Speak of the Devil is an apt name for this novel as the man who is murdered was definitely a devil. Jamie is a scientist and a well respected man in his community, so it is shocking when he is found decapitated with only his head being found on New Years Eve in 1999, in a hotel room. He is found by a group of seven different women who have gathered because they all despise him. They have all met before to discuss how he has impacted their lives. This time though they did not expect to find his head. The reader is left to wonder which one of these women could have killed him and why. Throughout the novel you meet each woman and learn their backstory. The reader is also introduced to Nova, a cop, who is trying to figure out what happened. As it turns out she also has a connection to the women.

As each story was told I felt a deep loathing for this man who caused so much pain and horror. I did want to keep reading to find out who did it and why, but it almost didn't matter because the man was so awful. I did enjoy reading about the different relationships and how each woman was connected. It was an interesting story. However this is not a light, easy read. There is a lot to unpack in each woman's story. I recommend this for anyone who likes to read about crime and enjoys a good mystery.

Thank you to St. Martin's Publishing for this advanced copy.

Everything about Speak of the Devil was captivating - the cover, the title, and the blurb were particularly enticing. Starting the book in the middle of the action was a great choice, but the following 50 pages were a little slow-paced. The multiple main characters made it confusing and challenging to keep track of who was who and how they connected.

I enjoyed that the setting of the book was in the UK and I could recognize some of the places mentioned, which isn't always the case with popular crime novels.

A frightening yet compelling murder mystery, telling the story of a group of women gathered around a severed head of a man and trying to solve his murder. An original story that I would absolutely recommend!

This was an "OK Read" for me.

It was not as outstanding, as I hoped.
I felt like, I had read this story a few times over - nothing original stood out to me.

With 7 women that have different "beef" with the diseased, at the beginning I had to make notes for every character to be able to keep them apart...so from the get-go, I got a over-load of info about each woman... eventually I grew on them, but it took me a while...

I don't want to spoil it by giving away the story - I assume, that this is one book some people may have strong feelings about, either positively or negatively.

But I can only speak from my point of view - and that is, that I was moderately entertained.

You have to read it to understand why I am going the medium route and am honestly unable to express, in which category - either delightful or boring - I would rate this story.

We are supposed to have a play date with my daughter’s best friend today. It always makes for a fun time. Seeing them together always makes me wonder the lengths we would go for our friends…

Publisher blurb:

Seven women are gathered in a hotel room at midnight; a man's head sits in the center of the floor. They all had a motive to kill Jamie Spellman. They all swear they didn't. But in order to protect each other, they have to find out who did.

Against the ticking clock of a murder investigation, each woman’s secret is brought to light as the connections between them converge to reveal a killer. Marking the debut of an extraordinary new talent, Speak of the Devil explores the roles into which women are cast in the lives of terrible men…and the fallout when they refuse to play pretend for one moment longer.

Review: Hmm, this book did not satisfy me the way I had hoped it would. I think it was partially my expectation. It was marked general fiction, but the blub was more thriller, so that is what I had imagined. However, it was not. It ended up being more character driven than I had hoped and expected. There is nothing wrong with this, it just isn’t my favorite. I also felt that all the points of views became muddled because some of them were so familiar to each other. One thing is for sure though, I am happy the man who slighted all these women ended up dead – he was a truly horrifying and terrible person.

I'll leave this short since I wasn't too crazy about it. I'm never one to complain about too many characters in a story, but this was my first that I had a really hard time keeping track of everyone in the beginning. The writing in itself was excellent and each person's story well thought out. The author also did a great job of making you despise the murder victim. What made me not too crazy for this was that I just wasn't drawn in and had a hard time keeping my interest. I do see a lot of potential with this author and will keep an eye out in the future for more books. Three Stars.

When I read the blurb I immediately had to have it.....
Seven women, inextricably linked by one man, must figure out which of them killed him in order to protect each other"
And the synopsis confirmed it even more!
Who wouldn't want to after reading......
"New Year’s Eve, 1999.
Seven women are gathered in a hotel room at midnight; a man's head sits in the center of the floor. They all had a motive to kill Jamie Spellman. They all swear they didn't. But in order to protect each other, they have to find out who did."
Give me now please! Because I'm sold!

Speak of the Devil by Rose Wilding was a freaking outstanding debut thriiler!
This is a stunningly well written story. The story was intriguing and I thought the characters were well developed.
And both timelines–past and present kept me hooked and were brought together so well.
I liked how this one grabbed me from the first page and held my attention until the end.
Nothing is as it seems here and there were plenty twists along the way.
I'm excited to say Rose Wilding has a fan outta me. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more in the future.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Speak of the Devil is an interesting thriller about a guy who turns up dead and the group of women that he wronged. The victim was a serial sexual predator and an all-around horrible human and the group of women had all been abused by him in one way or another. The book is fast-paced and the chapters alternate between the past and the present as it tells the tale of his crimes against the group. Great revenge read.

Jamie Spellman is the dreamy, sexy, mysterious man everyone women dreams of, but his head, just his head, ends up in a hotel room sitting on top of a bible passage “an eye of an eye”. Seven woman all have reasons to want him dead and form a group to figure out who murdered him. The local investigating officer sets out to find who murdered him, but she also has an alternative motives. Great read!

4 stars

This is a superb and fast paced thriller. The storyline was solid and the characters were well developed. I read this over the course of a day and can’t wait to read more by Rose Wiliding if this is what I can expect.

Okay, part of this has to be me managing my expectations. When I read the description, I thought they were trapped in a room with a severed head and that they wouldn’t get out until secrets are revealed. Note: it doesn’t SAY that, but it was my expectation.

It’s absolutely nothing like that at all. Yes, severed head. Yes, they’re all in a room with that head. But then they all go their separate ways and tell us all about dead dude in various points of view, flashbacks, etc.

I thought that severed head dude really did deserve to be severed head dude.

I really did NOT care about WHO turned him into severed head dude.

And when we find out who did it and why, it’s this weirdly rushed reveal ending that left me realizing that I really did not care.

This one simply didn’t work for me.

• ARC via Publisher

I started this book two days before Christmas. I wrapped presents in-between chapters. As of today, Christmas Day, I have not wrapped all of them. I only wrapped the ones that I needed to take to my moms so that I could finish this great, wonderful, un-put-downable thriller. I finished it, and was only 10 minutes late to my mom's. It's about a group of women that want to take revenge on a sorry, psychopath of a man that deserves it. He has done each of them wrong, so they all had motive to kill him. This is a 5 star read. It is one of those that can make you hesitant to read another book right away because you just know that no matter how good the next book is, it just won't compare to this one. I was honored to receive a digital ARC from NetGalley and Minotaur Publishing. This review is my own opinion.

Seven women meet to discuss how avenge the psychopath who wronged them.. When he's killed the policewoman,Nova, must figure out what happened and why.

This is a fast paced, interesting book. It touches on the difficulty women have being taken seriously, especially when their credibility is undermined by "charming" man adept at playing the victim.

The author touches on the nature-nurture debate of psychopathy..

This is an engrossing story with interesting characters.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC. This is my honest review.

Awesome tale about a devil that ran among the living. In Speak of the Devil, seven women meet to determine how best to hide the death of a man that impacted them all. As we already know, the more people who know a secret, the harder it is to keep it. One of the women is actually dating an inspector assigned to the case and we are able to view the investigation from the inside. In this atmospheric and quickly moving case you don't know who to trust nor where anyone's loyalties truly lie. If you like a story about a bad man receiving his comeuppance, enjoy police procedurals or just want a claustrophobic story of revenge, Speak of the Devil is for you!
#StMartins #SpeakoftheDevil #RoseWilding