I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery full of strange happenings and even stranger characters. I went into this story thinking it was one genre and finding out it was another. This made me love it even more because it took me by suprise in that way. I stayed invested throughout the plot, as it kept digging deeper into the mystery of what was happening to a young girl in a small, rural town, distant from modern day. I thought the author developed the characters well and really used their personalties well to make the story move along. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, as I was gifted a copy and all opinions and review are my own.

"It turns out she wasn't 'mad' she was just poor."

"We choose how much power we give people over us."

"Desperation makes you inventive."

Dynamic author Daisy Pearce has created a twisty thriller that makes your skin feel creepy crawly all over in her unsettling mass hysteria horror novel, Something In The Woods.

Mina still needs more experience for her child psychology degree and agrees to help journalist Sam investigate 13 year old Alice; whose family and town believe she is either a witch or mad. She seems to know private things both past and future. She hears and sees things that others say are not possible.

As they stay with this family, that is overwhelmed with bills and tension from a town treating Alice as something evil or begging for her to help them talk to their dead relatives, they let their own secrets influence their findings.

Mina and Sam met in a grief program. She's dealing with her brother's death and Sam with his young daughter's passing. Both have secrets over their losses, and, what if, just possibly, Alice is the real deal.

Adding to the ominous atmosphere is voice actress Ana Clements with her staunch English accent and her slow burn cadence building to terrifying fear as truths, centuries old, come to light, and the words, "It's not the dead we should be afraid of, it's the living," have never been more true.

The build up to the reveal is nail biting and the ending was something, maybe not something in the walls, but definitely something shockingly twisty.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Macmillan Audio via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you you to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook.

This book was creepy and and kept me on the edge of my seat. As for the audiobook, I didn’t care for the narrator.

A 13 year old being haunted by a witch! I was pulled quickly into this at the beginning, the elements of possession and horror. It was a unique blend between a psychological thriller and complete fear!

It did fall a little lackluster towards the end for me, but overall it was an interesting and atmospheric read!

The audio was very well done. The narrator did a great job at adding to the ambiance of the story and really bringing out the horror elements!

Horse is not really my genre, but this book was suspenseful and creepy in the best ways. The book covers gorgeous. The characters are vibrant.

I love mystery/thriller books, but if you add a little horror into the mix then you have a book that is going to hook me and never let go. That is exactly what you get with this book. There were a couple slow moments around the middle of the book, but it picked back up at the end.

The audiobook was just the right amount of creepy to keep my attention. What I loved most about this book was Mina's journey to determine her wants.
Then, when we meet Alice, things get even more interesting.

Thanks to the publisher for the ALC and Arc!

TW/CW: GRIEVING, DEATH OF SIBLING, MOURNING, DEATH OF CHILD, DRINKING, SMOKING, CHEATING, BULLYING, PEER PRESSURE, GRAPHIC ANIMAL DEATH, DEATH BY SUICIDE, SEXUAL ASSAULT

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:
Newly minted child psychologist Mina has little experience. In a field where the first people called are experts, she’s been unable to get her feet wet. Instead she aimlessly spends her days stuck in the stifling heat wave sweeping across Britain and anxiously contemplates her upcoming marriage to careful, precise researcher Oscar. The only reprieve from her small, close world is attending the local bereavement group to mourn her brother’s death from years ago.

Then she meets journalist Sam Hunter at the grief group one day, and he has a proposition for her: Thirteen-year-old Alice Webber claims a witch is haunting her. Living with her family in the remote village of Banathel, Alice finds her symptoms are getting increasingly disturbing. Taking this job will give Mina some experience and much-needed money; Sam will get the scoop of a lifetime; and Alice will get better—Mina is sure of it.

But instead of improving, Alice’s behavior becomes inexplicable and intense. The town of Banathel has a deep history of superstition and witchcraft. They believe there is evil in the world. They believe there are ways of…dealing with it. And they don’t expect outsiders to understand.
Release Date: February 25th, 2025
Genre: Horror
Pages: 291
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Love the books cover - beautiful
2. 80s vibes
3. Writing style is lovely
4. The twists of the book

What I Didn't Like:
1. Unrealistic situations that made little sense to the plot at times

Overall Thoughts:
{{Disclaimer: I write my review as I read}}

"Sometimes the deceit is so weightless, you barely think of it"

Did Oscar cheat on her with Lucy...? I hope we get to find out what happened. If he did or didn't.

Ahhhhhh Oscar is cheating....!

I knew the moment that it was mentioned that the girls were staying at Burts

Sam acting like he knows what is going on and taking Burts side. How did Sam become this unhinged?

Yesssssssssss Burt was the one who was taking advantage of the girls. I'm sure he is the one that killed his wife so he could send away Mina.

What's the point of Burt locking her in a room when she has the photos of the girls being molested. There is zero way he can convince people something differently than what is in the photos.

Did she just say she put a pillow on her brothers face?

Go in for a ghost story, think it's a witch story, and find out it's just a pervert abusing underage teens.

Burt convinces people that Mina is the witch but what is he going to do when Alice acts weird again? Is he going to say the witch jumped back to Alice?

Yeah who the hell would even marry Oscar? He meets Mina at the hospital and tells her then that he can't marry her. Ridiculous.

Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book a lot. It had the whole psychological aspect of is Alice even haunted or are they doing it for the money. It kept you on the edge of your seat wondering what was real.

We then get this whole switch to Witchcraft. I could see this being a movie and I'd be here for it!

IG | Blog

Thanks to Netgalley, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The first half of this book had me fully intrigued. It’s based in 1989 Britain during a horrid heatwave. Our main character, Mina, meets Sam at a bereavement group. She is still mourning the loss of her brother in childhood, he is mourning the loss of his young daughter. Sam is also a journalist, and when he learns Mina is a child psychologist, asks her to come with him to a small town to try and help a teen girl claiming to be possessed by a witch. Mina and Sam are both desperate and depressed, the small town is claustrophobic and almost manic, and the heatwave is so oppressive that it crawls off the page.
The true creepy factor is Alice. She is a true 80’s possessed kid, complete with a total change in appearance, different voice, knowledge about Mina and Sam it’s impossible for her to know, suspicious deaths of her enemies, and a penchant for having wasps surround her. And the 95% of the time she’s not possessed? Absolutely normal, sweet, shy 13-year old girl.
Unfortunately, the second half of this book disappointed me. It felt like Pearce took two different plot lines and just mashed them together without pausing to create any resolution. I was invested in the Webber family’s fraught dynamic, the ever-invasive townspeople, and Mina and Sam’s slow decline out of reality. I was not invested in the sharp left turn the plot took from hauntingly creepy to chillingly realistic.
Overall, this was definitely a horror thriller. The whole book had me on the edge of my seat, terrified of what was happening. The only issue was that my fear transitioned to “What’s going to happen next?” to “Why is this happening next?” If you’re looking for something that blends a few different horror tropes like possession and witch hunting, this may be a better fit for you than it was for me!
Thanks to Netgalley, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for the free advanced book and audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

Something in the Walls has a little bit of everything. There's folklore, a touch of the paranormal, mystery and suspense, with some witchiness thrown in, and it all works so well together. This is a really strong debut, and, although I've seen it classified in some places as horror, it's more of a horror lite, perfect for those that like to dip their toes into scary but maybe not go all in. What honestly made this book for me though was the ending, which is certainly the darkest part of the book. It brought everything full circle, and I loved it. I also will not be poking around in anyone's dark basement for a while.

Received a free audio copy from NetGalley

This was an insane book. Did NOT see that ending coming at all!

4.5 out of 5 stars!

I absolutely loved this book!. It literally kept me on the edge of my seat. It was very engaging. The narrator was awesome. I loved the characters. There were even points in the story. where I found myself relating to some of the characters which was wild. I was completely and pleasantly surprised in the end that none of the characters I thought was the witch was the witch. This one is definitely going on my top 10.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the copies to review.

Happy Pub Week to Something In The Walls, a slow burn of a horror / psychological thriller that was mostly on the witchy side with a dash of child possession. It was atmospheric, dark, and disturbing, but very slow going throughout the book until the end, which was a doozy. I liked the story despite the pace, thought it was great via audio, and the ending was wild.

This was a very frustrating book. Up until the very ending, it was excellent folk horror with some unique aspects, and the narrator was very good. I was enjoying it very much until I got to the ending, which was so bad that it retroactively ruined the entire book for me. It was an absolutely unnecessary "clever" twist that made the whole book make no sense in retrospect. It also completely failed to explain what was going on with Alice - which was the main plot of the entire book!

The ending reveals that Mina's brother was not actually born with a defective immune system, but just a bit delicate. He was not at all expected to die. Mina, a teenager herself, murdered him a few days after he saved her life. Why? Who knows! There were hints earlier that she might have mercy killed him, but that makes no sense if he wasn't dying. So... I guess she was just a motiveless psychopath from a very young age? Again, there was NOTHING hinting at that!

Then the end suggests that Mina was the witch all along. But if Mina was actually causing everything and Alice was just being manipulated by others, then why did Mina only start causing witchy stuff once she met Alice? And what was her motive for any of it? Why would she cause Maggie's shoe to appear to torment Sam, but then try to keep him away from it? Why was she tormenting Alice but also trying to help her? Why was Mina powerful enough to cause the deaths of two out of three of Alice's bullies, but totally helpless when she herself was in danger, and also totally incapable of causing anything bad to happen to her awful fiance? I guess you could surmise that Mina's witch powers only awakened when she visited witch town, but if she murdered her brother when they were teenagers, she was a psychopath before she ever set foot there. So why doesn't she ever do anything psychopathic to her awful fiance or anyone but her brother until she hits Witchville?

The entire story up to the last few pages makes sense if Alice is being manipulated by others but also really is possessed by a witch. It makes no sense if Mina is the witch. Mina's character makes sense if she's who she seems to be for 95% of the book, but no sense if she's an evil witch - if she's evil, she's wildly inconsistently so.

This is a fun horror story rooted in folklore. I really enjoyed this and trying to figure out what was happening with Alice. I also really enjoyed the the setting. It felt like a very isolated town which added ambiance to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy of this book. Book was fine, really good if you like the genre! I would read more from this author.

New psychologist Mina teams up with Sam (a journalist) in this thriller/horror about some very suspicious events surrounding a girl in a small, odd town. Alice, the teen subject, experiences some supernatural, unusual incidences that make everyone in the town suspicious and edgy. She insists that she is being haunted by a witch, whom causes all sorts of strange things to occur. Both Sam and Mina are brought in to investigate this haunting, while at the same time fighting their own personal demons. Little do they know, they’ve bit off a bit more than they could chew with this case.

This book built up slowly but methodically, making it very entertaining to follow the story. The turn of events keep you guessing throughout and you will never imagine the ending! Four stars for this supernatural thriller! The narrator was very good and really made it all the more thrilling!

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC in exchange for my candid review!

Creepy, chilling, and witchy - this one is an unsettling folk horror seeps under your skin. This slow-burn thriller follows child psychologist Mina as she takes on a troubling case: 13-year-old Alice Webber, who insists a witch is haunting her. As Mina delves deeper into Alice’s world, the eerie village of Banathel reveals its dark history of superstition, secrets, and something far more sinister lurking just out of sight.

The writing is simple yet incredibly effective, layering tension and supernatural unease throughout. The audiobook narration amplifies the chilling atmosphere, making every whispered warning and shadowy moment feel even more ominous. If you love folk horror with an eerie, slow-building dread, this one’s worth a listen.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacmillanAudio for an advanced arc and alc of this title!

SOMETHING IN THE WALLS brings readers to the limits of where thrillers meet horror in a compact, impactful story.

When newly minted child psychologist Mina gets her first "big girl" case, she doesn't really just how lucky-or unlucky-she is. Mina's been invited by a journalist named Sam to meet a young girl named Alice Webber who lives in a town forgotten by the world, where witchcraft panic still looms with shadows that might be the only relief from the heat wave they are experiencing. Mina is taken to meet Alice, her neighbors, and the community that supports each other amid times of strife. But Alice's case isn't just for a psychologist: She's hearing noises in the walls, and she knows things that people shouldn't know. Things like what's buried in Sam's past. And Mina's. When people start dying and fingers start flying, Mina learns that she has to clear Alice's name... and figure out who is really bringing the evil to this town.

There are so many great building blocks in Daisy Pearce's thriller. This novel seems to be gasping for air with a sweltering, bleak backdrop of a town, and it finds greater weight by setting the story sometime in the nineties, where mass media more deeply controlled ideology and small towns (and small minded folks) could stay more easily cut off. But it's the towns collective fear of witchcraft and its macabre history of it that really helps this novel toe the line between thriller and horror- and I don't just mean green faces on broomsticks. What haunts this story is truly terrifying stuff, and the reveal of who is behind the worst crimes--and not just why, but how--will keep readers up at night. Like the best horror novels, this book masquerades with fiction and monsters to uncover something more sinister about our world, something that happens under our noses (and in our basements) every day. The final pages of this story will make readers uneasy, and while the novel concludes with some loose ends that bothered me, it will certainly keep you up at night.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Something in the Walls was so very creepy, and I was hooked until the very end. I predicted a lot of the “twists” and “reveals”, but that didn’t really bother me. I enjoyed the reading experience (as much as one can with this sort of content), and this is one of those horror books where I was actually wincing during certain scenes. The ending left many questions, some that I felt there was no provided answer for and some that I could guess at. I don’t usually mind open endings and I didn’t mind it in this case either, but I would have liked just a little more clarity about some elements of the story.

I don’t have any complaints about the audiobook itself, nor did it stick out to me in any special way.

I don’t recommend this book for people who want very clear endings and satisfying wrap-ups, and also for those who may be sensitive to disturbing content. Look up content warnings if you are unsure. However, if you are looking for an interesting horror read and that doesn’t bother you, this book is worth a shot!