Thank you so much St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC! WOW! I loved the ride that this book took me on. While it started a bit slow, it really had me hooked. I couldn't put it down! It was a great book to kick off the fall season with.

NO REST FOR THE WICKED - A very intriguing book with its interesting characters, immersing storylines, and continuous pace. I was surprised how good this well written story was and I enjoyed it immensely. A one-sitting read. Source: Netgalley. 4*

I like a good murder mystery and this was that. My first observation is that there's a lot of fist clinching, steering wheel clenching and white knuckling for all the characters in this book. It's just repeated over and over, like every other page. My next thought was this is definitely not a cozy mystery. The cover had me thinking it could be. So go in knowing that. TW: SA- is essential to the plot, cat death and kidnapping.

Overall No Rest for the Wicked by Rachel Louise Adams had a really great level of mystery and suspense. Although I guessed the twist, I still liked the characters and the town. I hope this becomes a series.

Delores Hawthorne leaves her hometown for college and never looks back. No messages, calls or cards to her family. Nothing. It’s twenty years later and she receives a disturbing call from the FBI that her father, a former Senator, has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. As a forensic pathologist, Delores is drawn into the investigation by the FBI and after reading a cryptic note her father has left only to her “Trust No One.”
Family drama, an unlikable stepmother, along with a few other unlikable characters, a very twisted plot and several murders are all present in this excellent debut thriller mystery. I received a complimentary ebook through Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press, without remuneration. Thoughts expressed in my review are my personal opinion.

Wow, this book completely surprised me, in the best way! I went in expecting a cozy, spooky Halloween story (thanks to the cover and my selective synopsis reading 👀).
Instead, Rachel Louise Adams delivered a dark, twisty thriller I could not put down.

Dolores walked away from her Halloween obsessed town 18 years ago, never planning to return…until an FBI agent calls with shocking news: her public-figure father is missing and foul play is suspected. From there the story unravels into a whirlwind of secrets, suspense and the type of twists every thriller fan hopes to find.

⚠️Readers may want to check trigger warnings before diving in.

Goodreads review posted on 8/25/25

I underestimated this book. I couldn’t quite tell what kind of mystery it was going to be based on the cover — cozy or a bit darker. Turns out it’s the latter and it turned out to be a helluva story.

Dolores who has been estranged from her family for 18 years is called back to her Halloween-obsessed small town when he father disappears. It’s not a complicated premise but there is a lot underpinning it. What exactly drove her away and how might it be related to what’s happing now.

It touches on family drama and how memories can trick us or maybe protect to us from the truth. It was well written and clever and I throughly enjoyed it.

Rating - 4/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Date Read - July 20, 2025
Publication Date - September 16, 2025

*I received an E-ARC of this book for free in exchange for an honest review* - Thank you @rachellouiseadams, @stmartinspress, @minotaur_books and @netgalley!

No Rest for the Wicked is a very atmospheric and eerie book! I was craving a book that matched my spooky season mood in July and this was exactly what I needed! I didn’t know who to trust and I was suspicious of everyone, which made it so fun. I was in the story, rather than waiting for something to happen that I guessed from a mile away. I also found it interesting how this book highlights the impacts of trauma on memory! While this book has one of my only triggers, animals being hurt and k*lled, I enjoyed the rest of it. I will be keeping an eye out for future books by this author! If you are looking for an atmospheric and creepy murder mystery, No Rest for the Wicked is the book for you!

Get excited to read No Rest for the Wicked, available September 16! 🎉

*Please check trigger warnings*

The cover drew me to this story, then the description. I had high hopes but unfortunately this story wasn't for me. The bones of this story are all there but there is a lot to be desired. I didn't really enjoy this story and had a difficult time getting though it. There are many issues for me but ultimately it comes down to a few. One: the writing feels like it is missing large amounts of sections. It has holes and doesn't make a lot of sense in many places, like it has been edited out. The main character comes off very much not human. She makes inappropriate choices, talks as if she is not experienced a human life, and doesn't know how to communicate. Also the entire plot is unrealistic in every aspect. It just doesn't make any sense, even for a fiction story.

My main comment is to check trigger warnings! There is an on page trigger.
In a Halloween obsessed town, a politician goes missing and his daughter returns to a family that doesn’t want her there. Dolores uses her profession as a forensic pathologist to try and find out what happened to her father.
My only complaint is that I had difficulty keeping two brothers separate in my mind.

Wow! What a story! Little Horton is famous for its Halloween celebrations, including reenactments of past Halloween tragedies. A most peculiar tradition. Dolores returns eighteen years after her own tragedy when the FBI informs her of her father's disappearance. No Rest for the Wicked is one of those can't put it down books.

No Rest for the Wicked is Rachel’s Louise Adams debut novel. It’s a mystery thriller set in a Halloween obsessed town with a history of violent deaths. It’s an edge of your seat suspenseful story up to the very end! Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for my copy of this unique book!

Halloween in a small town, murders, secrets, this book has it all. In a very good way.

Our heroine, Delores Hawthorne, has been called back to the hometown she left 18 years ago, due to her father's mysterious disappearance. Once she reluctantly arrives, the fun (so to speak) begins. Lost memories of heinous events resurface, people she knew then, for good and bad, come back into her life. The tension is practically non-stop, the dialogue snappy and believable, the plotline itself twists and turns and twists back again. I almost read this in one sitting.

You couldn't ask for a more enjoyable read for whiling away a couple of afternoons.

I thought No Rest for the Wicked was an engaging read that more than delivers on the promise of family secrets colliding with suspense. The mystery is well-constructed, the pacing keeps the story moving, and the twists manage to surprise without feeling contrived. I thought the characters were well-rounded, and especially enjoyed the relationship between Dolores and her siblings.

For readers who enjoy character-driven drama laced with tension, it checks many of the right boxes. I loved the alternating chapters between past and present, it was very well done to dole out clues and build suspense.
The author does an excellent job of creating complex characters who feel believable and grounded.

That said, I was expecting more with a town obsessed with Halloween. The Halloween setting, which could have added richness and atmosphere, is used more as a backdrop than a driver of tone or mood. As a result, the book leans more heavily on its family drama than on the eerie suspense its premise suggests. It’s a good read—solidly entertaining and worth the time—but it stops short of becoming the kind of atmospheric, unforgettable thriller it hints at being.

All said, I enjoyed it and will recommend for spooky season-lite!

Halloween themed books make me feel warm and cozy inside- even when bad things are happening. This one hit the mark on that! This book started out super strong and I was fully glued to the pages. It started to fizzle out for me in the middle section, before picking up again at the end. There were a lot of characters and moving parts and at times it was difficult for me to keep everything straight. There were also times things were worded vaguely and it became a little difficult to track- although in the end things are tied together nicely and it all makes sense. I enjoyed the layers and depth this mystery thriller offers. It's not just your basic popcorn thriller, but so much more!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I agree with others who’ve said the cover is misleading. It’s giving cozy vibes but it’s really not. I enjoyed this storyline and characters and would love to read more books about them! This was mysterious and a little dark, just like I like em. I assumed the cats would play a larger part due to the cover but they were a side dish at most. This had a lot of secrets waiting to be discovered.

For some reason I thought this was going to be more supernatural, but instead it's a police procedural with spooky undertones. This was an incredibly engaging read with well-written characters and interesting side plots (poor kitties!). Overall, this is a fun read for Halloween season.

This was a twisty, dark thriller and I loved it! Multiple POVs made this a multi layered story, but it was easy to follow. I was surprised by most of the twists. Very impressed this is a debut!!

Nothing like a trip home for Family to rediscover the life you thought you had might no be quite as remembered. Throw in a hometown holiday and a little disfunction into the twist and turns of the investigation. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own, thank you Netgalley for the introduction.

“No Rest for the Wicked” is a debut novel by Rachel Louise Adams. First - let’s talk about the cover - adorable, right? Cute black cats and with the title, knowing that it’s set around Halloween, one might think “oh, a cozy little mystery around Halloween.” Sigh … the cover is misleading. There are cats - but they’re running about the town feral … and, well, they don’t all make it to the end of the book. This is also not a cozy mystery. In fact, I would bin this more as a mystery thriller, more emphasis on the thriller part. This book wasn’t quite what I expected - it’s more of a estranged daughter returns home after nearly 20 years and she’s basically blanked out parts of her life, which comes to a head as she’s asked to assist the FBI in the disappearance of her father (the reason she returned home) and others in her home town. I had an issue with the pacing at times - it seemed that things were happening and clues being dropped, but without things to tie them together for a very long time. However, once things were laid out and connected together, then the pace picked up and things settled into a pretty nice clip. I found the idea of this book a good one, but wished for a more solid execution.

No Rest for the Wicked is the debut novel by Rachel Louise Adams. Based on the cover alone, I thought this was going to be a fun cozy Halloween whodunit mystery with cute black cats. It is not. It is a pretty sad mystery, actually, and the cats don't really have a lot to do with the story other than they are running amok in the town and being captured/euthanized at the local pound. The story is set in a Midwestern city that is famous for its Halloween obsession and decorations, but also its history of murders on that date. Doloros left home twenty years ago and hasn't returned (for reasons that are slowly revealed); however, she's received news that her father (the former mayor of the city but now a US Senator) has gone missing. Dolores returns to her family home, and the mystery deepens.

I did really enjoy this book; however, there are a lot of deep, significant topics going on in here. It's not a cute, cozy Halloween book for sure. Please check your trigger warnings before reading. The book is well written, and the pacing is medium to fast. I loved all the characters. There were a few surprises in this mystery thriller that I hadn't seen coming, which is always lovely! I really enjoyed the female camaraderie in this one!

If you enjoy dark, spooky thrillers with a mystery/horror vibe, you will probably enjoy this book. I would recommend it for older readers only due to mature themes of rape, etc. Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.