Daisy Pearce pens a captivating portrayal of an up and coming Child Psychologist who is working hard to build a trustworthy base for ongoing work. Sufffering with demons of her own past and in the midst of a not-so-happy engagement to a man who really doesn't deserve her she is invited into the inner workings of a strange case with a possibly possessed young girl. Finding herself totally immersed into their own family drama (fact or fiction) she befriends a handful of characters along the way. Something in the Walls reminds us of the secrets we hold within and how in the strangest of circumstances they can be released for better or for worse.

This book was an enjoyable read for me and was not what I was really expecting. I enjoyed learning a little more about witches and how they are perceived and how certain places try to protect themselves from their presence by hanging hag stones and the like!

This book was, to put it lightly, an absolute trainwreck. At one point, we took a sharp left turn into WTF-ville and never found our way back. It could have been a deliciously creepy, gory addition to the horror genre, but instead, the characters Pearce just collapsed, the plot dissolved into nonsense, and any hope of coherence was left for dead. And don’t even get me started on Mina (our disaster of an FMC)—by the end, she was making one brainless decision after another. I found myself actively rooting for her demise because, honestly, if she had zero self-preservation, why should I care? This was a hard, unapologetic NO from me. 🚫 Character development went down the drain and so did the plot.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, 1.5 stars.

This started off strong with an unsettling, haunting feeling. The author crafted the perfect atmosphere in an isolated town set in the 1980's with an almost cultish like community in their beliefs. The characters were fully formed, and the parents, among many, were bordering on aggravating with some of their actions. Without giving spoilers, I will say that when a storyline takes a turn, what had occurred beforehand should still have some kind of explanation or closure. I left this story with mixed feelings, enjoying it but feeling like there was something missing and questions gone unanswered. Overall, I would still recommend this one and say to keep an open mind going in. Three and a half stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

Daisy Pearce's "Something in the Walls" is an evocative tale brimming with psychological and supernatural tension.

The novel follows protagonist Mina Ellis, a fledgling psychologist still grappling with the profound loss of her brother six years earlier. Pearce deftly combines the unraveling of Mina's personal psyche with the eerie mysteries of the Webber family, particularly Alice, a bedridden teenager convinced she’s possessed by a witch. The bucolic yet unsettling parish of Banathel, with its haunting history of occult tragedies, serves as the perfect backdrop for a story that keeps readers gripped from start to finish.

The pacing is masterfully handled, pulling readers through a narrative marked by unrelenting intrigue and a creeping sense of dread. Pearce keeps the tension simmering, balancing Mina’s internal struggles with the external pressures of a community clinging to its dark past. As Mina’s skepticism about Alice’s condition evolves into chilling doubt, the arrival of Vicky Matherson catalyzes a shocking turn of events that leaves readers reeling. The blend of psychological depth and suspenseful plotting ensures every page is rich with uncertainty and fascination.

The novel's true strength lies in its characters. Mina is a deeply empathetic yet flawed protagonist, and her interactions with the enigmatic Webber family—particularly Alice’s protective yet strained siblings, Tamsin and Billy—are as compelling as the mysterious affliction itself. Pearce’s ability to intertwine psychological insight with supernatural horror results in a taut and immersive tale. "Something in the Walls" is an enthralling debut that will captivate fans of suspenseful, character-driven storytelling.

This novel was perfectly creepy and dark! The pacing was on point and the tension well-crafted through its entirety. This folk horror tale had me guessing until the end, filled with twists and turns. I highly recommend if you enjoy a disturbing story blending psychological and supernatural horror.

**4.5-stars**

Mina has been educated to be a child psychologist, but she lacks real world experience. Unfortunately, this makes it challenging for her to secure a position in the field. It's one of those odd circumstances, where people only want to hire individuals with experience, but how are you to get experience if no one will hire you?

Thus, Mina is stuck, just spinning her wheels. That is until Mina is suddenly presented with an unusual opportunity while attending her local bereavement group, where she goes to help process her grief from her brother's death. She meets another member, Sam Hunter, who happens to be a journalist and he asks for her assistance with a story he's currently working on.

In the remote village of Banathel, 13-year old, Alice Webber, lives with her family. After unsettling behavioral changes, Alice reveals that a witch is haunting her, causing various disturbing occurrences. Sam and Mina travel to Banathel to stay with the Webber family, to see if they can get to the bottom of what is going on with Alice. Sam is hoping for the scoop of a lifetime, while Mina is hoping to help Alice, whilst also gaining the experience she so desperately needs.

I loved the way this story was set-up. I had listened to 47% of the audiobook before I even came up for air. I was absolutely engrossed. The narrator was a perfect match to our MC, Mina, and I felt like she succeeded in bringing the story to life. From the start, this loosely reminded me of The Wonder by Emma Donoghue, but much creepier and more atmospheric.

I just felt like Something in the Walls was so good. It's chilling and gripping. I raced through it, needing answers. The various scenes and things going on in Banathel, it got under my skin; genuinely creepy AF at times. While it wrapped up too quickly for my tastes, after the reveal, I still think it was so hella good. It was intriguing and horrifying in a very human way. I also loved Mina and Sam working together, digging into the history of Banathel.

Overall, this story had me absolutely hooked throughout. It had all the things I need to love a story and I appreciated the author's ability to write some truly chilling horror imagery.

Thank you to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I am so stoked to read more from the author in the future!

Thank you, Net Galley and St. Martin's Press, for a copy of the audiobook.

Overall, I enjoyed the quality of the audiobook. I felt the reader did a great job with voices and making characters easy to distinguish. Pacing was also enjoyable - wasn't too fast or too slow.

Story wise, I really enjoyed the premise of this book and sped through it pretty quickly. I felt as the story went on though, it kept shifting focus - was it a haunting, a possession, or a cult!? Why not all three! The ending somehow was anticlimactic for me and that may be because it wasn't really in line with the build up to that point.

I'd still suggest this to anyone looking for a horror book that isn't too graphic and has good lore built in.

This was scary, like heart pounding, needing the lights on scary. This is the definition of eerie and horrifying, and I did not see anything coming.

In Something in the Walls, Daisy Pearce weaves a chilling tale about a young, inexperienced child psychologist named Mina, who finds herself drawn into a mysterious and unsettling case. The novel opens with Mina, who, despite her professional aspirations, is stuck in a rut, coping with a heatwave and the stress of an upcoming marriage to her meticulous fiancé, Oscar. Mina’s life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Sam Hunter, a journalist at her grief support group. Sam presents her with an opportunity to help a young girl named Alice, who believes she's being haunted by a witch in the remote village of Banathel.

The book's eerie atmosphere is its greatest strength. Pearce expertly builds tension with an unsettling sense of dread that permeates every chapter. The village of Banathel, with its isolated, superstitious community, provides a perfect backdrop for the supernatural elements. The creeping sense that something malevolent lurks just out of sight keeps the reader on edge, especially as Mina becomes more desperate to uncover the truth about Alice's haunting.

However, while the creeping horror works well throughout, the pacing of Something in the Walls can feel uneven. Overall, Something in the Walls is a haunting and atmospheric read that explores the intersection of psychological trauma and superstition. Despite some pacing issues, the book’s ability to evoke unease and keep the reader guessing about the truth behind Alice’s haunting makes it an engaging, if occasionally slow-burning, horror novel.

This book started off really strong, but unfortunately, fell short. The ending had me wanting so much more and left me confused.

This book was my first real dive into the horror genre, and I can confidently say it won’t be my last. From the first few pages, it pulled me in and refused to let go, making for an experience that was as chilling as it was captivating.

One of the standout elements of this novel was its unforgettable cast of characters. Each significant character felt distinct, with their own unique personality and motivations, making it easy to form strong opinions about them—both love and loathing in equal measure. This emotional investment kept me hooked, eager to see how their individual stories would unfold.

Despite the ARC containing its fair share of grammatical and formatting errors, they were never distracting enough to take me out of the story. The pacing was masterfully done, with just the right amount of suspense and tension to keep me flipping pages late into the night. Not once did I feel the urge to put it down—every twist and turn kept me engaged until the very end.

Overall, this was a gripping and immersive read that solidified my newfound love for horror. I’m beyond grateful to have experienced this story and can’t wait to recommend it to my horror-loving friends. If this book is any indication of what the genre has to offer, I’m ready for more!

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. I’m always up for books that involve the history of women accused of being witches. The small town cult element made this one especially creepy. I also found Mina’s backstory to be interesting and well developed. This book echoes Paul Tremblay’s “A Head Full of Ghosts” and the movie Midsommar. I look forward to reading Daisy Pearce’s other books as she is a new author to me. Highly recommend for readers looking for an unsettling, witchy mystery.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Real Rating: 3.5* of five

Psychological horror/thriller novels really do scare me. This one, in a lot of ways, was scary; its only issue for full, effective scare factor in my eyes is the journalist/tyro child psychologist tie-up. I'm really oversensitive to that kind of cruel, manipulative relationship, having been abused by jesus freaks with the truly horrific tale of god and the devil making a bar-bet that Job wouldn't buckle under extreme psychological torture. It didn't help that the male journalist scraped her acquaintance in a group for grieving loss sufferers, a true predator move.

For those reasons I could never get all the way into the story, hence my seemingly ungenerous rating. It *is* effective in its creation of a spooky atmosphere, with icksome details and sensory evocations. Lots of body horror that feels very...bodily...so squeamish souls are duly cautioned. Effectively claustrophobic, emotionally sharp-edged horror read that has some serious flaws.

Minotaur Books wants $14.99 for an ebook. I say it's a good library borrow.

A modern day witch hunt! First, a huge thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for the complimentary copies in exchange of my honest review.
This book was a slow burn. And when I normally say slow- I mean it took me forever! Mystery-Horror set in 1980s, a mix of folklore, psychological thriller without the thrill if its up to me. It was catchy in the beginning and it eventually just die down. I refuse to DNF because I was far ahead on the story and pushed through to finish. But, it was a struggle.
Writing is good, characters are somewhat okay- the narrator was unreliable and kinda annoying sometimes. I am definitely not closing my door for Daisy Pearce. I think, even with my love for witch stories that Something in the Walls and me just did not connect.

A supernatural thriller that will have you questioning if you should maybe leave the hall light on at night. Mina meets journalist Sam Hunter at her grief group. When he asks her to join him in traveling to a small town where a young girl is supposedly being haunted by a witch, a part of her says yes in the hope she may find something otherworldly. As a newly licensed child psychologist, the other part of Mina knows there has to be a better explanation for what is going on in this superstitious little town. As she tries to get closer to the truth, she starts to see the town and its inhabitants for what they truly are.

Something in the Walls is not the kind of book I typically gravitate towards, and I liked it a great deal more than I was expecting! I appreciated the combination of characters who are driven to investigate a situation for both "legitimate" reasons (i.e., journalism and science) and also for very personal reasons that are hard for them to articulate (i.e., ongoing grief). I'm also always intrigued by stories with witch trial vibes, so that aspect of the book definitely appealed to me. Pearce did a great job of building tension. As a reader, I was always evaluating the possibility of the rational explanations against the happenings that seemed far from normal, and the depiction of the community made this balancing particularly challenging.

What an adventure. What started out as a creepy story soon turns into a mystery worth solving. Poor Alice suffers and Mina and Sam try hard to figure out the secrets of the town. Sam is obsessed with communication from beyond and Mina is obsessed with figuring out what is going on and how to stop the young girls from being victims of the Riddance that the townspeople and Bert are pushing for. The twist at the end throws a curve ball, and I didn't see it coming.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press and Minotaur Books for providing this eARC for me in exchange for an honest review.

Well this was odd and I am not sure how to feel about the book.
The book started really slow, I had a hard time getting engaged and the main character was overall just a really sad character who needed some emotional support. Then the pacing picked up when she went to go investigate a possible ghost/demonic possession, and even to the end of the story I am not sure what was real and what was not so that was very well done. There was some plot twists that I could guess but the correlation between them and the possession was not clear so I kept reading for more. And then there was the ending. I have no idea how to feel about all the crazy that went down in the last few chapters, it was a whirlwind of trauma, reveals, torture, secrets and then the book ended on an action that I have no idea how to take in- and then it was over, no answers or resolution, and I feel floundering.
Do I recommend this? Um, no? Did I keep reading and was intrigued? Yes? I guess pick this up at your own discretion but keep in mind that there is no satisfaction to be had here, just heartache, questions and uncertainty.

I was given the opportunity to read this as an arc and this story had me on my toes. Trying to figure out if it was some sort of supernatural/possession or if there was more to the story kept me engaged. I enjoyed the main character, Mina, and it got to a point where I was sure we had an unreliable narrator on our hands. I felt for her with what she was going through throughout this book and the way her story was written made me empathize with her for many reasons. I would recommend this book if you are into witches and folklore in a small town that likes to stick to its traditions and beliefs.

This is an atmospheric and spooky novel, reminiscent of the gothic stories of Barbara Michaels. You'll want to read this one with the lights on and not in the house alone!