At first glance, Paris Peralta seems to have it all. She's a yoga instructor recently married to famed comedian Jimmy Peralta - a man thirty years her senior who's just about to sign a multi-million dollar deal with Netflix competitor, Quan. Things immediately fall apart though, when she's discovered at the scene of her husband's death, covered in his blood and holding his straight razor in her hand. What ensues is a story that simultaneously follows Paris's seemingly impossible case as she firmly stands by the fact that she didn't kill her husband, as well as a look back in time to her childhood and backstory.

Twenty five years earlier in Canada, Ruby Reyes, the "Ice Queen", was also convicted of murder in a similar crime. Her young daughter Joelle "Joey" Reyes is taken into Child Protective Services, and placed into foster care with her extended family... until she tragically dies in an unexpected fire in a basement apartment she shared with her friend. Things aren't always as they seem though, and in in the present, ex-journalist Drew Malcolm tries to put together the pieces that led to his friend's eventual demise.

"Things We Do in the Dark" is a well-laid out mystery novel that ties together these different characters and storylines beautifully, giving readers plenty of hints and red herrings throughout, but still managed to surprise me in the final few pages. Hillier managed to craft a persuasive female protagonist in Paris; despite the mystery and uncertainty of her background, I rooted for her throughout the story. I appreciated as well how she managed to cover difficult topics like child abuse, racial discrimination, and the mistreatment of women throughout; it isn't revealed until later in the novel that Paris is Filipino, but the subsequent nods to her culture and background were ones I greatly appreciated.

Definitely a recommended summer read for when "Things We Do in the Dark" is released in July!

I was thrilled to receive an E-ARC of this book as I have read and enjoyed several of Jennifer Hillier’s previous works. I really didn’t read the synopsis before jumping right into this story. Unfortunately, it was not my favorite by this author. At one point, I believe in part two, I forgot that the characters in part one were in the same book. There were a lot of flashbacks which generally doesn’t bother me, but in this case, I struggled to keep up.

There are trigger warnings for many things in this book including child abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, addiction, and suicide to name a few. This book fell into the middle lane for me.

This was excellent. I’m not a huge thriller reader but I was just totally sucked into this the whole time. Slapped!

This heart pumping murder mystery is written by an author new to me. It begins with some adult content and is set mostly the Seattle and Vancouver area.
Jimmy, had recently unretired as an famous actor-comedian making a successful comeback.  Married just two years, his latest and much younger wife, Paris, has just been arrested for his murder.
Both Jimmy and Paris have the usual past history, mistakes, secrets, other loves, etc. Paris has more hidden in her troubled past and a lot to lose. They don't share or dwell on their pasts, choosing to enjoy each other now. She really loves Jimmy despite the media gossip and snide remarks people make. She runs a successful yoga business with partner, Henry.
Jimmy's assistant, Zoe, is overly helpful, overstepping and pushing boundaries. Elsie is a lawyer and Jimmy's long time best friend. They shared many years of highs, lows and secrets.
Upon her arrest Elsie is the one Paris calls. Paris steadfastly denies killing Jimmy but, proving it will put her in a much worse situation.
Paris had a horrific childhood with a self-centered and abusive mother. The only thing she inherited from her unknown father is stunning Filipino beauty. It's her biggest asset, surpassing that of her mothers, which is almost a curse. The endless stream of unsavory men her mother persued should have broken Paris. Instead she's learned to survive and adapt.
Ruby Reyes is serving life for murdering her husband. Her own daughter, Joey, was also killed in a separate incident, a terrible fire, and Ruby holds someone responsible.
Drew was a journalist, had to pivot and now has a successful podcast "The Things We Do in the Dark". Drew is shocked to read that Ruby is getting paroled. Joey and Drew had once been best friends. Drew begins to investigate and research for a new episode about Ruby on his podcast. He will uncover long buried secrets and may not be prepared for the shocking facts from the past.
Paris will soon learn who's really on her side as she tries to keep her past buried. She and Jimmy had a prenup, but unknown to her, he recently revised his will. Then there's the blackmail letters she's been receiving.
The intricate plot weaves through the lives and pasts of Paris, Joey, Drew, Ruby and several supporting characters. Very well described characters, some likable and relatable, some evil. Some of the details nearly tore my heart out, some events made me cry, some made me angry. The story draws you in, just to discover all your theories were wrong. It is a well written, suspense filled story. You won't see the twists coming. I would recommend and would read this author again.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance digit copy of "Things We Do In the Dark" by Jennifer Hillier and to Minotaur Books. These are my honest personal thoughts and opinion given voluntarily.

Thank you to the publisher for a free Netgalley!

As always, JH writes quite the story. This story was not for the faint of heart and if you want trigger warnings, please message me.

I found the book to be really enjoyable. I did guess the killer pretty early, so that is probably why I gave it 4 instead of 5. It just made that part of the story anticlimactic.

I enjoyed the story for our characters overall and I enjoyed our main protagonists.

JH is 100% an auto read author for me!

Jennifer Hillier will always be an auto-buy author for me and I was so excited to get approved for an early copy of Things We Do in The Dark. This book was amazing. The plot took a different turn than I thought it would but I still loved it all the same. Will continue buying every book that Hillier writes! 5 stars!

“𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨. 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠, 𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠, 𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣.”

This book is told in 3rd person and is broken into 6 parts. This was my 2nd book by Jennifer Hillier and let me just tell you she did the damn thing once again 👏🏻👏🏻 (which means now I’ll be going through her backlist of course).

I’m not going to say too much because you really need to go into this blind but I really loved this book. It sucked me in from the very first page because I was so intrigued to learn about each character. Also be prepared for some wild unexpected twists and turns that will leave you blown away 🤯 ~ great psychological thriller that I highly recommend!

“𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙖𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙙𝙤 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚.”

Blood. Fire. Abuse. This book has it all!

The book started off slow. Then there were switches in POV, plus time shifts between past and present. I was thinking this would be a 3 or 4 star read, then all of sudden, I got involved with the characters and their actions. Five stars.

A fascinating read. Trigger warning: blood, fire, abuse.

Many thanks to Netgalley!

This was my first read by Hiller, and I was suprised how much I enjoyed the murder mystery.

Paris wakes up in the bathroom covered in blood, with a razor in her hand, police shouting at her, while her comedian celebrity husband lays dead in the bathroom. Did she kill him? She tells the police she doesn’t know.

Reinvented identied, history of depression/suicide, murder, million dollar blackmail and finding what out what happened to Paris’s husband fill the pages of Things We Do in the Dark. A wild ride.

At this point I shouldn’t be surprised by Jennifer Hillier’s talent in creating thrillers that have you sucked in from the first page. This one in particular exceeded my expectations from beginning to end. I really enjoyed the character development and twisted plot. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a thriller that you can’t put down!

Though I was compelled to continue reading this suspense novel, I did not think the mystery aspect was particularly strong, both twists were easy to guess. I really liked the main character, Paris, and I wish the novel exclusively followed her POV. There is another character who suddenly appears when Paris's present day story hits a wall, and he shares more information about her past while working on his podcast. However, his podcast never seems to come to fruition, and Paris's story would have been just as impactful from her perspective. Particularly, I would have liked to read the diaries she wrote, instead of this other character's distillation of them. I still found the book very readable despite these criticisms, and Paris is a great protagonist.

Nail biter with many clever twists you expect from this author. The story unwinds slowly like in her previous book and just as deliciously. Loved it!

This had a lot of potential but I feel like it gave itself away too early. I saw where it was going but stayed for the ride anyway. Not bad, just didn’t blow my mind.

This is the second book I've read by this author and this one was a masterpiece. Jennifer Hillier has a way of taking a simple story idea and running with it until there are so many plot twists that it leaves you tight gripping the novel itself. Her characters are always one of a kind even when it looks like they have done terrible things she leaves you rooting for them. The book is all about our main character Paris who get arrested for the murder of her husband. At least that is how it looks when she is found covered in blood and holding the murder weapon. However it is not the arrest that has Paris the most worried, it is all the attention that the media is
drawing to her that has her shaking, because how hard is it to hide when you are drawing attention like
a moth to a flame. I loved the characters in this novel they were all so full of secrets that it was like pealing an onion and finding more secrets under every layer. Once I opened this book I was unable to put it down for any reason, first it was the plot then it was the characters that had me in a tight grasp and by the end of the book it was everything. I'm so glad that I got the chance to check out this novel. This is the kind of book that gets readers hooked on thrillers and this is the book that will leave its fans applauding and leave others as fans for life. I cannot wait to see what other books Jennifer comes out with because if they are even half as good as this one then I know I won't be disappointed. I can't say enough good things about this book but all I can end on is this is one book that you won't want to miss.

This is a dark, gripping thriller and it kept me reading long into the night. My heart went out to Joey. She had such a physically and mentally abusive childhood due to her horrible mother - the Ice Queen. Joey had to make some very difficult choices in her life and had to deal with the emotional scars. It's hard to imagine how anyone can recover from a childhood like that. I liked Joey quite a bit for her strength, determination, and her quick thinking. On the other hand, I hated Ruby Reyes with a passion. She is the worst example of motherhood. She should rot in jail. Drew was a good character, and even though I was cautious of Zoe I ended up liking her too.

The was a character driven novel and the characters are fleshed out so you can feel them. The writing flows well and is easy to read. The story unfolded at a good pace. I look forward to reading more of Jennifer Hillier's works.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on July 19, 2022.

I’m a huge fan of all Jennifer’s previous work so I went into this knowing that I needed some uninterrupted time to read this, and that I would love it. As always, she hit all the marks for me. I was stunned and entranced, flipping the pages as quickly as I could to find out what had happened next. With dual time periods and multiple POV this book will knock your socks off.

I can’t wait to recommend this a a must read summer book. This one is going to leave you breathless and wanting more.

I have read two previous books by Hillier, Jar of Hearts and Little Secrets, both of which I enjoyed immensely. Imagine this book nerds joy when I was approved for her latest offering, Things We Do in the Dark. Yippee!

Sadly my approval was the most exciting part of this entire experience.

"There is a time and place for erect nipples, but the back of a Seattle police car definitely isn't it."

That is the first line of this novel and it set an unpleasant tone that I just couldn't shake. She could have simply said she had goosebumps especially seeing as this woman is in the back of a police car covered in her husbands blood and is accused of his murder. This may not have been the most appropriate time for humor or snark or whatever it is she was going for - it didn't work.

Not to mention there were NO surprises in the book. It was almost embarrassingly easy to figure out the connections between the characters.

Do you like backstory? Do I have a book for you! You get chapters upon chapters upon chapters of Paris' more than unpleasant childhood. If you're a sensitive reader then this is most definitely not a book for you.

Boring, plodding, and predictable.

This will undoubtedly be a hit for die-hard Hillier fans, and I'm so happy for them, but my final conclusion is that this is not Hillier's finest moment. In fact, it's far from it and I'm relieved to be moving on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for my complimentary copy.

Paris Peralta, a 40 something woman who is married to beloved comedian Jimmy Peralta, wakes up in her bathroom, surrounded by police, covered in blood, with her husband dead in the bathtub. What has happened? The police are sure she is a murderer. Paris is quickly arrested and charged with Jimmy's murder. She has no idea who killed him or if he killed himself. The only thing she knows is she didn't do it.
Twenty years prior, a young woman in her 20's named Joey has been murdered in Toronto. Her former roommate/best friend, Drew, identifies her mostly burnt body which was found in their old apartment after a fire. Joey had a rough childhood and was still struggling to get by. Her mom was the famous Ruby Reyes, The Ice Queen, convicted when Joey was 13 for murdering her married lover in cold blood. She was horribly abusive to Joey and when she was convicted Joey had to go live with her unloving aunt and uncle. She found a family of friends with Drew and his girlfriend Simone. They all happily lived together. Until Drew and Simone moved away, leaving Joey floundering.
Present day, Drew is determined to do a podcast about Ruby. He is not happy that his former friend's abusive mom is being released. He wants to interview her for his podcast.
How are these stories related? Jennifer Hillier masterfully weaves past and present together in Things We Do in the Dark. I think this is her best book to date. I have really enjoyed all of her books. I really liked the character development of Paris, Joey, and Ruby. I could not wait to see what happened but also hated to finish the book. Please don't miss this one! Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

If you are looking for a book that you don’t want to put down, Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier should be next on your list. This book sucks you right in from the very first page—who can put a book down when the main character is covered in her husband’s blood on the very first page?

Paris Peralta is accused of killing her famous husband and the media swarms. But it’s very clear that the attention is something that Paris does not want. As the book progresses, it becomes clear that Paris has a past she’s trying to run away from. After a few chapters, we meet a journalist character and it becomes clear that these two storylines are somehow connected by the past.

I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t guess where the story was going but I loved how everything was weaved together. I couldn’t put this book down.

A homerun by an author I look forward to reading each time a new book comes out. Her grasp of character and plot development is fabulous and leaves me turning pages as quick as I can.