I really tried to get into this one but I just couldn't. It wasn't grabbing my attention like I wanted it to. I had to DNF.

Stranded at a secluded lodge, surrounded by the very individuals crucial to solving a cold case massacre – one of whom may be the perpetrator – our FBI agent protagonist confronts both her past and her future. As nefarious events unfold and seemingly suicidal deaths occur, the stage is set for a classic locked room mystery. While it doesn't necessarily redefine the genre, it's undeniably captivating.

The narrative unfurls in real-time, immersing you in the characters' palpable apprehension towards one another while peeling back layers of the past. As the truth behind the massacre gradually emerges, alliances shift and suspicions mount, leaving you constantly reassessing whom to trust. With its brisk pace and abundant intrigue, this is a novel I wholeheartedly recommend.

The narration captures the tension between characters, drawing you deeper into their world. Each voice is distinct, accentuating their personalities and eliciting a range of emotions from readers. I eagerly anticipate further adventures with this intelligent and relatable protagonist.

If you have never read a "And Then There Were None" retelling, you might like this book. Locked room murder mysteries are one of my favorite tropes, but unfortunately this one just didn't do it for me. I didn't connect with any of the characters and I found the twist pretty predictable. Again, I think this would be good for a thriller newbie, but as a lover of the genre myself I didn't enjoy it.

I listened to She Left on audio. Linda Jones did a decent job narrating. Her style wasn't my taste, but I'm confident others will enjoy her narration.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ARC.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #DreamscapeMedia for the book #SheLeft by #StacieGrey. This book is about a 20 year old murder that killed 5 people. Now, someone has orchestrated a get together at a house to find out who is responsible and people are starting to point fingers at each other. One by one, people start dying. Who had the most to gain? Who really killed them 20 years ago? I was on edge and trying to figure out the killer but was unsuccessful.

This may be a wonderful book, however I cannot get past the narrator's voice. I just could not handle it. I would recommend the paper version of the book.

Amy was the sole survivor of a beach party massacre. Twenty years on, secrets will be revealed as a journalist tries to find out what really happened that night.

I enjoy locked room mysteries and this one was set up well. I ended up enjoying it but also felt it needed a little more oomph to get it over the line as come parts did tend to drag on a bit. There were quite a few characters, which at times I did get confused about. The narration was fantastic though!

In this whodunit, a cast of characters are invited to a mansion-sized cabin by a mysterious journalist. Despite their differences, each person has one thing in common: they know someone or were involved in the mass murder of five teenagers at a house party that occurred two decades ago. The only survivor of the shocking event was Amy Brewer, who suspiciously left the party before the fatal events transpired. Now an FBI agent, Amy has accepted the invite to reckon with her past that has never quite stopped haunting her. But disaster strikes this uneasy reunion when people are being picked off, one by one. Stacie Grey writes an on-edge whodunit, which I overall enjoyed. While I could have done without the copaganda, Grey has created a strong, smart, and level-headed (for the most part) female lead. That said, I felt like some of the chapters cut off at odd points in the middle of a sentence or thought that did not feel like a natural point of transition. The unusually long silences between chapters in the audiobook recording, along with the weird chapter transitions, had me thinking that my device kept pausing. I would recommend editing some of the chapters and the audio a bit before final publication. I also did correctly guess who did it about one-third of the way into the book, but nevertheless still enjoyed for the most part.

Thank you Dreamscape Media & Stacie Grey for this read!

This was a great locked room thriller. I enjoyed the one by one aspect and thr fact that everyone's trustworthiness was questionable.

This book was quite fast paced and from the very first chapter I had to continue to read until I found out the truth. I ended up reading this in 2 sittings and felt it was a solid read.

The narration of the audiobook was great - the narrator did an amazing job. So this is also the perfect choice for an audibook!

3.5/5

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
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She Left starts off so strong with the initial "Memorial Day Massacre" and then jumps right ahead to twenty years later where 10 people are lured to a secluded cabin for a "magazine article" revolving around the incident. I got some major "And Then There Were None Vibes" as people start to get offed. Let me just say I love me a good locked door mystery/thriller and this one set it up good.
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This one is told in multiple POV. and right off the bat you should grab yourself a piece of paper because you are going to have a million names thrown at you. There are the 5 people who were murdered on top of the 10 people who were invited to this house. I made myself a nice little chart as to who was who in order to keep it all together. Some characters seemed to be better developed than others, but for the most part, I enjoyed these characters and their stories. Each of the characters had a reason to be at the house, and each also had a secret. As the secrets start being revealed, there's a lot of "he said, she said" and accusations which I didn't necessarily think needed to constantly be included.
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I feel like this one had a pretty steady pace throughout and it maintained my attention the entire time. The end reveal was a bit underwhelming and wasn't overly shocking, though I do love how everything wrapped up nicely and there was nothing to question. This is a good popcorn thriller/ whodunit mystery!
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I listened to htis one via audiobook and Linda Jones did a great job with the narration. She managed to create a distinction between each of the characters. I was able to follow along with hte audio with no problem!
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She Left will release on 5/14. Be sure to check this one out. Huge thank you to NetGalley, Stacie Grey and Dreamscape Media for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

This story is VERY reminiscent of the 1985 movie Clue, based on the board game. Except Clue is campy and funny, and this book has a more serious tone.

This story has an interesting premise, but there wasn’t much suspense in my opinion. I stuck it out to the end because I was invested enough to find out who the killer was, but otherwise there wasn’t a whole lot keeping me engaged as the story went on.

This is a plot driven story which I can appreciate, but there was so little character development that I really struggled to keep everyone straight. There weren’t any defining traits for any of the characters that set them apart from one another so they all just blurred into one crowd of people.

The narration was pretty good, but her inflection for every sentence was a bit repetitive which made for a strange cadence. It’s hard to explain. I didn’t dislike her performance, but she’s not a new favorite narrator either.

Overall, this book was just okay for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for this gifted copy!

Amy Brewer survived the unthinkable - she was the sole survivor in The Memorial Day Massacre. Twenty years later, ten people with connections to the crime have been invited to a remote cliffside house by a journalist looking to do a story on the murders. But the group quickly learns the event is not what it seems. As a storm closes in and guests begin to die, now an FBI agent Amy realizes there is someone in the house who knows more than they admit about what happened that night long ago and they will stop at nothing to protect their secrets.

Using a back and forth method, we slowly learn more and more about all of our guests leaving us with more questions than answers. At times some of the arguments and conversations were slightly clunky and a little disjointed, but never dragged on too much to make it slow. As for characters, they all bled in together, as most tend to do during these styles of thriller but I did find myself not enjoying any of them enough to actually root for any of them. Once we hit the mid way point, the pace picked up and kept a good speed through until the end.
 
She left is a medium to quick paced locked in thriller, exciting enough to leave chills up your spine and have you watching over your shoulder. Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, Poisoned Pen Press and Stacie Grey for an advanced copy in both audio and ebook formats. She Left is set for release May 14th, 2024.

SHE LEFT is a fun locked room mystery that kept me guessing through to the end!

Premise - 20 years after she survives a mass murder at a vacation house, Amy is invited back to said murder house. When she arrives, she finds she's one of a group of people all somehow connected to that night - and soon, all their keys and phones disappear. Not too long after that, bodies start dropping. Amy is now a FBI agent and she's determined to not only survive the night (again), but also solve the un/improperly solved case.

A good locked room mystery can be so fun when done right and this was! It's chockfull of unlikable (but colorful!) characters and plenty of motives, red herrings, and general shenanigans to keep the reader guessing.

Pick this up if you like:
- locked room mysteries
- pathetic fallacy and general creepy ~~vibes~~
- Second chance roma-- erm no, that's not it... a second chance to die!
- people going waaaaayyyyyy too far for a grudge

Thanks, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun, quick read! I finished the audiobook in one setting because I needed to know what happened and who was behind everything.

20 years ago, Amy argued with her friends and left a party. After she left, they were all killed. Now, on the anniversary of their deaths, she has been invited to a remote cliffside house with 9 other people. They all have connections to the original crime and soon realize that someone will do anything to protect their secrets.

She Left is a classic locked room thriller and was extremely fast paced. There are a lot of characters to get to know in the beginning, but other than that this was a fun, quick read. Also, the audio was really great!

I read this as an ebook and I loved it. It is so good. All the suspense and excitement is so much fun. I love how the characters have to work out their memories of their dead friends, relatives, and classmates now that they are adults. They have a lot to unpack.
I loved it even more as an audiobook. The narration was perfect!