Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling this book to be honest. I hated Oli as a main (though I guess I was happy that she grew at the end?), and the book felt far too long. The final plot twist made some sense (though it was incredibly muddled), but it wasn’t something that I really felt invested in. Honestly, this book could have been about 150 pages shorter; it felt like a lot could have been cut as I was reading.

Are you looking for your next thriller read? Check out The Housemate by Sarah Bailey. It was an entertaining read.

Oli was a junior reporter when she was there after a brutal murder at a house in 2005 ten years prior to the current narrative. That murder was known as the housemate homicide with one woman dead and one missing and the other accused of murder. Now she is paired with a journalist doing a podcast about the housemate homicide and the missing housemates is found dead. What happened? Old and Cooper seek the answers and as they do Cooper gets on Olis nerves but they have a fun quirky relationship. I really enjoyed this story and how it is laid out and how you keep wondering what happened and what is going to happen throughout.

This would be a really fun book club pick! I can not begin to say how good this book was. I was so taken back by the ending. Wonderfully written!

The Housemate is a fast-paced, engrossing thriller that I could not put down once I picked it up. The story follows a journalist, Oli Groves, as she digs into an old crime that has come back into the front pages. Nearly a decade before, Oli, as a young journalist, had covered the Housemate Homicide, which rocked the nation and was never fully resolved. Now, when the missing housemate shows up dead, the hunt is back on to figure out what really happened so many years ago.

I loved Oli as a main character - she was dynamic and flawed and passionate and everything I want from a woman lead. And her colleague, Cooper, was simply a delight to read about.

I did feel at points that it was hard to keep track of everyone's names and the different plot lines happening - there are a couple other cases happening tangentially during the course of the book. But, in the end, that didn't take away much for me.

Highly recommend this book if you're looking for a twisty thriller that will keep you up way past your bedtime.

4.5 stars rounded up!

Thanks to Net Galley for this Arc.

I love a good murder mystery thriller - but this one was a little slow to start for me. I felt like some things were implied that weren’t fully explained so there were times I felt lost.

Towards the end it felt very fast paced and the plot twist was pretty wild.

This book was pretty good! I will say the ending was predictable and it took away from my overall enjoyment from this book due to being able to easily guess who did it. I think it was okay though, the writing style was fine just not as descriptive as they could be


Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

I truly tried to get into this one, it really sounded so good. I just couldn't do it. The characters were so unlikable, the plot was all over the place and to me made no sense. I was not able to push through and had to DNF.

A murdered roommate, a missing child, and plenty of secrets shape the plot of Sarah Bailey’s latest, The Housemate.

Olive “Oli” Groves was a junior reporter when the Housemate Homicide occurred, an event that has haunted her ever since. Nine years later, a new development is bringing everything she thought she had come to terms with back to the forefront. As she reluctantly works with a young podcaster named Cooper, Oli realizes the case is even more complicated than she thought.

Bailey has crafted a captivating story with numerous twists, although the dual timelines and multiple characters can sometimes be confusing. There were a few moments where I had completely forgotten about a character, making their big and sudden involvement unclear. However, the bulk of the story keeps the reader intrigued and Bailey’s latest is an enjoyable read.

Dubbed the Housemate Homicide, it's a mystery that has baffled Australians for almost a decade. Melbourne based journalist Olive Groves worked on the story as a junior reporter and became obsessed by the case. Now, nine years later, the missing housemate turns up dead on a remote property. Olive is once again assigned to the story, this time reluctantly paired with precocious millennial podcaster Cooper Ng. As Oli and Cooper unearth new facts about the three housemates!! Good book! This book had suspense, intriguing, murder, mystery, a good who done it and a few crazy twists and turns! The story was interesting, it wasn't one of my top favorite but still worth reading! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

The Housemate by Sarah Bailey is an Australian Thriller about three college housemates who get entangled in a sticky web of lies and deceit. When one of the housemates turns up dead in their home, questions arise and an investigation is launched, however, the case goes cold. For journalist Oli Groves, this case has always intrigued her, and nearly a decade later, the case explodes when another of the housemates is found dead. Oli becomes involved in the case again, wavering between seemingly obvious connections between the first and second housemate. Pairing up with a young podcaster named Cooper. Ng, Oli works tirelessly to discover the truth, one which shockingly circles back to her own personal life.

Parts of this book were really intriguing to me. I liked the back and forth between both crimes and the connections Oli was able to make along the way as she dove deeper and deeper into the lives of the housemates as well as the people they knew while they were at Uni. I did, however, think the book went on a little long and sometimes became confusing when jumping timelines and characters. I read this book on Kindle and the formatting was off a times, making it a bit challenging to read.

Overall, this was a good thriller for anyone that is interested in the classic cat and mouse chase of journalist/podcasters searching for the truth and digging just a little too deep.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for the ARC. I saw the description for this book and instantly thought this was going to be the book. I enjoyed the plot and character development. The story felt original and was engaging. I will read more by the author.

2.5/5 rounded up because this was so slow.

I felt like nothing happened the entire time I was reading this.

The writing style was also just not for me. It felt so short and stunted with those choppy little sentences that you only see in your very first chapter book as a child. I like far more complex sentences. These sentences feel like there's nothing to discover since there's nothing creative about their formation. It just doesn't feel appropriate for the genre or age-range of this book.

And the time jumps were so confusing and didn't always feel wholly necessary. I am just not a fan of time jumps unless they are done perfectly and that was just not done here (in my opinion).

There are no characters to root for here, they're not particularly likable or interesting so it's difficult to care about the story when you don't care who it's happening to.

This really did drag (I think mainly due to the writing style and pace of the story) so I found myself getting bored and needing to skim just to continue reading.

Maybe another draft is needed or maybe this isn't for people who have already read a lot in the genre. I've heard great things about this author, so I was very excited to read this book, but I was disappointed. And with such a great premise too!

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

3 Stars

I really enjoyed the Australian setting and the writing style—it was immersive and kept me engaged at the start. The premise, with the three housemates and the mystery around their deaths, was intriguing. Olive and Cooper made a great team, and their dynamic was one of the highlights.

That said, the story felt a bit muddled at times. Some sections dragged on longer than needed, and it was hard to stay focused through parts that could have been trimmed down. The pacing wasn’t always steady, and I found myself losing momentum a few times.

Overall, it was an interesting read, but it could have been tighter to make the mystery even more gripping.

Thank you NetGalley and Datura Books for the copy to read in exchange for my honest review!

I love a good possibly unsolved mystery and this is no exception. Olive is a journalist in Australia working to uncover the truth of a murder from a decade ago of a young college student (Evelyn) found dead in the house she shared with fellow students. One housemate (Nicole) disappeared and the other was found at the scene of the crime and eventually tried and found guilty (Alex). So what’s the mystery then? Well, Nicole has been found dead and the case is back in the news. Since Olive worked on it last time, she’s assigned again and hoping to answer the question of why Nicole ran from the scene and where she's been all this time.

She’s working with a young employee (Cooper) who is of the younger generation and is eager to work with Olive on this case. Where she sees hard-hitting news and articles, he sees podcasts and social media updates. He’s a great character in this story and the way they eventually bond is endearing – each teaching the other not to let stereotypes of the other’s generation get in the way, etc. It’s done in a non-corny and believable way. There’s also a lot of in-office drama with Olive and her co-workers/boss about the future of their company and journalism. It’s set in 2015 by the way, when that was a predominant worry for those in the field.

However, if one more person commented on Olive’s voice, I was about to throw the book (Kindle). Ok, she has a deep throaty voice, plenty of women have them. There were also several comments from male characters about her looks. I don’t know why the author kept throwing these in there to remind readers how appealing she was. State it once and move on, goodness.
The plot moves quickly and there are several surprising twists that make the story way darker than I was expecting. It’s good though, because it’s not your average whodunit and I think all readers will be surprised by one twist or another. I would definitely read more by this author - I hadn’t heard of her before but she’s got a new fan!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!!

What a good book!! This one had me hooked from page one! I could t put it down. I loved the writing style of this book. I lived the characters and they had great chemistry.

This book shook me to my core and absolutely affirmed that I should never get a roommate. Such good writing!

Like, OMG, this book totally hooked me! Okay, not like right away—it’s kind of like when you try a new coffee order, and it’s a little bitter at first, but then you’re, like, fully obsessed by the second sip? Yeah, that’s how this one hit. It’s all about this wild old case with housemates (like, one’s dead, one’s missing, and one’s in deep trouble). And now, years later, things are getting stirred up again. Totally messy, right?

The main girl, Olive—or Oli, as her friends call her—is this super determined journalist who’s digging into the past while juggling a very complicated personal life. Oh, and let’s not forget Cooper, her podcaster sidekick! He’s all tech-savvy and totally annoying in that cute, “ugh, you’re so right” way. Their teamwork? Soooo goooood!!

The vibes were moody, twisty, and just juicy enough to keep me flipping pages. Some parts felt a teeny bit slow, but by the end, I was like, “No way did I just read that!” Trust me, it’s the kind of thriller that keeps you guessing while sprinkling in just enough drama to keep it spicy.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion! ✨

I thought The Housemate would be the book to *finally* get me out of my reading slump. Unfortunately, it didn't help. While the premise is really interesting, the way it played out didn't hold my attention. There was a lot of focus on Oli's internal narrative that pulled me away from the greater mystery. Additionally, jumping between timelines and perspectives felt more distracting and broke up what could have been some strong tension.

I really hope other readers enjoy this book, because it does seem like a great story! It just didn't grab me the way I hoped it would.