This is one of THOSE books! The kind you tell all of your friends, family, and reading buddies that they HAVE to read it! Every avid reader has those favorites, you know, the ones you clear your calnedar to read the new release. In A VERY BAD THING, we meet Columbia Jones, the author whose name is so well known, it's used as a measure.....is it as good as a Columbia Jones book?
The mystery starts at the very first page and when Columbia is dead soon after, the thrill starts. JT Ellison manages to keep adding twists and clues and characters until this reader was pretty sure the whole group had something to do with the deaths....yes, plural. As each question is answered, another appears, and there are some BIG questions here. The ending was an added plus, I knew there had to be more!!! You need to read this. Plan a quiet afternoon and tell everyone to fend for themselves, there will be no coming up for air until the end.

This one is for people who liked The Inheritance Games or Knives Out.

Columbia Jones is finishing up her last night on tour when she faints on stage. Later, she’s murdered. Who did it? Her daughter? The reporter following the book tour? Someone from her past?

The author’s death in the description intrigued me and it didn’t disappoint. I wanted Riley (the reporter) to figure it out before the murderer got to her. This one kept me guessing.

Thank you net galley for an advanced copy of J.T. Ellison's A VERY BAD THING. This was an awesome read and I looked forward to finding out what that very bad thing was--and whether or not it only one thing, And of course I knew there would be a murder and the who done aspect gets me every time. I would think I knew who the culprit was, then changed mine mind several times. I also liked the fact that this story was about an author so the reader gets a glimpse of the author's writing process and some of what goes on on book tour.

When a famed author is murdered, her daughter is left reeling and a journalist won’t stop until she uncovers the truth.

This felt more mystery with thriller moments than a true thriller to me. To that end, I found the pacing slow at times and the book too long. Interspersed in the novel is some of the main character, Columbia’s work, which I actually found the most compelling and wanted more of.

There’s plenty here for fans of Ellison to enjoy, but it’s not one I feel like will stick with me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer.

A 5 star thriller by NY Times & USA Today Best Selling Author JT Ellison.
It’s EVERYTHING a thriller, crime, suspense reader would want!
What could peak our interest more than a book about an elite award winning author and everything that goes along with that EXCEPT murder, her own!
Ellison kept me guessing with each twist up until the very end!
Favorite character was Author Columbia Jones herself because of her secretive and demure personality.
Twisty plot kept me turning the pages. Interesting and compelling novel, hard to put down.
Thanks to Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. Full review posted on Instagram @shereadswith_coffee and Goodreads @shereadswithcoffee
Will post full review to Amazon and Bookbub as well.

Wow. What a twisted ride. Just when you think you have it figured out the story takes you in another direction. Definitely a can’t put down book.thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

This is a really good story that took me forever to read ( forever for me anyway) because I just haven’t been much in the reading mood and it is a bit slower paced for my liking in the earlier chapters ( or just my mood .. honestly I don’t know ) . There is definitely some foreshadowing but a few totally unexpected surprises along the way .

Too long, too many characters, too repetitive - this one definitely wasn’t for me. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #Thomas&Mercer for the book #AVeryBadThing by #JTEllison. Columbia Jones, is a famous author, and now she’s dead. At her latest book tour she sees someone who startles her and the next day she is dead. She had many secrets from her past that are coming to light. Is someone in her past the killer? What secrets is she hiding?

I was thrilled to be able to read and review A Very Bad Thing, by one of my top thriller authors! J.T. Ellison is an auto read author for me. I love that I can go in blind with no idea of the premise of the book, and she never disappoints. This book is no exception! I loved the pacing of the plot, and the tension that was built up throughout the story. The twists were so clever, and unexpected. I will say that there was a lot of characters to keep track of, and the book was a little longer than I like for a thriller, but that did not deter me from being able to devour this story! While there were some twists that were a little far fetched, they worked for this story. Just be prepared to suspend belief a little bit.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity. I really enjoyed this one and can't wait for her next!

EXCERPT: My darling daughter,
I'm not going to hide this from you anymore.
Many, many years ago, I did a very bad thing.
And I paid for it. Oh, did I pay for it. As did everyone around me.

ABOUT 'A VERY BAD THING': A great writer knows when to deliver a juicy plot twist. But for one author, the biggest twist of all is her own murder.

With a number of hit titles and a highly anticipated movie tie-in, celebrated novelist Columbia Jones is at the top of her game. Fans around the world adore her. But on the final night of her latest book tour, one face in the crowd makes the author collapse. And by the next morning, she’s lying dead in a pool of blood.

Columbia’s death shocks the world and leaves Darian, her daughter and publicist, reeling. The police have nothing to go on—at first. But then details emerge, pointing to the author’s illicit past. Turns out many people had motive to kill Columbia. And with a hungry reporter and frustrated cop on the trail, her secrets won’t stay buried long. But how many lives will they shatter as the truth comes out?

MY THOUGHTS: Who is Columbia Jones? Because she certainly isn't who she says she is. But then she is an author. A writer of fiction. Is it really so very strange that she has made up her whole life?

The big question is WHY?

I've heard of people's pasts coming back to haunt them. Columbia's past has come back to kill her.

A Very Bad Thing is Good. Very Good.

Enthralling. Twisty. It had my mind darting from one possible perpetrator to the next. I never did arrive at the correct solution! And that solution is totally, deviously delicious!

A lot of this isn't entirely plausible, but it is one hell of a fun ride. I'm glad I bought a ticket.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#AVeryBadThing #NetGalley

MEET THE AUTHOR: J.T. Ellison is the bestselling author of more than 30 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of the literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes contemporary fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.
J.T. lives in Nashville with her husband and twin kittens, one of whom is a ghost, where she is hard at work on her next novel. (source jtellison.com)

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of A Very Bad Thing by J.T. Ellison for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

This one is different from a lot of the books I've read by this author and it had me hooked from the beginning. Interesting and complex characters. Plenty of suspense and twists. Wow!

This twisted thriller had me guessing from beginning to end, and the gripping story kept me reading long past my bedtime. Columbia Jones is a bestselling author, on tour with her latest book. She is accustomed to adding twists to her plots but no one expected her to end up dead in her bed at the end of the tour. What an unexpected twist! With little to go on in order to investigate her death, Detective Sutcliffe is a dogged and determined investigator who follows the few clues he has to uncover secrets from her past that probably led to her demise. Her daughter Darian is mystified and to who would want to kill her mother and even more stymied by the mysteries of a new will and people named in it that she doesn’t even know. The plot is so twisted that it’s like riding a roller coaster at breakneck speed and then coming to a death-defying curve that has you biting your nails in anticipation and dread of what will be exposed next. This is a propulsive thriller with the author’s signature style of crisp writing and painstaking details that added to the believability of the story. I was totally immersed in the family drama and the mystery as the book switched points of view between various characters and locations. The characters were realistically flawed with complicated personalities adding to their realism. This is a clever page-turner with some intense intrigue and plenty of sub-plots masterfully woven together into one gritty and sharply written novel.

Wow! A very bad thing indeed! This was very twisty and dark! Some of these characters are not what they seem. Others don’t even know who they are! This was a good, thrilling story with a not-so-neatly wrapped up ending. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Thrillers aren’t usually for me - the ending can 100% make or break them, and rarely do I come away satisfied - but I truly liked this one. Fast-paced and twisty, with themes of loyalty, legacy, and family (and many more which I would love to include, but I will avoid spoilers!). I will just say I was continuously surprised by the turn of events through the final chapter. While I think it may have been a bit more complex then necessary, there were several well-developed characters with fascinating backgrounds whom I to grew to care for. I enjoyed the unique format with multiple POVs mixed with in the draft of a short story. I could totally see this novel becoming a successful movie.

I hate to say I DNF this one, because I usually LOVE JT Ellison books….I just could not get into this one. The beginning was hard for me to even pay attention, so I may try this one again in the future. As I said, I love this author so I definitely will heck out her next book!

A celebrated author Columbia Jones dies on the last day of the book tour. Her death starts a chain of sinister events for Columbia's daughter Darian, Riley a journalist writing her story and Kira, a big fan. A big secret from Columbia's past is gradually revealed.

This was such an exciting story. It's told by several alternating pov's, and also past and present narrative, which I liked. I was eager to know what the secret was, so I kept turning pages late into the night. There were several good twists and the ending was quite unexpected. At 446 pages the book felt a little too long and there was some unnecessary repetition, but all in all I really enjoyed it.

Don't let this big book (495 pages) scare you. It is a fast read with short chapters told in multiple POV's. Famous author Columbia Jones has been murdered and there are multiple suspects. Each has a secret but the biggest secret was kept by Columbia. This book has so many twists and turns and each secret is slowly revealed to keep you guessing. I love when an author gives me an OMG moment and J.T. Ellison has succeeded with a great ending.

Thank you to @thrillerchick @amazonpublishing, Netgalley and @otrpr for the #gifted book and this is my honest opinion.

J.T. Ellison has never done me wrong, and I really enjoyed this new one. It's a well-layered mystery with a lot of characters and suspects, and a twisty story within a story. The pacing of this is really strong, and there are enough consistently new facts and elements to the story that it keeps moving. Devoted readers of the author's books will find some crumbs of previous stories, and as always, I can't wait for what she does next.

So dark but oh so good! Tense, stressful, unpredictable….a drama-filled thriller! I enjoyed reading A Very Bad Thing! J.T. Ellison places her readers on the edge of their seats and firmly nails them there for the duration of the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this exciting ARC.