I'm glad it was not 500 pages because it took hold of my life the entire read. I could not put it down. Literally, it stayed in my hands and I stayed on the couch. I asked my husband for nutrients. I need more thrillers from Barr. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to review a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastically twisty domestic thriller!

Desperate for help, super-realtor Dara Banks impulsively hires Merry Rafter to fill the position of her assistant, even though there’s just something “off” about the woman and her slim resume. What with her disabled husband sinking deeper and deeper into depression since his accident, a teenage stepson withdrawing from the family and leaning more toward undesirable companions, and a young stepdaughter with autism, Dara has her hands full; she’s stressed and certainly doesn’t have time to vet the woman’s past. But happily, Merry proves to be a quick study, a willing worker, and amazingly resourceful, even if she tends to sing her own praises a little too much. As she becomes indispensable at the office, her helpfulness begins to extend to the Banks’s household, with her winning over each one of the family members with elaborate and studied measures. When Merry copies Dara’s hairstyle and color and always seems to be taking her place at events or with clients, Dara realizes Merry’s real goal may be to take over her entire life.

Deadly When Disturbed is a twisty new domestic thriller by author D.M. Barr, and it kept me on the edge of my seat from its shocking opening to its surprising, gasp-inducing resolution. With its clever characters and cunning, complex plot, this is one heck of a pageturner!

The story unfolds from two points of view, Dara’s and, eventually, Merry’s, so readers get the inside track on what both of these women are thinking. From the start, Dara refers to “Celeste,” who is her psychological inner voice, guardian, and protector, and, at times, the one who is actually calling the shots. However, Dara was such a sympathetic character that I tended to forget about “Celeste” until Dara brought her up. Dara stepped into her marriage with Jason to help him after a work accident damaged his hands beyond use. She’s also the guiding light for a successful children’s autism non-profit in honor of her stepdaughter and devotes any free time she has to fundraising and volunteer work. She’s the top-producing realtor in her area for a good reason, though, as she’s absolutely ruthless in her dealings with buyers and sellers alike, with “Celeste” often pulling the strings.

Merry Rafter is an odd character, and Dara is right when she senses something is “off” with her. She wears designer clothes, but they’re all either too tight, too short, or too low-cut, and she chooses to accessorize with gaudy or inappropriate baubles. Merry takes on any task, nothing is too menial, as she ingratiates her way into Dara’s life. But her background is a little murky until Dara starts looking into it, already regretful she didn’t do her due diligence.

The plot is fast-paced and complex, with Merry always several moves ahead of Dara as she manipulates Dara’s and her family’s perception of what she’s up to. When Dara begins to question Merry’s motives and actions, her research into the other woman’s background reveals surprise after surprise. However, the women have a lot in common, and it is the way they choose to deal with their pasts that differentiates the two. The story becomes a race between the two to see who will come out on top.

I recommend DEADLY WHEN DISTURBED to readers of domestic or psychological thrillers.

"She knew uncovering Merry’s game wasn’t enough. She needed blackmail ammunition. Celeste, vindictive and shrewd, wanted more. Her protector wanted Merry’s head on a Thanksgiving platter."


An intense, wild ride of mystery/suspense/thriller, it gave me whiplash. Just like my previous read, there's a character who is an interloper and wants to usurp the MC's life. We follow Dara Banks, the town's leading real estate professional. She's also the driving force behind Autism Vanguard and all the good they do for children on the spectrum. Then there's Merry her too perfect assistant who has made life easier for her and saved her too many times until she was slowly taking over her life, usurping her role as stepmother, right down to her coif. Dara is on a
mission to finally extricate Merry from their lives.
This book touches on DID and although it was a bit slow in the middle, it picked up and had a shocking ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the arc 🖤

Firstly thank you to the publishers for my early access in exchange for a review.
I’ve reviewed a few of this authors books and this is definitely one of their strongest .
Thought provoking and well written

First the cover is soo beautiful.

This book hooked me up from the start. I couldn't put it down, the plot and twists was so jawbreaking good,

Definitely recommended to put on your TBR for 2025.

This book was definetley an addictive ride, I couldn’t put it down. It had me turning the pages late into the night, eager to see what would happen next. The story had plenty of drama, suspense, and moments of dark humor that kept it entertaining.

That said, I found it a bit predictable. While it delivered some shocks, many of the twists were easy to see coming, which lessened the impact for me. Still, the pacing and intriguing premise made it a solid read.

Overall, I’d rate it 3 stars. If you’re looking for a quick, suspenseful thriller with a compelling game of cat and mouse, this one’s worth checking out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of Deadly When Disturbed!

Deadly when Disturbed by D.M Barr is an intense, page turning psychological thriller. Rock Canyon's leading realtor Dara Banks is carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Trying to take care of fixing her relationship with her husband, being a good mother and stepmother and dealing with pretty ignorant parents, she needs help. Hiring a new assistant Meryl (Merry) seems to be the best decision. Merry is super helpful and absolutely on top of everything. And eventually that "everything" includes everything in Dara's life. From her relationship with her husband to her friendships Merry has her hand in everything. Is Merry truly just wanting to help Dara, or does she have some sort of ulterior motive?
This book was a wild ride! I found myself infuriated in the best way with the characters but that just goes to show how well these characters are written. It was a pretty quick paced and an easy read but it definitely made an impression on me. I will definitely want to check out more work by D.M Barr.
Thank you to NetGalley, D.M Barr, and Level Best Books for this ARC. Expected publishing date is January 14th 2025.

3.5 stars.

This was a very interesting story, and did not end up how I expected. The characters are all very unlikeable yet I did find myself rooting for Dara in the end. The twist was not something I expected, nor did I expect all the details woven into the second half of the story. I did like the second half of the story better when it was in dual POV, I would have liked that throughout the full book.

Amazing book! The twists were nothing short of jaw dropping! This book had me super frustrated with Dara at times which shows how great the character development was written. Definitely recommending this to everyone I know.

Thank you to Level Best Books and D. M. Barr for giving me the opportunity to read this advanced copy. Much luck to you on your publishing date.

I was invested in what was going on and enjoyed the suspenseful atmosphere that I was looking for. It had that element that I was looking for from the description. D. M. Barr has a strong writing style and was glad everything worked together to tell the story.

Deadly When Disturbed was such a page-turner - especially towards the last 50 pages (and that ending - oh my goodness)!!! I was really hoping for a fast-paced thriller when I started this novel and did it ever deliver! My only complaint is that the story got a tiny bit slow in the middle, but the ending made it worth getting through for sure! If you like the vibes of Gone Girl or Girl On The Train then this book is definitely for you!

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dana a very successful realtor/ step mom/ care giver to disabled husband/ philanthropist found life overwhelming till she seem to hire the perfect assistant. Merry quickly entagles herself in Dana's life, so resourceful and goes over and beyond of her duties, but soon, Dara realizes Merry may be too good to be true, especially she never did a proper background check on her new assistant, who's entangled herself in every part of her life. As their secrets unravel, both of the women realize they've underestimated eachother, leading to a dark showdown that threatens to ruin everyone involved.

This book started off with a great storyline but unfortunately lost me after a while. It was an easy story to follow but maybe too easy. I finished book while predicting just about everything that was going to happen. Thank you Net Galley for this ARC.

Deadly When Disturbed follows the journey of leading Realtor and philanthropist Dara Banks. When Dara searches for an assistant, finding someone as resourceful as Meryl “Merry” Rafter seems too good to be true. So good in fact, she neglects to run a reference check. Bad move. Before she knows it, Merry, a former “actress” trying to be “helpful,” has insinuated herself into Dara’s business, family, and charity, and may be the only person saving her from prison! Good book! This book had high suspense, intriguing, murder, mystery, juicy secrets, a good who done it and a few wild twists! The story was very interesting! I definitely recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

10/10!!!
I could not put this book down, I was so invested in these characters 😳🤯
You never know what’s gonna happen next and I did not guess the ending!
I loved this author’s writing.
An amazing thriller!

This was a good suspense thriller with a plot that never fell off and slowed down. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

I confess I only downloaded this book because it kept appearing in the bottom bar when I was checking out other titles. The cover is stunning and impossible to escape, so after seeing it pop up over and over, I decided to give in -I'm so glad I did.

Deadly When Disturbed is exactly that. I mean, what a ride.

The story starts with a bang in the demise of Samantha (tw: suicide). Five years on, Dara, a realtor and philantropist, hires Merry as her assistant without a background check. It's obvious that either Dara or Merry has some sort of connection to Samantha's death. We slowly learn who Merry really is and what she plans to do to Dara. Things get very scary and Merry inadvertently uncovers Dara's secret from the past. Suddenly the hunter becomes the hunted and we start to see that there's a lot -and I mean a lot- behind Dara's perfect facade. We are then introduced to a third character which is impossible to say much about without spoiling the whole thing. Once it's clear who this person is, things start to ramp up to unprecedented levels and let's say the ending will shock you,

The story is entirely told in the third person. I usually prefer first POV and was pleasantly surprised by how engaging the narrator's voice is. The plot is very visual and the whole thing could be a Netflix series with Nicole Kidman. There's also a lot of characters but then again this wasn't a problem. Honestly, I'm in awe at how the entire thing flew by. This was my first book by this author and if this is anything to go by, it won't be my last.

Disclosure: I would like to thank the publisher and author for my advanced review copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ok this was a good one. Also the cover is so gorgeous?!

The writing style is easy to follow, there are a ton of twists and turns, and I had no idea what to expect.

This was a really good read and I am excited to check out the other books this wonderful author has published!

This is my honest review I am leaving voluntarily. I received a free ebook copy.

Very intense novel with a cat and mouse theme, who is the hunter and who is the hunted? I like the trope of the con artist inserting themselves into someone's life, so this was a good read.

There have been so many great thrillers lately. The last I read was Deadly When Disturbed. What a good book it was!