The Night I died is a twisted psychological thriller.

Olivia Welles is a private investigator and receives a phone call from Bonnie Ray asking for help. She agrees to come and help but admits she doesn't think she can do much to change Bonnies circumstances. Bonnie is in jail for possibly murdering her young son.

Olivia and Bonnie are both survivors of a car/train accident when they were little in Kansas. Olivia has required multiple surgeries since the accident. She doesn't remember anything before the accident. She was believed to be dead and woke up in the morgue. Her heart stopped beating multiple times and she keeps track of how many. She is scheduled to have another surgery but postpones it until she can return. The Dr. warns her that if she doesn't have this surgery, she will die again only it will be the last time.

There are multiple stories that are woven into the main story. Olivia rescues Bonnie's dog "Dorothy" from being euthanized, he was labeled as a biter. Olivia meets Will who is an aspiring writer who wants to team up and solve the mystery surrounding Bonnie. Will has his own reasons for being there which he does not disclose to Olivia.

The story primarily revolves around what happened to Bonnie’s kids, as well as what’s going on in her house. Ava is Bonnie's mother, who is a successful baker, well known for her apple pies that are mass produced in a factory on her property, is also taking care of Bonnie's youngest child, a newborn. Bonnie and her mother Ava, as well as Olivia, are the only survivors of the train wreck; Olivia’s mother and Ava’s other daughter, Mazie, were killed.

There are many questions and secrets regarding the car/train accident. As Olivia investigates, she becomes certain that the whole town is hiding secrets. Olivia will find herself the focus of someone's wrath and will need to find the answers before she dies a final time.

This was an intense story with many twists and turns. The more we learned the more intense it got. Olivia is a likable character but has a healthy mistrust of most of the people in town. Having lived there while she was young, but has no memory of having lived there, she has no bias about anyone. One surprise for me was Will. Early on he seems to be a shady character, but he manages to redeem himself in the end. I really liked this story. The writing really drew me in right from the beginning.

I really enjoyed this one . It was a little different than my usual read but overall well plotted and had excellent believable characters and really like the setting
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

To be honest, I never read the book details, the title alone had me intrigued.

And HOLY WOW!!! My first read by this author and it truly was an incredible experience. Yes, experience… the way the story is told, truly had you in the minds of the main characters …feeling everything that they did and feelings / emotions of all that was going on. I absolutely adored Olivia and Will. They were such real, raw and beautifully crafted characters.

The story to me, was truly one of a kind. Something I have personally never came across. I was sucked in within the first few sentences and did not want to put it down. It was just as twisted as it needed to be! It has an unknown edge that keeps you craving for the rest of the knowns… that kept coming. (Side note : those don’t stop until the very end… which I loved. I never felt a bore throughout the whole book and it did not have fluff! HUGE PLUS on my scale.)


The whole Etsy thing… got me too! I then was scrolling on my own learning this new information handed to us in this book and then started showing my family memebers. 😆 WE ALL MUST BE IN THE WRONG BUSINESS LOL!

I loved every piece of this beautiful yet tragic story and at points even felt I may have cried for the characters.

This WILL not be my last read by Anne and I can’t wait to read my next, already!

I want to thank Netgalley, Anne and Thomas & Mercer publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This book is definitely in my top 8 favorites for 2023, so far!

Publication date is set for 10/24/23 👏

This is the third book that I have read by Anne Frasier. As a fan of her Inland Empire series, I really hope she is not finished with that series and that she has a third installment in the works. Anyway, Frasier is a really good writer and storyteller and one of things that I like about the Inland Empire is that the storylines veered to the somewhat bizarre and the plots are just really out there! Frasier didn’t disappoint in this story!

The book summary pretty much lays out the premise for the two primary storylines. However, I’m kind of pissed that it also gives away a really big spoiler! Seriously??? I know that the writer has no control over a GR book summary, GR’s just pulls those off the publisher’s website, but why would a publisher do something like that?

Anyway, Bonnie and Olivia are both survivors of a train wreck, back in Kansas, when they were little kids. Bonnie has been arrested for killing another one of her kids; she had four and only one is still alive. Olivia, who is a PI, and who moved to LA with her father after the train wreck (her mother was killed in the train wreck), goes to Bonnie after getting a call from Bonnie for help. Olivia also wants to tie up some loose ends surrounding her “death” when she was a kid; she remembers so little from before the train wreck. Olivia is scheduled for yet another surgery (she’s had quite a few) to correct a condition that she’s had ever since the train wreck. Olivia’s heart has flatlined numerous times since the train wreck and her doctor tells her that if she doesn’t have this latest surgery (she’s put it off long enough), she will die, again, permanently!

I like Olivia! She’s a grieving dog mama whose beloved Cecil Hotel (nine yr old Lab) recently crossed the rainbow bridge. She rescued him as a puppy in the trash can of the hotel she was staying at while on a case. I love how her assistant Ezra bombards her with photos of dogs available for adoption. While I love his sentiment, when grieving a fur baby, the grief doesn’t go away with a new dog. I also loved that Olivia rescues another abused and neglected doggie and takes her home to LA. Olivia is good people in my book!

There are secondary storylines as well. Like the one where Olivia meets Will, an exposé journalist for some Hollywood rag, who has come to Kansas to do a story on Bonnie; her arrest is national news. There is also the storyline of why Will is really there: to prove to his dead father (a famed Pulitzer Prize writer) that he’s a good writer too and someone his father could have been proud of. There’s another storyline around Bonnie’s husband, who is the town’s Marshall and who comes off as a bullying, philandering abuser.

Most of the story revolves around what happened to Bonnie’s kids, as well as what’s going on in her house. There is also Bonnie’s mother, Ava, who is a successful baker, well known for her apple pies that are mass produced in a factory on her property. Bonnie and her mother, as well as Olivia, are the only survivors of the train wreck; Olivia’s mother and Ava’s other daughter, Mazie, were killed. There are so many questions and/or secrets surrounding the train wreck and Olivia is certain either Ava and/or the town are hiding secrets about the wreck. Don’t even get me started on the town. The town is so weird and creepy, that residents from surrounding towns as well as truck drivers, avoid driving through it and will go out of their way not to go through it.

It's early into the second half that Olivia discovers why she has so many memory issues surrounding the wreck and why so many people have kept it secret. DID NOT SEE THAT ONE COMING!!! Shortly thereafter, many of the storylines begin to merge in a collision of lies and deceit and, quite frankly, some wild and crazy madness!!! The end comes pretty quickly after that in a really scary, intense, and overall, really creepy conclusion to the Kansas storylines.

For me, the conclusion seemed like a possible lead-in to another installment. I would be really interested in hearing from others who read the story if they thought the same. If there was a sequel or second installment to the Olivia Welles series, I would definitely read it. I want to thank NetGalley and Thomas Mercer for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #ThomasMercer #TheNightIDied

Years ago, Olivia was in a horrific car accident that killed her best friend and severely injured her. She soon left Kansas and hasn’t returned since. However, when her best friend’s sister calls for help, she decides to go back. Bonnie (the best friend’s sister) has been accused of killing her children and she wants Olivia’s private investigator expertise to help prove her innocence.

I really enjoyed this one! It was engaging and full of lots of good twists. I didn’t give it five stars because I felt like I was given an incomplete backstory on Olivia. Like it’s referenced that she used to be a detective, but we’re not given much on that. It didn’t overall detract too much from my enjoyment of the book, but it was just things like that that made this feel almost like a sequel. However, if you’re looking for a good twisty thriller, this one is good to pick up!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has an intriguing premise. Olivia is a detective who survived, but has no memory of a car crash she was in as a child. The car crash ended up with two fatalities, Olivia’s mother and her best friend. She ends up going back to her childhood town, when she is enlisted to help Bonnie Ray, another survivor of the crash who is charged with killing three of her children.

What I didn’t really care for, was the character Will. He is a journalist with delusions of grandeur, who seems to be using Olivia to get insider information. However, for some reason, against her instincts she teams up with him even though he is very little help, and a liability. Honestly,this lack of good judgement decreased my respect for her character.

Overall, this book was well written and interesting, with many twists and turns. However, I would have rather seen Olivia go it alone than team up with Will.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book to read and review.

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

~

The Night I Died, by Anne Frasier
★★★☆☆
283 Pages
3rd person, multi-character POV
Content Warning: mentions of: PTSD, child death, child abuse, postpartum depression, drug use/addiction, death of a parent, death of a pet, Munchausen syndrome, overdose, car-train collision, corrupt police, grooming of minors, sexual assault of minors



After reading Anne Frasier's Jude Fontaine series, I was stoked to try another of her books. The Night I Died has an incredible premise, and one of the best opening lines of a book I've seen in years:
“Private investigator Olivia Welles had died five times so far in her life.”

Sadly, all of that couldn't save this review. It all kind of went downhill from there, actually.

~

Let's start with the positives, and what made me give this a 3* review rather than anything lower. First off, Olivia was an interesting main character, quite complex and with the same stubborn grit as Jude Fontaine, and I loved that. She had a great journey throughout the novel and didn't pretend to be something she wasn't. Whenever she stepped in to take over or overstepped her boundaries it was with genuine concern for justice and because she was suspicious of everyone in this tiny little Kansas town. And she had a right to be.

I also really liked Will. He wasn't one of your perfect, well rounded characters, but his relationship with Olivia reminded me of Uriah from Jude's series, in that they had a great partnership but it never felt forced or pushed into becoming romantic just because. If there was a hint of romance or an emotional connection it was because it worked in that moment and felt natural to the progression of their relationship.

And yes, I liked the plot concept. While it had faults, it was an interesting case and I did finish the book. I'm a picky reader, so if I'm really not enjoying it or I feel it's all too contrived, I'll stop reading. The fact that I found problems with the story but finished is a credit to Frasier's writing ability.

~

Onto the negatives...
First off, I'll admit that it didn't live up to the quality I had expected, after reading the Jude Fontaine series. If this book had come first, I actually would have understood that better, as for a long time it didn't even read like it was written by the same author.

Unfortunately, The Night I Died has the hallmark of bad choices for a mystery – it's predictable, cheesy and not well paced. While being all over the place for about 50% of the book, it also suffers multiple pages of unnecessary info-dumps, repeats itself endlessly and relies on stereotypes that just felt uncomfortable and cheesy.

Overall, the whole thing feels disjointed and unbalanced.

When it comes to the multi-character POV's, I could have easily cut out about 3 of them without it affecting the story. We get Olivia's POV which is the main one. Then we get Will, which eventually proves to be important though I'd say the first 2 are unnecessary and probably only added for balance. Then we get the suspect Bonnie; her mother Ava; a single POV for Bonnie's husband Conrad Murphy, the sheriff.

Mostly, the story relies on the strength of having unreliable narrators and I quite honestly would have deleted Conrad, the first of Will, the first of Ava, and probably all of Bonnie's except the first. None of them added enough to the story that wasn't told in other ways later on, to have the kind of strength that made them important. I actually think it would have added a whole lot more intrigue to the story to have them deleted and leave things open to speculation.

The story-telling also relies heavily on the time jumps, in particular showing events and then jumping back to show what led to them. Half the time that second re-telling wasn't important, but sometimes it did clarify a few things, especially at the end. But, it did get a little confusing and annoying to constantly jump around. Overall, I marked five big time jumps in the novel.

I wasn't a fan of some of the decisions made, such as the endless repetition of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. I was quite honestly sick of it, after about the third time it was mentioned. It's also a bit frustration that when someone didn't know who Truman Capote was that the book was the first answer because he's more than the sum of one novel, but also when speaking to someone young enough not to know him, a more obvious answer would probably have been that he wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's. Surely that would be a cultural reference more likely to resonate with the younger character?

The utterly endless repetition about Kansas' landscape got to the point that I skimmed multiple pages throughout the novel, because I got the point really early on that it was just a flat expanse for miles, that there were people-tall corn fields (which kind of negates the first statement anyway) and that the place was awash with The Wizard of Oz references. I got all of that within the first chapter of Olivia arriving in Kansas, it DID NOT need to be repeated to me at least once in every chapter – although it was. Often multiple times in a chapter and by various characters.

I found some of Olivia and Will's conversations to be quite odd and entirely irrelevant, such as the talk about water towers that took about an entire page, and the comparison between movies, the long travel pages of nothing of interest, and the odd bathroom break scene.

I also really didn't like the stereotypical aspect of the small town. The fact that a funeral descended into violence – fine, I could understand the character motivations. But for the entire town to become mob-like, cultish and goad someone into violence, even offering to falsify witness statements to somehow 'justify' murder was too much. It felt far too cartoonish and stereotypical, like a hick town where everyone was prepared to commit murder at the first provocation, no one could be trusted and 'we take the law into our own hands here' kind. The fact no one could then accept that their sweet, cherished members would dare commit a crime was no surprise, if they were quite willing to be accomplices, but it also made the entire town seem like dumb idiots with no moral compass.

~

Overall, while the story had a strong female lead, a great buddy-cop dynamic between the two main characters, and an intriguing story concept, there were certain editing and plot choices that really put me off. If the story hadn't been so strong, I would definitely not have finished reading.

In the end, it was quite cliché, predictable and full of stereotypes. I had to really push past those problems to let my enjoyment of the mystery/police element shine through. I'm sorry to say that I feel like it just tried too hard to make the entire town seem crazy and like viable suspects or accomplices, willing to cover up any and every crime, so that Olivia and Will truly were all alone, in this together against the world.

While it was, at times, engaging and intriguing, I'm sad to say that I guessed the killer/s very early on, that I guess the huge Olivia secret almost from the very beginning and none of the big revelations of the story took me by surprise. I'm rounding this off at a 2.5, but bumping it up to 3* for the rating system simply for the fact that it was a strong concept and parts of it were really well done. It was just badly let down by the other choices that were made throughout.

Olivia feels compelled to help Bonnie, who also survived the car crash that killed her mother and sister, when Bonnie is arrest for killing her children, This is a story of past secrets and lies. Olivia has repressed her memories but there's something really wrong in Finney, Kansas. Luckily, she meets Will, a journalist who helps with the confusion and challenges, There's a big twist- no spoilers. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, A good read,

Thank you to Anne Frasier, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Okay, so, I requested this book after reading the book and it sounded so good. But by 25% I was done, I could not read it anymore. Olivia had zero personality. She was boring, she was almost robotic. She was not a good PI at all.

The story just did not hold my attention.

Private investigator Olivia survived a train wreck as a child but a phone call from someone else involved in the accident has her travelling back to her childhood home in Kansas to try to solve a murder.

The author has created an interesting story with plenty of twists and turns. The plot moves at a good pace which kept my interest. I felt that some of the characters lacked depth and there were times when the author shifted to a different narrator or threw in a flashback to give a different perspective on the story.

The subject matter could have become quite heavy but the approach of the two main characters gave it a more lighthearted feel, and I still can’t decide whether that was appropriate or not. Having said that, I enjoyed the story.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4-4.25⭐️

Having heard rave reviews for other books by this author I leapt at the chance to read this one.

What I found very irritating was having to scroll past page after page of praise for other books before I could get to the. Start of the book.

Private investigator Olivia Wells is drawn back to Kansas by Bonnie who she has known since a child she is accused of killing her children. Olivia is pulled into the case as the two women share a history. En route she meets up with reporter Will LaFever who is after a Pulitzer prize winning story. He thinks these children’s deaths could be the story that makes him.

Here we have our two protagonists, very different to each other, and both with their oddities. I must say I immediately liked both of them, although Will’s motives weren’t immediately obvious, just making him appear even stranger. They are both outsiders in a very clicky small rural town, and needed to stick together.
I enjoyed their relationship as it developed, as well as her assistant Ezra back at the office, needless to say he has his own ongoing issues.

As this is the first in what I believe is a series a fair bit of time is spent developing each of their histories and back stories, giving the characters good depth but initially slowing the pace.
The relationship between the three was my favourite part of the story.

I loved most of the book, wasn’t so sure about the ending for me. Although it’s fast paced once it gets going and kept my interest well. It’s well worth a read. I’ll be checking out others by this author for sure, and look forward to the next one in this series as I like the protagonists.

This is a first time read by this author and I was impressed. Not only did it keep this reader guessing but I appreciated the twist and turns with no romantic involvement between characters.My suggestion to others would be to give this story a try, you will not be disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The Night I Died by Anne Frazier that I read and reviewed.
I figured out one of the twist in this book pretty quickly and as for the rest most of the characters in the book were a bit crazy and I really didn’t know what to think about any of them.
I am not a huge fan of books told from so many different perspectives because there is just so much going on you get lost in what everyone is thinking you don’t know what what.
Overall, this book was pretty good. I enjoyed it. But like I said everyone was a bit nuts.
I am giving The Night I Died four out of five stars.

Wow! Complex and gripping, with intriguing characters. This one kept me guessing. I was completely invested in Olivia. The mystery is full of twists. I was glued to this one and didn't want it to end.

Olivia Welles has not been back to her home town in Finney County, Kansas since the night she first died. Involved in an accident when she was young, she was pronounced dead at the scene but later started to wake up in the morgue and was rushed to hospital. During the reconstructive surgery needed to put her back together she died several more times but was resuscitated and eventually grew up to become a homicide detective in the LAPD and now works as a private detective in LA.

Olivia’s mother and her best friend Mazie died in the accident while Mazie’s little sister Bonnie and her mother managed to walk away from the wreck. When Olivia receives a call from Bonnie saying she needs help because she’s been accused of the murder of her young son, she decides to return to her home town for her first time since the accident. Two of Bonnie’s children have previously died in what were ruled as accidents by the coroner, but for a third child to die is definitely suspicious.

This is a very entertaining tale of murder and madness. Journalist Will LaFever is a quirky character, a Truman Capote wannabe writing about true crime. He travels to Finney County on the same flight as Olivia and recognising her, uses an unconventional ruse to get Olivia to get her to notice him. Although she is initially set against aiding him in any way, the two will eventually help each other and become good friends. Olivia will also solve the mystery of the dead children and find answers to her own questions about her past and her relationship with her father. Not hugely suspenseful, but the plot is fun and engaging, building gradually to a crazy climax with some unexpected twists.

Anne Frasier has become one of comfort authors despite the almost macabre storyline her books have. The Night I Died is her latest still with her hallmark macabre past for her heroine. This time though her main female lead seems to have a lighter aura than her past books. The writing is still on point, sharp, with a plot whose twist you might guess but won’t be really sure if you got right. This is more a psychological thriller/mystery you won’t be able to put down.

This book is a fast paced quick little mystery that was full of drama and will keep you guessing. I enjoyed the author’s writing, it made this book an easy read. The ending was super drawn out and took away from the overall fast pacing of the book, but overall I enjoyed it.

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

5/5 stars: Frasier has been a favorite author for years and this newest stand-alone novel doesn't disappoint. With plenty of twists and turns, Frasier writes a gripping tale about a private detective returns home to help a woman, who's been accused of killing her children, allies with a journalist who unearths secrets from the past. I really love how Frasier deftly wove together Olivia's past and the current case. I've never been to Kansas but Frasier's descriptions of the landscape and small town life drew me in and painted an evocative setting for Olivia's return home. Additionally, I love Frasier's ability to create such incredibly complex characters who may be damaged but are strong and relatable. This book touches on some very sensitive topics; take care, check the CWs.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and the author for the advanced reader's copy of this publication.

Loved it! Its one of my favorites this year so far. Exciting storyline, characters and writing. I love when a book can make you feel like you are in the story. No mistaking the feeling. The author did an excellent job keeping the storyline moving and involved.

Wonderful! Easy read.