After a traumatic break-in in the city, a couple, Toby and Addie, decided to move to the remote town of Boney Creek. They bought a general store, with a two-story apartment attached to the back, hoping to live a simple life.
Soon, they'll know that there seems to be a lot of deaths at Boney Creek within the past three months. Addie was a journalist and thinking this could be the story she's been looking for.
Not to mention, Boney Creek's past in the late seventies when there were a number of disappearances or deaths occurred and this gets Addie to dig more.
Is a town cursed, or has the serial killer of Highway Reaper back? How are the unfortunate recent deaths linked to the tragedy of the past?

This one has a complex storyline/plot that is doing my head in, yet it kept me turning the page non-stop. While there are multiple mysteries within the story, unfortunately, the way Gleeson weaved the connections among them wasn't the best one.
Will there be a sequel?? I feel like having a couple of unanswered mysteries.

The beginning of this book had me hooked. I loved the idea of the MC's starting over in a new town, taking on a shop as well as inheriting the ghastly history and small town rumors. The unexplained, frequent deaths had all of my attention.

A couple things didn't work for me. The ending was the main one. One trope that everyone collectively agrees is one of the worst gets thrown in as part of the "big twist" and I feel like the the insensitivity and flippancy surrounding it will upset some readers if not given a trigger warning. I think if more time was spent on the ending it may not have seemed so abrupt and a little pointless.
The characters didn't work for me either. I couldn't connect with any of them, and I felt like there were too many.

Overall, I really enjoyed the mystery.

🎧📖 I love small towns full of deep dark secrets, quirky characters and especially murder! Boney Creek had all of it. The narrator did a great job. Loved the Aussie accent too!

However, this was definitely a long slow burn and I found my interest waning often. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and the twists weren’t really that twisty. It just wasn’t my favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley & Brilliance Publishing for an ALC & ARC. I enjoy the options with both.

Overall this was a pretty good edge of your seat quick read.
Started off very mysterious and lots of questions but ended with not much getting answered. Not sure if it’s supposed to be left open for interpretation or if there are plans for a series.
But your left with unanswered questions and no real total conclusion.

Who is the highway reaper? What happened to Toby’s uncle? What happened to Addie at court? Were the currents deaths actual accidents or murders?

Still so many questions.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy

Boney Creek is a quiet town but several locals have died under mysterious circumstances recently. Addie and Toby are moving to the town to escape their own personal tragedy but Addie is not sold on the town. She never really gave up on her dreams of being a journalist and now she has heard about the suspicious deaths, she wants to investigate, finding an unlikely ally to help.
This one was so interesting and the action started immediately. The small remote isolated town, far from a police station and services added to the feeling of danger and the characters all appeared to be hiding something. I love a novel that includes an amateur sleuth, particularly in the form of a journalist and it worked so well in this story. Such an enjoyable debut.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for this gifted review copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my e-ARC of Boney Creek!

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔
🏚️ if you love small, deserted towns
🕵🏻‍♀️ think you’d make a great detective
📰 have ever worked for a newspaper
👀 don’t trust anybody

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

Boney Creek is a dying town where not a lot happens. The perfect solution for married couple Addie and Toby who are escaping their own personal tragedy. But a quiet and simple life is not exactly possible with so many recent, strange deaths.

Seven locals, all gone too soon. That’s the nature of tragic accidents. And in a town this small, there’s no room for too many questions.

But Addie isn’t so sure. Although she never followed through on her dreams of becoming a journalist, she still has a reporter’s instincts. And her gut—not to mention all the small-town gossip—is telling her that whatever’s happening in Boney Creek is not as random as it seems.

There’s no such thing as coincidence, especially when it comes to seven bodies. And while burying her own secrets, Addie digs up far greater ones that will have her asking if she will be the town’s next so-called accident.

• 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

This was an interesting mystery with a great premise. Everyone is dying and nobody knows if they are truly accidents or if something more sinister is happening in the town. When an ex journalist who was told she didn’t have the courage and grit to go after stories arrives in town, she decides to prove everyone wrong. I really enjoyed her relationship with Clancy, as it seemed really genuine. I kept wavering on whether or not I believed something sinister was happening, which always makes for a good mystery. Definitely recommend this one!

Small town drama, Boney Creek is entertaining with the dark secrets and suspense.

I enjoyed the short chapters, the characters, and the twisty plot. The mystery happening in this tiny town is captivating and makes you turn the pages fast.

This was my first book from this author, and I am sure I will be reading more of her work.

Thank you so much Thomas & Mercer, and Paula Gleeson for my eARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"Boney Creek" by Paula Gleeson was an addictive thriller with tons of twists & turns.
I liked how I couldn’t trust anyone & I loved the unpredictable ending.
I would definitely read another book by this author.

Boney Creek is a mystery that takes a bit of time to develop and to become clear. It is repetitive - taunting the reader with reference upon reference to “that night” in the main characters’ past. Perhaps I wasn’t the target for this book as it was a bit irritating and juvenile. Please read other reviews!

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Everyone in this town of Boney Creek seems a little off to me. When more people start winding up dead, former journalist Addie can’t help herself but dig in to find out if they are connected. I enjoyed how I couldn’t trust anyone and loved the unpredictable ending!

A quintessential Aussie noir, Boney Creek (2025) by Paula Gleeson begins with a young couple fleeing the city to move on from their own tragedy. Addie and Toby arrive in Boney Creek as a funeral is underway. They quickly learn that many locals have died recently, under mysterious circumstances. Addie decides to use her journalist skills to investigate and start a blog, so she can learn more about the small town and its inhabitants. She discovers the recent deaths make locals believe the serial killer, known as The Highway Reaper, may be at work once again. An intriguing crime mystery tale with unexplained deaths, building tension and climatic finale that is a four and a half star must-read rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement. With thanks to Thomas & Mercer and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes.

In the past year, I have been exposed to so many great books and authors, and Paula Gleeson is definitely one of them!

This was a great mystery with a fantastic main character. This exemplifies how great writing and well developed characters can take a book to the next level.

I can't wait to read more my this author.

Loved it

I love books with quirky small towns and people, and this was perfect for me ..I also really liked the short chapters ,great for an impatient reader like me ,I tend to lose the will if a chapters are too long and ramble on. The story was good ,and the characters were well written. ,and the book kept me interested. Good read I would recommend it.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Paula Gleeson, and Thomas & Mercer for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

Always excited to get my hands on authors whose work I have not read, I eagerly grabbed this novel by Paula Gleeson. In a small town where nothing happens, Addie and Toby settle in to run the general store. Boney Creek has suffered seven losses to its 217 residents over the last few months, leaving a pall over the townsfolk, though Addie is not ready to let that rest. She is an aspiring journalist and nosey by nature. However, she learns that there were other events of a sinister nature decades ago and is left to wonder if things are connected. Paula Gleeson piqued my interest from the outset and never let go!

Boney Creek is the perfect place for Addie and Toby Clarkson to relocate after their personal tragedy. The sign on the outskirts lists 217 residents, but this is doubtful, as there have been a rash of deaths over the last while. Having purchased the General Store, Addie and Toby hope to make the best of it in this dying town. However, it will be a bit of a quick learning curve, especially since many of the locals are impatient and wary of new faces. That said, some make comments as though they know Toby already, which confuses Addie to no end.

An aspiring journalist, Addie begins sleuthing around with the help of a local teenage girl, looking into the deaths and trying to connect them to a handful of others from decades ago. While she looks, Addie begins blogging about what she learns, in hopes of sharing her discoveries with the outside world. She begins to wonder if the seven past deaths might not be as accidental as they appear on the surface. Addie also learns from a reluctant Toby that his uncle might have spent time in Boney Creek years ago and disappeared into thin air. All this comes out as mention of the Highway Reaper, a mysterious serial killer who is blamed for a slew of disappearances years ago, and whether they might have resurfaced to kill again.

As Addie posts more, she is warned by anonymous comments to stop or Boney Creek will face new deaths. She cannot ignore her gut or the chatter around town, hoping that it will help her locate the truth and determine just what's been happening in this town. The random deaths and disappearances may not be as uncalculated as some would believe, though it will take determination, something that Addie Clarkson has in abundance. That is, if the Highway Reaper does not get her first. Paula Gleeson does a great job with this piece, which I devour as swiftly as I could!

I enjoy new authors and all they bring to the reading journey. Paula Gleeson delivers a great piece of writing that keeps the reader engaged and guessing throughout. A strong narrative guides the story along and provides needed momentum to keep things clipping along. Great characters show Gleeson’s abilities to flavour the story with various faces and personalities. The plot serves as a decent foundation to keep things on track, while also surprising the reader from the outset. I am happy to see this story worked so well and am eager to see more of Paula Gleeson’s work again soon.

Kudos, Madam Gleeson, for a great thriller, told in a unique style.

Full of small town drama and dark family secrets, Boney Creek quickly captured my love and attention. You see, there was no end to the pluses in what was a solid two-part whodunnit. A complex storyline well beyond this armchair sleuth’s solving ability, the two plot lines twisted and turned around one another, keeping me happily on the back foot throughout. After all, said storyline—constructed much like an onion—left me constantly wondering when a new mystery popped up as soon as I solved a well-crafted question. Suspenseful and compelling, Addie and her amateur detecting drew me right in.

Despite the addictive plotting, however, the characters were easily the special sauce in this unguessable novel. Fresh, eccentric, and memorable, they brought the small town of Boney Creek to life. They were also thoroughly suspicious. Not once could I pick out who was innocent or who was guilty. Were they working together—or was all but one in the dark? Addie, though, was most definitely my favorite. Strong and determined, she also had plenty of humanizing flaws. All told, she—and the rest of the cast—made this character-driven plot into the winner it was. So much so, in fact, that I’d love to see them all on a screen one day soon.

All said and done, with a remote setting that fed into a vibe which was both claustrophobic and haunting, I was unsurprised how much I loved Gleeson’s sophomore novel. After all, I felt as if I was physically there in the sweltering heat of a seemingly deserted town. Atmospheric in the extreme, the plot, setting, and characters hit the nail on the head and, due in part to the short chapters and mixed media format, I found myself unable to put the book down. So be sure to order this one as soon as you can. I mean, all of us at Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse loved it, so I have no doubt that you will as well. Rating of 4 stars.

Thank you to Paula Gleeson, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for my complimentary physical and digital copies. All opinions are my own.

I really like the small-town feel of the book and also the characters. It took me a minute to get into but after that I really got caught up on who done it. The ending was a little underwhelming for me but I enjoyed it.

I almost quit reading due to foul language. However, it did slow up and by then I was invested on the secrecy of why Toby and Addie had moved to Boney Creek and what on earth why were people dropping like flies in Boney Creek?

What secret is Toby hiding for this sudden move? What secret is Addie hiding from Toby? What secret is the town of Boney Creek hiding?

There are so many twist and turns in this book. The journalist in Addie put herself and her husband in danger as she investigates past murders and present mysterious deaths. Just when you think you know who did what, another plot comes to light

Enjoyed this mystery novel. One I could read again just to see what I may have missed the first time.

Thank you Thomas and Mercer PaulaGleeson for a digital copy of this book. The opinions are my own and freely given.
Addie and Toby move to Boney Creek to start over after a traumatic event in the city. But secrets abound and mysterious murders have occurred lately and Addie is trying to connect them and discover why they were killed.
Toby moves to the town to search for the murderer of his uncle from years before unbeknownst to Addie.
I loved this story. Kept me guessing what was really going on and I figured it out the same time Addie did.

I loved Paula Gleeson’s book, Original Twin, so I was so excited to read this one!

Boney Creek is a dying town where not much happens. It seems like the perfect place for married couple, Addie and Toby, to move to in order to escape their own personal tragedy. However, once they arrive and learn about the many recent, strange deaths that have occurred, Addie starts to doubt whether they made the right choice. All of the deaths were determined to be accidental, but Addie isn’t so sure. Being an aspiring journalist, she becomes determined to find out what is really going on and ends up digging up secrets that many of the locals don’t want revealed. She must figure everything out before she becomes the next target.

I loved the small town setting where everyone knows each other and they all seem to have secrets. There were many characters, which made it hard for me to predict what who was behind the killings. I enjoyed the short excerpts from Addie’s blog as the story developed and I constantly felt like she was in danger and anyone she spoke to could be a threat. It kept me turning pages and I did not predict the ending. There were some questions that were not resolved, and I hope that means there will be more to come!

I really enjoyed Gleeson’s previous book Original Twin, and was excited to read Boney Creek. It did not disappoint, with a suitably creepy, off putting setting, and a cast of characters equally as strange, Boney Creek is a perfect domestic thriller for those times you question being home alone on a dark night.