Famous comedian Jimmy Peralta is found dead in a bathtub full of his own blood. His much younger wife Paris is the police’s prime suspect – not surprising since they found her next to the body covered in blood and holding a straight razor. Paris maintains her innocence, but in order to prove it, she’s going to have to risk exposing her dark past and everything she’s worked so hard to build.

Jennifer Hillier definitely knows how to weave a tale, and “Things We Do in the Dark” is a continuation of the talent she demonstrated in “Little Secrets” and “Jar of Hearts”. This novel is full of twists and turns, and although I guessed the major twist well before it was revealed, I still found the writing clever and engaging. Although this book is billed as a thriller, I found I cared less about Jimmy’s death and more about the emotional aspects of Paris’s backstory, but it’s still suspenseful and so well-written that that’s not a complaint. The final chapter is also exceptionally satisfying. It’s worth noting that some of this book’s subject matter is dark; I’m not usually one for trigger warnings, but if you have experienced trauma or abuse, you may want to proceed with caution.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for providing me an advance copy of this book.

This was one of my most anticipated thrillers for the year, and I'm sorry to say it fell short for me. Paris Peralta is the much younger wife to a famous comedian. When she's found unconscious holding a straight razor next to her deceased husband she's quickly arrested for his murder. Paris is adamant she is innocent, but fears the past she's been running from may be revealed trying to prove it. This book just did not read like a thriller. I figured out the first major twist before the 50% mark. There were a few other twists I didn't guess later in the book. The story deals with some very traumatic situations so I would recommend researching the trigger warnings before diving in. The book is broken up into parts and we get a few different POV's but it's not hard to follow. It was a quick read and the writing was good, I just didn't like it as much as her other books. The author will continue to be an auto-buy for me despite not loving this one. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

Oh my gosh!! This book! This is definitely going to be one of my favorite thrillers for the year!

I'm obsessed with Jennifer Hillier and her writing now! I have only read one other, Little Secrets, and I enjoyed it, but this one was even better for me and I can't wait to read all of her books now! Let me tell you she can write!

With this book, you get murder mysteries and family drama. I was intrigued from the start and loved every twist and turn. I liked how it was broken up into six different parts and had alternating POVS. The writing was impeccable. The transitions from present to past to show how the events took place and what really happened were executed perfectly! This book flows so well! She gives you just enough information throughout to keep you from wanting to put this book down making it stay interesting the whole time. Do not pass up on this book! You will want to read it and will enjoy it!

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

This review may contain spoilers

Y'all this book is HEAVY like heavier than most thrillers. I honestly wouldn't even call it much of a thriller. I had it figured out before 50% in. It was more of a sad girl book to me. But there are some twist so we can call it a thriller.

I am all for people finding something that works for them and going with that but at some point I feel like you have to switch some things up so that it is different from your other books. And for this that's what killed it for me. Because I have read her other books I knew exactly what was going to happen. It was not surprising at all. It was a great book. And had it been by someone else it may have surprised me but she keeps using the same formula.

Now, that is my grievance. But overall, the book was good. It was interesting. I was intrigued to find out more of Paris' story. However, please look up the content warning because this has a ton. It was very hard to read at time but I think the author handled it well.

I will still be picking up whatever Hillier writes because I love her books but I just hope she changes it up in the future.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the arc of this title. This was my first Jennifer Hillier book and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was well paced, had an unexpected twist ending and kept me engaged the whole time. I’d say it’s a psychological drama more than a thriller, but I had fun reading it.

I have really enjoyed some of Hillier’s previous books, but this one fell flat for me. I think this is a case where it’s just me and not necessarily the book because others have loved this one.

The story started off strong, but lost its momentum somewhere along the way. Once we went into the backstory of the main character, the pace really slowed down. I also predicted the big twist early on so the remainder of the story didn’t hold my interest.

I will still pick up another book from Jennifer Hillier because she’s definitely wowed me before. Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC. Things We Do In The Dark is available 7/19/22.

The chokehold that Jennifer Hillier has on me is really something else. Things We Do in the Dark dives straight into the action from the first page and doesn’t let up the entire way through. A nearly perfect psychological thriller with multiple twists and turns.
What I loved: The writing! This is one of those books you’ll forget you’re reading because the story moves along so seamlessly. I loved being inside our characters’ heads, they felt so genuine and fleshed out to me so I was really rooting for them. The twists, while not super shocking, were very well done and smart. And there’s quite a few of them! I enjoyed being right about a couple things.
What I didn’t love: there were a few plot holes that sort of bugged me, and also the implausibility of some of the legal proceedings and court scenes took some suspending of disbelief. I don’t think everyone will feel the same way though and they weren’t bad enough to knock off a full star for me.
Overall I enjoyed this a lot! Not perfect, but still really solid and definitely a fun reading experience.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for sending me an ARC!*

She is back and better than ever 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

If you're a fan of Jar of Hearts or Little Secrets then you must stop everything and pre-order this now. There was so much to love where do I even start?

I was sucked in from the very start. I felt like this was a slow burn, but in the best possible way. I think Hillier does such a good job of getting you invested in these characters and understanding their motives and actions. I also loved the alternating timelines and perspectives. Sometimes stories can get repetitive when done this way, but for this it worked!!! You got to see all angles. There were several story lines playing out all at once, but it never seemed overwhelming or like they shouldn't be included, because everything truly was included for a reason. Some of the twists were easy to guess, but there were several that you won't see coming!

4.5 stars

I loved Little Secrets and admittedly, this book had big shoes to fill. I thought the ending was quite predictable but I did enjoy the twists we got along the way

Jennifer Hillier is back with a dark, twisty thriller that might have one of my favorite opening lines of all time. I absolutely loved Things We Do in the Dark!

This almost felt like a two-for-one special! There are multiple storylines and timelines occurring within the plot and all of them are juicy and addictive AND the whole thing is executed flawlessly. I love Hillier’s writing and I have to say this is some of her best work. I didn’t think she could top Little Secrets, but here we are!

I’m not going to give anything away with this review, but I’ll caution you to check trigger warnings if necessary.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book; all opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader.

I was very excited to be approved for an ARC of this book because I recently tore through Jar of Hearts and Little Secrets and was looking forward to another twisty, hard to put down thriller.

The book opens with Paris Peralta accused of killing her much older famous comedian husband after he’s found dead in a bathtub and she’s holding a bloody knife. Great start! But then the book delves into a lengthy backstory about people from Paris’ past who we aren’t sure why were supposed to care about, and takes a long time to get back up the action, by which point I didn’t care as much.

While this was a good read that I had trouble putting down, I’d say it’s not quite as twisty and unpredictable as Hillier’s other books. I think it attempts to throw shocking twists into the mix but I guessed them all very early on, or maybe I was supposed to? Regardless, this reads more like straight fiction vs. psychological thriller and there is a lot of backstory. I found Paris’ life with Jimmy and his subsequent death very intriguing but I didn’t much care for Drew as a character - he felt very flat and pretty judgy to me - and his sections really dragged.

3 stars from me! Thank you to Minotaur Books and Netgalley for this advance readers copy.

Thanks To NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

4+ stars

Paris Peralta is the much younger wife of a legendary comedian. She is found covered in blood and holding a straight razor with her husband dead next to her. Paris has plenty of secrets about her past but says she is innocent of killing her husband. Convicted killer Ruby Reyes is trying to blackmail Paris. The story goes back and forth from current day Paris to Ruby and her daughter 25 years ago

Jennifer Hillier did a great job of making you care about Ruby’s daughter Joey.

Great book. Highly recommend.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. This is the book TBR ended a nasty book slump. And renewed my faith in thrillers. I am SO glad it’s a BOTM pick! It deserves it!

I didn’t like Jar of Hearts at all. That is one book I will gladly admit I DNF’d. I was so nervous to start this one! I knew there were some trigger warnings and didn’t know if I could handle it. I was so glad I did. Most (not all!!) of the major problems I was worried about happened off page and were part of the story. I thought it was done so well!

This book was so well done. There are two major twists, and while the first one was predictable, I still surprised me 😂 loved it. Every page was enticing and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Highly recommend if you are a fan of dark thrillers!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC to read and review.

Paris Peralta was arrested for the murder of her husband, actor and celebrity, Jimmy Peralta. Paris has a secret from her past and when she finds herself being thrust into the spotlight, it leads convicted murderer Ruby Reyes right to her. Ruby knows about Paris’ true identify and threatens to tell everyone the truth.

In true Jennifer Hillier fashion, this book was full of twists and turns. There are three point of views that alternate to tell the story. It started a little slow for me, but by around 20% into the story, I was definitely hooked and flew through the rest. I did find the twists a bit predictable—I was able to figure them out before the reveals. I still found the story enjoyable and the characters well developed. There are definitely some triggers (abuse, sexual abuse), so proceed with caution if you are sensitive to those subjects.

This may not have been my all-time favorite Hillier thriller, but I still liked it and will continue to read her work in the future.

I loved this book. She does it again! I mean was there a doubt. Could this be my new favourite Jennifer Hillier book. I can’t fully commit until I reread Jar of Hearts. ( My current favourite)
Read this if you like:
▫️Unique Thrillers
▫️Great Villains
▫️Two Storylines in One
Jennifer’s books are always so full of intricate details that always come together so well. This one started with two completely parallel storylines that flowed into one amazing suspenseful mystery. Past and present always merge so well you are never confused. I loved all the Canadian details and I especially loved how she linked this one to the butcher and Creep worlds. (did you catch that)
I love all her amazing crafted characters. Her villains are amazing and I love how even our hero’s are always a bit morally grey! The best.
Lastly as usual we get the binge worthiness I always expect and twists galore! I highly recommend this one!

This was a great mystery that had me hooked right away and I loved the fast paced chapters which jumped back and forth in time. I caught on to a couple things right away so I wasn’t too surprised by the twists and the ending was just okay. However I still really enjoyed this one and read it in just a couple sitting so I’ll be recommending it!

This is my first time reading from this author and I really loved her easy flowed style of writing. It makes the pages go by so fast and I felt as if I was watching tv show. Loved the diverse cast and the ode to certain Canadian cities. There were tiny clues throughout about certain plots that stuck in my subconscious and I knew what was coming but was still surprised at some of the reveals. Overall 5/5 I couldn’t put it down and look forward to reading more of Hiller’s work!

I loved this book as much as I expected to based on the author. There were a couple different storylines and perspectives but they all fit together nicely. This was a story that I couldn’t stop trying to figure out how each part was going to wrap up. At one point all of the possibilities ran through my mind but it wasn’t clear until the reveals. Loved it! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital arc!

Just fantastic...great characters......gripping storyline....twists at the end...all of my favorite things and so well done!

I read two of Jennifer Hillier’s previous novels last year and really enjoyed both. Naturally, I was excited to see that she is publishing a book in July. I was even more excited to find out that Things We Do in the Dark is going to be a June Book of the Month selection. I love a great author getting broader exposure.

Things We Do in the Dark is a dark and suspenseful novel that follows the life of Paris Peralta in all her iterations. When Paris’s celebrity husband is murdered, she is the prime suspect which also makes her vulnerable to her past being exposed. While I would not necessarily say Things We Do in the Dark is a heart-racing thriller, it is a good story you will want to plan on reading in one sitting.

Things We Do in the Dark has a strong plot with a lot of depth. Multiple timelines are used to build the breadth of the story. You follow Paris at several points in her life. Hillier also creates several mysteries within the tale that will keep you reading. I personally thought that ending was incredibly satisfying and fitting.

What I love more than a typical mystery or thriller is one that has fully-developed characters. Hillier writes great characters that are well-fleshed out. I think it is easy for her readers to feel strongly about her characters, whether that is like or hate. Things We Do in the Dark also has a diverse cast of characters which is so nice to see.

After reading some other reviews, I want to note a few things that do not decrease my enjoyment but seem to be problematic for others. Things We Do in the Dark has some graphic scenes so if you are appalled by those, I would skip this. I have also read some reviews that have issues with the tale’s plausibility. I have no issues suspending belief but I also did not think this novel was unbelievable. Please also note that there are a few strong triggers within the book’s pages. If those effect you, I would look into them prior to reading.

Overall, I really enjoyed Things We Do in the Dark and highly recommend it. Jennifer Hillier continues to be one of my favorite thriller authors.