Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce is a wonderfully eerie folk horror book set in a town that felt so real and creepy. I’m always here for a creepy kid book and I love how far off the deep end Pearce went with the ending.

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for my review copy. Sorry for the late review -- I had to read this one late because Netgalley had stopped working with Kobo.

Creepy, Weird, and not what I expected.

We follow Mina, a child psychologist, as she takes on her first real case: Alice, a 13-year-old girl haunted by claims of witchcraft and possession. What starts off as a regular psychological evaluation quickly turns into someone much more dark and sinister. The story itself blurs the line between mental illness and supernatural phenomena which really makes the readers work.

I have to say right off the bat the twist annoyed and angered me so much and I still can't decide if it's in a good way or a bad way. What I do know is that Daisy Pearce is an amazing writer and her writing had me hooked! I am definitely keeping an eye out for more publications.

Thank You to Daisy Pearce, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The spook factor and lore of this book were top notch. I loved the possession storyline and thought that this mystery unfolded beautifully. There were so many pieces to this that I loved and my only complaint is that I felt like certain parts of the story could have been flushed out a little better!

I am sure that this book has its readers and I'm happy to see that it has quite a holds list at my library, but I decided to DNF at 28%. It just did not grab my attention the way I thought it would. Perhaps I'll try again in the future when I have more patience for a slow burn.

Absolutely love me a good thriller! And this cover is perfect. I love a good, quick read in the summer time that keeps me on the edge of my seat!

history of superstition and witchcraft. They believe there is evil in the world. They believe there are ways of…dealing with it. And they don’t expect outsiders to understand.

This author excels at setting the stage for a claustrophobic, ominous atmosphere - small, superstitious village with mysterious occurrences and citizens, a teen girl at the center of unsettling experiences who claims a witch is watching her. I couldn't wait to see what happened when Mina, a new child psychologist, met Alice and looked forward to their interactions. I wondered more than once if Alice might be possessed.

Mina's backstory is gradually revealed, although it's not difficult to guess the truth of the past event that haunts her. Journalist Sam is dealing with his own demons and comes with a tragic backstory of his own. He's involved in a couple significant plot points, but I thought he'd play a bigger role overall. I also expected Mina to have more face time with Alice since helping her is the primary reason Mina is there. The ending isn't what I'd expected, but in hindsight the clues were there based on the local folklore. I still feel like a big question went unanswered and unsolved.

Recommended for fans of slow burn horror/mysteries, claustrophobic settings, and open endings .

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

A great read! This one has all the elements, a wonderful story combined with an intriguing cast of characters & eerie setting! Good recommendation for your thriller/mystery, horror & even general adult fiction readers!

Description
Newly-minted child psychologist Mina has little experience. In a field where the first people called are experts, she’s been unable to get her feet wet. Instead she aimlessly spends her days stuck in the stifling heat wave sweeping across Britain, and anxiously contemplating her upcoming marriage to careful, precise researcher Oscar. The only reprieve from her small, close world is attending the local bereavement group to mourn her brother’s death from years ago. That is, until she meets journalist Sam Hunter at the grief group one day. And he has a proposition for her.

Alice Webber is a thirteen year old girl who claims she’s being haunted by a witch. Living with her family in their crowded home in the remote village of Banathel, Alice’s symptoms are increasingly disturbing, and money is tight. Taking this job will give Mina some experience; Sam will get the scoop of a lifetime; and Alice will get better, Mina is sure of it.

But instead of improving, Alice’s behavior becomes increasingly inexplicable and intense. The town of Banathel has a deep history of superstition and witchcraft. They believe there is evil in the world. They believe there are ways of…dealing with it. And they don’t expect outsiders to understand.

As Mina races to uncover the truth behind Alice’s condition, the dark cracks of Banathel begin to show. Mina is desperate to understand how deep their sinister traditions go–and how her own past may be the biggest threat of all.me fans...

Something in the Walls is a chilling, atmospheric thriller that had me hooked from the very first page. Daisy Pearce blends psychological suspense with a creeping sense of dread that builds steadily as the story unfolds. It’s not a jump-scare kind of horror—it’s the kind that lingers and gets under your skin.

The house at the center of the story is practically a character itself—claustrophobic, mysterious, and filled with secrets. Pearce does an incredible job using setting to create unease, and I found myself second-guessing everything right alongside the main character. The unreliable narration adds to the tension perfectly, keeping you on edge as reality starts to blur.

There’s a strong emotional thread too, especially around grief, trauma, and the past we can’t quite escape. The twists were smart and satisfying, and while some parts felt deliberately ambiguous, it only added to the haunting vibe the book delivers so well.

If you love slow-burn psychological horror with a gothic feel and an ending that leaves you thinking long after you turn the last page, Something in the Walls is absolutely worth picking up.

3/5 Stars! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this eARC of Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce.

I had gotten approved for this eARC and the audiobook. I listened the audiobook before giving a couple of the chapters a try. I think I may have ruined it by listening to it first. I'd def like to check out other books by this author because this is my first novel by her. Def interesting story and enjoyed it.

I loved this book. It was an interesting and inventive take on the modern day ‘witch’ story. The incorporation of history into the story elevated it another level for me.
I can’t wait to read more from this author. I highly recommend Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce.
4.5 out of 5 stars. (rounded up to 5 stars)

This book is psychological thriller meets supernatural horror. The setting was atmospheric. It was creepy and scary for the first three quarters of the book and I would’ve given that portion 4 ⭐️ rating. The last quarter of the book got wild and crazy but too many unanswered questions so 3 ⭐️ for the remainder. So 3.5 ⭐️ overall. Maybe the unanswered questions was intentional on the author’s part.

This book was outside of my typically genre, but kept me intrigued nonetheless. A suspenseful plot with an almost classic feel, this book flowed well. I would defineilty recommend to those whoa re fans of this genre.

This book sounded so good, and I was so excited to read it! It had a strong start, and I was initially hooked. However, as the book went on, it went in a very weird direction, and I didn't really enjoy where it went. There was so much promise, but the execution fell a little flat.

Mina has been struggling with the grief of the death of her younger brother when she was a kid. Her fiancé, Oscar, encourages her to return to a grief group to help her heal. At the grief group she meets Sam, who lost his daughter. They quickly bond over their shared grief and their curiosity for what the afterlife holds. Sam is a journalist who has been asked to look into a 13-year-old girl, Alice, who claims that she is being haunted by a witch. Sam sees this as the perfect opportunity to bring Mina into the mix, since she is at the end of her schooling for child psychology. Together they go to meet the girl and her family to see if this haunting is real or if she's suffering from a mental condition. While Sam is generally liked by the family and neighbors, Mina is regarded with suspicion and resistance. The longer that Mina and Sam investigate and the more time that Mina spends with Alice leaves Mina with more questions than answers.

Like I said, this book started off really good. I was really into the first half of it and genuinely found moments super creepy. There was actually one scene that literally gave me chills and that never happens! But the farther into the book I went, the more repetitive it became. The "twist" was unexpected, but not in a good way. I didn't like the direction it went and thought it ruined the overall book. I did, however, think the look into folklore and witchcraft was interesting. I wish the author would have dived deeper into it. The characters were hit and miss. Mina was generally okay, but I didn't really feel any sort of character development with her. I really liked Sam, and I wish that we had gotten more of his character and backstory.

Overall, I was left with more questions than answers and finished the book feeling disappointed. My biggest question - why the hell would anyone want to marry Oscar? That dude SUCKED!!

I do want to say that the writing itself was good. Pearce writes really well, and it really did have me gripped right away. The reviews on this one were mixed, but if you like creepy mysteries than this might be the one for you. Be prepared for trigger warnings.

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

I wanted this book to be a hit scarier specially with the great creepy cover that it has but it just wasn’t for me. I’m sure other readers will love it way more than I did!

I had a hard time getting into this book at the beginning, but I really started to enjoy it about halfway through.
Mina comes to a small town due to a suspected haunting of a young girl, Alice, commissioned by a writer, Sam, to determine if Alice is truly haunted or if it's psychological causes at play. While Mina says she came to see Alice, she also is keeping her brother in mind, who died when they were young saving her life.
As events unfold, Mina and Sam both begin to fall into town superstitions and consider that Alice may actually be haunted, especially as the deaths related to Alice begin to stack up. However, Mina has some suspicions about one of the neighbors that may end up putting her in more danger than she suspects.
Once this story picked up, I really could not put it down!
I needed to know what was going on with Alice and how they were going to help her. I loved getting to know more about all the people in the town and trying to determine what was real and what was a trick of the mind. I did see the plot twist coming though, I wish the ending wrapped up a little better, and it was a bit too much of a slow burn for me. I did still enjoy it though and definitely recommend if you like a psychological thriller!
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review

Okay so this was.... fine, I guess.

I really didn't love it. I didn't hate it, either, though. I went into it blind thinking it would be a standard thriller, but it turns out there's a lot of supernatural stuff in there and that is not my jam. I don't like exorcisms and possessions and things of that nature. It for sure had allllll the creepy stuff one could ask for in a good thriller/horror novel, but this is just not the genre for me. I think maybe someone with more of an affinity for this style of thriller could have probably enjoyed it more, but I also see that the overall rating on this book isn't great, so my low rating might not simply be caused by my own personal bias and because this actually was just an "alright" book.

DNF 30% in. I didn't like the way that the story was being told and I discovered that I don't like creepy kids

Something in the Walls is a chilling folk horror novel set in rural Cornwall. Mina Ellis, a grieving child psychologist, investigates a teenager's alleged possession, uncovering dark village secrets. Pearce masterfully intertwines psychological tension with supernatural elements, creating a suspenseful narrative. While the pacing occasionally lags, the atmospheric setting and emotional depth make it a compelling read. Fans of folk horror and psychological thrillers will find this debut novel captivating.

DNF @22%

This wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Maybe that's my fault for not looking more into it. I didn't care about the paranormal aspect of the book and it felt weird and boring at the same time.