BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Something in the Walls, by Daisy Pearce, from St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

If you’re a fan of schlock British horror movies from the 1960s and ‘70s (think, for example, Witchfinder General starring Vincent Price—https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063285/ ), then this book will be _right_ up your creepily wallpapered alley.

As it was mine.

Could totally see it as a movie.

Don’t understand why it has the title it does, though. Felt like The Riddance would’ve been a better one.

PS
I just read the full description of this book, as provided by NetGalley. Over the top much, hmm? While I thoroughly enjoyed being made a little anxious by it, it was not “unbearably tense,” nor did it keep me “guessing until its wild end.”

But if you’re new to the genre, maybe you’ll feel that way.

DESCRIPTION
A Library Reads Pick

Most Anticipated by Goodreads * E! News

Unbearably tense, utterly propulsive, and studded with folklore and horror, Something in the Walls is perfect for anyone who loves Midsommar and The Haunting of Hill House.

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.

"Unexpected, mesmerizing, and totally original...will keep you guessing until its wild end." -#1 International Bestselling author Darby Kane

"Harrowing and moving...Pearce has written something magical. There are scenes in this book I'll never forget." -Kristi DeMeester, author of Such a Pretty Smile

Mina, a newly graduated child psychologist, meets Sam, a young journalist, at a grief support group meeting. He tells her of Alice, a teenage girl who is believed to be possessed by the spirit of a witch who she thinks observes her from within the family’s chimney. He asks Mina to come with him to evaluate Alice, as this would bring Mina great experience in her field. Mina takes this opportunity and goes with Sam to Banathel, a small town full of secrets and traditions, to meet Alice. As she begins to work with Alice and her family, things start to escalate and secrets come to light.

I was very excited for this book, given the description. The story started off strong, but it lost its way. It kind of felt like two books blended into one. There were several plot holes, and I was left with multiple questions, one of them being why didn’t Mina talk more with Alice…wasn’t that the whole point? The ending was unsatisfying, it just fell flat. Most of my questions have to do with the ending so I won’t put them here as to not spoil anything. Some positives, it was pretty atmospheric & creepy at some points. It kept me entertained.

Thank you NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for the eArc of this book in exchange for my honest review. Something in the Walls is scheduled to be published on February 25, 2025.

I had a hard time putting this one down! I had goosebumps multiple times. Just overall good creepy vibes book. Really enjoyed the edge of your seat feeling and just really not knowing what is actually happening. Thanks for a great read!

This was a book that was entertaining but not one that I think I will remember details of. I want a thriller to thrill me and this one was a pretty easy guess for me. The characters were not lovable or relatable for me which I think was another big problem. I did feel like the plot was unique and at some points it made me want to keep reading more.

Lots of folklore and spooky vibes here. Can really see the references to Midsommar and Haunting of Hill House. It has a great twist and I loved trying to guess it at each turn.

2.5 STARS - I requested a copy of Something In The Walls based solely on its blurb. I was eager for a tense and sinister read. I was creeped out - in the very best way - as newly graduated child psychologist Mina, who is still reeling from the death of her brother, joins forces with a journalist to figure out if a teen girl in a small town is possessed.

For the first quarter of the book Pearce's descriptions of witchy vibes and eerie situations had me eagerly turning the pages. The story was wonderfully sinister and had me looking over my shoulder ... but then things changed.

At this point the story faltered for me and things just didn't make sense. Was it weird that Mina and the journalist stayed in the home of the teen's family? Yes. Why did Mina hardly ever interact with or talk with the teen girl so she could accurately and professionally evaluate her? Later in the story the witchy vibe disappears, and the story goes off on another tangent which was just confusing and not nearly as satisfying as the witchy focus.

Final Thoughts: I loved the premise and the initial creepy vibe. But I expected to enjoy this book a whole lot more and was disappointed that I didn't connect with the characters or story and was left with an ending that felt incomplete with too many unanswered questions.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to St Martin's Press for the complimentary digital copy of this book which was given in exchange for my honest review.

I could not put this down. It's so creepy/atmospheric/suspenseful. I was tense while reading it and was kept guessing until the end.
Mina is a child psychologist and she meets Sam, a reporter, who asks her to accompany him to a small town to meet Alice. Alice has visions and is scaring her family and townsfolk. Is she possessed, or is there something lurking that is causing her behavior?
I wish there would have been more of an explanation to the horror aspect of the storyline, but maybe that's the point to leave us guessing if it was true or brought on by dark forces in her own life.
I will be recommending this book to as many people as possible!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Something In the Walls in exchange for an honest review.

This pulled me in right away. I was intrigued by the paranormal happenings and the super creepy atmosphere. Definitely not one to read before bed!

Our main protagonist, Mina, is a child psychologist who’s first client is Alice, a young girl who thinks there is a witch that has been impacting her. The town is full of witch history, folklore, and superstitions that have them using protective symbols, tools, and rituals to keep the witches at bay.

Alice somehow connects to the dead (perhaps because of the witch’s influence?) and starts to attract a crowd of people seeking connection with their lost loved ones. This is true of Mina as well, who lost her brother as a child. The loss of her brother is a key factor in her return and investigation. This plays out like a mystery as Mina interviews different townsfolk about Alice.

It’s clear that Mina does not believe there are supernatural factors, but instead thinks it’s “all in her head”, like a typical doctor does when there’s something happening that they can’t explain.

The book takes a turn about half way through and gets rather brutal. It’s almost like a new book all together, and as I finish up, I feel unsatisfied.
The beginning build up and intrigue about Alice and the witch is never explained.

Why invest in such a build up and never explain it or close the loop on the whole point of Mina coming to help Alice. What was going on with her? Is there really a witch?! Alas there are no answers, unless you go the doctor’s way of it was all in her head. I can’t accept that, LOL. Thus, a lower rating from me.

Not to say this wasn’t a ride and creepy as hell. In that sense it hit the spot for horror, and may work for some, but not for me. If you want to give it a shot. It’s set to drop on 2/25/25.

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers, and Daisy Pearce for an ARC of Something in the Walls! I was in between on this book. The beginning was a bit slow and then picked up in the middle and then kind of wavered at the end. I still gave it 4 stars as in the middle made me excited to see what was going to happen. Mina’s brother died as a child and sometimes attends a bereavement group. At the latest session she meets Sam who is a journalist and has a story on a girl named Alice that is being haunted by a witch. Mina is a child psychologist graduate and needs some experience so agreed to go with Sam to help Alice. When they arrive to Alice’s home, Mina believes it’s not a ghost story truly. Odd things happen and Mina believes she can help Alice, but the town starts showing their old traditions and Mina is at a race to uncover her own past and ensure Alice’s safety. Overall, I mostly enjoyed it and the premise, it just lacked some more power at the end that could give it more depth.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a little lackluster for me, though some of the parts throughout were a little bit creepy, I was expecting a lot more spooky and horror related themes than what we get. The first part of the book was very interesting, however as we got about 75-80% into the book is where things started to fall apart for me as the creepy, mysterious, witchy element fell through and the ending was very lackluster leaving you with more questions than you get answers.

The pacing was good, though, for the first half of the book and did keep me wondering what was going to play out, though. The characters, especially Alice, were also interesting. There was one scene that almost gave an Exorcist kind of feel to it, which I really enjoyed as I love scary movies. All in all, it isn't a bad book, it's just not one that will stick with me for a long time. Give it a try as you may really like it.

Mina Ellis, a recent graduate in child psychology and grieving sister, meets Sam, a journalist and grieving father, at a bereavement group meeting. Sam has an offer for her to come with him to evaluate Alice Webber, a teen that lives in a small superstitious town and is believed to be possessed by a witch. Mina, being too new to get real jobs in the field and anxiously awaiting her upcoming nuptials to her researcher fiancé, sees the opportunity as a way to get her feet wet in the field and also to take a break from her current life.

While working with the supposedly haunted girl, the town gets more superstitious and strange and Alice’s behaviors get more intense and disturbing. Will Mina be able to help this clearly troubled girl with her mental health, or is there really something evil lurking inside her?

This book has a lot to unpack for me. I had varying feelings as I read the book, and was never 100% sure of how I felt about it as I read it until it got to the end.

I will start with the things i was not sure about and/or did not like. The first issue for me with this book was the pacing. Though there were a few scenes throughout the first 3/4 of the book that were spooky/disturbing and provided some action, the bulk of the first 3/4 of the book was very slow. I didn’t often find myself wanting to pick the book up and read non stop. Though I do love how the creepy/disturbing scenes were written, and i definitely got the creep factor chilling my bones as I read them, I just feel like the story was just not connected very well or didn’t flow very well to tie it all together. There were a few times while reading that I found myself a little confused about what Mina was actually doing. It didn’t seem like she was actually working on helping the girl and was much more focused on herself or on the goings on in the town and/or people in the family or immediate vicinity.

The next thing is that the characters, for the most part, all felt like they were one color. I don’t mean their ethnicity, but their personality and depth. They all felt very grey and bland to me. Most of them were damaged in some way, most of them were negative and brooding, and most of them didn’t have a likable quality or trait to them, so it was difficult as a reader to grow any kind of like or attachment to any of them. The summary of this book also makes it seem as if the main character is Alice, when really the lead character is Mina. Mina, in my opinion, is insufferable. She has a complete lack of care for how her actions affect anyone around her and just does what she wants to, and also doesn’t seem to have a care for the feelings of anyone else even as they are spoken to her. The only character in the whole book that I liked was Fern, and it wasn’t until the last 25% of the book.

Now there were a few things that I did like. I do like the premise of the story and the very beginning had me hooked. I was excited because I thought I would be diving in to a good haunting and/or a book full of the disturbing and creep factor that would develop into a haunting or some other situation that was a twist that absolutely took me out. Though I did have an idea of what was going on pretty early in the story, or at least some of it, I still was left wondering and questioning the whole book whether or not the witches/ghosts aspect was real or if it was explainable by mental health and/or human intervention. I would say that I am generally satisfied with the ending, though it felt abrupt and left too many questions. Just didn’t feel complete.

To conclude, the unsettling scenes, disturbing themes, and premise of the story are what give this book a 3.5 for me, because I love those aspects in stories about witches/ghosts. I would have preferred a more complete ending, more diverse character personalities, and a less insufferable female lead.





"Its not the dead we should be the afraid of, its the living"

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Actual rating: 3.5

Daisy Pearce presents Something in the Walls, a horror story centering a girl and a history of witches in a small town. Readers follow Mina, a recent university graduate who specialized in child psychology. Mina has been called in for an expert opinion by Sam, an investigative journalist. Sam is looking into the case of Alice, a teenager who seems to be possessed by the spirit of a witch set free from a broken witch bottle. Sam is burdened with the death of his daughter and Mina is haunted by the death of her brother, and somehow Alice knows.

Pearce sets up with an interesting premise and short chapters that keep the pace steadily moving. This book is a slow burn psychological horror that builds uncertainty and instability in Mina and in the whole town. This aspect of the book is done well. My issues come in with the ending.

I am admittedly, disappointed with the choice of how to end the book. Not just the aspect of what was happening, but the quick sort of slapdash whirlwind of the end itself. There are a few plot holes that I can logic away for myself in general, but the book doesn't necessarily answer specific questions about how or why scenes came to occur the way they did without me having to come up with some major assumptions. This is probably a me-specific pet peeve, but lack of cohesive explanation for what happened frequently annoys me in horror. We have an answer. Win. But some things simply aren't rationalized by that explanation. Less of a win.

That being said, I was never bored and I enjoyed my time with the story. I was happy to have the opportunity to read Something in the Walls early.

Spooky and tense, “Something in the Walls” is an interesting genre mashup of a witchy book and a thriller. The witchy/ghost parts were appropriately creepy but this seasoned thriller reader spotted the real creep a mile away so I wasn’t even remotely surprised with that reveal. I was engaged throughout and chose not to read it past a certain time of night, a testament to the author’s ability to depict eeriness. Would make a perfect Spooky Season read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance electronic copy. All opinions are my own.

This was really fun, as horror something can be too much for me but this was perfect. Not too much gore, a lot of suspense.

I read the first six chapters and realized this book is not for me. It's not bad but I couldn't connect with the storyline.

Many thanks for my gifted copy.

I had so much hope for this book... and for the first 1/3, I was entirely captivated!
The author sets up the story fantastically, and lays so much ground for a complex and intriguing read - but it fell SO flat for me. There were multiple plot-holes, and the ending was... not great.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

First, I would like to give a big thank you to St. Martins Press, NetGalley, and the author for the early copy of this book!

About The Book:
Mina is a child psychologist who recently received her degree- she’s inexperienced, tight on funds, planning a wedding for a questionable relationship and spends time attending the local bereavement group, still grieving her brothers death from years ago. That is, until she meets journalist, Sam who has a proposition too interesting for Mina to pass up. In a remote village in Banathel, living with her family, thirteen year old, Alice Webber claims she is being haunted by a witch. With Alice’s symptoms becoming increasingly disturbing, Mina tries to help Alice while also seeking answers from her own past but as things continue to escalate, Mina and Sam might find that the people of Banathel have their very own secrets and their own ways of dealing with witchcraft that no outsider will understand.

My Thoughts:
This was an interesting read for me- I don’t typically read a lot of horror- I just don’t find horror movies or books very scary. The only movie that I can recall actually creeping me out was The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and I have to say- throughout a decent portion of this book it definitely had similar vibes. Being a night reader, there were many points of the book that had me looking around like 🔦👀 and that had never happened to me before.

Despite some slow points this one definitely gripped me. It was creepy, disturbing, mysterious, well written and very detailed- I could see each scene play out in my mind, the author is very talented in that regard. However, for me the book started to fall apart around the 80% mark- there was so much potential but I feel that the ending was underwhelming, left you with a lack of explanation and quite a few lingering questions.

Overall, the creepy factor of this book was a lot of fun- if you love scary stories, it is definitely worth the read.

4.5 ⭐️ read. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for my advanced copy.

I don't want to give too much away but I pretty much knew what this book was going to be about pretty early on, and I was really pleased that I was right

This is a book about a witch that is haunting a teenage girl, but it's about so so much more. There are elements of grief and longing to connect with those you have lost; for Mina, her brother has been haunting her whole life since his death when they were kids.

SOMETHING IN THE WALLS has a very high creep/jump scare factor, but it's not gorey or gross. I read this at night literally peeking over my kindle to see if someone- or something- was staring at me!! While I knew the gist of what was happening, there were still so many parts where the twists and turns came out of nowhere and shocked me.

This small town full of secrets was giving me a mix of The Wonder by Emma O'Donoghue meets Midsommar vibes. Mina's profession as a child psychologist- trying to determine if the possession is truly real, while believing in the supernatural herself- added an interesting and unique element. Not to mention Mina herself was an interesting character study. At under 300 pages, I really enjoyed this read which mixes horror and mystery and the paranormal, with an end that will make you go 🤯

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

This is one of those books with a great idea but it doesn't quite get there. There are so many things that just aren't expanded on enough or delved into. I thought the big twist was very obvious from the beginning. It's not a bad book, but it could have been more than it was. It just felt a little shallow. 3.75 stars.

I guess my issue with this is the description sets this up as a really unsettling paranormal story and it wasn't like that at all. I found the beginning of the book to be an amazing set up but there were so many underdeveloped elements that by the end, you're just left hanging.