Wow, this is definitely a book I am excited for others to read! It’s so well written, chilling, and shocking! I love the atmosphere, needed to get to the bottom because the characters were fleshed out excellently! Be prepared for chills, thrills, shocks, and much more when reading this book! I highly, highly recommend!
Will make sure to buzz it up on all the different platforms!

This was a pretty enjoyable page-turner of a whodunit, I did feel like it was lacking in character development (as in, I found myself not really caring about or engaging with any of them), which held it back from being great.

I really enjoyed this book! I was quite confused at times and had to turn back but all in all this was a really good book and would definitely recommend.

3.5 stars. Take one slightly seedy country manor on a remote Scottish island. Add five guests who are surprised to see each other, various acts of sabotage and no ferry over the weekend. Stir the mixture with a nasty storm and you have They Did Bad Things.

The five guests have been lured there under false pretences. 20 odd years ago things came to a nasty head in a house share for six university students when one of them, Callum, died after a wild party. The others all claimed ignorance of how the tragedy occurred to the police and swore to themselves to forget about it and move on. But someone didn’t forget. Someone knows what really happened and seems intent on payback.

This was a classic “locked room” mystery and if I hadn’t recently read a couple of these I could have rated it higher. The story was well written. The characters, even in their 40s seemed a bit childish however, and, while the pacing was proficient and the clues were doled out at the appropriate times, it was not quite as atmospheric as it could have been. Still and all - a very good story.

This book started with great promise but soon devolved into a miasma of no likeable characters, graphic and extreme violence and unlikely action.

They Did Bad Things is a well paced, page turning read! While the characters weren't strong, the plot sure was! I wish I was able to connect to them more but there was something missing in their development. Other than this, I found the mystery to be very intriguing and I was frantically flipping the pages all the way through to the end.

Six strangers house share for their freshman year at university. During the nine months of classes they become frenemies; one becomes a murderer.
20 years later the remaining housemates are lured to a bed and breakfast weekend getaway under false pretenses. To their dismay they are all together again because someone has to pay for the housemate who didn't make it. But who?
I enjoyed 60% of this book. The premise was excellent. The writing was engaging. I felt the isolation and the tension within the hotel. I loved the slasher/thriller element of the story.
Then about 60%-65% into the storyline it starts to falter as we are introduced to a new character. Why? It completely took me out of the mystery.
I turned the Kindle off at 80% because of the massive exposition dump. It would have been better if the information was dispersed throughout the story as it naturally evolved. I eventually finished the book but was disappointed at the end.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this digital ARC.

I was excited to read a thriller which I don’t read too often. The premise sounded great. I enjoyed the setting, but the plot really fell flat for me. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and the thriller element fell short. There were a few moments, but overall it was a slow read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free ebook in exchange for a review.

DNF at 25%

When I read the synopsis of a modern day And Then There Were None, I was excited! Unfortunately this just isn’t doing it for me. There isn’t much to keep my attention span. I may return to this at a different time

Overall, this was a really enjoyable read. Witty, fast paced, isolated setting, dynamic characters, and plenty of suspense. I only lost interest when it came to the ending. The twist and the characters motivations didn't seem solid enough or make enough sense in my reading of the story. Still, looking forward to what Forry writes next.

Bad people gleefully doing bad things to each other meet someone even worse in this tight and twisty thriller that propelled me along at breakneck speed.

As soon as I saw the description for They Did Bad Things by Lauren A. Forry I couldn’t wait to dive in. And yes they certainly did some bad things! I loved how the story unfolds between the past and present and told through all the main characters of the story. It keeps you guessing and thinking you are close to knowing the truth and then nope, not yet. At times, I found it creepy and thought maybe I shouldn’t be reading this so late at night. The atmosphere of the old hotel during a dark storm adds to the dark elements of the story. I really enjoyed it! Thank you to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing Arcade Crimewise for the ARC!

I was intrigued by the premise and felt engaged throughout. Definitely a page-turner, but some of the plot twists felt extremely convenient and random, but I still enjoyed the book despite a few problematic elements. Creepy as heck in some parts. The explanation of exactly what happened near the end became distracting - show, not tell, would have been preferred. Some parts were a little confusing too. But overall, the negatives didn't hinder my enjoyment too much.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgally for review purposes.

I guess this is like if Clue (the movie) and if And Then There Were None had a baby. With that description you'd think it'd be amazing but this one fell a little flat for me. I never got a good feel for the characters and though they're described as past best friends, even in flashbacks they seem more like strangers. I never got a bonded vibe.

There were so many things that just didn't work for me. The motive for the fist murder, the climax at the end, it all just seemed kind of like "really?". You're waiting for the why's and the what happened but it's all just sort of underwhelming.

It was still fun, but I don't think I'd recommend it.

I love thrillers, so I was really looking forward to reading 'They Did Bad Things'. Unfortunately, it completely fell short of the mark for me.

The book tells the story of 5 university housemates, who are reunited (under false pretences) 20 years after the death of their sixth housemate in order to reveal what truly happened that fateful night.

The premise of the story sounded great. However, this book just didn't work for me. None of the characters were likeable (or memorable with regards to the female housemates), so I didn't really care what happened to any of them. What's more, it went from a super slow start to a bloodbath very suddenly, with some unrealistic twists thrown into the mix.

This wouldn't put me off trying another book by this author, but I wouldn't recommend 'They Did Bad Things'.

Although this kept my attention, I wasn't that crazy about this story.

I would recommend this as a good read on a Sunday afternoon.

I really loved this book!! It had so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!! This was my first book by this Author, and it won’t be the last!! Quick read!! Highly recommended!! You won’t be disappointed!!

With a premise like this one, I'd usually be invested within a few chapters and desperate to know more but unfortunately I didn't really get that feeling with They Did Bad Things at all. I didn't find any of the characters likeable, I struggled to follow where it was going and because of the amount of characters, I just got confused at times, especially because a few are so similar. I could quite clearly picture it all in my mind and think it could be a great film but as a novel, this just didn't work for me.

Wow- what a roller coaster ride! This book was a page turner and kept me guessing until the very end. The story involves 6 college students/roommates in present day and 20 years ago, when one of them is murdered. They all end up back at the same house again and the game of “who dun it” begins. At first, the characters blended together a bit and there wasn’t really a protagonist, but the story itself was entertainment enough. I would definitely recommend this book if you are into thrillers and trying to figure out intricate mysteries. 4 stars!

I immediately jumped into reading They Did Bad Things when I saw it was by Lauren A. Forry. It was awhile ago, but I read and reviewed her novel, Abigale Hall, and absolutely loved it. While the premise of this novel seemed quiet different from Forry's previous novel, I loved the horror movie vibe the summary was giving. I'm sad to say that this was one of those books I expected to love, but ultimately disliked it enough that I almost didn't finish it.

The premise of They Did Bad Things is interesting enough. A group of college kids are brought together by the dilapidated, rundown house in which they each rent a room. The students couldn't be more different than each other, but they somehow make coexisting work until it, well... doesn't. The morning after a crazy party, the roommates awaken to find that one housemate has been murdered, clearly by one of the roommates themselves, but no one knows who for sure. After covering up evidence and making the crime look like an accident, the surviving roommates go on to live their lives for the next few decades until they are all lured to a mysterious hotel on an island in Scotland under false pretenses. It quickly becomes clear that no one will be checking out of this hotel alive until the truth about what happened all those years ago is revealed and justice has been served. Death and mayhem ensue and the rest of the novel plays out like your cookie-cutter horror movie.

Now, normally, I would like this, except something just doesn't work here. I could envision the story in my mind and I bet it could be a successful movie, but it just wasn't working as a novel for me. I found it very confusing to follow. The story is told from several narrators' perspectives and jumps from the past to the present to the near-past to the long ago past again, etc. Three of the characters were very similar and I kept getting them mixed up in my mind. I feel like this is something that needed to be cleaned up a little bit to make the experience less arduous for the reader. The twists and turns were far from shocking and even the gruesome bits felt like the author was trying too hard. So much of the mastermind's plan is laughably far-fetched (getting plastic surgery to assume someone else's identity???). None of the characters were likable and the ultimate reason the roommate was killed in the first place never made much sense to me. I also never fully understood how the bad guy knew which one of the roommates was responsible for the original death.

I'm frustrated because I really thought I was going to like this novel. I hate to rate it so low when I've loved her previous work, but I almost quit several times. It's never a good sign when you've made it to 90% completion and you still aren't sure the last 10% is worth your time. Forry did do a nice job when it came to creating a creepy setting in both the college rental house and the Scottish manor, but everything else just fell way short.