I was intrigued and captivated by this book I like how there was a human explanation but also maybe there's still a supernatural one too. I do wish it was a little more clear but that's just me I liked the history of the first witch and would have enjoyed a little more of that too.

A gripping blend of suspense and psychological depth! This book kept me hooked from start to finish, constantly second-guessing every twist. The tension was expertly crafted, making it impossible to put down.
This was my first read by Daisy Pearce, and I’ll definitely be keeping her on my radar for future books!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to review this ebook.

Wow, I was absolutely blown away by this book! It was so haunting that somehow the wasps snuck into my own nightmares. I couldn't put it down and needed to know how it ended. Highly recommend this read for anyone who likes horror and psychological thriller genres.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Publishing Group and NetGalley for my ARC!

I enjoyed the supernatural elements of this story. The characters were engaging and held my interest. I enjoyed this book and would read this author again.

A newly minted psychologist agrees to help a troubled young girl who is acting strangely. Upon their arrival, the situation spirals wildly out of control and she must decide whether she really ought to have believed in curses from the beginning. This leisurely paced novel may appeal to fans of Stephen King.

If you’re looking for a deliciously creepy, slow burn folk horror, you’ll want to grab Something in the walls. Simultaneously an insightful exploration of grief and loss, and an interesting play on the lore of witches and witch hunts.

Mina is a young, recently graduated child psychologist, planning her wedding while still grieving the loss of her brother years earlier. At a grief group meeting she meets Sam, a journalist dealing with his own grief but also working on a story of a teen girl who’s been supposedly possessed by a witch. Sam invites Mina to join him in visiting the said young girl Alice, in a small town full of superstition.

Set in the summer of 1989 during a vicious heat wave, Something in the walls mimics that same air of heaviness and suffocation brought on by persistent heat. Sam & Mina find themselves almost trapped in this claustrophobic space of Alice’s home and the village. The pace picks up considerably towards the end of the book and even though things seem to veer in unexpected direction, I really enjoyed the ending.

A huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review!

<i>Something in the Walls</i> had me reading with my hands over my eyes peering through the cracks in my fingers. This had a horror/scare factor to it that had me on the edge of my seat. I kept thinking, how are they going to explain these hauntings and mysterious killings.
When Mina is asked to stay at a family home to work with Alice, a teenager being haunted by a witch, it turns bad. Mina expected to gain experience from this job and cure the teen, but instead could the witch be latching on to her too?
As I was reading, I kept thinking back to the Salem witch trials. How they were treated, and brutally tortured to try to prove a point.
The small town where this story takes place has a long time tradition of performing witch rituals called Good Riddance and it's very possible that Alice (or Mina) might be the next sacrifice.
I devoured this story because I really needed to know what was happening and how this was going to wrap up. I was not disappointed.

Disturbing, and intriguing and absolutely captivating!! Geez you are sucked right in. I will say that horror is not my normal genre, give me a good psychological thriller any day but horror - not so much. I don't enjoy nightmares and fight or flight adrenaline rushes, I guess I'm abnormal. Or maybe it's past trauma that makes it hard. But this book was worth the read - mysterious, strange and disturbing on many aspects. Can you read it and look at your home the same way? I suppose that is the challenge. And for those who enjoy a good horror/psychological thriller this is just the book for you.

Rating: 3.75 stars? 4 stars?

Ill start with "dang." This book had so much potential. The horror elements had me afraid to go into dark rooms alone. The witch's bottle, the long snakey fingers in the fireplace, the death. If the first 70% of the book carried its vibes all the way to the end, the book would have easily been a 5 star for me. The ending felt like every other "horror book" ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio/St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to #NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Daisy Pearce’s Something in the Walls starts with an intriguing premise—a woman moves into a house where strange noises and eerie occurrences suggest something sinister lurking within. Unfortunately, while the setup is promising, the execution leaves much to be desired.

The novel leans heavily on familiar haunted house tropes without offering anything particularly new or memorable. The protagonist’s descent into paranoia is initially compelling, but her characterization lacks depth, making it difficult to fully invest in her fear. The pacing is uneven, with long stretches of repetitive internal monologue that slow the momentum rather than build suspense.

While Pearce’s writing is atmospheric, the scares feel predictable, and the resolution is underwhelming. Instead of delivering a shocking or satisfying conclusion, the story fizzles out, leaving many questions unanswered. For readers looking for a truly chilling horror novel, this one might not quite hit the mark. I really wanted to like this one too.

Spooky, fun. A little bit of looking over your shoulder, a little bit of what’s gonna happen next. It’ll keep you hooked.

Spoooky and I wasn't anticipating the horror trope the book ended up heading towards. I thought this was a fun new horror book.

There is a lot of horror going on here! There’s haunted house, possession, a little bit of gore, and a healthy dose of mental health concerns and PTSD. It all rolled into a lovely scary story. With a beautiful cover. I enjoyed it!

Mina and Sam head to a remote village to investigate a haunting. The village on Banathel has a long history of witches and witch hunts. Alice is a teenager recently acting very weirdly after interacting with a witch bottle. Mina is convinced that Alice is struggling with her mental health. Sam is convinced that Alice is possessed. If they all want to survive, they’re going to have to find the truth.

“Something in the Walls” by Daisy Pearce follows Mina who is a recently graduated child psychologist as she investigates a suspicious case involving a young girl named Alice. Mina agrees to take this job after she is presented with the offer from a journalist named Sam after their first encounter at a bereavement group that she attends because she is mourning the death of her brother. After agreeing to this job, these two head to the remote town of Banathel to attempt to help a young girl who claims to be haunted by a witch and is supposedly experiencing disturbing symptoms. However, it quickly becomes clear that the town is not innocent and has its own, unconventional, ideas about how to deal with Alice.

This was definitely a solid and spooky, mystery thriller/horror and one aspect of the book that I especially enjoyed was the atmosphere. Additionally, the build up in this book is very good and I especially loved how it felt more and more disorienting as the story unravels and some of the final scenes had me sitting there like “what is even going on right now?” in the best way possible. I will say that I guessed what was going on relatively early in the story, but I do not necessarily think this is a bad thing. Overall, while this was not my favorite, it was a solid and enjoyable reading experience and I would recommend this to others who are fans of this genre!

Thank you Minotaur books for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

TLDR: This was creepy but I wish it would have been creepier and definitely more paranormal. Or at least had a blurb that described this book as more dealing with the reactions of people to the possibility of a local girl being possessed by a witch than actual paranormal happenings.

This was a slow moving book for me. I felt like it brought in certain aspects that really weren't necessary to the story (certain fortunes and relationships). The relationship that didn't really add to the story didn't really take away from it either, but the fortune did in a way. It seemed to be a way to try and distract us from the main story, but then nothing else seemed to go along with that fortune.

There was a twist I didn't exactly see coming in this book though. And I liked that it blurred the lines of what we thought we should believe about Alice's story. The descriptions of scenes throughout the book were also so well done. At times I really didn't want to keep going because it was almost too much.

Something in the Walls isn't a bad book, but it wasn't what I was expecting either. If you go into it expecting less of a paranormal thriller, I think you'll enjoy it more.

Mina is a newly licensed child psychologist, but needs real world experience. While attending a bereavement group to cope with the grief over the death of her brother, she is approached by a journalist named Sam Hunt. He brings her to a small town where 13 year old Alice Webber has been exhibiting strange behaviour. As Mina spends more time with her, Alice claims a witch is haunting her.

I wanted to like this, but I was bored with this story for the majority of it. I did become very invested within the last 100 pages, when things started to actually happen but up until that point, I didn't really care. There were some creepy scenes, which is why I continued reading. I didn't feel connected to the characters at all, and I felt that the story dragged because of this. I also didn't really understand why there was so much talk about Mina and her fiancé, as it didn't seem to really add anything to the story.

The book had so much potential to be something great, but unfortunately, it fell short for me.

This suspenseful and haunting story deals with grief, the supernatural, and tragedy. Mina, a freshly graduated child psychologist meets journalist Sam at a grief group. Sam asks her to help him discover if the story surrounding the supposed possession of young Alice Webber is legitimate. Despite the protests of Mina's pragmatic fiancée Oscar, she goes to the small town of Banathel, which is steeped in folklore surrounding witches. While staying with the Webbers, dark strange things continue to surround the family, and Sam and Mina's motives beyond helping the young Alice become more apparent. The excitement and mystery surrounding Alice's predicament, as well as a heatwave sweeping the area, has tensions running high in this creepy book.

Im kind of on the fence with this one. There were parts that felt eerie and creepy but there were moments that I didn't feel much of anything. Not creeped out or scared. The writing was solid, though

Many thanks to Netgalley for the e-arc!

When I read the premise, I was like sign me up. This sounds scary and fun in a not so good time kind of way. But I found myself disappointed with the ending. It felt like it didn't conclude the questions that were raised with Alice..

“She watches me through the cracks in the bricks. She’s in there now. That’s why we can’t talk about this.”
The dark, creepy vibe in this book is real. If you like horror, folk horror, witchy vibes, creepy old houses, feminist vibes, weird neighbors, this book is probably for you. Do you know what witch bottles or hag stones are? I didn't until I read this book. And those made this story even creepier. Pearce set this book in England in the 1980s, which is important. You feel the lack of technology, the different way things were back then. Pearce was able to capture the sticky heat of the summer, the darkness of the people living in the town, and the desperate feeling of Alice's family while they are trying to figure out what is wrong with her. While I didn't have all of my questions answered at the end of this book, it made me want to seek out more books like this that completely immerse me in the setting and the story.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and Net Galley for the advanced reader copy.