then There Were None, it isn't really, especially as there aren't deaths every couple of chapters. The truth behind the original murders and the modern day killings is a closely kept secret until late in the book. I thought I had figured out the "who" if not the "why" though, as it turned out, I had not. In the end I found the killer to be a bit underwhelming and, in hindsight, obvious, though I had no idea of the motive until it was revealed. Overall, it was a satisfying murder mystery/thriller..

"She Left Me" was an enjoyable read. I thought the author crafted a really intriguing premise, I'm a big fan of locked-room Thrillers.

The storyline was pretty easy to follow, I was able to predict most of the reveals but that didn't detract from my reading experience.

For a debut novel I thought that this was solid whodunnit Mystery, I would read another book from this author in the future.

Thank you Stacie Grey, Net Galley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Therese Brewer survived a Memorial Day massacre 20 years ago and was the only one who survived. She is now an FBI agent and is invited to a mountain lodge memorial service with 9 other people. Things start happening and they begin being bumped off one by one.
This was a great story that had me glued to the pages. I hope to read more by this great new author. Thanks NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this eARC that will be released May 14, 2024!

Stacie Grey seemed to be going for an Agatha Grey 'And Then There Were None'. The story begins 20 years ago when Amy decided to walk home from a party, within a few minutes of her leaving everyone at the party was murdered. The prologue made me really excited for this book, it was a fast read and I was excited to see where it was heading. The rest of the book didn't make me excited. We fast forward 20 years and now some of the main players from that night are all brought to a remote cabin and the murders begin anew.

My biggest complaints are the story flow and characters themselves. We are introduced to the characters and who they are once they arrive at this remote location. There's a ton of characters tbh. We get a quick blurb on all of them and then are supposed to remember who they are and what they had to do with the original murders, I had a really hard time keep them straight in my head. On a kindle, not being able to flip back and remind myself was almost impossible. As for the flow of the story it felt stagnant at times and too wordy.

I will say that I believe for a debut book she did a good job and I hope she continues to write, this genre can be tough to get it right.

Thank you for the advanced copy NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press.

One night Amy is at a house party with her friends, when an incident causes her to leave early, walking home alone in the dark. Her remaining five friends are then killed in what will be dubbed 'The Memorial Day Massacre'.
Twenty years later Amy now goes by Therese and is working for the FBI. She is invited to a memorial reunion for her friends that were tragically killed, along with others who all have links to her childhood friends. Its realised very quickly everyone was invited as a possible suspect of being the murderer. A storm sets in making it impossible for everyone to leave, but also unsafe to stay, as bodies start dropping.

I loved the premise of this, but found the execution slow, dull unimaginative and left me bored. Many moments I just wanted to skip to the end. Even the death scenes were anti climatic.
Most of the story is told from Therese's 3rd person perspective, then randomly through out will have a chapter told from one of the other peoples perspective. I don't know if they were to help build tension and suspicion, but they came across as displaced and brought nothing new to the story. Then with the reveal of the killer, was very quickly done and dusted. Was such a slow build up for very little pay off.
This story has been told many times before in more thrilling ways. This sadly feel flat for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review.

After reading the description for She Left by Stacie Grey I couldn’t wait to add this to my want to read list for 2024. I love locked room style mysteries. This started with a tense first chapter setting up the events that would bring this group of people together 20 years later. The intensity of the first chapter didn’t quite carry through the rest of the story however I was invested enough that I wanted to know how it would play out. Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

What a suspenseful read! Literally had me hyoer ventilating at parts and exhaling with relief during others. The story line has a traditional set up and has deep character development. The book is fast paced and utterly addictive. This book has a way of sticking with you, even when you are done reading it. The book withdrawal is strong with this one. Well done.

I enjoyed this book. It kept me guessing throughout and I think I suspected everyone at some point. The conclusion felt a little rushed.

Twenty years ago, Amy left. Luckily for her, leaving meant escaping a deadly fate. In the present day, Amy, who now goes by her middle name Therese, accepts an invitation to a remote cliffside house by a journalist looking to do a story on the murders. However, things take a turn and it becomes clear that someone isn’t there to do an interview about the past. One of the guests is there to keep their secrets hidden, no matter the cost.

To me, the beginning this book seemed pretty rushed lacking the details and general story development I was hoping for. It seemed to hurry things in order to get us to the remote house location. However, the more the story progressed, the more the pace slowed down to really focus on the characters and their connections to the Memorial Day Massacre.

This novel had all the makings of a locked room mystery: an isolated setting during a storm, murder, many possible suspects, and a lot of theories until the final reveal. I liked how the main story is broken up with brief vignettes from each characters perspective. That was a fun way for me to try and understand each characters mindset and attempt to figure out their motives. Overall, I wasn’t blown away by this one, but I did enjoy reading it! I would say if thrillers aren’t your typical genre, this could be a fun one to start with if you wanna dip your toes into the thriller genre waters!

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC!

A mystery that will keep you up at night. Cant put this one down.
Amy's character is driving this story and keeps us all on edge of our seat. What really happened that day long ago

I loved this locked room mystery that gave great Agatha Christie vibes. Teenage Amy gets her feelings hurt by her "friends" at a house party and leaves. She freaks out on the walk home, fearing for her safety but it turns out she was the safe one. All of her friends get topped and she escaped by leaving.

Fast forward 20 years and Amy is now a police officer. She and nine others are invited to a weekend retreat "thing" by a journalist who wants to write about the story.

But you guessed it...the guests start getting bumped off and they all have crazy secrets and it's just pretty much fantastic.

20 Years ago, she left. Her leaving saved her life, as the friends she left behind were all brutally murdered in a massacre. Today, she is invited to an isolated house with 9 other guests, all having some connection to the massacre. Soon, things take a turn for worse and one by one, they are being murdered, but this time Amy can’t leave.

This novel has everything it needs to be an interesting read, a locked room mystery, an isolated setting, and plenty of possible suspects. I feel like I say this a lot about thrillers, but this one was just fine. There are just so many thrillers around that it takes one hell of a story to make it stand out among the others. I had a good time reading, and found myself being very interested in what was happening next, but it did not blow me away, and none of the twists really felt too shocking.

If you read a lot of thrillers, you might just want to skip this one. However, this is a pretty good introduction to the thriller genre, so if you are new to the genre wanting to dip your toe in, this is a perfect book to start with!

This is Stacie Grey’s debut book, and I could definitely see myself picking up another book from her in the future.

Big thanks to Netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and the author Stacie Grey for allowing me to read an E-arc of this thriller.

"She Left" has a great premise, and I wanted so much to like it -- however, the writing did not engage me and I found it difficult to finish. Perhaps another reader will enjoy this book more than I did. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you for the ARC copy of this book. I did enjoy it, would give it 3.5 stars, but wasn’t as invested and enthralled as I would have hoped. It was intriguing and a good concept but the timing felt slightly off and I wasn’t gripped

Is a locked room mystery where you find yourself curious to find out who has done it, and you keep guessing until the end trying to connect the characters..

There is a lot of characters to keep track of, and the story is told by the POV of Therese.

I enjoyed this book, it was entertaining and a solid fun mystery.

I really recommend this one for the locked room fans.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Coming out May, 14 2024.

20 years ago, Amy walked out of a party, hours later her 5 friends she left behind are dead. Now called to a remote cabin with 9 others related to this massacre, she might not be as lucky this time. A reporter wants to do an article “20 years later.” but when the guests arrive nothing is what it seems. They start getting picked off one by one and it’s a race against the clock to find out who’s doing it and solve the original crime from 20 years back.

She Left was a slightly above average read for me. I think the author forgot to close some things out (yaknow the chapters that end with “I told enough of the truth”) which kind of sucks since it did help build suspense! I also wish there was just a little more going on. It kept me turning the page because it was a very suspenseful read where you’re genuinely excited to turn the page and find out who did it but it also lacked that “thrill” aspect. The author did a wonderful job of keeping you guessing who was actually responsible and WHY! I think it was also hard to keep up with 10 characters because there isn’t much build up to who is who so I was using context clues to figure it out at first. Overall, a nice quick read where you know the killer is in the house but who did it, really?! I genuinely think it could’ve been any of them so the reveal was a surprise to me. Overall 3.5⭐️ from me!

"She Left" kicks off with 16-year-old Amy, navigating the eerie night alone after a fallout with friends at a house party. As she walks home, the realization of the risks she's taken dawns on her, only to find that the danger lay elsewhere—her friends are all dead.

Fast forward 20 years, and Amy, along with 10 others, receives an invitation to a retreat hosted by a renowned journalist aiming to cover the story. Each invitee has a connection to one of the victims or a potential motive for murder. The narrative takes a turn when they lose access to keys and phones, and mysterious deaths commence.

The plot unfolds with a classic one-by-one whodunit style, urging the guests to unravel the original killer's identity, exposing layers of lies and secrets among them. The premise holds promise, featuring an array of intriguing characters, including detectives and ex-police from the initial case, a mother fighting for the framed murderer, and friends of the original group.

While the delivery might benefit from some refinement, the book remains a relatively enjoyable read. Juggling numerous characters, some with distinct (and often dislikable) personalities, makes it easier to keep track of the unfolding drama despite the back-and-forth, arguments, and accusations.