This was a great book! It starts off a little slow, but it really picks up & keeps you wanting to figure out what’s going to happen next. It had such a creepy element to it, too - the sweltering heat, the cramped house, the dad working on a kill floor, the history of the witches. Everything together makes it so haunted. Loved this book! Thank you so much for the ARC. I would definitely recommend this.

personally i did not finish this book, i just don’t think the story was vibing well with me and over all i just didn’t really feel all that interested in the plotlines

Something In the Walls Is Dangerously Addictive!

Daisy Pearce delivers a psychological thrill ride straight into the darkest corners of small-town life with Something in the Walls. Following Mina, a child psychologist investigating a supposedly possessed teenager, this story is a feverish, heart-pounding race to the finish—perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts or Laurel Hightower’s The Day of the Door. Buckle up, because once you start, you won’t be able to stop.

Pearce masterfully builds tension, keeping readers teetering on the edge of doubt and fear. The characters evolve in ways I never saw coming—classic mystery archetypes twisted into something unsettling and unpredictable. Just when I thought I had it figured out, the story veered into even darker, more mind-bending territory. Trust no one. Believe nothing. And prepare to question everything.

Beneath the chilling horror, Something in the Walls also explores themes of grief and healing with incredible depth. So many thrillers linger in despair, but Pearce finds a way to thread hope into the darkness, making the journey all the more powerful. This isn’t just a book you read—it’s one that lingers, haunts, and stays with you long after you’ve turned the final page.

If you’re looking for a gripping, late-night read that will keep you up questioning every shadow in your house, Something in the Walls is the one.

Child Psychologist Mina, still grieving the loss of her brother, meets Journalist Sam at a grief group. Sam offers Mina a job - come with him to a remote village to see Alice, a young girl claiming to be haunted by a witch. Mina sees this as a way to make a name for herself and make some money. After arriving they soon discover a town built on superstitions and doesn't take kindly to outsiders. Instead of helping Alice, her behaviors only get worse, and they are running out of time.

I had a great time with this one. It started a bit slow, but once it got going i was hooked! The remote village, townspeople, and superstitions really gave a creep factor to this book. I'm not sure i want to stand near a chimney after reading this! I wish I could have connected to the characters a bit more, but it didn't take away from the story. Lots of gaslighting though which was driving me crazy.

4 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, Daisy Pearce and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Sam is a journalist who enlists Mina, a newly graduated child psychiatrist, to help him with a story about a possible haunting. Alice is a teenager and has been showing signs of what looks like a mental health crisis, but many people in her small town are convinced she's been possessed by a witch. Alice has been pulled from school due to unusual and disturbing behavior, and Mina is trying to determine what's actually going on with her. As soon as Mina and Sam arrive at Alice's, chaos ensues. There are many terrifying instances that would certainly appear supernatural in nature, coupled with the remote town's long history of witchcraft superstition.

I totally burned through the first 70% of this book. Unfortunately, the last 30% was confusing and almost seemed like the ending for a different book altogether. I'm not sure how to explain most of it without spoilers, but it seems like 70% of the story was going in one direction with Alice, but then totally changed direction, focusing on Mina and Bert, with all of their baggage. There were so many terrifying scenes in the book with regard to Alice's possession, but we got zero explanation for the cause of any of those. There wasn't a whole lot of character development, and the few things we learned left a lot of questions, too. I really thought it was going to be a 4 or 5⭐️ star book up until that disjointed ending.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Daisy Pearce for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Something in the Walls out February 25, 2025.

This was just okay for me. I’m not really a fan of witch horror. I did enjoy the writing though and would pick up another book by this author.

Thanks so much @netgalley !
This is my kind of cover, it is absolutely stunning!!! I went into this book blind and I did a nice hybrid of Ebook and Audio. Ana Clements was the narrator and she was fantastic! Mina is a shiny new psychologist and has a big opportunity to take a BIG job trying to help young Alice, who claims to be haunted by a witch. Even though Mina has no experience she is certain she can help this young girl but she quickly seems to be in over her head. Alice's family and this small town have their own ideas! This is a fast paced thriller that you won't be able to put down!!! Such an exciting read!

This unsettling small-town with generations of superstition leaves you feeling haunted.

Mina is an inexperienced child psychologists who is struggling in her career as well as her upcoming wedding. She meets a journalist Sam at a bereavement group who proposes they work together on a supernatural case of a young teen named Alice who claims she is being possessed by a witch. Against her fiancé's advice Mina travels to the small village of Banathel. There she starts to have internal struggles of grief from her brother's passing as well as questions about Witchcraft lore that seeps into the town's history.

The overall vibe of this book has you hooked from the very beginning. The details and descriptions really makes the story come to life and creates a visual how truly disturbing the book can be. Hidden details from Mina's past as well as other characters like Sam, Bert and Fern slowly start to come into play about what is really going on helps keep you captivated.

While reading this I kept visualizing films like Midsommar, Get Out and The Skeleton Key. So if you like these vibes I definitely recommend grabbing a copy of Something In the Walls. Pre order is available and out everywhere February 25th!

Whoa. I love a little paranormal horror. This book was super creepy and suspenseful. Just enough to keep me guessing throughout but still surprised at the end. The character building was strong. The main character is decent. Mina, the main character becomes an adolescent psychologist and is called to care for a girl called Alice. Mina travels to her town to live in the home to fully study Alice. What Mina finds is darker than anyone could imagine!

I would read more from this author. I enjoyed the atmospheric setting and descriptive imagery of the witch in this story. I definitely had to look away a few times! Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for a copy of this title. All my reviews are my own.

This was a quick read for me because I was eager to get to the bottom of what was happening. The story was suspenseful and spooky. I do wish there was a bit more of an explanation for some of the things that happened throughout the story, but this was a good blend of horror and thriller.

Wow! This book was scary! Do not read it in the dark especially alone if you get scared easily! The premise of this book was great. It had a paranormal feel to it. The whole time you definitely think that something isn’t right with these people but in the end you find out how crazy it all is. I was not completely shocked by the ending but still enjoyed it.
Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC copy!

It is 1989, and parts of England are experiencing a heatwave right out of Hell. There are water bans and curfews instituted to deal with some of the worst effects of the scorching heat. Mina lives with Oscar, her fiance, and she is planning their wedding, even though she isn’t quite sure of their relationship. As a child psychologist, she is eagerly looking forward to begin her career. At a bereavement support group, she is approached by Sam, a journalist. He is on his way to Banathel to look into stories of a teen named Alice who is thought to be a witch. The town has a lengthy and violent history with witchcraft; superstitions still fuel cruel acts on young women. Sam invites Mina to join him to finding out the truth about Alice. Is she ill, suffering a psychosis, faking it, or is her family using her to garner attention and money? Unsure of her own, personal and professional circumstances, Mina joins Sam to look into the story and possibly help Alice.

Mina and Sam share a common bond of grief and guilt: they have each lost someone that they hope to contact. For Mina, it is her brother, Eddie who died while they were teens. Sam is mourning the death of his daughter, Maggie. Can Alice Webber be their conduit to communicating with their dearly departed?

What follows is a story that explores grief, family, isolation, bullying, and fanaticism. Within her community, Alice’s new-found ability to communicate with spirits makes her both a demon to avoid and destroy, and a savior to those who are looking for messages from beyond the pale. The adults that surround her are not beyond suspicion. Bert Roscow is the neighbor taking care of his enfeebled wife, Mary. He is the town bigwig who has a history of taking in young girls who have lost their way. They all seem to have nothing bad to say about him; they remain eternally grateful for his help. Her parents Lisa and Paul, are broke, and overwhelmed.

Is she a witch, and can she help Sam and Mina communicate with their dead loved ones? Is Alice--and Mina--in danger due to her troubled mind? Will hag stones, sacred symbols, talismans, and archaic rituals help her? Or does she need health and mental care? And what’s with the scratching sounds in the chimney?

If you are looking for a quick and easy read this book may be just what you are looking for.

I would like to thank Minotaur Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review!

I feel like this could have been an all-timer but instead it's merely a very good and creepy book. the story is probably something you've seen before, but you've seen it because it works, and this is a very good retelling of this story. the vibes are just so so so bad the entire time (meant very positively).

what brings this book down a bit is, I think, the focus of the ending. it's like the entire book there's an A-plot, so to speak, and then there's a couple of B-plots bubbling under the surface. but at the end you find out that the A-plot was basically in service of one of the B-plots, and you get very little resolution on the A-plot and virtually none on any other B-plots. I can't really talk about this without spoiling it, but once people read this book I think they'll know what I mean. plus it leads to a very, very groan-worthy last line.

but overall yeah. this book absolutely creeped me out most of the time. just truly nasty in both the actual descriptions and in a "nothing is scarier" way with what it chooses not to show or tell you.

For me this was a 2.5 rounded up to a 3 for goodreads.

While still moaning the passing of her brother 6 years prior Mina a young and new Child Psychologist joins a journalist to help investigate a young teenager who seems to be acting creepy/witchy.

This book was entertaining at least within the first 75 percent. It had some good creepy moments as well. However, overall I found this to be all over the place and a bit predictable. I can't say too much without giving some things away but there is some subject matter in this that may be tough for some readers and triggers can't be given without spoiling the plot. The last 25 percent lost me. It suffered from what often happens with thrillers where once you kind of know what's going on it stops being interesting.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was so happy to get approved for this!! Creepy doesn’t even begin to describe this story. I felt like it started a little slow but I eventually could not put it down. I learned a lot of about witches which is something I thought I’d never say LOL. This was a great read!

“The ‘witch finder general,’” I say. “We studied him briefly at university. He’s analogous with witch hunts and mass panic, although ‘witch finder’ is a euphemism really, isn’t it? He tortured women. Nothing more.”

Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫


THE VIBES
An atmospheric thriller for those who enjoy dark and suspenseful stories. Explores the complexity of trauma, and the power of guilt and dip a toe into the world of superstition. Perfect for those who are fans of psychological horror and mystery.

FINAL THOUGHTS 💭
Did I love this? No. But it was enough to keep me engaged and needed to know more. I felt like something was lacking within the story for me to be completely enamoured. However, I think that people will enjoy this one.

The story starts out strong, introducing Mina as she is still struggling with the loss of her brother. She is an intriguing character, and with her being a child psychologist I was excited to see where this would take the story as she investigated Alice's claims of being haunted. I did have a bit of hard time getting into the suspense of the story - it didn't really hit that note for me - but I needed to know how things turned out so I stuck with it. I will say, the ending is a disappointment. I feel there was no real closure and a lot of questions were left unanswered.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this title.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I love the idea of creepy kids and I usually love books about witches. I had a little bit of a difficult time getting into this one, and it really struggled to hold my attention through the first half. I felt like the pacing in the second half of the book was so much better. I enjoyed the ending a lot. There are a few pretty graphic scenes that were tough to read (but I really liked that). I think I might have preferred this to be more of a horror novel and really leaned into those uncomfortable, gross moments. For the most part though I did enjoy this one.

I greatly enjoyed this very well-paced and imaginative novel. With Gothic and folkloric elements, it is also presented in a realistic way - Mina is a novice psychologist and Sam is a journalist looking for a story like this. It makes it all the more believable, and  makes it all the more unsettling.

I was very excited to receive this arc after seeing this cover and reading the synopsis, it seemed just as creepy.

Mina, a new child psychologist with little experience, is struggling to get her feet wet while counting down to her marriage to a researcher named Oscar. When she attends a bereavement group to mourn her brother's death from years ago, she meets journalist Sam Hunter, who has a proposition for her. He invites her to join him in a remote village to work on a remote case with a 13 year old who says a witch is haunting her. Spooky, and very graphic details but overall good book.

Thank you to Netgalley for the Arc for an honest review.