Set against the backdrop of Hawaii this thriller had me trying to figure it out until the very end. And the ending was very unexpected! Kati and Zoey are on the run and have built a life off the grid in Hawaii. When Kati’s fiance disappears on a hike they are left wondering if their past has caught up with them. Wondering who can be trusted Kati is on a race against time to figure out what really happened before it is too late. The twists kept coming and I had to keep reading until everything was revealed. I recommend adding this book to your tbr if you like thrillers that keep you guessing.

I felt this was a slow paced story. I did enjoy the setting.

Blurb: For two years, Kati Dawes and her teenage daughter, Zoe, have lived off the grid in Hawaii, hiding from a past Kati must forget as if her life depends on it. New names. Anonymous online presence. So far, safe. Until Kati’s fiancé, attorney Eddie Akana, disappears along a popular hiking trail in a Maui national park. Now all eyes are on Kati. Exposure can make a woman with so many secrets very paranoid.

Eddie’s law partner, Noah Walker, is doing everything he can to protect his new client from the press that’s hovering like a vulture and the authorities whose suspicions about Kati—and the disappearance—are rising. Then suddenly, Zoe goes missing as well. Kati will risk anything to find her. But the worst is still to come. Because Kati’s not the only one with secrets. And buried among them is a twist she never saw coming.

A great thriller everyone will enjoy. Kati and Zoe are living ‘off grid’ in Hawaii. As the book goes along we learn why they are living ‘off grid’. The book opens when Kati’s fiancée, Eddie, goes missing on a hike. This book has a lot of hidden secrets and nothing is at it seems. I love the setting and the very snappy writing style. I laughed out loud at some of the dialogue.

Falls to Pieces
Douglas Corleone
Thomas and Mercer
04/01/2025

Falls to Pieces is a fast-paced easy to read thriller that should not be missed. Red herrings, hints, details, and pieces of information are intentionally hidden. If you figure this out before the end, I think you have a superpower. There is no shortage of well developed morally grey characters. (love) You will have no idea who to trust or what is the truth. This story has flashbacks throughout that lend to the ending, so hang tight and read them. As the story progresses, the pace picks up. Knowing that, you need to be able to binge read, without interruption the last 40% (ish) and you may need help picking your jaw up off the floor!

This one will certainly keep you guessing til the end! Those twists were TWISTING!
🌺Atmospheric setting in Hawaii
🌺Crime Thriller/Mystery
🌺Secrets
🌺Missing Persons
🌺TWISTS
Kati and her teen daughter, Zoe, are in hiding in Hawaii and living off the grid. Kati gets engaged to Eddie, who is an attorney and seems like a great catch. When they’re on a hike he goes missing and the police are pointing their fingers at her. Her daughter goes missing soon after and Kati is afraid someone from her past has found them and must do what it takes to get her daughter back.
I loved the setting of this book and it’s very suspenseful! That ending though…..never saw it coming!

This was definitely a fun and juicy read. So much secrets and information is intricately and slowly uncovered which keeps the suspense of the book very high throughout. There was just a lot of suspension of disbelief to be had and that is where it was harder for me to fully connect.

Kati and her daughter, Zoe, are in hiding. From what or who we don’t know.
For the past two years they have been off grid in Hawaii. Living in the shadows.

Until Kati gets a boyfriend. Eddie is an attorney and seems like a catch. Until they go for a hike and he doesn’t return. What happened? The police are grilling Kati while Eddie’s law partner, Noah, is trying to help Katie.

This was a suspenseful read! Although Kati was not the least bit sympathetic as a character, she was paranoid, and seemed to make ridiculous decisions.
As things heat up Zoe disappears.

That’s all I am saying because the twists were insane! I couldn’t believe that ending!


NetGalley/ Thomas and Mercer February 18, 2025

📚 PRE-PUBLICATION BOOK TOUR BOOK REVIEW 📚

Falls To Pieces By Douglas Corleone
Publication Date: April 1, 2025
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚MY REVIEW:

Falls To Pieces has been a part of some excited conversations over at Thriller Book Lovers The Pulse, and after reading it myself, I totally get it! This is a twisting and turning crime thriller, set in the gorgeous natural landscape of Hawaii, and its mystery is sure to pull you in quickly -- just like it did for me!

This is the story of Kati and Zoe, a mother and daughter who are living off-the-grid in Hawaii. The book begins with Kati's fiance Eddie going missing, and evidence quickly points to foul play at the hands of Kati. It becomes clear there are deeper secrets with Kati and Zoe, and Corleone uses flashbacks brilliantly to slowly share their backstory and reveal exactly what it is that they're hiding.

But let me tell you: there are WAY more secrets in this story than you'll expect! Some of the twists in this one really shocked me because they were SO unexpected -- which I absolutely loved! There are a lot of layers to this mystery, with more and more mysteries developing as the story continues. There were lots of involved characters and intricate pieces to the puzzle...at times I had to stop and remind myself who was who and how they were involved. While it occasionally felt to me like it was a lot to keep straight, all the pieces eventually came together as the mysteries were solved. Those final twists though!?! 😳😳

*Trigger Warnings: domestic violence and child abuse.*

Falls To Pieces was ultimately a mysteriously thrilling ride that had me guessing until the very end. A huge thank you to Thriller Book Lovers The Pulse, Thomas & Mercer, NetGalley, and Doug Corleone for the advanced e-copy of this book and invitation to be a part of this book tour in exchange for my honest review!

#FallsToPieces #DouglasCorleone #ThomasandMercer #amazonpublishing #thrillerbookloversthepulse #booktours #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #ARC #thrilleraddict #thrillerlover #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

Falls to Pieces was a fast-paced mystery that kept me on my toes. Kati was a complex protagonist with lots of secrets and she was hard for me to trust. She clearly had a traumatic past between her abusive mother and husband. She was on the lam, but it wasn't always entirely clear if it was from her husband, or from the law - maybe both? But for someone so secretive and in hiding, I was often frustrated by her choices and felt like her behavior was erratic and inconsistent. She definitely kept me guessing and wondering what on earth was really going on.

The book was quite the page turner and what at first felt like your standard 'someone is missing, is the narrator our culprit' storyline quickly devolved into a complex and layered mystery. With the past and present converging, gambling debts, environmental conspiracies, and "mob-esque" players, there was a lot going on and I had trouble pinpointing where the story went. Indeed, it definitely did surprise me and the final twist was fun and unexpected.

Falls to Pieces is getting rave reviews over here at The Pulse. It's a quick read, intellectually stimulating, and overall surprising. If you like a mystery with substance that will keep you guessing, this one is for you!

Totally a twisted one!! I couldn’t get enough it!! You need this one next on your TBR!!! It will definitely have you flipping pages as fast as you can..

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!

For two years, Kati Dawes and her teenage daughter, Zoe, have lived off the grid in Hawai‘i, hiding from a past Kati must forget as if her life depends on it. New names. Anonymous online presence. So far, safe. Until Kati’s fiancé, attorney Eddie Akana, disappears along a popular hiking trail in a Maui national park. Now all eyes are on Kati. Exposure can make a woman with so many secrets very paranoid.

Eddie’s law partner, Noah Walker, is doing everything he can to protect his new client from the press that’s hovering like a vulture and the authorities whose suspicions about Kati—and the disappearance—are rising. Then suddenly, Zoe goes missing as well. Kati will risk anything to find her. But the worst is still to come. Because Kati’s not the only one with secrets. And buried among them is a twist she never saw coming.


Loved it. Will recommend to others.

Kati and Zoe, mother and daughter, are living off the grid in Hawaii. They have run away from their lives, changed their names and make sure no one knows who they are or how to find them. Despite not wanting to bring anyone else into their lives, Kati gets engaged to Eddie. When Eddie goes missing, all fingers are pointing at Kati, but when Zoe disappears soon after, Kati is sure someone from their old life has found them. But how can she find and protect her daughter without anyone finding out their secrets?

I struggled a little with this one. I felt like the first half of the book was a little slow, and it took me forever to really get into it. Part two, however, really had me hooked, and I was racing through it. Part three started off great. There were plenty of twists, but the ending just lost me. I understand the reasoning for the person involved to do everything they did. But the outcome just felt a bit underwhelming.

From the evocative Hawaiian setting to the well-developed characters scattered throughout this quick, easy read, Falls to Pieces certainly kept me entertained from beginning to end. After all, the unreliable narrator kept me guessing as the complex plot built to one doozy of a conclusion. And while the bulk of the book was much more of a long, slow burn, the fast-paced last third utterly won me over hook, line, and sinker. And that was before the jaw-dropping shock of a twist took center stage. You see, there wasn’t a chance in h*** of me working it out before the final timely reveal.

The only piece to this psychological thriller that somewhat missed the mark for this avid reader was within the slow-moving start. Chronicled versus shown, the many flashbacks and descriptions of what occurred years ago made the story drag just a bit. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it. I was over the moon, though, when the pace finally picked up and the events took on a much more propulsive feel in the last third of the book.

All in all, from the morally gray characters to thought-provoking topics, I will most definitely be hung up on this one for quite a while. And I don’t care how good you are at armchair sleuthing, I would be utterly shocked if you work this one out before the truth is laid at your feet. Filled with deftly obscured clues and plenty of red herrings, I was happily blind all the way through. So if you’re looking for an original premise that will require you to pick your jaw up off of the floor, definitely check this book out. Despite the slower speed, it was a page-turner for sure. Rating of 3.5 stars (upgraded).

Thank you to Douglas Corleone, Thomas & Mercer, Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse, and NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

I really liked this book. I enjoyed the legal aspect of it and the twist at the end....I was so SHOCKED!!! Great ending.

A riveting novel which will keep you guessing until the last few pages. This was a first for me by this author and I will be looking for more. Mystery and fast past. Hawaii is not only beautiful but deadly secrets come out. Trigger warning: abuse

Yess!!! I so completely enjoyed this
What an amazing thriller
This is definitely going to be a must read of 2025
The way this book was described was just brilliant
It had me so engaged I couldn’t put it down
It was interesting with incredible characters
A right page turner
A brilliant plot which blew my mind

The setting of FALLS TO PIECES made for a very atmospheric story. I loved the premise of a mother and daughter in hiding and the threat of exposure. This wasn't a straight line story though as nothing was as it seemed and I was in for quite a few surprises as this story unfolded. It was mesmerizing and I flew right through it!

I had a real hard time with this book. I struggled through it and didn’t like any of the characters or the story. Maybe it was just me I hope some others like it better than I did.

4.5 stars! I wish we could do half stars!

This took me on a journey I did not expect and had so many twists and turns I had no idea what was coming.
The writing is incredible, the characters so engrossing.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and had no idea of the twist that was waiting for me.
This had me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails waiting for the end!

Arc provided by net galley. All opinions are my own.

I really wish NetGalley had partial stars bc this would easily be a 4.25/4.5.

Wow… just wow. I have no words to describe the journey that was and the twists and turns during the last third of the book.

If I had to find some words though, the imagery and descriptions used to describe Maui were so well written. It brought me back to my trip to the island a few years ago.

I thought I knew where the story was taking me and really only guessed one of the twists correctly. Just when I thought there couldn’t be anymore more shocking, something else happened or was revealed even more so. It wasn’t the type of thriller that necessarily kept me on the edge of my seat per se, at least until more towards the end, but it’s definitely a page turner all the way through.

The only reason I marked down a partial star is bc I was not entirely satisfied with the ending. I completely understand why what happened happened, the moral part of me just thinks this cycle may just get repeated bc of it. Can’t say I wouldn’t consider it myself, so really, how immoral is it then haha.

I also loved how deeper social issues that were woven into the storyline without feeling like it was just thrown in there to check a box.

If you enjoy a good psychological thriller, this story is for you. I enjoyed the opportunity to read this ARC for free via NetGalley and leave my honest review 🤍