The story was a twisty turny adventure woven in with personal heartbreak. The story was slow at times but built to an exciting climax.

Loved this one! Fantastic horror that's an easy read and captures your attention right away

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the chance to read and review this book

This story is so atmospheric! Dark, creepy, sinister envelopes and wraps around the reader like a blanket. Mina is a recent graduate and psychologist. However, she has no real experience in the field and is still grieving the death of her brother. She is at loose ends, and living with her very phlegmatic fiance, Oscar. She meets Sam while going to a grief counseling group (that she has been attending for 6 years to help her cope with the death of her brother). Sam is a journalist, dealing with his own grief of the death of his daughter. He has stumbled upon a story about 13 year old
Alice Webber. Alice claims that she is a witch. Mina agrees to help Sam by going to Banathal with him and stay with the Webber family, so she can "evaluate" Alice. once there, they become familiar with the Webber family: Paul- the father, Lisa- the mother, and Billy and Tasmin- the younger siblings who seem unaware about what is going on. There is much tension and anxiety in the parents, and we come to see that there are underlying things happening in the home.

This book had very creepy, scary moments. It also had allusions to "witchcraft". I would say it is a mix between a thriller and horror book, and it is well done. You can feel the dark, heavy atmosphere on every page. It took me a while to connect to Mina. However, once I did, I was completely drawn in. The beginning begins a little slow, then ramps up! The ending was done well, but I was a bit surprised as it did not follow a path that I thought we were heading towards! I will definitely be reading the next book by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I really liked this one, and am definitely going to be on the lookout for more from Daisy Pearce! This was a fascinating read, full of mystery and suspense and drama (family and otherwise). The pacing was perfect and the tension was so thick you could cut it with the proverbial knife. I never knew exactly what would come next or the direction from which it would appear. I loved everything about it - from start to finish, this one had my attention hooked. I finished it in a combination of reading (ebook) and listening (audio book). I raced through it and already put her previous books on my TBR list!

Something in the Walls was successfully creepy and atmospheric. I do feel there were opportunities to build better tension throughout the story as some of the creepier elements were treated in an almost matter-of-fact manner. A bit more time delving into the witchy side of things and the past events could have helped a lot overall, but there’s still a lot here that was entertaining and interesting.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In a chance encounter, new psychologist Mina is offered the opportunity to practice her new skills by figuring out what is plaguing a young girl. It also gives her the opportunity to take a break from her dull fiance. Mina and Sam, the reporter who offered her the opportunity, travel across Britain during a heatwave that leads to curfews and shortages of staples at the market. When they arrive at the creepy village of Banathel, they find that the situation is much more dire than originally thought. Alice, the girl, seems to be deteriorating before their eyes. Mina and Sam work to find a reasonable explanation and bring Alice and her family some peace, but evil forces are at play and will do what it takes to keep the duo from solving the mystery.

“Something in the Walls” has its creepy moments, but in many cases the tension isn’t fine-tuned. For example, when Alice tells about finding the witch’s bottle, she tells the story rather than the reader being transported to that part of the story. The reader senses early on that some of the strange goings on may be connected to human action rather than the supernatural. Mina, who is in Banathel to work as a psychologist, seems to blunder around as she tries to figure out what is happening to Alice. Sam is at times helpful and at others he is morose. Mina and Sam’s own secrets get in the way of their investigations as they come to hope Alice can contact lost loved ones.

Trigger warnings: vague descriptions of child s*x abuse, threats of domestic abuse

The blend of supernatural and human-made horror makes this a good choice for readers who enjoy horror and thrillers.

I received an advance review copy for free from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I loved the idea behind Something in the Walls- where a new psychologist gets sucked into an investigation of a haunting of a young girl. However, I just had trouble really being captivated by the story, and it ended up feeling like a bit of a slog to make it though.

I listened to this on audio and the narrator is GOOD.

Through a turn of events, newly graduated child psychologist Mina is asked to assist journalist Sam in investigating a witch haunting/possession of a young girl.

Overall, this story was so much creepier than your typical thriller. The descriptions were so cinematic that there were scenes that I could picture so vividly while listening.

I had a really hard time getting into this book. I found it to have a very slow pace and I didn’t connect with the characters which didn’t help the pacing. Unfortunately due to the slow pace I didn’t get any thriller vibes from this book and was not invested enough for the mystery or horror aspect. I feel like if you enjoyed Slewfoot you would like this book. I was not the biggest fan of either book.

Thank you to Netgally for providing this ARC.

This novel is haunting, intense, and deeply unsettling—a psychological thriller that will leave your heart racing.

At the center of the story is Mina, a newly qualified child psychologist who is still mourning the loss of her brother, who passed away from pneumonia six years earlier. Mina’s personal life is no less complicated—her relationship with Oscar, her emotionally distant and career-focused fiancé, feels strained and disconnected. During one of her grief counseling meetings, she meets Sam, a journalist grappling with the death of his young daughter. Sam is so desperate for closure that he’s been consulting fraudulent psychics, hoping to reach her spirit.

Sam presents Mina with a strange case involving Alice Webber, a 13-year-old girl from the secluded and eerie town of Banathel. Alice claims she’s a witch, and Sam plays her a tape recording from an interview with Alice, where an unsettling sound—possibly a whispered “Good riddance”—can be heard.

Despite Oscar’s protests, Mina decides to travel with Sam to Banathel to investigate. There, they stay with Alice’s family: her protective mother, Lisa; her father, Paul, who is emotionally drained from his work at a slaughterhouse; her younger siblings, Billy and Tamsin, who seem blissfully unaware of the turmoil around them; and Alice herself, a fragile girl who seems to be battling something malevolent and inexplicable. Alice clings to her Walkman, using music as a means of escape from the horrors in her life.

As Mina gets closer to the Webbers, she begins to question everything. Is Alice truly capable of supernatural feats, as some townspeople believe? Can Mina connect with her—and perhaps, through this, reconnect with her own late brother? For Mina, the case becomes deeply personal, and Sam, too, sees this as a final chance to reach out to his daughter.

Meanwhile, suspicions arise about the Webber family’s financial struggles. Is their story a desperate attempt to make money, or is there something far more sinister lurking beneath Banathel’s peculiar traditions and mysterious past? As Mina delves further, she’s forced to confront her own fears and face a chilling reality that defies logic and science.

🐝 Creepy and Ominous
🖤 Manipulation
🐝 My Skin was Crawling
🖤 A Haunting
🐝 Witchy Folk Horror

This was definitely an eerie and very immersive read. It is rich with folk horror, it has amazing scene setting, and the overall premise is gripping.

Mina is a new child psychologist who meets Sam at a grief group counselling session. Sam is an investigative journalist and approaches Mina to help him with a case concerning a teenage girl who is being haunted.

This novel really speaks to how easily people can be influenced or manipulated to the extent that they no longer trust their own perceptions of reality. While I did find the plot slightly predictable (I managed to guess the direction fairly early on), the development is also terrifying. I actually had to read most of this during the light of day because the haunting and horror elements were done so well that it made my skin crawl. I experienced a constant looming feeling of dread while reading. All of the characters have secrets, so their interactions with one another and their impact on the development of the story are riddled with ominosity.

We are left with some unanswered questions. Some of the plot elements definitely feel a little far-fetched, and I really would've liked just a little bit more closure between our main characters, but I think the story was well written with a satisfying conclusion overall. It was interesting to me how the guilt and anxiety that our protagonist felt influenced her external reaction to the "haunting."

This was a really good, fast-paced, and vastly uncomfortable read.

𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸 𝓝𝓮𝓽𝓰𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓮𝔂 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓢𝓽. 𝓜𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓷'𝓼 𝓟𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓪𝓷 𝓐𝓡𝓒 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓲𝓷 𝓮𝔁𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓶𝔂 𝓱𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀

Mina is the main character of our story. She is a child psychologist who is very unconfident in her craft and struggling personally with the death of her brother. She still feels she sees him, senses him, and some other weird paranormal signs pop up throughout the story. This is all impacting her relationship with Oscar, who she is engaged to.

Her paths cross with a journalist who asks for her help with someone who claims she is being haunted by a witch. The journalist gets the story, Mina gets the experience and hopefully Alice gets better.

Mina finds out that her methods and the towns for dealing with “witchcraft” differ and she finds herself in a haunting situation.

This book was tense, dark, horror thriller. It doesn’t take much to scare me and I was not reading this at night after like 20% in. I will say that it was strong in the start and then dropped off and lost me a bit. There was this feel of a lot of ominous branch out plots that were going to come together at the end and really give a shock, but it fell flat for me. Overall though, I was engaged and it kept me on edge and guessing so I did enjoy it.


Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Release date 2/25/25.

Thoughts

This book definitely delivered on the creepy. I was like nah I cannot read this at night.

It was a bit slow at parts. I think it could a have a bit shorter. But overall it was entertaining and creepy so it gave all it promised.

I really wish I could have gotten into this one more, but it was such a slow book and it just kept taking me out of it that nowhere was anything mentioned about the time period we were in. I of course noted it had to be the late 80s or early 90s due to the mention of walk-mans and the Ninja freaking Turtles, but it was driving me batty that it was never said. The characters in the book were loosely developed. The main lead we follow, Mina, was not that interesting to me. I was hoping we were going for a type of Midsomer book and we sort of get there towards the end, but again, it was a slow book that took me almost a month to get through.

"Something in the Walls" follows newly minted child psychologist, Mina. Mina though we find, is not quite okay. Something from her past with her late brother is troubling her, and she now wonders if she should even marry her fiancée Oscar (mentioned, but rarely seen). Mina attends a grief counseling session and there meets a journalist named Sam. Sam is working on a story about a 13 year old girl named Alice who many believe is possessed by a witch. Sam asks Mina to go with him to the village of Banathel where Alice and her family lives so Mina can assess Alice to determine if she is having some type of mental breakdown.

Honestly, most of the book does not do a great job with developing anyone. We have Mina, who we know is hiding something. Alice and her family seem to be caught up in some sort of violence due to her father's job at the local abattoir. The next door neighbors, Bert and Mary and Fern who seem to be holding onto secrets. Pearce jumps around a lot to the point I just kept going what story was she trying to tell. The story of Mina or what was really going on with Alice. On the last part, I think that the ending and reveal kind of undid all of that, but what do I know.

The flow of the book was pretty awful. I just felt as if I was reading and nothing was happening. Just Mina and Sam getting scared, Mina snooping, and Mina not actually doing anything I would assume a child psychologist should be doing.

The setting of Banathel was put to good use though. Taking place over a very hot summer, you could feel the heat and how oppressive the whole place felt. And you could see why a village like this would be taken over by hysterics regarding witches.

The ending didn't leave me with any sort of satisfaction, I think that there were too many plots to tie up. That said, I am glad I finally finished this one.

Something In The Walls
By: Daisy Pearce

4 Stars

From start to finish, this book grabs you and doesn't let go. It follows Mina as she studies a young girl, Alice, who is believed to be possessed. Alice, being new to her job and facing her own personal problems, knows she may could be over her head, but she also knows Alice needs her help. Mina soon finds out that Alice is not the only one in danger in this town.

Wow. This was a very interesting book. It was genuinely spooky and gave me quite a scare. The characters were realistic enough to be relatable and to captivate. This story was spooky and detailed. With all the history behind witches, it is certainly scary to think about. I would call this a horror that was gory and scary, and it was written just right. If you love a good spook, this is definitely a good one to read.

*I want to thank Netgalley and the author for this book in return for my honest review*

Stormi Ellis
Boundless Book Review

i really really tried to get through this one and wanted to like it but i just had a very hard time. it had such a promising premise but didn’t for me. if you like horror though, i think you’d enjoy this one!

If you’re looking for a disturbing tale of witch craft then this is it. Take a journey to a desolate town where superstition still reigns supreme and they definitely don’t take witch craft lightly. When the newest witch haunting occurs, Mina and Sam travel to uncover the story but also have their own agendas in mind.

I would caution a trigger warning for the allusion to various forms of abuse.

I wish that there was more time spent into the backstory of Mina and her life to help develop the storyline. It would also have been helpful when the timeline jumped between chapters if the there was a date/time for referencing to prevent a choppy reading experience.

Overall it was an interesting and entertaining story. Very descriptive and disturbing in certain aspects of the storyline but also room for improvement.

Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce is available February 25, 2025. Check it out!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book and all that went with it!! I loved the witchy aspect and the way that folk lore affected this town. This was creepy and kept me up most nights just wanting to get a couple more pages in, I will be checking out more of this author.

3.5 stars

When Mina meets reporter Sam at a grief support group and he invites her to accompany him to investigate an alleged haunting and other disturbances surrounding a teenage girl, Mina sees it as an excellent opportunity to get some experience under her belt and pad her resume, while Sam follows up on a lead.  Neither of them are willing to admit to their ulterior motives, and neither are prepared for what they find in the home of Alice Webber or the village of Banathel itself, for Banathel is a village steeped in superstition where the doorways are decorated with hagstones and the children taunt each other with stories of witch curses.

I really enjoyed the first half of Something in the Walls.  There were parts that reminded me of the creepiest  bits of Thomas Olde Heuvelt's Hex and the interesting family dynamics of Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts.  The sinister descriptions of menacing figures glimpsed, heard and felt, but never seen directly, is always the most effective way of providing chills to this reader, and there were a number of well-executed scenes like this.  The Webber family read as genuine in a dysfunctional and financially strapped way, and Pearce does a good job evoking the stifling oppression of a heatwave and drought without the relief of air conditioning (talk about horror!).  

Unfortunately, the story meanders a bit during the middle section and then takes a turn toward a certain kind of plot device/explanation that I get tired of in my horror.  I can't say any more for fear of spoilers, but I found the ending rather unsatisfying in that it never entirely circled back to the themes and storylines that made the first half of the story so compelling.  I also found some behaviors of characters in the book, both in the present timeline and in their own individual pasts, baffling and not entirely believable.  I would still recommend this one to readers who enjoy folk horror and witches and I will look for more of Pearce's work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital advanced readers copy.  Something in the Walls will be available on February 25, 2025.

I don't typically read the horror genre, but this book ointirgned me. Mina is a new child psychologist who meets Sam, a journalist, at a grief group. Mina decides to help Sam out with a case of a girl who is accused of being possessed by a witch. The majority of the book had me on the edge of my seat. The only thing is I didn't love the way the book ended.