*You Better Watch Out* is a chilling, fast-paced thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Jessica Kane’s struggle to survive in a deserted town with strangers, while a relentless killer picks them off one by one, creates heart-pounding suspense. The tension builds as the mystery behind their capture unravels, and the constant threat of danger keeps you guessing. Barrie Kreinik’s narration adds an extra layer of intensity, making the audiobook even more gripping. While some twists are predictable, the story is still an entertaining and suspenseful holiday thriller. A solid 4-star read!

You Better Watch Out was a fun Christmas-themed slasher. There were several twists and turns that were a treat to uncover, and the narrator captured the emotions of the story beats very well. My biggest gripe is that I wished the characters and the story itself was a little more fleshed out. It had good bones, but much of the book felt like an outline. I also hoped the Christmas aspect would have been more prominent. Nevertheless, this was a fast-paced, gritty story that I can imagine will be a big hit.

One thing about this closed-world horror story absolutely gave away the ending, but it was good...and very, very gory.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The beginning was questionable to me but this book ended up being SO GOOD! I was not expecting to enjoy a murder-filled book so much. The epilogue definitely makes me want a sequel!

A group of individuals, who have done some very bad things, all get kidnapped and dropped into an abandoned town in the middle of a blizzard. Then they start dying one-by-one in the most gruesome of ways while trying to figure out what they’re doing there and how to escape.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised with this holiday thriller. It was fun, fast paced, and gory. Just in time for Halloween. The narrator was perfect for this story and truly kept me engaged. Overall an awesome psychological thriller that needs to be put on your TBR!
Many thanks to NetGally, MacMillan Audio, and Barrie Kreinik for sharing the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5
Expected publication date: October 15,2024

This audiobook… I was so happy to get approved, but to be completely honest, it just didn’t capture my attention the way I thought it would

You Better Watch Out is a line from a Christmas song signifying that Santa Claus is coming to town. But the book You Better Watch Out is anything but a feel-good Christmas story. It might take place right before Christmas, but it seems more like a Halloween slasher story. You will be hooked from the very beginning as this very creepy, scary, non-jolly horror story takes place. It was definitely creative in its gory content, and I was totally surprised by the ending and then even more surprised when I realized it wasn’t actually the end. It definitely left an opening for a sequel which I would love to see.

I received this as an audiobook ARC via NetGalley but all opinions are my own. This book releases mid October so the slasher type theme fits well timing-wise. I wasn’t able to get connected to any of the characters and I didn’t feel much depth from the book, which made it difficult to stay engaged. Usually I really get into thrillers but it wasn’t the case here. The synopsis of the book was definitely better than the execution. Thank you to the authors, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen and review.

One of the best things about heading towards the end of the year is reading novels that blend Christmas, horror and thriller themes together. This is what made me dive into You Better Watch Out by James S. Murray and Darren Wearmouth. While it was filled with thrilling moments, it lacked in the holiday department.

Forty-eight hours until Christmas, Jessica Kane wakes up with blurred vision, ears ringing, and in excruciating pain. A gash in her head and blood running down her face, the last thing she remembers is going for a run and something or someone hitting her in the head. It doesn't take her long to realize she is trapped in an unknown, deserted town with five other strangers who share similar stories of being attacked and stranded there. Unsure why and how they got there, she knows one thing for certain, she has to find a way out.

That becomes nearly impossible when someone is meticulously orchestrating their deaths, one by one, and the only thing Jessica can do is watch the life leave their eyes. The fenced-in town is the killer’s very own playground and there's nowhere left to hide... she better watch out because she could be next.

This was my first time reading a James S. Murray and Darren Wearmouth novel and it was actually much better than I even expected. A locked door horror style tale with a great concept and hopeful narrative. However, the book did lack in overall execution, character development and use of the holiday theme. While that seems like a lot of issues with a book, how could it even be good, that tells you how much a didn't expect from this book.

The cast of characters are plentiful and all have unique backgrounds, but these backgrounds could've use a bit more depth and could use some fleshing out. Additionally, these characters were hard to tell the difference between throughout the book, this is even with outstanding audiobook narration from Barrie Kreinik. Each character should be easy to differentiate but seem to have blend together at moments. Kreinik's narration helped a bit, but that leads me to believe I likely would've been lost when reading the physical book.

Christmas thriller is what hooked me into reading this novel in the first place, but this is where I was disappointed the most. With a title such as You Better Watch Out, a cover which features a wrapped knife as a present and an opening sentence in the solicitation that leads you to believe the novel will focus around the holiday. What we get is a few sentences here and there that let you know Christmas is in the air, but if they left them out of the story, this tale could take place anytime. A let down when you hope for more holiday cheer being taken away.

You Better Watch Out was worth the read and did feature some of my favorite overall themes, such as locked door style thriller. What the book did feature was some brutal kills and is not for the faint of heart.

James Murray is one of my current must read authors, as I enjoy odd horror thrillers. This is a Christmas story, except that a group has been kidnapped and is being murdered one by one. I admit I was engrossed in the story and didn't put it down, but it ended up being predictable for me. Still, if this is your genre, you will enjoy it too! Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook, which has enjoyable narration too

While this takes place around Christmas it makes a great Halloween slasher read. Multiple people find themselves waking up in a strange faux town. The whole town is one giant escape room type of game, except there is no escaping and there are gruesome deaths along the way.

This was short book and was easy to finish within a day. Overall I liked the narration, but at times the ends of sentences would get real quiet. I understood the acting choice, but it just made it difficult to catch the endings at times.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio ARC. This review will be shared on NetGalley, Goodreads, and Amazon.

Pub Date Oct 15 2024

If you a slasher fan this works well, not my genre. I also felt set up by the book, but for the type of book it was well written.

When six strangers find themselves trapped in an unknown town who all share the same story of being attacked and stranded there, they must work together to find a way back to civilization. They soon find out they are not alone in this fenced-in town and a killer is hunting them down one by one.

You Better Watch Out was a gripping thriller from beginning to end and had me on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed the mystery of the town and finding out what the strangers had in common.
The conclusion of this book was perfect and took me by complete surprise. The epilogue does open up the possibility of a sequel and I would read that in a heartbeat. One aspect that did have me slightly confused was the synopsis. The synopsis has Jessica as the main character when the main focus seemed to be on Eddie. I kept waiting for the main focus to change but Eddie seemed to be the main character throughout this book.

You Better Watch Out comes out on October 15th.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to review You Better Watch Out. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

YOU BETTER WATCH OUT is a typical locked room mystery in which a group of strangers are kept locked in a fabricated place, full of deadly traps and they start to get picked off one by one. Soon we learn there is a very good reason why those people are trapped and being punished.
I like how fast-paced this book is and how gory and violently gruesome the deaths are, but I gotta admit: because this is a short book and there are many characters, none of them were well-developed enough for me to truly care for their lives. There came to a point where I was just in it for the killings, just waiting for each one of them to be slaughtered.
This book reminds me A LOT of the main idea of a certain horror movie franchise from the early 2000's. I don't wanna name that franchise because it might be spoilery, though.
I'd also say this is the kind of story in which we, the readers, must suspend all our disbeliefs in order to be entertained by it. This story has some, in my opinion, quite ridiculous twists and turns in the last 20%, so just don't take them seriously. Go with the flow. It's a thriller, after all. It's not supposed to be that realistic.
The epilogue, however, did something that I personally did not enjoy at all. Nothing that would ruin the entire book, but I thought it was poorly made.
What's more, other than the fact that the whole story takes place 3 days before Christmas, I personally felt like nothing else brought me that Christmas vibe I wanted.

It's a quick read. Mostly for thriller fans who are into locked-room mysteries and a fight for survival. The main plot twist may be predictable (or simply not susprising or mind-blowing) for more hardcore thriller readers, but I'd say it is possible to enjoy it and have a good time with it.

I listened to the audiobook and I'll be honest: in my opinion, the dialogues were done really well by the audiobook narrator, Barrie Kreinik. But besides the dialogues I didn't particularly like the narration. I think this narrator has a too low, too soft, too whispery voice to be narrating such a thrillery story. There were several moments I wished for a more energetic and powerful narration.
I'd still recommend the audio for listeners who already know and like Barrie Kreinik's work, naturally.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for allowing me to listen to a free advanced audiobook copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Coming back to consciousness in what appears to be an abandoned town, five strangers make their way through a deranged killer's playground. Trying desperately to survive despite being picked off one at a time, they can only hope to make it through the day.

I absolutely devoured this one. I love nothing more than a solid locked room mystery, and the idea of a deranged killer building a whole town in the middle of the mountains sounded like a very interesting take on that set up. I'm not typically a fan of books with descriptions of torture, they gross me out and it gets to too much given the depressing state of the real world lately. That being said, while this book did feature some scenes that were as heinous as they were creative, they were relatively short lived and reasonably spaced out so they never felt overwhelming. I also thought that the characters were fleshed out enough to keep everybody straight and make the story seem believable, but never got so deep with the backstory or character development that their death was overly upsetting. Lastly the twist was good, I didn't see it coming and it was honestly pretty twisted. I also appreciated the reference to the previous book which I thought was a good call back for those of us who read it and yet readers who did not read it wouldn't be lost. I also appreciated that they toned down the Impractical Joker references (I couldn't name one, maybe I missed it or maybe they were subtle). My husband & I are huge fans of the show, we've been to the live shows and some of the guys stand up shows, but there were so many easter eggs in the previous book that it was distracting and took away from the tense plot. Pulling that out allowed this one to hold a very high level of tension the entire time. Well done!

I started this audio book when I took my dogs out for their walk yesterday morning and I just kept walking for almost two hours as I listened. When I got home, I listened while I made lunch. When I went to close up at work, I listened as I worked through my tasks. I just could not put it down. Overall just highly recommended for mystery thriller fans, horror fans, and, of course, IJ fans who want to support Mur! :)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I cannot rave enough about this audiobook. I loved it!! Total surprise at the end. It had the perfect mix of mystery, creepiness and gore. Phenomenal storyline and I loved the setting too. Once I started it I finished it the same day because I could not stop listening.
Great narration too.
For anyone who likes a good horror book minus supernatural stuff, then this is for you!!!

Ok this was SUCH a good thriller. 😍 the mystery of finding out why these people were gathered together for this crazy event was entertaining to watch unfold. The k1llings were giving “SAW” traps in the best way. I loved the Christmas theme. 🎄 the narration was great and I loved the twist ending. 😃

This book is so much fun! If Saw, The Purge and If Then There were None had a baby, it would be this very entertaining, fast-paced novel. Eddie is not a good guy, he’s about to rob an elderly couple when he blacks out and wakes up in an abandoned town in the middle of a blizzard. He soon finds more victims and, before they can figure out what’s happening, they all start dying in gruesome ways. It is obvious from the beginning that, if Eddie is a petty criminal, his companions are not angels, so I wasn’t too sad to see them in peril. That said, Eddie is trying to change and his biggest ally, Jessica, seems like a nice person so it was easy to root for them. The murders are gory and pretty inventive, and the pace is so fast that it was hard to believe it could get any more suspenseful - and then, it did. Barrie Kreinik’s audiobook performance is solid, giving each character a distinctive voice so that it’s always clear who’s speaking, even when they are fighting and talking over each other. The baddie was very surprising and every guess I’d made was wrong. Since I always say that Die Hard is my favorite Christmas movie, I guess this is the perfect Yuletide book.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Macmillan Audio.

The holiday season meets Sara Blaedel’s DISSOLVED meets The Purge (movie) in this winter locked room thriller!

Premise - it’s the holiday season, but things aren’t so merry for a group of strangers who find themselves kidnapped by an assortment of kidnappers and stashed in a fake town. No one knows why they’re there or what the kidnappers intend to do with them, but one thing is clear: it’s not going to be easy to check out.

I don’t know that this would put anyone in the holiday spirit, per se, but it’s a lot of fun! And if you think Die Hard is a Christmas movie then sure, hohoho so is this.

There were some crazy twists towards the end that I did not see coming… including one major one that I found incredibly frustrating, right after I *almost* got a twinge of holiday hopefulness - honestly, I didn’t like that twist at all and considered 3 starring this, but the story was super engaging and the audiobook (I’ll get to this next) so well-narrated that less than a 4 didn’t feel fair/true.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Barrie Kreinik. She did a great job with the diverse cast of characters, they were all interesting to listen to and all distinct enough to never have any issue keeping track of who’s who, even when listening to the audiobook while running errands, doing housework, working out, etc. I definitely recommend enjoying this as an audiobook!

Thanks, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED this audiobook.

From the very beginning I was HOOKED. I listened to it all in one sitting. It was edge of your seat thrilling! A group of people are stuck in a seemingly fake town as they are picked off one by one. Why are they there? Who is holding them captive? Bet you’ll never guess!

This audiobook was the perfect length. It did not drag on with useless dialogue like some books tend to have to increase the length. I listened at 2x and it was the perfect speed. The narrator was great, I love her audiobooks! This is a perfect holiday thriller!

Highly recommend!