Many thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. January LaVoy does a fantastic job narrating this story and making it come to life!

Maggie lost her mom early in life to a rare blood disease. Just as her mom warned her, her dad was set upon by every available woman in town, and even some who were still married. When the one who does catch Maggie's dad, Finn, turns out to be the worst of the bunch, Maggie confronts her.
Presently facing the same death sentence as her mother, Maggie is determined that it won't happen again and sets out to find her husband his new wife.

This is a fast paced, suspenseful, psychological thriller that has a few twists thrown in. I really liked the characters, which is good as its character driven, and found myself completely sucked into the story! I could not put it down and needed to know how it finished! Very satisfying!!!

Maggie has just found out she is going to die. She has been diagnosed with the same blood disease that killed her mother when Maggie was 17. But she isn't going to waste her limited time left with medical intervention that won't help like her mother did. She is going to live her life to the fullest for her last days. Remembering her mother's final request to Maggie and her sister Lizzie to take care of their dad and watch out for women who would take advantage of him, Maggie sets out to find a replacement for herself for her husband and kids. She has 3 months to get everything in place for her family's future. It might sound mad, but she wasn't voted "Most Likely to Kill Someone to Get What She Wants" for nothing.

I had some mixed feeling about this one while reading. The book is written in 3 parts and parts 1 and 2 read more like a family drama than a thriller. I even pulled up Goodreads at 29% to check that it was listed as a thriller because it sure didn't feel like one. It wasn't bad, I was actually really enjoying it. I was just confused that it was listed as a thriller. Part 3 picks up with the twists and suspense though. Just don't go into it expecting an action packed thriller. I would call it more a suspense mystery.

Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ALC and ARC for review. Publication expected March 4, 2025.

Don’t Tell Me How To Die – More Like, Don’t Tell Me How To Feel (Because I Felt Everything)

I finally understand the universal reaction to this book: WHAT DID I JUST READ?! Seriously, I went in expecting a psychological thriller, and instead, I got a multi-layered, emotionally devastating onion. Every time I thought I had a grip on things—bam! Another layer peeled back, revealing even more depth in the characters, the plot, and the overall chaos of this story.

Despite its dark themes, this book expertly weaves in humor and joy, like a well-placed joke at a funeral (which, incidentally, feels very on-brand for Lizzie’s bold, unapologetic humor). There were moments where I wasn’t sure if I was crying from the emotional gut punches or from laughing too hard—either way, tissues were involved.

I’m dying (too soon?) to talk about the plot, but honestly, it’s best if you go in blind. If you’ve already read a bunch of reviews, stop right now and just dive in. Trust me. You won’t regret it. I devoured this book in a day.

I need a physical copy of this book for my shelf when it releases on 3/4/25—because this is one I will absolutely reread.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC!

Woah. This is one of those "just trust the process" stories. I saw another bookstagrammer call this phenomenal so I went in hunt for it, found it as read now on NetGalley, and dove immediately. I blinked and I was 40% in, and completely invested. The character development is deep and well crafted to the point I feel like they're people I actually know. Then as I got to about 60%, I paused and thought "wait isn't this meant to be a mystery/thriller?" I looked it up and yup that's how it was labeled so I was confused and a little worried. But let me tell you, TRUST THE PROCESS OKAY?! It's worth it. I would call this a character driven slow burn mystery, something like Chris Whitaker's All The Colors of the Dark. It's page turning, but not in the heart racing thriller way. The way this story is weaved together is so well crafted, I had to stop and process the entire thing over when I got to the end. I was truly shocked. And here's the thing, I was nearly crying in the first half. Then the last third has my jaw on the floor. How often does that happen in a mystery? I'll tell you, not often.

I really applaud the way this story is written and weaved together. I want to comment on it but don't want to give a single thing away so I'll say this; dive in, trust the process, and dm me when you're done cause I'm sure you'll be dying to talk about it just like I am!

Thanks Marisha for making me want to read this. And thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for early access. I can’t wait to get a physical copy!

Don't Tell Me How to Die is a gripping psychological thriller. The story weaves a tangled web of powerful family dynamics and complex friendships, that draw you into its immersive narrative.
Karp skillfully builds suspense and keeps the reader guessing until the very end. This character driven thriller is exceptionally well written, and the audiobook format truly brings it to life. The focus on the intricate relationships between the characters adds depth and complexity to the narrative, making their motivations and secrets all the more compelling.
Narrator January LaVoy delivers a phenomenal performance! Her expressive narration perfectly captures all the nuances of the story, transporting the listener to the heart of the drama making it truly captivating.

Overall, Don't Tell Me How to Die is a fantastic audiobook that will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers. A compelling story which makes an unforgettable listening experience. The well-developed characters, intricate plot, and shocking twist make this a must-listen.

I eagerly anticipate more from this author and narrator. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity.

What did i just read!!! How did I go from snot running out my nose crying to my mouth hanging open! This book was a roller coaster I tell you what!!!! Never in my life! Have i read a book so fast in my life! I didn't move! I dont even think I breath right for the second have of this book! I had to tell myself to manually takes breathes! This was freaking INSANE! YOU HEAR ME INSANE!!!!!!!!

Marshall Karp, of NYPD Red series (aka, co-conspirator of James Patterson) fame, offersa taut, sharp and on-target psychological thriller in “Don’t Tell Me How To Die” (Blackstone).
Told in parts, past and present, Karp crafts a evolving storyline centered on 43-year-old Maggie, a woman who is not only diagnosed with the same deadly disease that claimed her mother but vows to not recreate the adolescent hell she endured because of the passing.
Seeing firsthand her dying mother’s warning that, once she died, women would flock to 17-year-old Maggie and her sister’s father “like stray cats to an overturned milk truck” and that it would be up to girls to protect him. Which they do, admirably — until one slips through their gatekeeping. …
Determined that the same thing won’t happen to her own family, Maggie devises a plan to find a perfect match as wife and mother … before she dies.
If this was all to the plot, the storyline would be worth an afternoon, but in succeeding parts of the novel, Karp continuously turns everything upside down, projecting surprise after surprise in a trope-laden, over-blown style that works perfectly for a main course instead of the appetizer it would have been coming from a lesser pen.
Karp is a veteran in keeping the cinematic action going and the shocks coming — both of which are abundantly on display in his latest and ably rendered in this audio version by the voice talents of January LaVoy ("Never," "The Cherry Robbers").

I was thankful to also received the Salad of this title as ai wanted to see if the audiobook narrator did the work justice. She absolutely did!
Listening to January Lavoy narrate just made me like the story ever more. She read it at a nice listening speed especially when so many are painfully slow. The richness of her natural speaking voice was appropriate for the female main character and she did a good job with the other cast of characters as well.

I am thankful to have gotten the ALC for free from Blackstone Audio through NetGalley to listen to which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

Wow! My first 5 ⭐️ read of the year and it was completely unexpected.
This book was not what I expected at all. I thought I was reading a touching book about a mom with a terminal illness. And that’s what it was for the first half. I thought it was going into be a 3.75⭐️ book at the end which I would have rounded up for GR and then it took me by surprise and became an absolute page turner with twists and turns that left me dropping my jaw and literally pontificating out loud.

Full disclosure once things started unwinding I was able to piece things together before the reveal but it was exciting. The best part of it was that it was smartly written. Too often these days I’ve read thrillers where the twist comes out of nowhere and isn’t backed up by earlier prose. This was the exact opposite where the lightbulb goes off and you realize the significance of several things that seemed mundane.

I am so thankful to have gotten an eARC for free from Blackstone Publishing through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

This book comes out March 4, 2025. I highly suggest it for mystery/thriller lovers out there!

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

This book was a slow start but still very addictive!
I couldn't guess the endings countless twists! Woah
The narrator was great!

When @Blackstone offered up 𝑫𝑶𝑵'𝑻 𝑻𝑬𝑳𝑳 𝑴𝑬 𝑯𝑶𝑾 𝑻𝑶 𝑫𝑰𝑬 𝒃𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑲𝒂𝒓𝒑 on @netgalley and I saw it was narrated by @januarylavoy, I was sold!!

Maggie is a teen when her mother dies from a rare blood disease, but before she died, she left her daughters a warning to look out for the women who would prey on their vulnerable dad. Mom was right and Maggie and her sister work to keep him safe.

When Maggie is diagnosed with the same disease, she begins to take pages from her mother to plan her exit, especially to help her two children and her husband who has his own family trauma.

While this starts out feeling like a moving family drama about grief with a bit of suspense, it turned into a very different story by the end!! I loved it all! I don't want to say much more about the plot and the fantastic twists. I was impressed with the fresh take this story offered and how it unfolded. There were other aspects that I really enjoyed, but spoilers would abound to share them!

LaVoy did a stellar job bringing this story to life. I loved the more tender moments, the humor from Lizzie (Maggie's sister), and then as the story progressed, the more tension filled scenes. This really had it all!

This comes out March 4th!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I have loved this author's other books so was excited to read this one. Based on his previous works and goodreads listing this as a thriller, I was expecting something completely different. The first 75% of this was so not a thriller or at the pace of a thriller. That being said, once I stopped thinking what I thought it was, I liked it a lot. It is a slow burn. It's also sad and covers dealing with death. And then the ending comes and everything got so twisty. The ending did feel a little rushed. I would have liked more time with that craziness of the last quarter of the book. The narrator did a great job telling this story.

This was SO WILD! I really loved it - it went nowhere near where I expected, in the best possible way. I should have expected something like it, given the cover art, but given the way the story starts it caught me totally off guard. I found it compelling and fast-moving and utterly engaging. There's a lot here with the potential to go off the rails: dual timelines, a soft/sad start, dying young... Yet Karp pulled it all together into a taut thriller that was a fabulous listen! I'm definitely on the lookout for more from Marshall Karp!

This was a very slow burn and not what I thought it would be. The story morphs into a different one in the second half of the book, I loved it.

Do you ever read a book and at the end you have to sit there to absorb what you just read? Not just the words but the entire story? This is that book! Maggie’s mom is dying and there is nothing she can do. One day her mom plans a special day with her daughters that turns into her revealing that she will die soon and she wants her daughters to be there for their dad when she is gone. Not only as support but to protect him from the greedy money hungry single woman who she knows will flock to her husband once she is gone. She isn’t wrong. In walks in Connie. Ready to take the place of their mother yet Maggie isn’t fooled. Without going into to much detail and spoiling it for others we jump ahead to Maggie as an adult. She is successful, married and has two wonderful kids but she finds out that she too is dying from the same genetic illness her mother died from. There are twists and turns that come back from the past as well as things currently in Maggie’s life that will leave you shocked wanting to finish this book in one sitting. This is my first and not last book by Marshall Karp. Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for allowing me to read this suspenseful amazing book!

“So many twists and turns, you’d swear he wrote it with a corkscrew.” That was the line from the description that made me excited to read this one. I guess I like my twists a little…twistier? Like I want to be able to see it, if I know just where to look, or feel surprised otherwise. Instead, this book had a lot of red herrings—not a bad thing, just a different way to lay out a suspense plot. This was fun, plenty of humor, very human, imperfect characters. And of course, narrator January LaVoy never lets the listener down.

I thought this was going to be a more typical mystery, but there was a lot of focus at the beginning on Maggie's loving family. Maggie lost her mother too young to a disease she knew she might inherit, and this influenced Maggie as she went through life, becoming a lawyer and mayor.
It was deceptive how compelling the story was even during the times the stakes seemed to be low, making it that much more powerful at the end when all the pieces fell into place.
The narrator was amazing, keeping me engaged and not giving anything away. This was such a fun read.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook

If you are expecting a fast paced thriller then you will probably be disappointed. There is a dead body at the very beginning of the book but it seems pretty insignificant at first. Instead Don’t Tell Me How to Die starts out as a beautiful story about family, heartbreak, love and loss. It is a coming of age story and you will cry but you will also laugh, especially at the interactions between Maggie and Lizzie. And, then you will start to understand that you have been tricked into imagining things as you think they should be. The way the story was told was brilliant and I loved listening to every moment of it.

I am going to intentionally be vague about the description. Like other reviewers I agree that the GoodReads blurb gives too much away.

Maggie Dunn’s mother is battling a rare blood disease and has only a short time left to live. Her final request is for her two teenage daughters to protect their grieving father from opportunistic women who might try to take advantage of him. It’s up to the daughters to decide who will be the next Mrs. Dunn. Fast forward 25 years, and Maggie is diagnosed with the same fatal illness that claimed her mother’s life. Now, she faces the challenge of preparing her own children for her impending death.
* The narration is fabulous.
*I wouldnt classify this thriller as much as a mystery/suspense.
*Even though I cried and laughed and cried some more - I would totally recommend it.

The first half is a little slow, but you need to understand it is important to get emotionally attached to everyone. The second half flies by. I would also recommend reading this as a group. You will want to talk to someone as the story progresses.

“‘Cause, baby, now we got bad blood
You know it used to be mad love
So take a look what you've done
'Cause baby, now we got bad blood (hey!)” - Taylor Swift

Let me preface this review by saying that I don’t usually enjoy reading anything that will make me sad or cry. I read ONLY for entertainment. So, I hesitated to request this book considering the fact that most of the early reviewers said that they were balling their eyes out after the first half.

But, two factors drove me to pull the trigger despite never having read Marshall Karp’s books…January LaVoy’s narration and the promise of an earth shattering twist. Can you blame me for wanting to give it a shot?

Maggie Dunn’s mother is dying from a rare blood disease and only has a short time to live. Her dying wish is for her two teenage daughters to watch out for the female predators who will swoop in and take advantage of her grieving husband. THEY must be the ones to choose the next Mrs. Dunn.

25 years later, Maggie is diagnosed with the same fatal blood disease that killed her mother. Now it is her turn to prepare her children for her death.

I am intentionally stopping there with the plot summary in order to avoid spoilers (the Goodreads blurb gives too much away!)

I would classify this book as more of a domestic suspense novel, not a thriller. It takes a very long time to figure out where the plot is going and by the end of the first half I was deeply invested in characters and CRYING. But…I was right about January LaVoy! Her fantastic narration made me want to keep on reading! If I hadn’t been listening to this book I probably would not have finished it.

The second half flew by and despite its predictability, I wound up enjoying the ending.
As a very female character driven novel, I was surprised that it was written by man! Overall, I give the narration 5+ stars and the writing 3.75 stars.

I am intrigued to read more from this author!

4/5 stars

Expected publication date: 3/4/25

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone publishing for the ARC of Don’t Tell Me How to Die in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great thriller from the wonderful characters and the author’s dry sense of humor to the absolute best choice for narrator with January LaVoy. The author and voice actor team here are gold.

The story is so original and the wonderfully flawed characters had me completely captivated. Lizzie is simply fantastic. How these characters and the plot came full circle is brilliant and so fun. The twists just kept coming!