As a writer myself, I always love an author protagonist. This was fantastic! Well-written, engrossing, and twisty. I didn't anticipate the ending at all. Highly recommended. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley!

If you are looking for a fast paced thriller that you can binge read in a sitting, this is it!

Becca is an aspiring writer. After completing her first novel, she's faced with a writer's block. Her first novel has been rejected by countless agents and publishers and she is now frustrated. Soon, she starts writing based on her nightmares. And when her past comes back to haunt her, she finds herself in a web of terrifying consequences.

This is one of the thrillers with multiple twists that I didn't see coming. It is dark, engrossing and suspenseful. Smith craftfully weaves a compelling narrative, keeping readers on the edge of their seats with this book.

My only criticism of this book is I wish Smith could elaborate further on the black hearts that Crystal (Becca's roommate and old best friend) received. I feel like this is a scene that could be further explained and explored and I'm left slightly disappointed.

Luckily the final plot reveal makes up for the disappointment. I'm rating this a 4.5⭐ and I recommend this to anyone looking for a twisty, suspenseful psychological thriller.

Thank you NetGalley @netgalley and Bookouture for this amazing ARC.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns of the book. I thought I had it figured out but the end was a real twist. My only negative was the middle went a little slow then picked up again.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.


The Writer is a thriller that follows a women's mystery book writer's club. Four women meet once per week to discuss the books they're currently working on writing, but each of them appear to be hiding something. We have a stay at home mother of two, a college professor, an attorney, and our FMC who is pulling shifts at a local restaurant because her life has been in shambles for the past ten years. She's been receiving cards with one word on them as well as a black heart pretty much everywhere she goes. She has no idea who her ten year stalker is, but the black heart cards have cost her relationships, jobs, etc. She lives in a constant state of anxiety, and her writer's group is her one escape. When a young college student is invited to join their group, more mysterious things start to happen, and they seem to be based on the writings within the group. The police have been no help for years, so now it's up to our FMC to see if she can figure out who her stalker is and who is committing these new crimes using her pieces of writing.


This did keep me guessing until the very end. I couldn't pinpoint enough clues to really zero in on a suspect the entire time. So if you enjoy thrillers that will literally leave you guessing until the last page, this would definitely fit the bill.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review. Great thriller. Not as fast paced as I am use to for thrillers but the payoff is in the end. The ending was a shocker!

This was a really great read. I've never read anything by Miranda Smith before this one but I will be adding Miranda to my author list. Characters - great.
Flow - superb. Just all round has it all.

The author once again has written an addictive, compelling book that no one will anticipate or see coming. The story is twisty, suspenseful, and well crafted, which has become her signature style that readers have come to love. As the story unfolds, the tension builds well developed and complex characters and secrets.
Her writing is flawless, intricate plot driven, and with a tense nail-biting atmosphere.
All her books are impossible to put down. The twists and turns full of punches that keep the reader guessing tip the very last page.
A must-read for every thriller fan. Highly recommend.

The Writer is a suspense/thriller that twists and turns for a page turning, unpredictable read. Becca wants to be a writer so every Monday she attends a group meeting full of aspiring writers. Becca works at a restaurant and writes every night and reads a story at group on Monday. Then the black hearts appear again and Becca’s stalker is back. One of Becca’s stories turns biographical as she writes about her missing friend from college. Then the new girl in group points out murders that sound like stories that have been read in group. Now Becca is trying to catch a stalker and a killer that is trying to frame her. With unexpected twists and a shocking whodunnit the pages fly by for a satisfying thriller. My voluntary, unbiased, and non-mandatory review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

This was such a good read! I wasn't sure before going in as I've never read anything by Miranda Smith before but I definitely will be going forward.

First of all, I loved the protagonist, Becca, and really connected with her being a slight recluse, a bit directionless and a wannabe writer. She reminded me a bit of myself to be honest and so I connected with her immediately. She also reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant in Gail Honeyman's book, so if you like your main characters to have flaws and imperfections you're in the right place!

Secondly, what I thought was really clever about this book was the blend of fiction and fact and how this has influenced a string of murders. Becca is part of a writer's group that write crime fiction and it soon becomes clear that someone in this group is responsible for the decades worth of stalking in the form of black hearts she has received...and also the events that unfold that mirror the fictional, dark stories that have been written.

I thought it was such a clever premise and uncovered every crime author's nightmare very well (the idea that fiction can soon become fact in devastating ways) - and is something I've never come across before.

This book is everything I love in a thriller - gripping, fast-paced and full of second-guessing right until the end. It only loses a star because I thought the final plot twist was a bit far-fetched and not very believable.

Other than that, I'd highly recommend it for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Strange Sally Diamond or anything by Lisa Jewell.

🖤 R E V I E W 🖤

📖 The Writer
✍️ Miranda Smith
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

This is an advanced copy from bookouture/ NetGalley, thank you so much for letting read a copy before the release date for an honest review and no spoilers.

This was a fast paced psychological thriller, literally from page one, I was hooked!
I enjoyed how easy it was to read and follow along, wasn't over complicated but still gripping!
This is about a Writer who is part of a group called the mystery maidens who meet and discuss books they are creating. MC, Becca is living with some past secrets but she isn't the only one in the group with secrets and Becca is trying to figure out Excatly what is happening and why.

The twists (and there are a few) at the end I did not suspect at all, which I loved. I love the whole "who done it conspiracy" makes the book more fun! I would defiantly recommend this book.

It's being released on 15th April - Hopefully you will enjoy this as much as I did.
This was my first @mirandasmithbooks book and I'm pleased to say it won't be my last that's for sure.

✍️🖤📝 @_readwithtee Instagram name

In The Writer we meet Becca the protagonist, she is a writer and waiting for publishers to pick up her book. She is also a member of a group of female authors called Mystery Maidens. They meet weekly to discuss what they have been writing.
When things start happening around and to Becca that is the same as what was written by authors at Mystery Maidens, she is convinced one of them is behind it.
She thinks she is being targeted because of the death of her friend ten years ago as black hearts are left where ever something happens.
It is up to Becca to find out who it is and why they are doing it.

The book starts at a slow pace, I think this is needed so we get to “know” Becca and her circumstances. It was full of suspense too.
I love Miranda Smith’s writing; it eases you in and then BAM you are like what just happened?

The person I thought was behind everything was not the culprit. I am so bad at guessing who the culprit is, and always end up shocked.

This was a great book, It would make a great book club read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. I love a good thriller with twists and turns and an ending I didn’t see coming. This one met most of what I enjoy about reading thrillers. I loved the characters and the idea of a club of crime writers that meet and discuss, encourage and critique their works. It fell a bit flat in the middle for me only because I had most of it figured out. I didn’t see the twist at the end, which was fabulous!

Wow literally couldn’t put this book down! Really enjoyed it and then dreamt about it! Thnk you net galley!

The Writer, by Miranda Smith, is the story of a wannabe writer suffering from imposter syndrome as she waits tables in a restaurant and maintains a secret, the result of a murder ten years ago when she was in college. The stalking piece of the story had me yearning for more, but the book left me flat because I never felt invested or connected to the main character, Becca or any of the other members of the critique group, the Mystery Maidens, a group of female mystery writers who meet one night a week, not realizing their lives are entwined in a murder story. Although it is a quick read and I enjoyed stepping outside my usual genre choice to read this book, I just didn’t feel the gripping terror the author was trying to convey. The plot seemed strange to me once it got going. Why would someone hide the fact they were being stalked and had been for the past decade? The story moseyed along without much depth, but I wanted to give it a fair chance. I never felt that edge-of-your-seat-hurry-up excitement one would expect from a thriller. The twists and turns were there, but not well executed. Not at all what I expected from a book in the murder-thriller category. At times the plot twists were predictable, and some felt like afterthoughts thrown in for reasons I was unable to discern. I loved the concept of the plot and the idea of a critique group all involved in a good, thrilling, who-dun-it, but sadly, the book left me dissatisfied. Miranda Smith has an easy, breezy writing style, but this one just didn’t pull me out of my world and into Becca’s world or the worlds of the Mystery Maidens. Three stars for effort. And I did read it in less than three days. Thank you to Net Galley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. This review is mine alone.

A rollercoaster ride of a book! Definitely makes you wanna stay up all night reading. A well written novel !

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
This fulfilled all my expectations for a mystery thriller. The set up of a writing group that focuses on crime/thriller writing being at the center of a murder mystery was an interesting take. The reveal of the killer felt a little unbelievable, though it's hard to do something unique and credible these days.

This is a great thriller about the Mystery Maidens, a group of women who get together to share their own writing and critique each other. Becca is invested as she's just written a novel and works at a pizza place since she has no "real" job, as her mother laments often on the phone.But odd things begin happening: first her tires are slashed and then there's a hit-and-run right in front of her apartment building. In addition, she's been getting black hearts on paper frequently for 10 years and those mirror events she'd rather forget from her past. But when she goes to the police, they are reluctant to do anything as she can't prove any malice and she hasn't been physically harmed in any way. But as time goes on, things spiral and Becca begins to suspect one of the women in the group must know more than she pretends to. It's a fast-paced novel that kept me speed reading to find the killer!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

First let me start off by saying that the description is what drew me in. I read other psychological thrillers and instantly became a fan, so I knew I would enjoy this book. From the very beginning I wanted to know who was sending her the black hearts!!! I was HOOKED! I was reading the book everywhere I went and stayed up all night! I couldn’t put it down until I found out what was going on! But not only that, similar events were happening that she noticed came from some of the short stories her group wrote! This story was jaw dropping and had me bitting my nails!!! The double plot twist had me speechless! I couldn’t believe the truth behind it all especially at the very end! Wowwww I can’t wait to read another one of the author’s novels.

I have been in a reading slump lately and just couldn’t find the right book to pull me out, until this one. “The Writer”was relatable and left you wanting more. I really enjoyed the main character Becca and her point of view. I finished the book loving the twists and turns. I love twists that leave you shocked, but they have to make at least a little sense and this book delivered well on both!

A ⭐⭐⭐.5 for me, but hear me out!

Becca works as a waitress to pay the bills while she waits for her career to take off.
Every week she meets up with the Mystery Maidens, her writing group, where they share their most recent stories.

One day she receives it again, a black heart. The same black heart that has been following her for the last 10 years, reminding her of a past she wishes she could forget.

That's when it all starts, first the slashed tires, then a hit and run and finally, death.
Suddenly Becca realises the stories that are shared in the Mystery Maidens are coming true. Who is messing with her? Can she trust the people around her? Becca wants to find the answers, but at what cost?

...


Not many thrillers make my skin crawl but this one definitely did. Let's just say I did not want to be left alone while I was in the process of reading this book.

Miranda Smith gives you what you want from a mystery book, it leaves you guessing, constantly! And no, I did not guess it correctly, far from it!

For me, a 4⭐+ review needs to be gripping from start to end. The Writer was gripping at the start and at the end, but somewhere in the middle I lost a bit of excitement. I was still curious, but not excited.
I think seeing this book from different points of view would have helped (me) .
Nevertheless, the ending was still (very) surprising and I would recommend reading it!

Thank you to #NetGalley, #Bookouture and #MirandaSmithor the eARC 🥲