Courtney Gould’s signature style comes through brilliantly in her sophomore novel. I was disturbed, intrigued. and as just as confused at Beck reading WHERE ECHOES DIE.

Courtney Gould can WRITE.

WHERE ECHOES DIE is a totally mesmerizing story written in Gould's gorgeous prose. I was completely drawn into the town of Backravel, Arizona-- a place where there are no cars, cemeteries, or churches. It seems like a picturesque place built among worn military structures. But Beck's mom started out writing an article on Backravel and eventually the town consumed her until her death. Now Beck and her sister Riley are spending two weeks in Backravel for a supposed vacation. But for Beck, it's so much more: she has to know why she lost her mom to Backravel.

This is an amazing fantasy tale that explores grief in deep and beautiful ways. The methods Beck uses to deal with her mom's death are not always healthy, but they are nuanced and touching. ECHOES is haunting in so many ways. Time just seems to move differently in Backravel. It's a mystical place, though not necessarily a good one. Gould uses the stark desert landscape to her advantage, creating an atmospheric story that is truly creepy and unsettling. You can feel Backravel as you read--see it, imagine the characters, sense the heat rising off the car-less streets.

The story dragged just a little for me slightly after the halfway mark. I needed Beck to be better to Riley, to communicate more, and things to move just a little faster. Otherwise, this was a great read. A wonderful spooky fantasy page-turner with a sapphic bent.

4.5*

THIS WAS SO GOOD!!!!

beck and her sister riley go to Backravel, a small town that their mom was obsessed with. when they arrive, they notice that people’s memories are messed up and things just don’t seem right. beck tries to find out answers about their mom without losing herself in the process.

i loveddddd the dead and the dark so i was so excited for this one!! i definitely prefer the dead and the dark over this one but it was still really good! it was so interesting to see the relationship between beck and riley change and how much they’ve done for one another. it was really sweet.

the romance was not a main focus and i liked that. it did happen pretty fast but i honestly didn’t mind it at all.

i loved the atmosphere as well! the memory loss & unspooling was really interesting to read about as well!

i can’t wait for courtney gould to release more books!!

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for giving me this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book! Dystopian, twisty, with a sprinkle of sci-fi. Beck made me want to throttle her on multiple occasions- like, why are you lying?!? I did enjoy this and based on other reviews, the author has several other great reads. I received this eARC from NetGalley for my unbiased opinion. Thank you.

"Two sisters travel to an isolated Arizona town to investigate its connection to their mother's death, but uncover more than they bargained for in this supernatural thriller from the author of The Dead and the Dark.

Beck Birsching has been adrift since the death of her mother, a brilliant but troubled investigative reporter. She can't stop herself from slipping into memories of happier days, longing for a time when things were more normal. So when a mysterious letter in her mother's handwriting arrives in the mail that reads Come and find me, pointing to the small town at the center of her last investigation, Beck hopes that it may hold the answers.

But when Beck and her sister Riley arrive in Backravel, Arizona, it's clear that something's off. There are no cars, no cemeteries, no churches. The town is a mix of dilapidated military structures and new, shiny buildings, all overseen by a gleaming treatment center high on a plateau. No one seems to remember when they got there, and when Beck digs deeper into the town's enigmatic leader and his daughter, Avery, she begins to suspect that they know more than they're letting on.

As Beck and her sister search for answers about their mother, she and Avery are increasingly drawn together, and their unexpected connection brings up emotions Beck has fought to keep buried. Beck is desperate to hold onto the way things used to be, but when she starts losing herself in Backravel - and its connection to her mother - she risks losing her way back out.

In Where Echoes Die, Courtney Gould draws readers into a haunting desert town to explore grief, the weight of not letting go of the past, first love, and the bonds between sisters, mothers and daughters."

Oddly seems written just for me...

This was a fun read! A very intriguing story with some interesting characters. I would have liked to see a bit more in terms of Beck and Avery’s relationship, but I really loved their progression through the story. I also wish we had learned a bit more about what was causing all the weirdness in town. I think it would have been slightly more satisfying to get a more in depth description, but it was still a great plot device.

After the death of her mother, Beck receives a letter from her from beyond the grave that says Come find me. She travels to Backravel, Arizona, where things seem very wrong and nothing like the outside world.

Courtney Gould is a master of creepy small town mysteries.

I really loved how past memories and the present were blended seamlessly to avoid info dumping and to get a deeper look into their lives.

Grief is portrayed so well in this book and I loved the relationships between the characters, especially Beck and her sister.

Perfect for fans of The Dead and The Dark.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!

4 Stars

Wow this book had me HOOKED!

As soon as I started reading this book, it gave me major "Twilight Zone" vibes. So atmospheric in the best way possible. If you've ever watched this episode, it reminded me of the one where the guy is in this town where there's no one. No cars moving, no animals, no people in windows. Which is pretty much the vibes with this town, Backravel.

Beck and her sister, Riley, travel to Backravel after receiving a mysterious letter from their mother who passed away. (There is a trigger warning for death of a parent.) Backravel ends up being a very strange town with no cars, no cemeteries, no churches, and is overseen by the towns treatment center.

I loved seeing the story unfold - the entire time I was like... I gotta know how this ends. I loved the sibling relationship in this, and made me think of my sister and I.

Highly recommend this book when it comes out on June 20th (my birthday!!). Thanks to @netgalley and @wednesdaybooks for gifting me this book to review.

This book was a sapphic masterpiece! It’s about strange towns, sisterhood, and the relentless hold of grief. Courtney Gould continues to amaze me and I’ll be reading any and everything she publishes next.

As someone who LOVED the dead and the dark, I was so excited to read the next novel from this author. I actually really enjoyed the beginning of this book. We have a strange little town where weird stuff is happening, cool. Then the reveal of what was actually going on happened and I felt disappointed and confused. It just didn’t work for me, I think part of it is that this was marketed as a YA horror and I think it falls more into a Sci-fi/contemporary category. You also have to suspend belief for this book. Your telling me two teenagers are renting a camper with no adults and no one is batting an eye. And then the way Beck just leaves her younger sister all the time. Yikes. I see the messages the author was trying to portray about moving through trauma and grief but it felt strange with the sci-fi element.

The structure of this book was a bit overly complicated, and that's why it's getting 4 instead of 5 stars. Otherwise, I loved the story. I found the characters to be well-constructed and developed - maybe not likeable, but competently crafted.

After reading and loving Goulds previous book I was so anticipating this one only to come out of it with just an okay reaction.
Books that deal with timey wimey stuff are very hit or miss with me and that area of the book is the part I did not vibe with the most.
Her writing? Superb. I love it and will continue to pick up more.
This just wasn't the story for me.
Another smaller thing to add is that we get so much build up about this festival and then it barely even happens. Like half a page at most. I was expecting a full blown carnival type of fest.
And our main character Beck... yeah couldn't stand her.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

What I loved:
-Spooky, ominous feeling throughout the book
-I "thought" I knew what was going on, I totally did not. What was truly going on was way more twisted than I thought it was going to be. LOVE!
- The author made me sympathize with the main character and her mission in Backravel, I wanted her to succeed!
- The evolution of the Beck/Avery relationship

What didn't work for me//was ok:
- I wanted to know more about Beck's mom & her illness and how it was interwoven with Backravel
- God, I hated Ricky! That was obviously the point but his scenes with Beck made me angry!
- More science explanation please! How? Why? I wanted a bigger explanation to what was happening.

I ended up really enjoying this one! It took me a few days to get past the first couple chapters into the story but when I really sat down and focused, this turned into a quick read! I really loved Courtney Goulds previous book so I'm thrilled that this one was just as great! Ill be watching for future books by this author for sure!

Great queer representation, wonderful writing, a creepy, twisty story. I am not the biggest sci-fi fan, but it held my attention enough to see it though. This is my first time reading a book by the author. One of the things I admire most about a writer is how I can hear their stories in my head like songs. This book is a great example of a hum and a tune while flipping pages. 

The book is captivating, has wonderful queer representation, as well as a creepy, twisty story that kept me intrigued. I'm not the biggest sci-fi fan, but it was enough to hold my attention, and I saw it though to the end. This is my first time reading a book by the author, and I think they did a great job. One of the things I admire most about a writer is how I can hear their stories in my head like songs. This book is a great example of a hum and a tune while flipping pages.

It is not my first choice in book types, but I am open minded to the arts and I appreciate the artist. I also feel more history of the town could have been tied in. I still have questions. I found myself wavering between a 3-4 review and decided on a 3 with the other similar books I read this year. 

Thank you Net Galley & St. Martin's Press for the ARC

Where Echoes Die is a slow burn thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. So good!

A slow-burn of a thriller where at the very heart of the story are the sisters' relationships with each other and what each thought they had with their mother. Definitely a refreshing book with a twist.

I really enjoyed this one. I really liked Gould's debut back in 2021, but this one kind of blew it out of the water. Gould crafts an atmosphere and a mystery that really sinks into you and gradually consume you until the very end. I was figuratively on the end of my seat as I was reading it, trying to figure out alongside Beck what the hell was going on in this town. Though I managed to figure out a couple things earlier, the official reveals were still immensely satisfying.

I also really adored Beck. You could really feel her need to solve this mystery of how important it is to her because of its deep-rooted connections to her mom. Beck has also had to carry so much weight throughout her life, like her dad leaving, her mom's illness, taking care of her younger sister, all of this cumulates into her obsession and her grief; it really tugged on my heart strings.

I don't wanna say too much about mystery, but if anyone has ever read Remember Me Gone, a similar thing happens here, only Gould executed the idea/themes much better, in my opinion.

Overall, this was such a great novel. I cannot wait to continue to follow Gould's career and see what else she will come up with in the future.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of WHERE ECHOES DIE!!

Wow, this book was so unnerving in the best ways possible. The whole mystery shrouding the town and how out of place Riley and Beck were made the experience that much more tense. I was thoroughly creeped out at many parts in the story, and while I figured out part of the twist, the rest of the twist and the entirety of the ending really took me for a ride.

I was invested in the characters and the plot from the beginning, and seeing Beck’s spiral reminded me of Pip’s spiral from the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. The intensity of the borderline obsession and the fervor of Beck’s persistence was so visceral. I also appreciated how established and real the relationships between the whole Birsching family were. It made me able to both sympathize with and understand the characters a lot more.

I found some writing style choices to be repetitive (one being the repetition of Ellery’s full name, which felt overdone and unnecessary) but it didn’t impact my thoughts and feelings of the plot too much. It was a minor thing that slightly bothered me at the most.

Highly recommend this book for any fans of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder who are looking for a slightly paranormal sapphic thriller. Definitely going to be reading more of Courtney Gould in the future!

What I loved
-examination of grief in an intense horror/thriller
-slow build up and revelations leads into a crescendo of possibly unavoidable events
-Supernatural vibes
What didn't work as well for me
-dialogue tags felt oddly intrusive in their use from time to time
-the girls keeping things from their surviving parent regarding their travel plans in the begging was profoundly unsettling.(Likely intended to be so but I was shaken)
Who I would recommend this title for
Where echoes Die is the perfect read for former fans of Supernatural looking for a female eccentric story examining themes of grief while pulling strong horror and mystery vibes.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for "Where Echoes Die" by Courtney Gold.

Normally I have no issue finishing books quickly, but it initially felt like there was a very slow start to the book: I had trouble engaging with the story, and wanting to care about the characters. The setup, and world building was a little scattered, and sometimes I did have a bit of trouble remembering or following events... which actually worked considering this story deals with some 'slips' in memory, and 'slips' in time.

Overall though the concept was phenomenal. I've always been fascinated by reading about oddly cult-like communities... and this book definitely had that. I am sure this book is one that my students would enjoy - for the creepy factor. I also felt like "Where Echoes Die" tackles the ideas of loss and grief in a way that they can be processed easily.

Side note: For some reason while reading I kept thinking of the Strangerville world in Sims 4 game... it had the same creepiness with the people of the town, and the secret facility.

Overall 4/5