I loved reading this book, the plot was really intriguing and it kept me hooked all the way through.

Absolutely fantastic. This is such a unique thriller that kept me captivated from start to finish. The MC was so relatable and the podcast sections had me rolling my eyes in the best way. I don’t feel like I can say much without giving spoilers, but I tend to be overly critical of thrillers and I loved this.

I’m delighted to say that I have given this book 5 out of 5 stars.

‘Almost Surely Dead’ is a book that grips you right from the opening chapter. The story follows Dunia and her disappearance while simultaneously delving into a plethora of sub-plots and topics such as South Asian culture, folkore and religious elements.

This book was really fun and showed many different perspectives such as child Dunia, adult Dunia and most intriguing, the transcripts of the (deliberately) insufferable true crime podcast hosts capitalising off of the disappearance of a woman of color.

The narration was the most interesting part. I felt as though child Dunia and adult Dunia were different and similar in an alluring way. The author made a good choice showing us her thoughts in those two different periods of time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC.

𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 • 𝘗𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 • ⁣𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘪
𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘍𝘪𝘤 • 𝘔𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘮 • 𝘋𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦
𝘗𝘶𝘣 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦: 1 February 2024

This was a rush of a read. Simultaneously fantastical and relatable. Fast and furious.
I just could not look away until the end. I was left wanting more. An entrancing read.

Every month I diligently pick out my Amazon First Reads selection, congratulate myself on getting a free book, and then proceed to never look at it again. 😂 This is the first time I actually read my Amazon first reads selection. I’m not sorry I did!

ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖:
• 𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚒 & 𝙿𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚒 𝙲𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎
• 𝙹𝚒𝚗𝚗 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 (𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜)
• 𝚃𝚛𝚞𝚎 𝙲𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝙵𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

Traumatized by a near death experience on the NYC metro, Dunia, a former pharmacist, is now the subject of a True Crime podcast. The show hosts a series of interviews with the lead Detective and Dunia’s friends and family, beseeching listeners to phone in clues & evidence to help locate her, dead or alive.

In another timeline, we see Dunia’s childhood to present day. Recently broken up with by her stalkery ex-fiancée, the estranged black sheep of her family, not a “good desi”, Dunia wonders if she is losing her mind. There was so much here to unpack: exoticism, desi folklore, being too “kala” (dark), south asian stereotypes, discrimination, victim blaming.

𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺 𝘒𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨’𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘒𝘜 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦.

fantastically weird psychological thriller by an awesome author. i never expected what happened at any point. tysm for the arc.

I loved the format of this book, from the flashbacks to present day to the podcast episodes. I was intrigued by Dunia’s culture and the folklore of the Jinn. I didn’t want to put the book down until I found out what happened to Dunia! Will definitely read other books by this author!

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

I liked this book a lot. Dunia was an interesting character with her beliefs and at times, I wasn't sure what was real. The podcasters were perfectly annoying and I loved their pitch at the end of each episode. I like how the story evolved through the different views of each character. One part that didn't quite fit was why the Detective was so dedicated to helping Dunia but it worked. I would recommend this one.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller and all of the intricate twists and turns. The chapters are short and told in the present, the past, and a podcast. This made it a very interesting reading experience and kept the pace moving. The characters are intriguing and drew me into the story right from the beginning. I couldn't put this one down!

Thank you NetGalley and Mindy’s Book Studio for the advanced copy of this book. I have not read anything by this author before but this was thrilling. I enjoyed the podcast true crime, even though the hosts were annoying. I liked the shift in perspective for Dunia from her childhood to her adulthood to the podcast. I really enjoyed this book. The cultural elements were interesting as well.

3.5 stars
Potentially more after I listen to the audiobook. Updates to come


So far I have loved everything the Mindy Studio publishes. I also just LOVE LOVE LOVE MIndy Kaling so yes, I am definitely bias.

This is the first book that I thought was just alright. I was most invested in the podcast portion of the book as I really think it works well for mystery thrillers! Especially when done via audiobook as it literally is like you are listening to a podcast.

To me, the pacing was just a bit off, some parts were really a slog, but I would say this was not what I was expecting and I think people should go in blind reading this. I also think this might work better for me as an audiobook so I will avoid posting my review to goodreads until I listen to the audiobook.

A podcast has started to investigate the disappearance of Dubus Ahmed. Dubus was an average New Yorker, daughter of immigrants, and pharmacist. Until one day she is attacked on the subway and it kicks off people trying to kill her.

Wow this one turned out to be something completely different than what I expected. I would avoid spoilers and reviews (don’t worry you can read mine; it’ll be vague). I liked how it evolved and her past history was intriguing as it was slowly revealed.

“Great, now my childhood monsters had become grown-up ones.”

Almost Surely Dead comes out 2/6.

This was such a heartfelt and interesting read for me. I’ve never read a book with this type of concept, so it was definitely intriguing. It felt a bit slow and repetitive at times, and some of the writing came off as a bit juvenile, but I loved the format of podcast transcripts being included. I felt so deeply for the main character and I didn’t want to put it down. A quick and enjoyable read!

The daughter of Pakistani immigrants, Dunia Ahmed was a successful pharmacist living a reasonably normal - if not entirely easy - life while coming to terms with the death of her mother and a bitter disappointment in her lovelife.

But then, things went completely off the rails when an attempt was made on her life. While this was initially considered to have been a random crime, it was followed by further attempts to kill her. This, even after the person suspected of making the initial attempt had been taken into custody. So who was actually responsible?

The traumas of her early childhood and memories of her sleepwalking habits at the time returned to haunt Dunia. And unfortunately, she began to succumb to cultural superstitions, becoming convinced that there was more to what was happening than logic could explain.

Then she disappeared.

And now, people are wearing T-shirts with her name on it. Because in this media-obsessed age, Dunia's case drew public attention after it was featured in a true crime podcast. Yet nobody seems to know how (and where) Dunia herself is, though it is believed that she is almost surely dead...

This was an interesting story with an original premise. Creepy and compelling, it holds the readers interest throughout. While South Asian readers will be familiar with the folklore elements contained in the book, it should be interesting for western readers to be introduced to such legends and lore.

This is a genre-crossing novel, and will be enjoyed by those who like psychological thrillers and multicultural and folklore elements. It gets 3.5 stars.

This book had me at paragraph one. I was so excited about the set up, and then it honestly just fell flat.
I felt like this story had so much potential and as much as I enjoyed the folklore from another culture, the supernatural aspect just didn’t do it for me.
I still think this book is a page turning totally unique thriller. I enjoyed it. I guess I just had higher hopes for the ending. 3.5 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

Thanks to Mindys Book Studio, Amazon Publishing, and NetGalley for this copy of "Almost Surely Dead."

Wow - what a phenomenal book - so unusual, thrilling, creepy, suspenseful, and compulsively page-turning!

It had so many elements that I enjoy in books:
-supernatural creepiness
-weird stuff that happened with Dunia was a kid so was she haunted or not?
-podcast interviews that frame the story as it progresses and give us teasers of what's going to happen
-but alternating with Dunia's telling of the story

Dunia is nearly pushed onto the subway tracks, but in a shocking twist, her attacker jumps in front of the train instead. (This all happens in the first few pages, so not a spoiler!) After that, weird stuff keeps happening to her - including a few more near-misses that the police can’t seem to figure out. Dunia has to take matters into her own hands and fight for her life, revisiting strange happenings and folklore from her childhood to try to make sense of what’s happening to her.

I didn’t know much about jinn, other than that they appear in some Middle Eastern folklore, but after reading this, I’m very curious to learn more. I loved the creativity and complexity of this story, although there were a few things that made me raise my eyebrows. Some of the dialogue was a little stilted, and I found the podcast transcripts to be exaggerated and cheesy (though this seemed intentional and definitely made its point). Ultimately, this was a quick and engaging and fun read that I would recommend to anyone who likes a touch of the supernatural in their mystery/thrillers.

This book follows Dunia, a woman in new York who had a bad childhood. She was always sleepwalking and being punished. The sleepwalking stopped for a while but when her mother dies, strange things start happening. When she has a near death experience and people around her start dying, she starts to question her sanity and wonders if she’s being haunted or what is going on. What unfolds is an interesting mystery thriller with a bit of horror that explores family dynamics, friendships, and culture.

I liked this book! It was an interesting read and it kept me engaged the whole time. I kept wondering if things were actually supernatural or what was going on. We explore some Asian folklore and culture. It was very interesting because it’s not something I’m super familiar with.

There was a podcast element in here and I always enjoy that in books. We also had flashbacks from when Dunia was a child. The different formats and chapters kept things flowing and I read this book super quick. I enjoyed the different family dynamics and friendships explored in here. It definitely got very deep and dark with family and Dunia went through so much as a child.

The mystery itself kept getting deeper and more complex as the story went on. It was fun to try and figure out what was actually going on. I did figure out a few twists on my own before they were revealed, but I don’t think it took away from my reading experience.

My biggest complaint is the ending. I hate when books don’t end strong and I feel like this one didn’t. It ended on a cliffhanger and that annoyed me a bit. I also feel like some of the family stuff was dismissed too quick. There’s no way I’d be like “oh I understand” after everything that Dunia went through because of her mom. Something about that just annoyed me a bit.

Overall, this was a unique story and it kept me interested! I would recommend widely. Thanks so much to netgalley and Mindys book studio for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Almost Surely Dead opens with Dunia being attacked on a subway platform by a strange man. As Dunia tries to return to her daily life, multiple attempts are made on her life, far too coincidental to be anything but a pattern. Told in flashbacks, present day and podcast transcripts, the story slowly unveils - who wants Dunia dead?

This was a great mix of psychological thriller mixed with the paranormal, based on Pakistani- Muslim beliefs. I also really enjoyed the way the author wove through family drama- which seamlessly played upon the spiritual. I was really engrossed and finished it in one sitting. The ending felt a little bit flat for me- I would have loved the story to have continued a little longer. But I think this is a testament to just how mesmerised I was with the story.

This was a unique read to me, and the way the story was revealed through various twists and turns really had me doubting what was true and not. I have a really low tolerance for horror, but found this just the perfect blend of spooky - enough to keep you on edge, but able to turn out the lights.

4.5 stars rounded up- one to add to your TBR! I really look forward to doing on to read the author’s other works.

Thank you Mindy’s Book Studio and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

You know what they say, once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence, three is a pattern, so when pharmacist Dunia Ahmed is almost murdered three different times, she and the reader know there is something very, very dark going on. The mix of true crime and the supernatural promised a rollercoaster of a story, but unfortunately the characters are not well written and once I stop caring about what happens to our MC, the book really goes nowhere. As a seasoned D&D player, I loved the idea of a Jinn being part of the story - I even made our entire game group lose their shit when I nicknamed a Jinn we had to find at the local motel, the "Jinn in an Inn" - but when you realize Dunia hasn't grown up since the chapters told from her five-year-old POV. She's still passive, taking all sorts of crap from her family, going along with things she doesn't want to do, etc. and her inner thoughts are those of a tween. There is a true crime podcast with two obnoxious hosts who seek fame and glory by finding Dunia, who by now has been missing for over a year, but the level of detail the guests, who include Dunia's friends and the police detective in the case, share on this podcast, is ludicrous. All in all, this is a very unsatisfying story with an unsatisfying ending.