Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the eARC.
Unfortunately I did not like the book, it was filled with an uneasiness and irritation as well as, finally, boredom. I basically skipped through it in the end. Sorry!

Thank you, Thomas & Mercer, for the advance reading copy.

This book kept me hooked the entire time even though I was having one of the toughest busiest weeks ever!

The writing is really good and the plot twisty! However, the characters do need a better development and the dialogues need to be little more realistic when it comes to confrontations towards the end of the story.

Otherwise, this is a good fast paced thriller perfect for a chill evening!

read if you like:
🤨 missing people
🎶 musical clues
🐈 cat-and-mouse plots

summary:
This book is about Marissa, who finds herself lost when her husband, Ethan, vanishes without a trace. His last words to her were “do you trust me?” and with that, she immediately springs into action to understand what happened. She discovers Ethan is alive, when he starts to add songs to their joint Spotify playlist, “Trust Me”, “I love you”, and Marissa finds herself even more perplexed about where Ethan is and what happened. As her family circles in to support her, Marissa quickly realizes there is more to their family business than she knew, and Ethan, and maybe even her, are in danger.

I loved the idea of this book. Centering clues around song titles is such a fun change from your normal cat-and-mouse game, and Owens gets really creative with the different hints and signs Ethan leaves Marissa to help her understand why he disappeared. However, the plot itself seems pretty basic and predictable. Marissa is an incredibly naive character, and it’s hard to watch her fall into traps that you as the reader know will end badly! While her journey to find Ethan and understand his secret is interesting, it was easy to guess where it was heading and the role the other characters play in it. The thrill is there, but i just wanted to be a little more surprised and shocked.

I’m glad i gave this author’s debut novel a chance, and this is worth reading if you love a good mystery and scavenger hunt. Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

2.5 stars
I was very intrigued by the concept of this debut thriller, but found the execution lacking. The story had great bones. but there wasn't enough meat on them for my taste.

The last thing Marissa's husband does before he disappears, is asking her to trust him. Shortly after he goes missing, he starts communicating with her through song titles on their shared Spotify playlist, and she finds he left her other cryptic clues and messages. So Marissa begins investigating, all while trying to evade her family, whose "support" feels more confining than actually helpful. The more clues and secrets Marissa uncovers, the more she has to question whom in her life she can really trust.

I enjoyed Marissa's growth throughout the story, and it was interesting to try to understand the clues along with her. But the fact that it made no sense to me why her husband left cryptic clues in the first place, instead of just telling her about all of it outright, took away from my enjoyment. The pacing was good, but the plot about following the breadcrumbs of clues was a bit convoluted, without a good reason for being so. And the villains of the story felt underdeveloped as characters. They seemed more like caricatures, all they were missing was mustaches they could twirl.

I was struggling to decide between a 2-star or a 3-star rating, and in the end settled on 2.5 stars - rounded up because wanting to find out what was going on did keep me turning the pages, despite feeling somewhat underwhelmed.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer for providing a review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This debut thriller by Elle Owens had me stunned from the start! We follow Marissa as her life is turned upside down when one day her husband goes missing, his last words being “do you trust me?” As she tries to discover what happened to her husband, she realizes she’s in way deeper than she ever expected and doesn’t know who she can trust. I truly think this is one of the more exciting stories I have gotten to read recently. The pace of the plot is great and had me on the edge of my seat, the only reason I didn’t read it in one sitting was because I had to take a few walks cause it was stressing me out (in a good way!) The character arcs were well done which I appreciate because books are definitely more enjoyable when you find yourself attached and invested in the outcome of the characters involved. This book was utterly fantastic and I hope we see more from Elle Owens in this genre in the future! Thank you so much to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley & Thomas & Mercer for allowing me to access this ebook!
First, for a thriller debut, this is really impressive! "Tell Me You Trust Me" by Elle Owens is a taut and suspenseful thriller that kept me guessing until the very last page!. The author wrote a compelling narrative filled with twists and turns, exploring the fragile nature of trust and the secrets that can lie beneath the surface of even the closest relationships. I recommend it to everyone who love psychological thrillers, they will find this book hard to put down!

Okay!! This was good. I can not even begin to still wrap my head around how this kept me on the edge of my seat. Wonderfully done!