Mina Ellis is a newly graduate student which a degree in child physiology. Mina is also still grieving the death of her brother Eddie, who died from pneumonia years before. Mina meets Sam, a journalist, who also grieving the loss of his young daughter. Sam approaches Mina to help him out with a story of a teenage girl, Alice who is being possessed by a witch. Mina agrees to help Sam out as they both want to help Alice Sam and Mina are seeing and feeling strange things that they can’t explain. .Now more than anything they must figure out what is really happening to Alice before it’s too late. This book is just spooky enough that you may want to read it with the lights on. I would like to thank both NetGalley and Minotaur Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

This is a book I had to read with the lights on for 🤣 I thought I liked thrillers but I guess horror mystery is not the genre for me. Despite freaking me out and imagining witches climbing out of fireplaces & bees swarming. . . This horror novel was well written with well defined characters, both main and supporting. I felt that this novel had a really good pace that kept the reader hooked to unwind the mystery.

Thank you Minotaur for the ARC.

This book was pretty good. It took a while for me to get
Into it and read but that was just due to my book slump. It gives witchy, creepy vibes all in one. Some of the language was a bit weird and confusing

This was just meh to me.

I think I thought it was going to be something else other than what it actually was which disappointed me. I didn't really care for the reveal/ending. It sort of reminded me of Head Full of Ghosts but I didn't find it as creepy or enjoy it as much as that book. This was a quick read and there was nothing incredibly bad or wrong about it, it was just a meh book unfortunately.

While this sounded very promising, I found that it was largely predictable with well-trod horror twists and turns. Yes, it’s a somewhat creepy story. However, I don’t feel as if this accomplishes a thing particularly unique or memorable.

Something in the Walls is a book about a newly licensed psychologist Mina who is invited to assess a teenager who seems to be possessed by a witch. I was invested in the story, but at some point, the story I got was not the story I was invested in. The first half of the book was highly creepy paranormal activity vibes and the second half of the book was a completely different story. Not a bad story necessarily, but so different to the first that I didn’t walk away from the book with any kind of resolution to the first half. Sometimes, a book without resolution is an intentional choice by the author to leave a lingering unsettled feeling with the reader, but in this case, it felt less intentional and more like the whole book warped into something different and earlier plot points left forgotten— Which is a bit of a shame considering how crazy and awesome the ending was. The ending was everything you could want in a spooky thriller book, but with the first half of the book largely unaddressed, it looses some of its punch.

I would like to thank St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Mina is an inexperienced child psychologist who just recently got her degree. She attends a grief group to help her process the loss of her brother. While there she meets a journalist, Sam, who has lost his daughter. They get to talking and he tells her about a case he's working on. In the remote village of Banathel a thirteen year old girl named Alice Webber is accused of being possessed by a witch. He wonders if Mina would be willing to travel with him to speak with Alice and to gauge her mental state.

Mina's excited to get some experience and to get to the bottom of Alice's ailment. Surely she isn't possessed by a witch.....or is she? You'll have to read this to find out!

There is definitely some witchiness brewing in the air of this novel by Daisy Pearce. The atmosphere of dread and menace is as thick and as humid as the heat wave that's suffocating the village of Banathel. The first 3/4 of this book had me held in it's grip but then it takes a bit of an unexpected turn and all that built up dread simply vanishes. Now that's not to say the ending is bad by any means but it wasn't the direction I was expecting the book to go. What I can say with authority is that Pearce is an incredibly talented writer and I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another one of her books in the future. 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my complimentary copy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The plot developed steadily with a mounting sense of dread and the conclusion was satisfying. The main character was well-developed, although I wish the reader knew a little bit more about some more ancillary characters. Overall, it satiated my love of folk horror.

I was trying my best to play this out in my head, and I was able to. However, it was missing a few things and was slightly bland for me.

Something in the Walls fell a little flat for me. I was expecting something a little more paranormal, or something similar to The Exorcist, but the supernatural elements were pretty weak, and I felt like a lot of the characters had very weak characterization. I did enjoy the first third or so of the book, but after that the plot seemed to sort of fall apart, and it just wasn't scary.

Ohhhh this book was kinda creepy! In the best way! I loved the character development and their story. The eeriness kept me from putting the book down!

Newly graduated as a child psychologist, Mina and a journalist try to find the truth about a young girl’s trauma. Is she just pretending or is she really a witch? Creepy townsfolk adds to the darkness of this story.

When Mina, a recent graduate of psychology, gets called by her new friend, Sam, to investigate supernatural happenings in a small town, she stumbles into something she can barely describe, much less escape.

What I loved most about Daisy Pearce’s storytelling style was her poetic way of describing in detail the events that unfolded. Beautiful and haunting storytelling at its finest.

A tense, truly terrifying horror folktale, Something in the Walls is for fans of The Haunting of Hill House and Midsommar. Maybe even a pinch of The Exorcist. This book will make you want to selfishly save chapters in hopes it won't end.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Something in the Walls started off solid. A mystery with some witchcraft, it started as a pretty unique premise. I'm not sure what happened, but this book went off the rails a bit and turned into something completely different. It lost me halfway through and the ending left me scratching my head. 2 Stars for me.

Thanks to Net Galley & St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book!

A page-turning thriller, that will keep you riveted until the end!

Mina is a newly-graduated child psychologist who finds herself swept up into a story of a young woman who is posessed by a frightening spirit.
Mina wants to believe that there is a rational explanation but becomes more uncertain as the story develops. She is eventually part of a hundreds years old story of a an entire village that is enthralled with superstition and ridding young women of the devils within them.

As a main character, I would have loved to have seen Mina lean more into the trope of "scientist who tries to explain away the eldritch monster." For the most part, she just felt to me like she was just observing and not doing much to move the plot forward.

This book is frightening but I couldn’t put it down. A perfect book for those who love the fine line between the supernatural and the very human evils that truly exist.

the perfect mix of suspenseful, creepy, witchy, dark, and fast-paced that kept me hooked. i genuinely was surprised at every turn and thought the ending was excellent.

The premise was promising, with a house that seems to have a malevolent presence lurking within its walls, and Pearce creates a genuinely creepy vibe. However, I had a hard time connecting with the characters, and the pacing dragged in parts. While there are some tense moments and unexpected twists, the plot didn’t fully deliver the punch I was hoping for. It’s an interesting read but didn’t leave a lasting impact.

I’m a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to all things spooky. Watching the news is horrifying enough for me! However, I do have one exception: I’ve developed a fondness for folk horror over the years, as it often feels akin to dark fairy tales, which is right in my wheelhouse.

That’s why “Something in the Walls” immediately caught my eye. It’s described as a story brimming with tension and folklore, and for the most part, it lived up to that description. The plot follows Mina, a newly minted child psychologist, as she travels to a small British town to help a young girl who seems to be possessed by a witch. As Mina delves into the town’s history and its residents, she uncovers truths that blur the lines between her scientific background and something otherworldly.

The author does a wonderful job of creating an oppressive atmosphere that enhances the ever-present feeling of evil lurking on every page. The pacing is swift, keeping the story engaging. However, I have two qualms: first, I found some elements a bit predictable, and second, the folklore shared throughout was so compelling that I simply wanted more of it.

Overall, I consider “Something in the Walls” a worthy addition to anyone’s spooky season TBR, particularly if you enjoy history woven into your horror.

I’m fairly certain Daisy Pearce’s Something In the Walls was engineered in a lab specifically for me. The supernatural 90s-set creep-fest revolving around an English teenager claiming to be haunted by a witch has shades of some of my favorite horror movies — The Conjuring, The Witch, and Midsommar — as well as the real-life Enfield haunting in the late 70s. On top of that there are great characters and the prose is *chef’s kiss*, written in such a way that certain sentences have continued to echo around in my brain long after I’ve finished reading. So, dab yourself with holy water, say a prayer, and let’s dive in, shall we?

While on the surface this book (due out early next year) is about a child psychologist agreeing to investigate a potential haunting in a remote town on the English coast with a handsome (if not entirely ethical) journalist, it’s actually a cautionary tale about what can happen if you settle for a painfully boring fiancé: your life will eventually become so dull that you’d rather hang out with a demonically possessed teenager than marry him. (Just kidding.) (Well, kind of.)

To be fair, Mina, said child psychologist, also agrees to join Sam on his trip to the tiny, sheltered (and fictional) village of Banathel for an article in his newspaper because of her own tragic history — she’s never quite gotten over the death of her younger brother, and she hopes taking Alice’s case will help her come to terms with it, whether she’s conscious of that rationale or not.

Usually witchy haunting stories are all cloudy weather, pouring rain, and damp, cold rooms. Something in the Walls is the opposite — a brutal, sweltering summer setting that beats down on you while reading like the unrelenting sun. The descriptions of the endless heat are such an effective way to amp up the pressure — you’re hot, sweaty, irritated, waiting for the action to boil over. Pearce’s descriptions in general are so visceral and specific, I felt like I could almost take a big, rancid bite out of them, tearing into the scenes myself. (“Sweat bites into my skin, stinging my eyes. The smell in here is clotting, turning greasy.”)

Not only that, but I really found this book genuinely scary. Witches don’t always strike me as ~horrifying~ in general; that’s usually a space reserved for demons or ghosts, which more reliably freak me out. But man, this novel makes a case for witches being scariest of all. Two scenes in particular — one in a gross, rundown house where Sam and Mina are investigating the folk origins of the witch, and the other during Mina and Alice’s fraught conversation about whether or not witchcraft is real in the latter’s boiling bedroom — were so tense that I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath, stock still, until they were over. Even now, as I type this, I can see in my mind’s eye the nightmare fuel that both invoked in me. Rest assured I’ll never look at chimneys the same way again.

Now, I have a few, teeny-tiny bones to pick about the ending and its big ‘twist’. But — but!!! — for the record, I was very into the Midsommar turn it all takes. Especially the very last scene. I’m just confused by the abrupt pivot away from Alice’s possession, as I thought we were going to get more details about what (or who) might be haunting her. There is so much great horror preceding the final handful of chapters, that it felt just a smiiiiidge anticlimactic in regards to the witch, specifically.

Even still, pretty much a five-star read for me. Skip this book at your own peril.

(Also a little fun fact for you: the word “Banathel,” the name of the village, appears to to mean ‘brooms’ in the Cornish dialect. Hah.)

Something In The Walls is available on Feb. 25, 2025. Shout out to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Something In The Walls started out with a strong creepy vibe which I was really into! Mina, a young,
inexperienced child psychologist, is asked to travel to a small town to tell Alice, a young girl who seems to be haunted by a dangerous witch. Alice says she sees here through the slats in the walls. The whole beginning is face paced and very creepy. But about 3/4 of the way through it felt like I was reading a completely different book. All of a sudden there was a crime and that became the sole focus of the story and we never find out what happens to Alice. The ending felt rushed and disconnected from the beginning and main storyline. I ended the book confused and disappointed.