Wow! I loved this! I couldn’t put it down and read during every free second I could spare. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Something In The Walls by Daisy Pearce

I enjoyed reading this book so much. It was chilling and scary. The author did an amazing job at creating a haunting atmosphere i myself felt spooked.

I wanted a little more closure on the witch debacle but I enjoyed it none the less. I could actually love to see this turned into a film.

Book cover was so spooky too
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What was done really well was that creepy/something isn't right/dread/foreboding feeling that is present throughout. It felt like after the initial premise was set up it took forever to get going and then I wanted more from the ending.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Daisy Pearce’s “Something in the Walls” is a masterful blend of suspense and psychological intrigue that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The story revolves around Alice, a teen girl tormented by the possibility of witch possession. Enter Mina, a fresh college graduate child psychologist, and Sam, a determined journalist, who arrive in Alice's small town with the intention of uncovering the truth.

While the narrative begins slowly, Pearce's skillful storytelling draws you in deeper with each page. The atmosphere is charged with tension, leaving readers in a state of constant anticipation. Just when you think you've figured out the mystery, the plot twists take you by surprise, leaving you reeling and eager to turn the next page. The character development is rich, providing layers of emotional depth that make you care for Alice and question the motivations of those around her.

“Something in the Walls” is not just a story about potential possession; it explores themes of fear, belief, and the lengths people will go when faced with the unknown.

Overall, this novel is a thrilling ride that is well worth the read. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a psychological thriller that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining. Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC—this one is a keeper!

Whoa. I typically read before going to sleep, but I had to watch some silly cat videos to kind of clear my mind first. The first half of this book is very creepy and really stuck with me during waking hours. Mina, a brand new child psychologist, is roped in by a local reporter to help with a story he's covering. Thirteen year-old Alice is acting strangely and claims she's being haunted by a witch. The small town is quite antiquated in that they believe superstitions and in various folklore in which to ward off witches, such as hanging hagstones from doorways. The experiences they have while trying to help Alice are quite wild. Among those that don't understand why she's even there entertaining the situation is her scientist/researcher husband, Oscar. I don't normally read much with a supernatural-type bend (and things were less nightmare inducing after about the halfway mark), but this was a page turner for sure!

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Daisy Pearce for the eARC.

This is the perfect book to hand to a reluctant reader who loves horror and suspense films like The Conjuring. Pearce does an excellent job of building suspense and a sense of dread as Mina dives deeper into the mystery surrounding Alice and the "witch" in the walls. There are some plot holes and I was left with some questions but overall, this is a satisfying reading experience for those seeking a creepy thrill.

This book spooked me at nighttime for sure! I was kept engaged the whole time trying to figure out what was actually going on. The twists really got me, did NOT see that coming! Wow. Thankful for the chance to read this during the fall time as it felt nice leading into spooky season.

Thank you very much for this eARC that was generously provided by the publisher and author via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a nice spooky book! It definitely read like a creepy movie to me and kept me reading, but I had to take away a star because I felt like I was left with many, many unanswered questions and more confusion than I should have. Nothing worse than when the answers aren’t all clear in the end!

I was excited to read this becase it is marketed like "The Haunting of Hill House". I feel like the story is good and full of detail at the beginning, but at the middle and the end the details fall apart and it's not buttoned up well. So many opportunities to tighten up the story were missed and I saw the darkness of Bert before the author revealed it.
Maybe I read too much of this genre to be surprised? I liked the tie ins to the Riddance and the past witch burnings. But it just fell apart at the end.

This book reminded me of this old movie i use to watch which was about a child psychologist that interviewed a sick girl, and it has some plot of that in this book except the main character goes to live with a family because a girl named Alice who is 13 the family says that she is haunted by a witch. The stuff that family says about her was crazy, throwing up bile, throwing up chunks of hair. It was something from an exorcism, if you like horror or excoriat movies or the haunting of bly manor or the conjuring series this book was really good and for you.

I felt bad for the main character, her husband was cheating it look like they had problems in their marriage her and Oscar and she had something to do after getting out of school as a child psychologist working on her first case with this girl who was haunted. Everyone thought either crazy or haunted she said she saw a witch. I think the fear i had reading this and how creepy it was what the girl said will always sit with me, that she sees her through the cracks her eyes and her face is upside down. That is really spooky line!

The story is a nail-biter, filled with suspense and creepy twists that make it hard to put down. Daisy Pearce masterfully crafts a tale that keeps you guessing, with well-developed characters and a plot that unfolds with perfect pacing. If you love thrillers that keep you hooked until the very last page, this book is definitely for you!

This started out good but then went off in another direction. I wanted a story about a creepy witch. This was a decent read, but not one o normally would have picked myself.

4 stars

What a fun, creepy, witchy story! I went into this with no information and no expectations and was very pleasantly surprised.

Main characters Mina and Sam head to the small town of Banathal to investigate the potential possession of a teenage girl, Alice, and they get way more than they bargained for. Both have lost someone close to them, for Sam it was his young daughter and for Mina it was her brother Eddie. There is superstition, weird townspeople, possession, witchcraft, and seances.

This story was a bit choppy with a few abrupt changes in narrative that took me a bit to catch up to. There was a lot going on here but overall the creepy vibe was definitely vibing and the witchy history of the small town was great atmosphere. The ending left me a little confused, but not in a bad way. There was enough paranormal to play against the non-paranormal goings-on and I stayed engaged from beginning to end.

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy witchy vibes, folk horror, and good for her narratives.

Thrillers can lean cheesy quite easily. This one didn’t. I found myself covering the bottom half of the pages so as not to spoil what was coming. Quite well done.

I was so excited when I was approved to read an ARC of Something in the Walls. The description had totally drawn me in. In the first few chapters, I thought maybe I was set for disappointment, but as the story continued, I was completely drawn in.

It's 1989 and Mina Ellis is still grieving for her brother, Eddie, who had died six years earlier. As she revisits the grief group where she has found support in the past, she meets Sam, an investigative reporter who had also lost his young daughter. Learning that Mina is a newly graduated child psychologist, Sam enlists her help to assist him in investigating the possible possession of Alice, a teenage girl, by a witch.

Upon arriving in the small village where Alice lives, they realize there is a strong historical belief in the existence of witchcraft. However, as they commence their investigation, they discover that things are not quite how they seem. Is Alice truly possessed or is she suffering from a form of mental illness. They discover that Alice is not the first young girl believed to have been possessed. Is there a strong paranormal activity in Alice's village, or is there something else at the root of what is going on?

Throughout the story, there are reflections on the period of witch hunting and the tendency of mass hysteria when there are no clear explanations for what is happening.

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read Something in the Walls in exchange for writing this review.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC of 'Something in the Walls' by Daisy Pearce.

This really is a tip-top example of English folk horror.

Set in the blazing hot summer of 1989, a newly-minted child psychologist - Mina - is tapped by a myth-busting regional journalist - Sam - to travel to deepest, darkest Cornwall to investigate the strange case of Alice, a young teenager whose increasingly bizarre behaviour and insistence that she's being haunted by a witch has set her family and her village on edge and on the road to a confrontation.

Mina and Sam are drawn into the not overly-welcoming bosom of Alice's (the teen) family. Financially stretched with a seemingly psychopathic dad and run down mum (and two other siblings) the family is at their tether's end with Alice's horrific behaviour. We have the warm, helpful neighbours, the friendly (and not so friendly) locals, and a cast of other characters who form the backdrop (and the mob, when one's called for).

Rather than diagnose with science and help cure Alice, Mina's arrival coincides with her descent into even more outlandish traits at which point Mina becomes the 'bad guy' in the story. There is a sub-plot regarding Mina's love life which seems largely superfluous but, I suppose, does serve to further establish her personality and how she arrived at where she finds herself.

As with most villages - there are secrets, layer-upon-layer of deceit, cover-up, and unpleasantness - and Mina and Sam bring their own secrets with them, secrets which are both motivators and directors of their thoughts and actions.

The atmosphere of a baking hot, isolated and run-down English village is so well captured by Pearce and that is expertly overlayered with the creepiness of Alice's seemingly supernatural situation and the uncovering of the various secrets of the village and its inhabitants. I think the setting of the novel in 1989 is key to the atmosphere - it's recent enough to be very relatable but it's before mobile/smart phones and the internet became commonplace so there's a genuine feeling of isolation which would either not be possible in a story set later or would have to be explained away by some obvious and barely believable MacGuffin.

I have to say I guessed at one of the big story arcs early on in the book but it didn't mar my enjoyment of it one iota. The pacing was excellent and the writing clear and compelling. If you're looking for comparisons - some of Ramsay Campbell's 1970s novels or an old English children's TV series called 'The Children of the Stones' would give you a good sense of what to expect here.

Wishing Daisy Pearce and St. Martin's Press the very best of success with this one.

4.5⭐️ This was so creepy and atmospheric and it kept me wondering what in the world was going on the whole time!

Mina is a psychologist who is asked my a journalist Sam to go an investigate the weird things that are happening young Alice Webber. She claims there is a witch in her chimney. She’s hearing things, seeing things, and multiple deaths surround her “witchy” situation. Mina gets caught up in the mystery and ends up uncovering more than she bargained for and now she’s put herself in danger!

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the WHOLE time. I kept questioning what was really happening. Was it witch hysteria? Was Alice just mentally ill? This was so well done! Will read more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this e-copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is my first novel by Daisy Pearce and I really enjoyed it. Also another buddy read with my lifer @cassbookedup ! We were both lucky enough to be approved.

Creepy and an easy read. Very atmospheric, I felt like I was imersed in the creepy town with all their weird witchy traditions. Perfect read for spooky season.

My only complaint would be the final ending fell a tiny bit flat for me, making it a 4.5 instead of 5. I loved the last line, judt felt like I needed a little more.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

3.5 Stars, rounded down.

The beginning and middle of this was better than the end. There were times I was genuinely freaked out and looking over my shoulder, and I was really excited to see how all the plot lines would come together and build up to a horrifying conclusion. But then it didn’t.

I feel like the main plot point of this story, the witch, was dropped. So many questions go unanswered, and because of that I’m ending the book frustrated instead of horrified and sleeping with the lights on.

I can’t help but feel pretty disappointed with this one.

This falls somewhere between a 3.5/4 for me. The start was fantastic but the ending felt rushed. This book does have excellent writing that creeps you out and keeps you on the edge of your seat so it is a stellar mystery/horror. Unfortunately I'm left confused by the ending. I understand the herd mentality and what happened to the girls BUT is there really a witch?!?