I have mixed feelings about Something in the Walls. On one hand, Daisy Pearce clearly can write. She has an impeccable sense of place, and she can create an atmosphere of fear and tension like nobody's business. Her descriptions are visceral, and she sets up the premise of a gripping horror novel.

That being said, I think the plot and the characters' motivations could both use some clarification and tightening up. I was excited for the concept of a child psychologist working to treat a girl who is seemingly possessed, but fairly early on, the fact that Mina is a psychologist and visited Alice with that express purpose becomes completely irrelevant. Nearly every main character - Mina, Sam, Alice, and Bert - struggle with consistency, and their beliefs, personalities, and motivations seem to shift drastically with little provocation or explanation. I found the book dragging a bit, despite the plot being plenty interesting, and I think eliminating redundancies would help breathe some more life into things.

I'd still recommend this book, particularly to fans of grim folklore and ritual, a la Midsommar. I feel it could be a real triumph with a few tweaks, so it's sad that it didn't quite get there, but it has enough going for it for horror fans to enjoy. 3.5 stars for me! Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the digital advanced reader copy!

This book was not for me. I felt like it dragged for too long, and I was getting so mad at Mina, she knew what she was seeing and still denied everything, LITERALLY dragging this book along when EVERYTHING is being revealed to her RIGHT IN HER FACE. Even Sam is sitting there showing her proof and he knows that she believes there is something supernatural going on here, there is literally nothing else going on in this book, I kept going in circles. I had to keep pushing forward, but this book was not it.

But regardless of not being a fan of this book I am grateful for Netgalley giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Netgallry for this ARC! Mina’ life is just starting, as new child psychologist and getting married soon. Her life takes a sudden turn when asked by local reporter Sam to come with him and visit a troubled girl Alice and get her take on her odd symptoms. When they arrive they find locals at Alice’s house looking for answers to loved ones passed. What has Mina signed up for? When things strangely turn to witchcraft and old beliefs can an outsider to more harm than good? 3.5⭐️’s

Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce was creepy and addicting!

I made the (questionable) choice to read most of it in a dark, quiet room right before bed, which only made the eerie vibes hit harder. It's got that slow-building dread that sneaks up on you, and I was hooked.

The story follows Mina, a new child psychologist who takes on the case of Alice, a girl claiming to be haunted by a witch. But the village of Banathel has a long history of superstition, and as Mina digs deeper, things start to get real unsettling. The book gave me The Haunting of Hill House meets The Salem Witch Trials vibes, especially with the way it explores herd mentality and how fear can spiral into something truly dangerous.

If you are into psychological thrillers with folk horror elements that really get under your skin, I definitely recommend this one! Something in the Walls releases on February 25, 2025. Big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the eARC!

Mina Ellis, a recent child psychology graduate and grieving sister, meets Sam, a journalist and grieving father, at a bereavement group. Sam offers her a chance to evaluate Alice Webber, a teen in a superstitious town who claims to be possessed by a witch. Eager for experience and a break from her upcoming wedding to her researcher fiancé, Mina accepts. As Mina works with Alice, the town's superstitions grow, and Alice's behavior becomes more disturbing. Can Mina help this troubled girl, or is there truly something sinister at play?

This book was an unexpected thrill! It was wild and disturbing in the best way, keeping me on edge the entire time. Although I'm not usually a horror fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. The slow build-up added to the creepiness, making the story even more effective. I'm left with many questions, but I think that's the point—blurring the lines between reality and mass hysteria. The characters were fantastic and fit perfectly into the eerie plot. I would love to see this adapted into a movie and I can't wait to see what Daisy Pearce writes next!

Thank you NetGalley, St Martin's Press and Daisy Pearce for this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

If you love horror movies, this book is for you. It has all the elements of a psychological thriller and a creepy setting that will send shivers down your spine.

Set in a small town where superstition, curses, and witches linger in the minds of the residents, anything that can't be explained needs to be sacrificed to maintain order. This haunting story follows a child psychologist trying to understand the strange happenings involving a girl who seems to be possessed.

Things take a dark and twisted turn when everything is revealed. This is a well-written story. The storytelling is exceptional, with vivid descriptions. I highly recommend this fantastic read!

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for the eARC.

Do you like books to get your heart rate up? Pick up Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce will give you chills.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! Mina had a troubled past and was battling her own grief but then found Sam who swept her into a world of nightmares and questions. About halfway through the book, I was catching on and by the end I flew through it. I really enjoyed this fast paced mystery!

Wow, quite a story!! I was up late for 2 nights reading this novel. And, when I finished it on the third night, I was sorry to have read it all. It was that engrossing. So, I must read more by this author. Trying to help a troubled child, the main character becomes mired in a swamp of characters, puzzling events and acts. i would recommend this novel to anyone interested in history, mystery, and psychology, I would give it more than 5 stars if I could.

I really, really wanted to love this book. I adore horror-esque thrillers that keep you guessing. The prose was absolutely riveting, and made my stomach drop and feel the dread that the MC was feeling.

The book follows a recent psychology college graduate who is asked to stay with a teenager who is accused of being possessed by a witch. She and a friend travel to the girl's creepy town and stay in her family's home. They watch the terror unfold and very quickly realize something is wrong. This might not be a psychological issue- but a real haunting.

Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, I just could not stay compelled to read the book and constantly found my attention drifting. I did finish, and somewhat enjoyed the ending, but I can't give it more than three stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Such a unique story! I loved the witchy elements of this one. I had an idea of where the story was going about half way through but it didn’t take away from the ending!

Disjointed.

If I had to choose just one word to describe this novel, I would use disjointed.

I was interested in the premise—child psychologist is tasked with determining if a young girl is possessed or suffering from mental illness—and it started off good, creepy even. I felt like there was a nice balance of ambiguity over whether or not the girl was possessed.

About halfway through or so there was a shift in the plot and ultimately I was not a fan of it. It felt like characters were doing/saying things strictly to move the plot along and they just felt like caricatures.

I've seen this book marketed as Midsommar meets The Haunting of Hill House and yeah, it's like the author enjoyed those two things and decided to mash them together. Unfortunately, they did not blend well. The first storyline was basically dropped in favor of introducing the second storyline. I think there was an answer to whether or not the girl was possessed but the author had seemingly given up on that plot point and basically wrote it in a blink and you'll miss it kind of way.

If I had to choose a second word to describe this novel, I would choose disappointing.

Wow! This one had a choke hold on me from the beginning! Read it in less than 24 hours! If you’re looking for a wild ride, mystery thriller, with a hint of paranormal, this one is for you! The last line sealed the deal on 4 stars for me! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book was a thrilling ride from start to finish. Mina, a child psychologist, is recruited by Sam, a journalist, to assess a young girl, Alice, who claims to be haunted by a witch. Alice accepts, and travels to Alice’s town to meet her and try to find out what is going on. This book is truly spine-tingling at times, and leaves you wondering what exactly is going on in the eerie small town that has historical ties to witch trials. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a spooky read with twists and turns.

I am so glad I decided to read this disturbing and creepy story during the daytime. Could not put it down, and while I still have a few unanswered questions, I loved the unsettling atmosphere of this novel.

After meeting journalist Sam in a grief counseling group, Mina agrees to travel with him to a small town to examine a girl, Alice Webber, who believes she's being haunted or possessed by a witch. Mina has recently completed her degree in child psychology, and because she doesn't believe in supernatural forces per se, she agrees to meet with Alice to find the empirical origins of the strange things that have been happening to her. Mina and Sam stay with the Webber family and immediately are confronted with inexplicable happenings: from odd smells and sounds, to strange deaths, to Alice's seeming ability to contact the dead. Sam is more credulous, especially since he's hopeful that Alice could help him connect with the ghost of his deceased daughter. Mina, however, continues to look for rational answers. Her spidey senses are tingling, yet for all the potentially witchy indicators, there are clues leading her to all-too-human origins of Alice's affliction. Mina must sort out what's supernatural from what's merely evil, all while contending with the superstitions and old-fashioned beliefs of a town determined to rid itself of its witches.

There's plenty of horror to be had here, especially in the ambiguous moments when neither you nor Mina (the first-person narrator) are quite certain whether there is a witch on the loose in the Webbers' home. (Let's just say I'm happy to not have a chimney in my home right about now.) While the plot sharpens in the last 20% of the novel, there were still outstanding elements I wish had been explained. The more I think about it, though, the more I appreciate not having full resolution. After all, part of what makes this so terrifying is the not knowing.

Recommend this for anyone who relishes reading an eerie and unnerving novel...and then sleeping with the lights on, just to be safe.

Good riddance.

A child psychologist somehow gets roped into visiting a small town, where a girl is believed to have supernatural powers, she can speak to the dead. The story had some spooky moments, the feeling of someone or something watching you, making the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention, a shiver down your spine. I enjoyed the spooks, the seance, the haunted themes weaved within the story with a big surprise reveal that I did not see coming.

4.25 stars

This was an unputdownable thriller with horror elements, which would appeal to fans of stories that walk the border between the paranormal and psychological. Ominous and scary, I would describe this as a thriller with horror elements.

A lot about this book appealed to me; Pearce's beautiful prose and descriptive language, the compelling essential mystery, heart-banging scenes of anticipation. Mina is a sympathetic MC, and we experience her frustration and rage as she begins to lose the sympathy of the other characters. This was altogether a great read.

One minor foible I take issue with is when writers make allusions to their favorite works without making a satisfying connection between the two. Are two sort of revivals Lucy and Mina intentionally to draw attention to the fact that they ought not to be rivals, and are instead pawns of men who have power they were born to but do not deserve? Still, if you're going to reference Dracula so blatantly, do more with that reference. This is a personal foible, and not necessarily one that undermines the integrity of the book.

I feel conflicted about the ambiguity of the ending. While I wanted for the mirrored lines between paranormal/psychological and evil man/witch to remain blurred, I still yearn for a bit more clarity. Is there in fact any witch? Or are the manifestations of witchcraft only a result of abuse? The way that childhood abuse can manifest in hallucinations allows us to explain away almost every character's witness of the supernatural. But what about Sam? Traumatized, yes. But he sees the video evidence of the chimney. I will continue mulling over this one. There is not much I love more than a story that lingers.

Thank you to NetGalley, Daisy Pearce, and Minotaur Books for the advanced copy!

Glancing through other reviews of this novel, it seems that my feeling is a common one: a very promising premise loses steam and finally concludes in a way that is pretty unsatisfying. I wish I could say it worked better for me-- the beginning is exciting though!!

I had to think about this one for a couple of days before writing a review.

I LOVED this book. The characters had depth, the story was engaging and interesting, and I was submerged in the plot- fully.

The details and descriptions were terrifying and I loved how this was written, the pacing, and the witch.

From the beginning I knew there was something going on past what was right in front of my eyes, and I got this sickly sweet feeling from a character early on that gave way to to twist when it happened- mostly because I’ve dealt with SA and trauma myself so this wasn’t a “surprise” twist as much as it was a “I knew they were horrible” twist.

At the end, there were so many things I wanted answers to, I wanted to know if Sam and Mina saw each other again, I wanted to know if his daughter forgave him- much in the way I was satisfied with Eddie’s forgiveness. I wanted to know what happened to Alice and if the witch was still there or if she had moved on. I wanted to know what happened to the riddance and if there were descendants of Bert to carry on the tradition. I wanted to know what happened to the riddance girls after the realization of what occurred. And finally, I wanted the witch to crawl into Bert, fill him with wasps and make him suffer from the inside out while she crept back out of him and found her rest. After all, she did stop the riddance.

Can we get a second book? Can we see this witch start killing the bad men in the next town over?

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC and the privilege of reading this fantastic book.

This was a fantastic folk horror that had me in it's grips from the very beginning. The author masterfully guides us through the small down of Banathel and the folklore surrounding it. I wasn't entirely sure where this story was going until I got there. The pacing was fantastic, and was just fast enough to keep me hopelessly engaged without skipping details. I look forward to reading more from this author!