Thank you Netgalley for the advanced readers copy of this title in exchange for my review and opinions. This was a fun thriller that had some mystery to it. Good book if your looking for a thriller to get lost in.

Omg I love everything that Kara writes! This was really good. Nothing has lived up to The Darkest Corners yet, so I don't know if she can out-do herself, but it was really fun to read her adult book!

It is a heartbreaking psychological thriller with a terrific twist that moves quickly. The conclusion was strong and poignant!

From the beginning, it pulls you in and makes you want to find out what happens that fateful night all those years ago. I found myself thinking of these well developed characters and how the story would end, even when I didn’t have the time to continue reading.

Highly recommended if you like mystery and suspense.

This is a great story of a woman trying to figure out the past and how and who killed her family.. the turns, twists, and unexpected resolution were woven craftily, like layers being removed to get to the gist. Excellent writing.

The book fairies must be working over time...

Out of the Ashes, was one of my most anticipated books for this year.

I had high expectations for this book but Kara Thomas, surpassed them.

The minute you open this book you are going to plunge right into a different realm. You will lose track of time and reality. You will speak about these characters as though they really exist. Don't be alarmed with the side eyes people throw your way when you get excited talking about these folks as if they were real. It's all good, you can come to me, I will understand exactly what you are talking about.

This book had so many twists, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

The secrets that become exposed are WILD .

Before I spoil something, I am going to leave you with this teaser :

A woman’s investigation into her family’s murders uncovers lies, secrets, and dangerous truths in a heart-wrenching novel of suspense.

When she was thirteen years old, Samantha Newsom’s family was murdered and their Catskills farmhouse set ablaze in an unsolved crime that left nothing behind but ashes.

Twenty-two years later, Sam is pulled back to her hometown of Carney, New York, under the shadows of the grim tragedy she’s never forgotten or forgiven. Authorities mishandled the evidence, false rumors were seeded about her family, suspects yielded nothing, and the case went cold. Not anymore. Investigator Travis Meacham has been assigned to the case, and he has news for Sam: a prison inmate has come forward with a shocking admission. Sam’s baby sister, presumed dead in the fire, made it out of the house that night.

It’s not the only reveal that upends everything Sam thinks she knows about the crime and her family. But Carney protects its secrets. And this time, Sam might not be able to escape the town alive.

Samantha returns to Carney to clean out her uncle's house after he dies and finds her sucked back into the case of her family's murder.

MY OPINION

This was an Amazon First Reads that I never got around to until now. Tbh I think this is the only First Reads I've actually read, despite downloading one every month. This is why I refuse to get book subscriptions. Plus it helps that they never deliver to Quebec LOL.

ANYWAYS, this was... ight. I think 3 stars is a bit generous but you know me... I'm a generous spirit (CLEARLY SARCASM). This definitely had potential, but the storytelling was a bit strange. When I finished, I double checked that the author doesn't usually write TV/movie scripts. Why? Because the dramatic scenes were so bitesized and ended so abruptly, it felt like I was watching a movie. Every time Sam drove 80 miles to confront a suspect, she'd literally have a 30-second exchange with them and then storm off. Huh??? Homegirl never asked any pertinent follow up questions. She was like: did you kill my family? Suspect: no. Sam: Ok then I hate u bye. Waste of gas if you ask me.

Also, idk if this was because I read the book over the span of a week, but there were too many damn characters. I usually don't complain about this (shocking — ya'll know I love to lodge a complaint) but there were too many Ealy's and not enough time was spent on flushing them out. It's kinda like when you take your contacts out and everything is blurry but you can still make out the shape of things. It didn't help that the author was using two diff names for one character throughout the book (Mitch and Michelle).

Not only were there too many characters, but too much was going on and too many strings were left untied at the end.

3.5.

Kara Thomas’ first adult novel was twisty and compelling with a dark, tense, eerie vibe. As I’ve come to expect from this author the descriptions of the small town setting were excellent. Samantha was an interesting flawed character, and I really felt for everything she’d gone through as a teenager, but as an adult character I found her very selfish and self-centred. I much prefer her teenage characters. I also felt the plot slowed in the second half. All in all, a great read, but not my favourite by Kara Thomas.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.
This was an easy read. Not one of my favorites as there was a lot to put together. Still enjoyable though and fairly well written.

Out of the Ashes was a slight miss for me. I did enjoy the story and completed reading it so I could find out what happened the night that Samantha Newsom’s family was murdered in a house fire. I found myself having to go back to review who a character was and how they were involved with the story as there were quite a few to keep track of. It felt as though there could have been more character development and the story could have a spinoff related to other missing persons from the same town. Overall the story was interesting but I wasn’t as hooked as I have been with other Kara Thomas stories. This is an emotional story that I would recommend to those who are looking for a longer mystery with a few twists with a lot of miscommunications, secrets and “how did that just happen?” moments.
Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

I've long been a fan of Kara Thomas so when I heard about this one, I wanted to get my hands on it.

I honestly can't get enough of "small town murder from long ago...and NOW" books. I did really like this book, though the relationships got a bit tangled at times and I had trouble keeping track of the characters. The pacing was great and the descriptions were vivid. Sam was a bit too headstrong and I felt like her mother, trying to drag her our of danger at every turn. But I really did enjoy this book.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed reading this book, which was among the best this year so far. Out of the Ashes is very well-written, and fast-paced, it has a great plot and keeps the reader guessing who is the culprit until the end. It's a rollercoaster of emotions as Samantha keeps digging into her own past, guessing things that had happened (or not) and all the time realizing that she was very lonely and did not know much about her family and her past.
I thank the author, her publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC.

Would recommend for fans of…
🔥 Small town mysteries
🔥 Early Megan Miranda Novels
🔥What Lies In The Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

I’ve really enjoyed Kara Thomas’ YA novels and figured her adult debut would be a hit too. It’s gritty and really captures the feel of a small rural town. While the plot was interesting and kept me guessing, my favorite part was how evocative Thomas’ language was, from describing the searing heat of the summer to the peculiar sensations of coming back to a place you thought you left behind.

There were a couple of times that reading this felt like spinning plates – there were a lot of characters who were all connected and there was some jumping between multiple mysteries, but I thought everything was tied up nicely at the end. No spoilers, but things were left a little open-ended, and while that often frustrates me, I thought it was the perfect resolution to the story.

Out of the Ashes is out now. Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Out of the Ashes, by Kara Thomas, is a fast paced murder mystery, with all the feels. This one definitely kept me up at night. I just had to find out what was next. While I felt like there were some loose ends left at the end, it was a great read with a fairly satisfying end.
Samantha Newsom lost her entire family, to murder, when she was just thirteen years old. Now she's been brought back to her hometown of Carney, New York. She's still trying to come to grips with the devastating loss and the huge mess that the police made of all the evidence.
Now a new investigator, Travis Meacham, is taking a fresh look at the case. Plus, a new witness claims to have seen something. Could it be possible that Sam ’s younger sister is still alive, somewhere?!

This book is well written and an easy-to-read story and yet it didn't really grip me. It wasn't a book I thought about when not reading it. I suspect maybe I've had my fill of 10, 20, 30, etc -year-old cold cases being investigated/ solved in present day. The story is told from Sam's POV, mostly in the present as she inserts herself into the new investigation of what happened to her family, with occasional flashbacks to her childhood. A possible witness has popped up which is why the investigation is active once again. So many missing people too; it was hard to keep track of who was dead and who was just missing! There are many characters in the book and more than once I had to search back to remind myself who someone was. Some of the chapters are really long but there's usually a break within the chapter where you can stop for a breather. Also, I'm sure this was more than 286 pages. Even though I wasn't enthralled with this one, I'd give it 3.5 stars but unfortunately I need to round down. I'll definitely be on the look-out for future novels by Kara Thomas.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer via Netgalley for the opportunity to read this novel which was published on May 1, 2023. All opinions expressed are my own.

I love Kara Thomas‘s YA books, so I was really eager to read her adult debut.

I liked the small town setting, and this book is atmospheric. But it was bleak. I think for my taste, at the time, the world and the characters were just too bleak for my enjoyment.

The cold-case mystery surrounding the death of Sam’s family and the drama with her remaining relatives was interesting but the slow pacing and Sam’s frequent back and forth trips couldn’t sustain my interest, and for the relatively short length, it took me a long time to finish reading the book.

Kara Thomas is a really good writer and as I said, I love her YA mysteries and thrillers, but this one wasn’t the right book for me.

Unfortunately this was a DNF around the 10% mark. I tried so hard to like it but I really just didn't. The voices, the writing, nothing was working for me, which stinks because I've read and loved other books by this author. I'll definitely try her again, I'm just chalking this up to "not all books are created equally." 1 star.

*WARNING FOR POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

I don’t even know where to start with this book! Holy goodness. I feel like it took 4 different unexpected turns after another and only about two of them I enjoyed.

The beginning was great, it was a good set up to a thriller novel and a good introduction to the characters and to Samantha as the protag. The further I got into the book though it began to go down hill. It felt like there was a different twist or a change that you weren’t unexpecting and it got to be annoying and unnecessary. Just because it’s a thriller novel doesn’t mean that you have to have a plot twist every 2 chapters or mislead your readers in 15 different directions!

The ending quite honestly upset me. I’m trying not to judge the book based on how angry the ending made me, because the book was written really well and it was a good plot, which is why I gave it 3 stars. If I’m rating it emotionally, it’s about 1.5 stars to 2 stars. So just be prepared to have an unexpected ending and quite a few different twists, and hopefully you’ll enjoy it! I wasn’t expecting the ending, which unfortunately just ruined the book for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded interesting to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have
decided to stop reading this book
and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

This was a rollercoaster of a book.

Throughout the story, I could feel the emotions that Sam was feeling as well. Kara Thomas did a wonderful job at portraying Sam as a real person instead of a character, and I definitely connected with her. Her pain and grief, at times, were tangible.

I am apparently not a very good sleuth, though, because I think at one point or another, almost everyone seemed suspect to me as to who the killer was. That being said, I was wrong. I had part of it figured out, but it was a very small part. I was not expecting the wallop that this book gave me.

(Here comes my "if you've ever read any of my reviews before you know I hate endings" line.) I was mostly satisfied with this ending. I can't say that I necessarily LIKED it, but it made sense for the rest of the story and I think it was fitting. So, therefore, I would say that I was satisfied. I think it played on the emotions of both Sam and the reader the way that it wrapped up, and that was par for the course with this book.

Very well done work from Kara Thomas, another fire (too soon??) read! 4 stars!