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.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc. This was a really creepy one. Her husband annoyed me because he wasn't supportive of her wanting to take on this job. He clearly didnt think she was qualified enough since she just graduated. I really enjoyed this story.

definitely builds tension but shatters it at about 80% in and feels a bit less spooky at times. 3.5 stars. tysm for the arc.

3.5 Rounded Up

This book sucked me in right away. Mina is a new Child Psychologist who has been introduced to 13 year old Alice, whom the town believes is haunted by a witch. I really liked Alice's character and could feel her fear.

I did find my mind was wandering in the middle of the book, but my full attention came back as Pearce set the stage for the climax. I was satisfied with the ending, but did have some unanswered questions. I appreciated that the mood of the story grew darker and darker and it had enough creeping suspense to keep me mostly intrigued.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I could not put it down! Edge of my seat—well, reading nook, the entire time. I have never gotten goose bumps from a book in all of my days on this earth. Such a great suspenseful read.

Something in the Walls started strong, with an eerie atmosphere and an engaging setup that hinted at a truly unsettling horror story. The writing was solid, and for the first half, I was very excited this could be a GREAT book. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse just past the halfway mark.

The protagonist, Mina, made frustratingly questionable decisions, and her characterization felt inconsistent. For someone who is supposed to be a psychologist, she acted more like an amateur investigator, throwing out random facts and questions that didn’t feel natural or professional. The “twist” was predictable, and rather than building to a satisfying climax, the story fizzled out with an ending that left too many unanswered questions.

It was disappointing because the book had all the right elements to be a great horror novel—but ultimately, it didn’t deliver. While it wasn’t a complete loss, the second half’s inconsistencies and unsatisfying conclusion made it difficult to fully enjoy.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martens for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was terrible. Absolutely could not hold my interest what so ever. Someone had said if you like The House On Haunted Hill I’d love this book…they lied.

I don’t know if it’s the witch possession but it just didn’t do it for me. Each character was boring and I didn’t connect with a single one. The story was slow, pointless and forgettable.

Definitely the worst things I’ve heard in a long time.

This book has the best creepy, sinister vibes and the author does a great job of setting up a very eerie atmosphere. It quickly drew me in & I could just feel the foreboding dread Mina felt as the story unfolded. I thought the audio narrator was great as well. It had so much potential, but ultimately, it went in a different direction than I thought it was going to go ending with some unanswered questions that I really wanted cleared up. Its hard to say much more without giving things away; however, if you like witchy vibes, ghostly horror and weird superstition rituals, you could love it!

“Desperation makes you inventive.”

When I first started this audiobook, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get into it. It was one of those books where as I was listening 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 I found my mind drifting to other thoughts…like I just couldn’t focus on the story.

However, that changed and the story turned atmospheric in the best way. I was like oh geez what is going on in this house and this poor girl. I quickly refocused my attention.

It was creepy and atmospheric. The hysteria vibes were real AND I learned more about witch hunt types of activities such as “riddance” and the “witch pricker.” I’ve heard of the “tool” that they used to identify (I use the term loosely of course) witches back in the day but the “witch pricker” tool used to find the devil’s mark was extra ick. I mean they all were.

Anyway this started as something I wasn’t sure I’d like and turned into a book that held my attention.

The audio narrator was excellent.

I’ve now been enlightened to the saying “Good riddance” it took on a whole new meaning (much darker than when I use it lol) after reading this book.

𝙍𝙄𝘿𝘿𝘼𝙉𝘾𝙀: the action of getting rid of a troublesome or unwanted person or thing.

I love books where I learn new things and this gave me more insight into the crazy witch hunters.

2.75

This had everything I enjoy in a horror novel: there's a mystery afoot, someone might be possessed, there's a few legitimate creepy scenes that give me goosebumps, with a few dashes of gore. The first 70% of this book had it all and I was really enjoying myself. I was a little worried that nothing was being explained by 70% but I had hopes that the ending would give me what I wanted and needed.

Unfortunately, the ending was a complete let down and I still have so many questions. The core 'mystery' wasn't solved and there wasn't an explanation of what had been happening during the entire book. The story took a late turn and I still don't really understand why the author chose to add that storyline in and completely abandon the reason the two main characters (Mina and Sam) were there in the first place.

I wish I could recommend this - but with an ending like that I won't be.

The writing of this novel had a gripping, immersive quality that kept me turning pages. The horror elements were unsettling, and the small-town superstitions added an extra layer of unease.

However, despite the strong start, the story lost some of its momentum about halfway through. The pacing became repetitive, and while I was initially hooked, my engagement started to wane. And then there’s the ending—frustratingly ambiguous and lacking the clarity I was hoping for. I don’t mind open-ended conclusions, but this one felt like it left too many loose threads.

Overall, this book had so much potential to be amazing, and while I enjoyed the ride, the lack of resolution made it feel incomplete.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book!