This is the first book I have ready by this author and it just did not do well for me. Unfortunately, it felt rushed and the characters were not well developed.

I believe the story has potential though and hope to give this author another chance in the future.

Synopsis:
Some mistakes you have to live with . . .
One victim succumbs to an overdose. Another is brutally bludgeoned to death. Each, in turn, will pay. Because you never forget the friends you make in high school—or the enemies . . .

And others . . .
In the wake of her stepbrother Nick’s death, Kerry Monaghan is visiting Edwards Bay. Kerry has just returned to the small town overlooking an arm of Puget Sound that she left before high school, though not before falling hard and fast for Cole Sheffield, now with the local PD. But Nick’s death may be more than an accident. And soon there are others—all former teenage friends, linked by a dark obsession.

You will die for . . .
With Cole’s help, Kerry sets out to learn the truth about what happened to Nick. But within Edwards Bay is a shocking legacy built on envy and lust—and a secret that has unleashed a killer’s unstoppable fury . . .

Bad Things was not the first book that I’d read from Nancy Bush so I was quite surprised that I didn’t really enjoy this thriller at all. The story in this one is set in Edwards Bay, Washington near the Puget Sound and is told from multiple points of view.

When Kerry Monaghan’s stepbrother, Nick, dies she decides to return to her hometown of Edwards Bay that she left after high school. Nick’s death brings Kerry back into contact with Cole Sheffield who Kerry had once fallen for with Cole now working with the Edwards Bay police department. When the first death is followed by another Kerry and Cole’s old group of friends from high school find themselves facing a murderer.

With a rating of two stars it’s pretty obvious that this was one that I didn’t really enjoy reading but I did trudge through the entire story to finish. I often find myself reading books with multiple points of view and sometimes, this being one of those, it just doesn’t work for me. I found that this one was just too scattered for my taste and harder to follow along and actually get to know anyone or care what was happening. Personally I found this one needed some more editing to cut it down as it was a lengthy one too that probably would have benefitted with cutting out some of the jumping around.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

When death follows a group of people who have been friends since high school, will the police figure out the perpetrator before it is too late?

Bad Things gave me a sense of deja vu as I was reading it, with its familiar plot line and generic characters. The characters themselves are two dimensional at best and there are just too many of them to keep straight, if in fact the plot was compelling enough to warrant my complete attention.
The mainly inept, corrupt, and prejudicial police department has become the go-to in many mystery thrillers, which is a "cop-out". There is no discovery or investigation, just reactionary Had I skipped directly to the ending, which I was sorely tempted to do, I would have saved myself a couple of hours to read another book.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Bad Things by NetGalley and the publisher, Zebra Books. The choice to receive and review this book was entirely my own.

I was looking forward to reading this book and would like to thank Kensington-Zebra for the ARC. I could not relate to the story and at the halfway point stopped even skimming. I did read the end to see if it might become more interesting to me BUT it didn't. There were too many characters, I found the idea of everyone remaining friends from High School and being so dysfunctional hard to understand. Perhaps that has more to do with me than the story, though, since I have not been back to a reunion except one time in fifty years. Again, thank you for the ARC but I will not provide a review as I did not complete reading enough to do so.

Awful characters and nothing seemed to really fit together. Unfortunately, this is the first and last book I have tried by this author. I won't be trying any more.

This story, in my opinion, wasn't Nancy's best work. There was too much information that kept popping up over and over about the 'high school gang'. Once I read it, I got it, I didn't need it drilled into my head. IF you ignore all of that, the story its self isn't bad. I would like to thank NetGalley for a copy of this book that I have given my honest opinion of freely.

Thrilling story, great plot and characters that keep you guessing right til the end. Great for fans of this genre. Really enjoyable.

This has been one of my favorite reads of the year so far. You know the saying. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer (including psychopaths)?” Well this is totally true for this story. When one of the A-teams die, they come together and talk. Unfortunately there is a secret that can’t stay hidden forever. With Cole Sheffield as the sherif tracking down the killer with Kerry helping, they uncover a secret that goes all the way back to high school. But who killed Nick Radner, Kerry’s, step brother? You see a dialogue about the killers thoughts, but you really will not figure it out until the very end! Well done for Nancy Bush.

The best part of Bad Things is that the plot was original, and the ending was unpredictable, which is rare for some of the thrillers I've read recently. However, the book didn’t hook me until I was already 75% finished, and it took me a month to read because I kept putting it down. I also did not appreciate the way the Latino laborer in the book was portrayed. He was given an unnecessarily offensive and phonetically inaccurate accent. Plus, his appearance in the novel could have been left out completely. I did enjoy that the plot moves quickly and all the characters were flawed in some way which left me with more questions about how devious and sinful their secrets were. I just couldn't get into this novel like I wanted to.

Full review at: https://justkeyana.com/bad-things/

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a copy of this book.

This was a good story, it just took me a while to get into. Once started though, I couldn't put it down.

I enjoyed this one, but it's not one of my favorites by this author. The mystery has plenty of twists and I guessed the villain wrong. The romance between Kerry and Cole was lacking in my opinion. As long as the book was, I kept expecting more. The cast of characters were interesting and the facts that came out were sometimes shocking. Overall, it's a good read.

Just Not For Me

This is my first time reading this author and I have to say that the storyline could have been good. It was just too long and I had a hard time getting into it. Some may love this book but this just didn’t do it for me.

I have always been a fan of Nancy Bush.and was very happy to get an ARC of this one. While not a favorite, it is a very good, quick read. I like the big shocker at the end. Great story. My only complaint is it was way too overpopulated with characters and I didn't know who would turn out to be important. I would definitely recommend.
Thank you to #Netgalley and Kensington and Zebra Books for this ARC.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

This book just didn't do it for me. Although the plot was originally, this book was so hard to get into and should have been 100 pages shorter. There were some twist and turns making it and OK thriller but it was pretty far fetched and the ending just didn't wow me even though I didn't know who the killer was. I thought the writing itself was good but it was filled with these large dictionary-esque words that just really felt out of place.
One thing that really bothered me about this book that I just could not get past was the way they talked about Egan and him being bipolar. I found it offensive how Bush made it seem that his perverted personality traits were a biproduct of him being bipolar. Also more than one character referred to that fact that a lot of bipolar people commit suicide, even though he was murdered, one saying "the poor shit was bipolar. We all know they have a high suicide rate." I think that this was disgusting and totally misrepresents those suffering.
I want to thank netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

There is a group of former high school classmates referred to as the A-Team. One of them is the apparent victim of an overdose. Then another is brutally murdered. Will anyone else from the group suffer an awful fate? Are these people really friends, or is what happened during their high school years enough to bond them together for life...or death?

What a great premise and quite a promising book. However, there were a couple turns in this story that changed my beginning impressions. First of all, the underlying cause of the murders, and ever-present danger, was all wrapped up in sex. I cannot even begin to count how many sexual references there were in this story. The other issue I had is in reminding readers, over and over, that one of the characters is bipolar. I find myself to be a responsible reader who can actually remember facts and characteristics of the players in any book I read. I can see being reminded once or twice, but the references were far too frequent for my liking.

Back to what did work in this book. The large cast of characters hid behind secrets, lies and covetousness. These were literally deadly sins. The story begins with Kerry Monaghan having returned to the small town of Edwards Bay to be nearer to her family, as well as to begin a new job. When her stepbrother Nick is murdered she is devastated. This also brings her back into contact with her ex, Cole Sheffield, who is chief of police, and one of Nick's high school friends.

While the story progressed, secrets of the past begin to come to light. All the while connections are slowly made that increase the danger to more than one of the group of friends. When I say group of friends, there were many. However, it was rather easy to keep track of all of them. The conclusion was actually exciting and I will admit to not being able to put this book down, and will say that the killer was really a surprise to me.

Although this did not quite hit the mark for me, I will continue to read works by this author.

Many thanks to Zebra and to NetGallley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

Everything this author writes gives me chills and this book was no different. A must read for sure that takes you through twist and turns and leaves you on the edge of your seat.

A clever and wonderfully chilling thriller peopled with believable and realistic characters ! A brilliant must read ! I'm a huge fan of the author and highly recommend ! Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review ! #Netgalley #KensingtonBooks #BadThings

New author for me but Nancy Bush kept me entertained with this thriller and I'd happily read more of her work.
Great storyline, plenty of action, well written and great reveal at the end. My only criticism would be that there were so many characters that it took me awhile to remember who was who but in defence they did all have a role to play.
Enjoyable read and would be happy to recommend it.

Diana Conger awoke knowing she again had too much to drink. Diana had gone to the reunion to find out they hadn’t surpassed her life but were just as messed up and clueless as she was. At least most of them were. Diana was pretty sure she ,ade ot back to her apartment by the grace of God. She struggled to remember how she got home but couldn’t remember while in her bathroom. Than on returning to bed she discovered a man in her bed. She found Nick Radnor in her bed. He was the one classmate who made it big. SOmething on the tech field. Lots of money. She smiled but wondered how Nick had made it in her bed. Diana remained with the A Team- the old HS gang. Those who remained in Edwards Bay had never really separated. Thye hung out at the same bar with the same friends. She couldn’t wait to tell Miami and Josie all about last night. Than she went to get on top on Nick for some sex when she realized his skin was cold, and he was dead an naked in her bed. She then tried to decide what to do. It is sthree in the morning. Than she called Kerry - Nicks stepsister. Kerry was to meet with her stepfather -Jerry who she had remained very close to even after her mother and him had divorced. Kerry taken on bing temporary manager for jerry during the renovation of his Sanddrift Hotel while still holding down her full time job at Starwood Homes. Randy was her boss and had moved her to Edwards Bay after his long time manager retired. Than Kerry answered her cell phone and it was Diana telling her Nick was dead in her bed and she didn’t know what to do and Kerry told her call 911 and she would be there. Kerry thought this was all some bad joke until she pulled up to Diana and saw the cop car and an ambulance. She saw Nick being life on a gurney , Diana ran to her sobbing. Kerry finally got to Nick and felt his cold arm. Kerry went into shock and would have fallen but someone caught her. Than she heard Cole’s name , he was the police chief and Nick’s friend and Kerry’s almost fiance until he broke things off after his brother died while in the service. She didn’t want to see Cole so she left. And went home. Josie was married to Kent but having an affair with Nick. She planned to divorce Kent to be with Nick. Kent made her life hell. The only good guy she knew was Nick but he was becoming an obsession with Josie. Miami was supposed to be Josie’s best friend. She thought Miami and her man Killian -who had broken up several times but always got back together. Miami had been with killian since they had been nine years old. Their relationship just never got over itself. Although lately Miami thought it was time to leave Killian for good. Miami called Josie to tell her Nick was dead. Diana was arrested and in jail for giving Nick drugs. Josie had tried to catch Nick’s eye all night, but he scarcely had looked at her. Playing it cool to hide their affair. When Cole got back to the Police department he told Ben to set Dinan free before she sued the PD as at this time she hadn’t been charged, so Bed begrudgingly let her out. Cole gave diana a ride home and she said she would never hurt Nick or anyone. At the morgue Cole had talked to the coroner and hse said there was a needle mark in Nick’s neck. Jerry was Nick’s dad and had suffered a heart attack the year before and Kerry was very worried about him. After the coroner’s results came out it was death due to an overdose of heroin shot in Nick’s jugular. Kerry nor Jerry believed Nick used drugs and they as most everyone else blamed Diana, as Diana was known to be easy and a party girl and drank and did drugs to excess. Diana went home drunk after being at the hotel bar the memorial had been in. She could not remember the blonde’s name who drove her home. Than someone taped on her bedroom slider and said” Diana, let me in”. Than her arms werte grabbed and she was thrust across the room . her pink scarf was tightened around her neck. Kerry was again awakened by a three am call from diana she heard someone breathing but nothing was said than the phone clicked off. The hair lifted on her arms as nothing had been said. Cade got a call about diana and that a teenager ran away again _Justin- than his body was found in the bay he had overdosed. There were three suspicious deaths in a little over a week. Josie admitted she had never had an affair with Nick it was only her fantasy and she let people believe her and Nick were having an affair.
Excellent thriller. I really loved this book and didn’t want to put it down. I loved the plot and pace. This book had me on the edge of my chair. I didn’t figure out who the murderer was to the author let us know. I loved that Kerry got a second chance at happiness, and that Josie decided to change her life. Also that Jerry was okay. This had my attention right from the beginning to the end. I loved the characters and the twists and turns and I highly recommend this book.