I was drawn to this book by the US bird cover. Beautiful and sinister at the same time. That is how we women often are ourselves. Jamie Spellman was an evil man. Some, maybe even you, would say he deserved to die. Did he deserve to lose his head in the process? Seven women in a sort of Jamie Spellman done wrong support group could have done it and rally around each other to protect the killer. That is the premise of the book, but there are also a whole lot of spouses, lovers, parents, and coworkers who could have done it, too. How far would anyone go for revenge or to protect the one they love? Which side are the police on?

This was a slow burn of a thriller for me. Each chapter was a back and forth from a different character perspective. If you have trouble keeping track of multiple characters and backstories, then this might not be the book for you. I found myself kind of wishing each had done him in for the wrong he did to them. Some wrongs seemed worse, more methodically planned out. Some wrongs seemed in the moment. And some were just plain mean. In the end Jamie Spellman needed to die as some people are just plain evil and unredeemable. The birds do have a minor but darkly impressionable role in the story, so I appreciated the cover tie-in. Nature or nurture, one could certainly argue... but evil is undebatable.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I was very back and forth with this book but did end up enjoying it.

Cons: There were a few parts I didn’t understand, such as Jamie’s motivation for outing Ana. Then, Ana is just kind of dropped. Also, the ending felt very fast.

Pros: Many POV’s and most of them were very interesting.
•Very diverse cast of characters
•Great representation for LGBTQIA+
•Nova was the highlight of the book for me. Her dilemma in trying to figure out the right thing to do was genuinely fitting for this character. It felt like I knew her.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
4.5/5 STARS

This is a contemporary thriller.

Synopsis:
Seven woman meet in a hotel room with the severed head of a man they are all connected with. One of them killed him. Who did it?

I really enjoyed this book. It is told from the POV of all seven women/victims. Even though there are a lot of different stories going on, they are woven together really well. The chapters are short and keep you wanting to find out what happens. The characters and plot are very revenge feminist driven. The writing makes you despise the male MC and champion for the women. I liked the twists and turns and the idea that each woman had motive and was a suspect.
If you like domestic thrillers, this is a fast read.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the ARC! 🖤

It's an unusual, fast paced and gripping thriller. There's different POVs, 7 women who could have killed a man, an unusual way to discover a murder.
I think that this is a strong debut and I liked the storytelling and enjoyed the plot.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Suspenseful novel about a man whose head ends up in a hotel room surrounded by women who all have ample reason to kill him. All seven of the women ended up there under false pretenses, all have no idea who committed the heinous act. The story has alternating points of view and is very fast paced.

I liked this read, it was a good mystery, but get ready to write the names of the characters down. There are many characters to sort in the book. I enjoyed reading about the lives of each of the characters. It is a bit confusing trying to sort the characters at times. It will not be for everyone, if I were you, I would give it a try.
3 stars

This had such a strong premise and great imagery, but I did find it a little slow. I had some trouble keeping all the women straight in my heads, and I definitely didn't like them all by the end. It made me very happy that there was such a variety of representation in the characters. I also really loved that the trans character is happily married with adopted children. It was nice to switch to a thriller for pride.

Thank you to Macmillan audio for this audio book in exchange for a review. I thought this book definitely started out with a bang that made me not want to stop listening for sure! All the atrocities this man committed throughout his life and making it all the way to this point was a bit of a shocker if I'm being honest. I liked the way the story was told in flashback pieces of all the women, it made for an incredible shocker of an ending. I would say to do your research before reading because there was quite a bit of triggering content, but needed for the story. Overall, this is one I would recommend going forward!

Speak of the Devil is a mesmerizing and unflinchingly dark novel that delves into the profound exploration of the secrets we keep from each other and ourselves. The book explores the consequences that arise when these secrets inevitably surface. The captivating characters will stay with you long after they have finished the book.

This is a story about a group of women that is formed based on the man that has done them wrong in some way. They are all called together in a room, where they find the man’s head. No one owns up to killing him, and during the rest of the book, you find out the things he has done that make it seem like he deserved to die.

This wasn’t my favorite. I love a good thriller, but I thought the beginning (where they found his head) was unnecessarily gory, and that turned me off from the story. I think there were too many peripheral characters, and it took me a while to keep track of all of them. I didn’t care that much about his adopted mother, in particular, and it seemed like that story line went into excessive detail for someone that was not a huge part of the story. By the end, I knew all the women, but since only one of them was guilty, I thought it was a lot to keep track of for little reward.

Just my two cents, I hate to be overly critical, I know how hard it is to write a book!!

This was a clever, literary whodunnit that literally had me shaking my head and wondering WTF was going on. The premise- seven women + one beheaded man- reeled me in from the first chapter. Though I did find the multiple POV confusing at first, as I got to know each character and learned about their POV, the more invested in the story I became. Wilding does an amazing job of peeling away the layers of a predator that will make you incensed. I could see the ending coming, but it was so satisfying I was glad I was right,

Great for fans who like feminist stories, who enjoyed The Change or Murder on The Orient Express, or for anyone who loves a good revenge story.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for my earc and physical copy.

Speak of the Devil did not work for me. Why?

-I believe the slow reveal of characters (soooo many characters) and the plot were intentional, but I found it disruptive to my reading process. There are many characters, and the author introduces new people in sentences that make you wonder if they've already appeared. I was constantly using my Kindle search feature, backtracking in the book to remind myself of who a character was. I am okay with doing this a bit, but it was too much for this book.

-There were so many relationships/sexual encounters my head was spinning. These detracted from the plot rather than enhancing it. It was too much of a tangled web.
I spent most of my reading time just trying to figure out what was happening or what had happened; I lost my typical enjoyment of a story unfolding.

The premise sounded good, but the execution did not work for me.

Thanks go to NetGalley for providing me with an electronic ARC in exchange for a review.

Rating: 3.6⭐️
Pub Date: 6/13/23

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Seven women, inextricably linked by one man, must figure out which of them killed him in order to protect one another in this electrifying debut thriller.”

 It's New Year's Eve of 1999, & Jamie Spellman's disembodied head is surrounded by seven women who each had a reason to want him dead: the ex, the wife, the widow, the teenager, the mother figure, the friend, & the journalist. Through shifting POVs of the women & the lead Detective Inspector, the potential motives, as well as the identity of the killer, are revealed.

This was an anticipated read for me, as the synopsis seemed super intriguing & possibly Clue-esque; however, I was left a bit disappointed & disinterested. One of the main issues was that there were a lot of moving parts: there were 8 different POVs, which covered both the past & the present, nonlinearly, so it was hard to keep track of who was who & when we were. Other issues I had were that the writing was stiff at times, particularly when there was a lack of conjunctions, it dragged in a few places, especially when there was background fluff, & I was able to predict part of the ending. I also wish we saw more of the women interacting with each other & got their thoughts in real time when they learned about what each woman experienced, as that would have been more impactful.
With that being said, the feminine rage in this is everything. What that one man put them all through was (for lack of a better word) enraging & mind-boggling. I did become disinterested as to the murderer as the book progressed & Jamie's behavior became more & more unhinged, mostly because I was just glad someone finally took the axe to him (literally) & didn’t care who did it. I did stay until the end to find out who the bad ass was, though, & I was glad I did.
I didn’t realize how sapphic this book was going to be, & I was super happy about that. However, I would definitely check out the trigger warnings, as Jamie is the worst, & they’re a bit spoilery.

There was so much to enjoy about this novel. The first chapter hooked me. Those seven women in a hotel room with a dead (male) body. I thought I may have trouble keeping track of the multiple characters and points of view, but the voices were distinct. I also loved the female detective investigating the "crime."

This is an excellent whodunit with characters who each had good reasons for wanting this man dead. They're all trying to figure out who in the group did it, while staying one step ahead of the detective. Secrets, lies, and shocking twists. I enjoyed this read tremendously.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

DI Nova Stoke has a real problem on her hands. Someone has beheaded Jamie Spellman, a loathsome man to be sure. Which of the seven women did it? And who are each of the women sitting in the room with the head? This takes a bit of patience as it isn't immediately obvious who each woman is and why she had a reason to despite Spellman, Layered together, however, this is both a portrait of a horrible human and of women who subjugated their feelings until they didn't. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This won't be for everyone but it's interesting and surprisingly thoughtful.

Thank you to St Martins Publishing Group Influencer Program and Minotaur Books for the free gifted book. This ARC publishes June 13, 2023.

For a debut this book is pretty good. It is a puzzle that needs to be solved. Heavy on female characters, you are searching for the culprit of a gruesome murder. The story starts with a decapitated head - can't get more gruesome than that. Seven women connected to the murdered victim have come together to decide the fate of this man - but it looks like one of them has already made a decision.

We delve into the lives of each woman - with and without the association of the dead man. Each has reason to want him dead. The puzzle is deciding who killed him and when - the how is already known. The time frame wonders back and forth with each woman's story until we finally hook back up to the beginning chapter and reveal the grisly death.

This novel is written so that you understand each character and in knowing them they move the plot along. Although there are a lot of female characters it is not hard to keep them apart or to know how they fit into the plot. For me this was not a thriller, but I could see how some would believe so due to the gruesome murder. For me, it was just a good mystery, done well for a debut book.

Unfortunately this book just didn't work for me, which is super disappointing.

I think the premise is absolutely amazing, but the delivery needed some adjusting. There were too many characters and it left me confused sometimes. I don't love reading a mystery where I absolutely have to write down characters and details on a piece of paper. Even after writing things down, I was still a bit confused as we continued.

There was also a lot of extraneous information, which doesn't work in a book with so many characters. Remembering all of the relationships and the ties that connect everyone creates chaos. Chaos can sometimes work in a mystery book to hide what's really going on, but there was just way too much in this one.

I think I would have enjoyed it better with a few less characters, less dense writing and information dumping, and less focus on the personal relationships between some of the characters. It was weirdly focused on the sexual relationships between some of the characters which also just added more confusion and extra information that wasn't necessary to the overall plot.

Rose Wilding's Speak of the Devil starts with a bang, and then continues as a fascinating, slow-burn character study in which we learn why each of the seven women who had reason to want Jamie Spellman dead were or were not the responsible party. We also learn exactly how Jamie had done each of them wrong.

Trust me, by the end of the book you will be volunteering to do the deed yourself. Jamie Spellman is the ultimate narcissistic, manipulative creep, and his murder was not mourned by any of the women who had had the misfortune to cross paths with him in his life.

I really liked this book, and found the format enhanced the experience. Told in multiple perspectives, and including flashbacks to prior events that provide background on each woman's experience with Jamie, the novel gives the reader a lot of empathy for whichever woman is the true murderer. It could have been any one of them, and the sisterhood has bonded to protect their own!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the digital ARC of Speak of the Devil by Rose Wilding. The opinions in this review are my own.

Seven angry women, one dead man. Described in the blurb as an electrifying debut, exploring the roles in which women are cast. Sounded exciting and I was looking forward to a thrilling, suspenseful, compelling story. But it just didn’t live up to the hype for me.

We can all agree Jamie Spellman was a bad man (well, except maybe for a few minutes while reading how the aunt who raised him treated him; if there is a perfect example of a child without any love or affection from his caregiver, he is it.). Adult Jamie is manipulative, cruel, deceitful, without remorse. He’s clever and successful, which pretty much allows him to do what he pleases. But whether or not he deserved to die is not the point. Die he did. Horrifically. Beheaded. Almost certainly by one of the seven women who have been gathering for several weeks to discuss how he wronged each of them and how they can band together to possibly get the police to finally listen. Murdering him hasn’t been discussed. But somebody has obviously had enough and his head is found in a box in the room where they have been meeting. The murder is being investigated by a detective with a connection to one of the women.

With this premise the story should be fascinating. All the women have different backstories, different experiences with Jamie, different temperaments. Unfortunately, none of them is very likeable and for most of the book it’s not really important who killed him; he’s dead and won’t hurt any more women. The story moves from woman to woman but the pace is frustratingly slow, and there really was no deep dive into the roles women play and what happens when they stop playing them. The ending fit but wasn’t really a surprise.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of Speak of the Devil via NetGalley. I voluntarily leave this review and all opinions are my own.

The first chapter was... WOW. It starts off as 7 completely different women, of different ages sit in a dingy motel around the decapitated head of Jamie Spellman. Jamie Spellman is a scientist and respected man in his community, and all these woman want him dead, and have a reason for it. But who actually killed him?? The first chapters might start off slower, since we have so many different POVs to introduce the individual characters and their stories, but it certainly picks up. I loved all of the different POVs and trying to figure out what happened, right alongside Nova. I thought this book was well written, interesting and it kept me guessing, but I was hoping for more character development. The ending felt rushed when the whole story was leading up to that moment, but I did like it. Now if we had some chapters of Jamie's POV, that would have been great (creepy)!

Read if you enjoy:
• unique plot
• multiple POVs
• different timelines
• whodunit mystery
• dark storyline

Tw: murder, rape, domestic abuse, grooming