The premise and plot sounded really exciting. However, the writing was choppy and not easy to read/get lost in. Characters were also not very well defined initially and it got very confusing very quickly. DNF @ 15%.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The idea behind this book is perfect. One man does his best to screw over several women and then it bites him in the ass - I mean, perfection. The execution wasn’t quite there for me though.

I received both the ebook and audiobook through NetGalley. The narrator was great and really brought emotion into the story. I think it was relatively obvious where it was going before it got there, but it was a decent ride to the end.

The biggest thing for me was it was longer than it needed to be. While I did like getting everyone’s full story, it wasn’t completely necessary here for the story to be told. The dual timeline wasn’t the easiest to keep up with at times, however I do think it was the best way to handle this story.

Overall 3.5⭐️

New Year’s Eve 1999.

Seven women. All of whom have a lot more to worry about then a Y2K glitch.

Seven women, inextricably linked by one man. A man whose head is on a table in front of them. Where the rest of him lies? That’s anybody’s guess.

Seven women, all with motive, must lie to protect themselves and whoever among them is a killer.

The ex, constantly drenched in a drunken haze.

The wife, thrust out of her deluded fairytale marriage into the full truth of the vile man she promised to love, in sickness and in health. Until death part them at least.

The widow, unwilling to face a truth too horrible to contemplate.

The teenager, paying an unimaginable price for her schoolgirl crush.

The mother figure, fighting a sense of obligation even as revulsion pushes its way in.

The friend, a staunch believer in the victim. Until she wasn’t.

The journalist, whose motive may be the greatest of all, and who brought them all together.

As the clocks ticks down in the investigation of the murder, each woman’s secret is brought to light.

This was a stellar thriller that kept this reader constantly on my toes, flip flopping on which motive was powerful enough to drive someone to such extremes. Secretly, I hoped they all had a hand in it…and maybe they did. That’s for me to know and you to find out.

This book started off on a seriously intriguing (and horrific) note: a group of women stand over a body. Well, part of a body. Clearly one of them is responsible of the person's death, but who and why?

After that, I felt things bogged down a little. Speak of the Devil gives all the women a narrative voice in alternating chapters, and that's not my favorite.

I did read most of it and peeked at the end, but in the end this just wasn't the book for me.

I am not sure if this book got lost in translation for me, but I spent a good 20% trying to figure out who everyone was. By that time I didn't even care about any of them or their drama. I came for the murder and was very let down by it.

Speak of the Devil starts strong, and I loved that there were multiple POVs, and the author managed to make each character distinct and easy to follow. It's very easy to confuse that many characters, but it didn't happen. I ultimately gave three stars to the book to reflect my sentiment that the story was very "middle of the road" for me. There were slow moments and some characters were more captivating than others. Ultimately, not a bad book. Thanks for the advance review copy.

Absolutely intriguing start to the novel! It had my attention peaked immediately. I will state - I LOVE a multiple perspectives novel, but this one started out with so many that I ended up taking notes on who was who. Even once I could keep them all separate, I continued to take notes because of how interwoven everything was. My favorite thing about this arc was the representation - ALL OF IT! From lgbtqia+ to the representation and internal thoughts of the detective, I loved it all. It did not feel forced or poorly done like representation can sometimes feel. Anyways, LOVED this book! The entire ride was a good time, it didn’t feel like there were filler chapters at all, a classic who dunnit! The ending was great! I’d definitely pick up more novels form this author in the future!

I liked the book. I wanted to know whodunit. So that alone kept me invested. The multiple POVs were nice, but a bit confusing at times. I had to write some notes down so I could remember who the girls were and what Jamie did to them. Once I had that figured out it was pretty easy to know who was who. I like multiple POVs in a story!

I couldn't really connect with any of the characters, but I did like most of the girls. There was one who drove me up the wall, if you read it, you'll know. Jamie was HORRIBLE. I am totally okay that he got beheaded.

I listened to the book as I read, I thought the narrator did a good job, but I would have liked it better if each POV had a different narrator. I think it would have helped keep the people straight.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for the ebook and audio version of this book, in exchange for my review!

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinions are my own.

This was a interesting thriller that presents 7 different POV for the reader. As a avid reader I admit the 7 POV is new to me and difficult to follow. The beginning captures the reader and you find yourself figuring out the whodoneit between the 7 charcters. It begins with a gruesome murder of a abusive man in a crummy motel and 7 possible suspects around the body. The story slows down a lot in the telling but its well worth reading to conclusion to find out the key to each charcter. This is not a fast paced read but a interesting telling of the story .

I love a good thriller and this one was good. It's hard to find great thrillers with an over saturation of them. They seem to all run together. However, this one was a breath of fresh air

The premise of this book sounded very interesting. It held my interest enough for me to keep reading, but it didn’t really grab me. None of the characters were very likable and I felt that the ending fell very flat.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book definitely had an interesting concept, one that I actually think would work better as a movie or TV show than as a book. The execution of the overall story just felt very clunky and confusing to me. There were a lot of characters, and that in and of itself is not bad, but it became difficult to keep track of them, especially when several had a similar backstory and others were cheating with each other so it became a lot to keep up with. Also, as typically happens in a book like this with so many characters, overall most of them felt more shallow than they should have. I especially had issues with Maureen, who didn't seem to fit with everyone else much at all. It was as if the "crime" Jamie committed against her was simply being born, which isn't exactly his fault! I also felt as if I needed more from each woman in regard to her grievance against Jamie. I understand he has done a lot of terrible things, but it still didn't quite seem to justify his ultimate ending. A lot of plot holes were left unfilled, and the pacing also seemed off, as the book really hit its stride 1/2 or 3/4 of the way through, which is too late for me. Overall, this book was a great concept but didn't follow through in its great potential.

Speak of the devil by Rose Wilding
⭐⭐/5

The first chapter was so good, I was super disappointed in the rest .
First , There are EIGHT pov'
How am I supposed to keep track of 8 ? I found myself making notes in my phone to go back to and reference. I constantly lost track of who was who and in the end I just felt I didn't care enough to put in the effort which ultimately had me confused the rest of the time .
Second ... these characters weren't very lovable . And lets just say ... severed head man- he deserved to be severed head man, and I actually didn't care who turned him into severed head man ... lol .
The ending was anticlimactic - I honestly didn't care anymore . I didn't know where I was or who I was by the ending . 😧
I awarded the extra star because the first 2 chapters were great . . And so was the book - had it somehow just not had so many points of view. . Honestly that was what k!lled it for me . Otherwise I think the story could have been enjoyable .

A group of women who have been abused by the same man meet to talk about what to do about it. At their New Year's Eve meeting, said man's head is resting, without the body attached, on the table. Who did the thing?

Ok, so the man in question did terrible terrible things and there was a pattern and like I'm not going to lie, for this reader, it just got to be too much. I could have done with like half as many stories of abuse and gaslighting. Like we get it, his murder was VERY justified. Otherwise, though, it was a good multi-perspective murder mystery/thriller and readers of that thriller/murder mystery style genre will enjoy this.

I'm so disappointed to say that this one just did not work for me. I love the cover, and I thought the synopsis sounded great, but based on the synopsis, I was expecting a high-stakes whodunit with a group of women trying to figure out who among them is a murderer. Unfortunately, that's not what I got here.

The beginning is strong. We've got a group of women in a room with a severed head, and each woman has a motive to kill this man. The rest of the book, however, is just so slow, with alternating chapters explaining the terrible thing this man did to each of the women. It was an ambitious idea attempting to take on so many unique characters, but I found there to just be too many, and I spent most of the book confused about who is who. And then ending was kind of just "boop...here's the killer."

Although this didn't work for me, I have seen some great reviews, so maybe if you go in without the expectation I had, you may enjoy it more.

DNF @ 40%

This one was hard to get into and keep up with. With too many characters, it seems choppy, and hard to keep them all straight. I also believe this was translated from another language? I don't feel like the writing flows when this happens... I had to dnf.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for early reading access in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Minotaur for the free book.
What a book! This is a character driven mystery about seven women all linked by one man who's murdered. (Not a spoiler) This book intricately explored these women's lives and all of their possible motives for committing these murders. I was so impressed with how the author was able to create such distinct characters and scenarios. They were all so complex. I had so many feelings about them and what Jamie put them through - I enjoy when I am able to become so emotionally invested into the lives of characters. It's a sign that the book is making me care and think deeply. I had absolutely no problem keeping all of the women straight, and I liked the format of this. I think it helped keep me guessing and surprised by the ending.

Thank you to the marketing department at Minotaur Books for early access! Speak of the Devil is a solid 3.5 stars for me. You have 7-ish? women and 1 horrible man at the center of the plot, but most of the story is centered around why this guy was so horrible. It felt like a collection of the women's stories rather than a plotted thriller.

It felt similar to The Collective and The Change which are female centered and more empowered novels than your usual thrillers. We open with 7 women standing around the decapitated head of one Jamie Spellman, all looking at each other knowing they all had a motive to kill him. I found the women's motives engrossing most of the time but I could see how other readers might find it repetitive. This book is LGBTQ friendly and features female relationships (of all kinds!)

Seven women overlooking a man’s head in a hotel room? I’m intrigued.

I’ve been on such a thriller kick I was excited to jump into this one to see where this ride went. I was extremely intrigued by the synopsis, but only the beginning of the novel packed the same punch. The story was pretty slow and steady with a lot of layers to uncover. While I was okay with how it ended, getting to the end was a bit of a drag.

Had there been less characters, I think it would’ve had a quicker pace. It felt a bit choppy and was difficult to remember how the ladies were connected as they got to know one another. Each woman is given her time to shine giving the readers the opportunity to learn how she knows Jamie (the head in the hotel room), but again, with the amount of back stories readers learn, it was kind of difficult to keep track.

It was dark and sort of repetitive so it’s not on the top of my thriller list of recommendations. If I hadn’t of read so many thrillers before it, I may have felt differently.

Content warnings: rape, murder, gaslighting, suicide, child abuse, death, toxic relationships, stalking

Big thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur books for the ARC.

3.5 stars. Seven women stand in a seedy hotel room, gathered in a circle around the severed head of a man named Jamie. Each of them knew Jamie, and each of them had a reason to kill him. So who did it, and why?

If that isn't a strong hook, I don't know what is, and it drew me in immediately. With a narrative that switches perspectives among the seven women and the police detective investigating the murder, Speak of the Devil has an ambitious structure, and it really worked for me. The mystery plays out slowly, giving Rose Wilding lots of time to develop her characters, making this novel just as much a character study as it is a mystery. The women are diverse and complex, and it didn't take me long to get into the flow of the story and differentiate between them.

Wilding delves into a lot of dark, difficult subjects in Speak of the Devil, including infidelity, rape, suicide, homophobia and transphobia, police discrimination, narcissistic manipulation and gaslighting, and physical and emotional abuse. It's heavy, and it's a lot -- but somehow it all works, and adds depth and texture that you don't always find in contemporary mysteries.

I do like my bad guys with some shades of gray, and I found Jamie to be lacking in that department. He's straight-up just an asshole, and I would have liked a bit more nuance to his character to help me understand him more. The ending is also a bit too abrupt, it felt like there was more to be said. Overall, though, this is a solid mystery and a compelling feminist revenge story with more depth to it than I expected. If you like stories about women taking their power back, Speak of the Devil will be right up your alley. Thank you to Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the advance reading opportunity.