A vicious heatwave has struck late 1980s England, but newly graduated child psychologist Mina Ellis is never far away from the icy cold that changed her life forever when she was just a young girl. The death of her beloved brother Eddie marked her deeply, and fractured her family for good.

Perhaps it’s no surprise then that she wound up engaged to a pompous older man named Oscar. While he encourages her to attend meetings of a bereavement group, he’s less than thrilled when she makes the acquaintance of journalist Sam Hunter. Sam has also lost someone. The death of his young daughter Maggie subsequently ended his marriage. He and Mina bond over their losses, so when a unique opportunity arises, it seems almost natural for Sam to offer it to Mina first. Oscar is downright discouraging, but almost to her own surprise, Mina takes Sam up on it anyway.

In the Cornish town of Banathel, a teenaged girl named Alice Webber has started seeing visions of a witch. She’s also been displaying signs of possession and mediumship, which very much interests Sam’s bosses at The Western Herald newspaper. Sam invites Mina down to stay with him at the Webbers and to give her psychological evaluation of the situation.

Upon arrival, Mina is taken aback by the weirdly voyeuristic reaction that the rest of the town has to Alice's plight. Desperate strangers loiter outside the Webbers’ home, several of whom force Mina to defend her own presence there, as she claims:

QUOTE
“I’m here to assess Alice.”

“She’s here for the same reasons we are,” the woman says. The dog is panting, unfurling a long, pink tongue. She jerks the lead. “To see if all that they’re saying is true.”

I can’t meet her eye because she’s right, isn’t she? That is why I’m here, with my photograph [of Eddie] and my expectations and fragile, beautiful hope. I told Oscar it was research and told Sam it was a learning experience, something to shore up my qualification–but underneath it all I’m just like these people, needing answers. I suddenly feel exactly as Oscar told me I would. Unprepared and overwhelmed.
END QUOTE

Despite all her entirely reasonable arguments for being there, Mina is actually desperate to contact Eddie once more. Even though the logical part of her psyche believes that there must be a rational explanation for all the surprising symptoms Alice is displaying, she very much wants to be reassured as well that there is an afterlife where her brother is at peace. She’s not the only one: Sam too has his less than professional reasons for wanting to either debunk or be persuaded by Alice’s claims.

But Banathel is a town with a frightening history of witchcraft. The more that Mina and Sam investigate, the darker the secrets they uncover. Some things they try to chalk off as coincidence, but how to explain the appearance of the shoe that looks just like Maggie’s, nestled in the ashes of a fireplace in a supposedly haunted house?

QUOTE
Sam’s brow knits together, his face drained of colour, and I don’t know how I know it but I do, it’s a trap set just for him. It’s bait. It’s a fucking lure.

A scraping comes from above us in the chimney and I have a vision of the witch folded up in there, eyes wide and luminous in the dark, arms knotted over her head, legs crooked and bent, knees jutting somewhere up near her ears forming impossible angles. Her broken bones grind as she moves, desirous to be free. Her tongue will be long and black and spongy like a cancerous lung, and in her hand a piece of fishing wire, the end of which is tied to that single child’s shoe, half-buried in the soot. She is drooling with excitement.
END QUOTE

Whether caused by imagination or otherwise, the fear of the townsfolk is infectious, even to relatively skeptical outsiders like Mina and Sam. The heat, or perhaps the weight of history, is slowly driving the inhabitants of Banathel to great and terrible lengths to rid themselves of the purported witch plaguing their town. Will Mina be able to protect Alice as people start dying? And is the killer really a supernatural force, or a much more mortal enemy?

Daisy Pearce has written an affecting horror novel whose roots are lodged firmly in the tragic history of witch hunts and the sheer depredation behind them. Driven by the need for absolution, Mina and Sam will eventually find themselves at odds over everything but Alice’s protection. To them, her innocence is undeniable, even as they find themselves engaging in desperate measures to make sure she comes out of this ordeal alive. Mina’s growth, in particular, makes for compelling reading in a book that masterfully combines two different eras to showcase how some things can take centuries to change.

Very creepy. This went way darker than I was expecting. This story explores how the past and the present can collide and sometimes old traditions never really die.

The premise of this book is undeniably compelling, and it delivers on many fronts. The horror elements, disturbing details, eerie mystery, and the quality of the writing were all executed brilliantly. I was completely hooked from start to finish, and the narration further enhanced the experience.

However, the ending ultimately fell short of the buildup. It felt underwhelming, and this disappointment somewhat overshadowed an otherwise captivating story. I was hoping for a deeper explanation or at least a theory regarding what was truly happening with Alice, but the narrative left much to be desired—no clarity, no resolution, just an abundance of unanswered questions. While I thoroughly enjoyed the journey and was engrossed for most of the book, the lack of a satisfying conclusion left me feeling unsatisfied. It’s a shame, as this book had the potential to be extraordinary.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a readers copy of this title. My reviews never contain spoilers and are freely given.

Wow! I loved this book. Mina, a newly minted child psychologist is contacted by a journalist to accompany him to investigate a haunting. A teen girl, who everyone believes to be possessed by a witch, is the subject that Mina is to evaluate as her first real case. The investigation leads Mina and Sam to question what is real and what is a manifestation of a young girl’s imagination.
Highly recommend.

First time reading this author and there is a lot to enjoy about this spooky book perfect for around Halloween and/or turn of seasons. Solid writing although there are many unanswered plot lines which might leave the reader frustrated - could this be for additional books to come? Mina is a child psychologist who is hoping to start working in her new career while also making upcoming wedding plans with her fiancee Oscar who works as science researcher. Mina has always struggled with her brother's death from years ago so she attends a bereavement group where she meets Sam who also continues to grieve his little sister who disappeared long ago.. Sam is a journalist and works where the stories take him. The two bond as friends over their painful grief and share some of their personal history as well. One day out of the blue Sam calls Mina to offer her a job to consult with a thirteen year old girl named Alice who lives in a small village hours away. Alice's family does not have any extra money to see a seasoned psychologist to find help but they are at the end of their rope trying to get her help. Alice has been seeing things and also claiming a witch lives in their chimney who tells her to do bad things. Her friends and others have become afraid of her so she had to leave school because her behavior had completely gotten out of hand. Overall, this book had so much potential to be amazing, and while I enjoyed the ride, the lack of resolution made it feel incomplete. Thanks to NetGalley, Daisy Pearce, and St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books

The description of this book really drew me in. But unfortunately, I really struggled to connect with Mina, the main character and POV of this book. I felt like I knew nothing about her personality, I only knew what was happening to her situationally. For a child psychologist, I expected more discussion and theories from Mina about what was actually happening with Alice. We never really got any sort of answer or resolution surrounding Alice, and she was the entire premise of the book. I would've liked to see Mina put her recent education into more action in her conversations and evaluations of Alice.

The entire side story of Mina's cheating fiance Oscar felt unecessary and dragged on so long that I just didn't care anymore. Both characters were done with the relationship, and so was I.

The buildup to the climax felt quite off the rails and left me disappointed and underwhelmed. I almost DNF'd at 80%.

While this originally held promise, I found it ultimately unengaging and lacking in substance.

2 out of 5 stars / 5 out of 10

"… just after Christmas, Alice Webber started to get sick. She complained of pains in her sides like needles being pressed there. When they lifted her shirt, there was a pinprick rash and blood welling up as if the skin had been broken. A few days later she started vomiting. By this point Alice was too weak to get out of bed so her mother put a bowl beside it. When she came to empty it, she found watery bile and clots of black hair, like you’d pull out of a plughole. Another time Alice coughed up a handful of sewing pins bent into strange shapes. She developed a fever which made her start seeing things. She got delusional.”
“In what way?”
“Alice told her parents that a witch was spying on her through the chimney breast. She said the witch had a black tongue and her face was ‘all on upside down.’"

"'She was saying such odd things. At school, then here at home. Sometimes it was like she was listening to music you couldn’t hear, you know? I’d catch her just staring at the fireplace and her lips were moving but no sound was coming out. When I asked her what she was doing, she said'—here Lisa sighs, fretful and ill at ease. It’s clear she isn’t comfortable talking about this—'she said that the dead wanted her to open her throat.'"

When Sam Hunter and Mina Ellis pull up at 13 Beacon Terrace in Banathel, an English backwater, there is a crowd gathered. Mostly people wanting something from the girl inside. They seem to think she can communicate with the dead, and there are people with whom they would love to reconnect.

Sam is a reporter who specializes in debunking superstitious claptrap and fraud. Mina is a recent graduate in child psychology. Sam had asked her along to offer an evaluation. Well, there is certainly something off happening at the Webber household

Alice Webber has tales to tell. (She’s the girl you see giggling with her friends at the back of the bus or fooling around in the arcades. Normal. Unexceptional.) She believes there is a witch living in the walls of her bedroom. She can tell because she sees the witch’s eyes looking at her through gaps in the brick chimney. It began when a group of (not really) friends play a mean trick on her at a supposedly haunted house. Now she hears and speaks in voices.

"For a moment I think she is speaking—I can see her shoulders twitch, her mouth slowly moving—but the voice I hear is slurring and thick, heavy. Like a throat full of molasses. It is a language I don’t recognise, Germanic maybe. The words spread like a ripple, like oil on water, dark and tainted. It fills me with something icy and unknowing and I taste the bitterness of bile in the back of my throat."

Both Sam and Mina (“It’s my dad. He took my mother to Whitby Abbey while she was pregnant with me. My poor brother narrowly escaped being called Van Helsing.”) have arrived with significant emotional baggage. Sam lost his seven-year-old daughter, Maggie. Mina lost her brother, Eddie, when they were kids. Both Mina and Sam hold out hope that they can somehow reconnect with their lost ones, maybe reduce the guilt they both feel. Is there any chance Alice can actually help them? Alice may look like an average teen with professional aspirations that end at the beauty salon, but what if there is something operating through her?

The novel has a feel of both contemporary spook story and a folk horror tale, rich with back-country superstition, practices, and beliefs. Banathel has a long history of belief in witches, and a rich supply of hagstones everywhere you look. It is reminiscent of works like Tom Tryon’s novel Harvest Home and the 1973 horror classic, The Wicker Man, reliant on deep rural isolation.

The tension ramps up with every strange new event, encouraged by the persistence of contemporary doubt, ancient superstition, the growing crowd and its increasingly threatening regard for the girl. Do they want to help her or use her, or do they want something else? In addition, while there is a mystery in every horror tale, there is also a tension between where magical manifestations leave off and human agency steps in. Ditto here.

While it certainly seemed fun for Mina to have such a nominal root in classic horror, (a pearl among women) it did not seem to me that enough was done with her nifty name. And for a psychologist to be entangled with someone so clearly wrong for her was disappointing. (Although I suppose many of us have had that experience.) As for seeing someone looking through gaps in bricks, did no one consider maybe a bit of plaster, spackle, or poster of a favorite musician to cover the spaces? Or maybe hiring a handyman named Bert to have a go at clearing it out?

On the other hand, the lovely details of dark manifestation that Pearce weaves into her tale, the sights, sounds, and textures, add that frisson that every good horror novel needs. The overarching heat that bears down on all provides another layer of dread. It might even enhance the feel of this book for readers to take it on in July.

I have a particularly high bar for fright. It is a rare horror novel that keeps me up at night. There are real-world stresses and manifestations of evil that offer that service quite happily. Something in the Walls came close, but caused no lost zzzzzzzs here. Not to say it will not for you, who have a more usual receptivity to such things. It did, however, offer an appealing lead, a tantalizing mystery, a colorful portrait of a tucked-away place, and kept up a brisk tempo.

Most witch hunts are a bad idea, but it might be a better one to track down Something in the Walls. There may be a thrill or two just lying in wait for you.

"If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." – Friedrich Nietzsche

Review posted – 4/4/25

Publication date – 2/25/25

I received an ARE of Something in the Walls from Minotaur in return for a fair review, and my agreeing to get the hell out of their chimney. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.

We love a good old-fashioned small-town haunting story! At a local group, child psychologist Mina meets journalist Sam. Together, they travel to Banathel, remote, greatly superstitious town, where Alice Webber, a 13-year-old girl, is being haunted by a witch. With pressure from the girl’s family, the town, and themselves, Mina & Sam work together to uncover the truth behind Alice’s erratic behaviour. Fast-paced with a satisfying ending, Something in the Walls is an eerie, suspenseful read with strong characters and an unsettling plot.

Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce
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Mina is supposed to be wedding planning but gets sucked into a child’s case. Thirteen year old Alice says she’s being haunted and her symptoms are getting increasingly disturbing.
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What I liked:
-There was a creepy and ominous vibe to the whole book.
-A quick read with a steadily progressing suspense factor.
-A very satisfying conclusion.
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3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I liked but didn’t love this one. It was good just didn’t grab me as hard as other books have.

2.5? idk lol i was so invested in it but also i think i hated it? so much confusion going on. like the story was captivating but what was the point of any of it?

This book had a wonderful blending of reality, witchcraft, past, and present.
I liked how the author wrapped everyone up and will be looking for more books by this author.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟, 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠"

As I sit here to write this review, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this book. The beginning had me absolutely hooked and for a lot of the story, I was really into it. I think the ending is what is really throwing me. As I go through my thoughts, hopefully I can nail down a good rating.

Let's start with what I absolutely loved about this book.

THE GOOD:

- The creepiness. Pearce does an amazing job at creating tension and suspense and that was one of my favorite aspects of this story. I've hear that this doesn't come across great in the audiobook, but in the book itself, I think it's very well done. It's been a long time since I've actually had a physical reaction (goosebumps) while reading something. The imagery she uses in her descriptions I thought was great.

- The writing itself. I absolutely would be willing to pick up another book by Pearce. I liked how she built up the story and created such a world that made me want to keep reading. The chaos in the last 20% was a good touch.

- The thriller aspect. I wasn't really expecting a thriller aspect until I started to recognize some foreshadowing. I actually really liked putting the pieces together despite. Despite the feeling that it was predictable (it was predictable), I think it fit well in the story and it didn't really impact my enjoyment of the thriller portion.

THE... EHH:

I am just left with so many questions. I didn't mind the predictable-ness and the chaos, but I feel like none of the questions I had while reading were answered. If anything, I'm left with more questions than when I started the book. There are still so many loose ends and that is what has made it so hard to come up with a numerical rating for this one.

I think, overall, that I'm going to give it a 3 star rating. As much as I would love to rate it higher because of all the good, I'm just struggling with all of the unanswered questions. This could entirely be an intentional move from the author to keep you thinking (I finished this book over a week ago and am still thinking about it, so it worked if that was the intent)... but unfortunately I don't think that worked well with my understanding of this story. In my opinion, it needed a clean and tied-up ending.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, NetGalley, and Daisy Pearce for the ARC copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

✨ The Vibes ✨
A witchy read, but make it a contemporary thriller

📖 Read if…
✨ You’re looking for a book that explores the connection between superstition and hive mind
✨ You like witchy books, but are looking for something more grounded and less fantastical
✨ Coven is your favorite season of American Horror Story

Something in the Walls is a contemporary horror novel that follows Mina, a child psychologist who is sent to evaluate a teenager who claims to be haunted by a witch. And as things get darker, Mina is forced to dive into the community’s history of witchcraft and superstition.

This book was CREEPY! From the very first page, there was a sinister feel that made the story feel very ominous. I’m not often scared when reading but there were a few scenes that made me put the book down, because it was starting to freak me out (which is a great review from me!). Pearce uses a lot of the supernatural elements to explore themes around grief and trauma, and while the supernatural can sometimes take me out of the story, I felt that even with their inclusion, the story felt really grounded in topics that felt very relevant. I always find horror to be at its best when it’s used to explore real world issues, and Something in the Walls did that perfectly.

If there were any negatives to this book, I’d point to the pacing. Even though it was creepy, it definitely dragged in the middle and I found myself really having to force myself to sit down and finish the book. I thought the ending was great, but you definitely have to push through the mid-book lull to get there. If you like books that have a persistent sense of foreboding, all while exploring larger themes, this will be the perfect book for you.

Something in the Walls is out now. Thanks to Minotaur and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

In eerie bewitching story that will have you hooked from the beginning, I see this as a movie playing out. it is a slow build, but it will not matter because hang on things start to get crazy. It crosses the line between what is real and what is trickery. This author is a talented writer; I can't wait to read what is next for her.

This story will have you still thinking about it long after you have read it. Mina is a child psychologist, who takes a job where the girl Alice claims a witch haunting her. She is sure she can help her and give her experience she needs in her career. However, Alice condition seems to be getting worse instead of better. The town itself has a deep history of superstations and witchcraft; they want to deal with it their own way and do not want outsiders trying to help.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur for copy of this book for my honest review.

I normally really enjoy paranormal fiction but I did not love this one. I thought the pace was odd. I didn’t care enough about the characters and some of it felt kind of random. It also was not scary enough in my opinion for the genre. It was a chore for me to finish this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This thriller was a highly engaging and suspenseful read. The plot kept me on the edge of my seat, and the twists were well-executed, making it difficult to put down. The characters were well-drawn, and the pacing was mostly spot-on, with just a few moments where things slowed down a bit. Overall, it was a gripping story that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of thrillers looking for an exciting and intense ride.

This was a fun and unsettling read. I thought this book did a great job setting the scene - the town of Banathel and the issue of a child being haunted and or possessed by a witch. It really makes you think because you are unsure if the haunting is real or real to those in the town because of their superstitions. I loved the folklore aspect of it and how brutal it was at times. I enjoyed reading this book and am thankful to Minotaur Books, Netgalley and Daisy Pearce for the epub so I could provide my voluntary feedback.

This is a creepy read. Super intense and will surely keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. The setting fit the story so well. And the best part was the twist - you just don’t see it coming.

Overall. I think this is a brilliant read. I recommend that anyone who reads this just go in blind and prepare for a wild ride. So good!

A gripping psychological thriller that delves into fear and paranoia, Something in the Walls keeps you questioning what’s real and imagined. Pearce’s atmospheric writing draws you deep into a world where every creak and whisper adds to the mounting tension. It’s a chilling, suspenseful ride that will keep you turning pages long into the night.

I rarely read horror but this one didn't scare me all that much. It kept my interest and kept me up all night reading but the ending was horrible. So much buildup and a big dissapointment