I know we can't pick or rate books off of covers, but can we collectively agree to break the rules here? This cover is fantastic!

However the story behind the cover? Just as fantastic!

Delores left her small town of Little Horton, Wisconsin, eighteen years ago for LA. Terrible things happened that made her cut off ties with her beloved father, stepsiblings, and everyone else in town. She’d planned on becoming a doctor but became a forensic pathologist instead—life doesn’t always turn out like you plan. And memories get jumbled.

She returns when she gets a call from the FBI that her father is missing. He goes missing just before Halloween—the only thing her town is known for. Terrible things have happened in Little Horton at that time of year, so the town cashes in on luring tourists for the day. This time, it may have also lured a serial killer.

There was a lot to like about this debut mystery/thriller. I liked Delores and the twists were strong. I know that memory—especially around traumatic events—can be unclear, but it was a little hard for me to believe that she wouldn’t go to some kind of therapy or reach out to her family in any way for eighteen years. I guess people can just prefer to repress memory and not make any attempt to work through what happened.

NetGalley provided an advance copy of this novel, which RELEASES SEPTEMBER 16, 2025.

💥 Pub Date: 9/16/2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 (rounded up)

• small town suspense
• dark past & secrets
• Halloween vibes 🎃

The town of Little Horton loves Halloween! The atmosphere of this book was *chef's kiss*. The writing is dark and suspenseful with plenty of layers and twists. It's a small thing, but I also love how the chapters have actual titles. A heckuva fun debut! Add this to your Spooky Szn TBR.

🗣 Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC invite! All opinions are honest and my own.

"With an expert hand, Rachel Louise Adams's debut No Rest for the Wicked reads like an edge of your seat, heart-pounding scary movie.

In one Halloween obsessed Midwestern town, everyone's on red alert after a local politician goes missing. Little do they know it's only the beginning.

It's been close to twenty years since forensic pathologist Dolores Hawthorne left her hometown of Little Horton, Wisconsin. The town is famous for its Halloween celebrations, but also its history of violent deaths linked to the holiday. To Dolores, it's the place she fled, family, bad memories, and all. Until the FBI calls to tell her that her father - the former mayor turned US Senator - is missing under mysterious circumstances.

Some people count to ten to wake up from a nightmare. Dolores always counts the bones of her head instead: sphenoid, frontal, lacrimal. But no matter how many times she counts them, it doesn't change the fact that her father is missing, that his final words of warning to her were to trust no one, and that now, the rest of her family is giving Dolores a chilling welcome. With Halloween fast approaching, Dolores must face the past she left behind before it's too late."

I mean it's a book set in Wisconsin with cats on the cover, it was written for me, right? Though I think, as a Wisconsinite, that it would really depend on the politician if anyone actually cared...

I’m a little bit torn on this book. It is definitely a slow burn and took quite a while to get going, but there are things I really really liked about it. The small-town feel, the Halloween vibes and the gruesome murders all worked well for me. Some of the reveals at the end were pretty surprising to me and I didn’t see them coming. Overall though, the plot didn’t grip me and I struggled to keep reading in parts. I will definitely check out more by this author in the future, but this one didn’t quite live up to what I hoped for.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Heart pounding would not be how I would describe this novel, except for maybe the last 25%. The entire book felt like the author could not decide between writing a cozy mystery and a real thriller. The cats being in the book did not go well with the plot, nor did it make any sense (unless the book had been a true cozy mystery). at any moment, I was expecting a recipe to be inserted for lemon pie. Overall, it was not the worst book that I’ve read, but I would not recommend it to others.

A haunting small-town thriller with strong atmosphere and a slow, unsettling unraveling of past trauma. The story tackles heavy themes in graphic detail. Trigger warnings are absolutely necessary and should be clearly included. This won’t be for all readers, but those prepared will find a dark, layered mystery beneath the Halloween façade.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

First I just want to say that I am absolutely FLOORED that this is the debut novel from this author! The writing, the plot, the character development, all phenomenal! For this book, think Halloween Town meets murder mystery/unsolved crimes. This book was a perfect transition to fall piece, as the underlying tone of Halloween and cats just added to the spooky feeling of this storyline. We follow Dolores, who is called back to her hometown that she left over 18 years ago, when the FBI calls to tell her her father is missing. This book features family secrets, unprocessed trauma (check your trigger warnings), and some major plot twists. I loved all the characters in this book, and felt that they were so well developed and their back stories all added so much. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Mysterious, thrilling, and completely addictive. No Rest for the Wicked pulls you in from the first page. Dolores, a forensic pathologist, returns to her hometown for the first time in 18 years after learning her father has gone missing. What follows is a gripping, twist-filled story that’s impossible to put down.

Dolores is a compelling lead. She’s smart, determined, and easy to root for. The supporting characters are just as engaging, and the story keeps a steady rhythm that draws you deeper with each chapter.
It’s the kind of story that lingers with you long after the last page.

Grab yourself a pumpkin spice latte and plug in your plastic jack o’lantern and sit back and enjoy how this mystery (set the week of Halloween) unfolds! I promise you that you won’t predict the big plot twist! 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️! I would have given it 5 Stars if two of the characters didn’t get away with committing a terrible crime!

What a fantastic debut. If you love books that read like a fun scary movie, you'll definitely want to grab this one. It is a slow burn, but completely had me pulled in from the beginning. The writing was great and the plot was creepy. Perfect for a great fall, spooky season read!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

No Rest for the Wicked by Rachel Louise Adams is a twisty, shocking thriller that grabs the reader and refuses to let go.
Adams skillfully moves between the present and past to weave together the broken threads of a tale of two families who will do anything they must to save face and protect their children, often seemingly in that order. The main character, forensic pathologist Dolores Hawthorne, has been estranged from her family for 18 years, and has only the word of her step-mother and a vicious scar to explain why, as her memories are seriously blocked. Those memories are slowly, excruciatingly revealed when she returns to her home town on the heels of her father's disappearance.
Set at Halloween, this book is suitably filled with darkness and suspense, and I highly recommend you don't wait for the spooky season to read it. This book blew me away and will stick with me for a while.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #NoRestfortheWicked.

3.5 Good Halloween themed mystery and a creepy family fits right in. It didn't turn out how I thought it would, so that's a good book for me!

Thank you for the ARC!

No Rest for the Wicked is a wonderful debut, by Rachel Louise Adams. Set in the days leading up to Halloween, in a town known for its Halloween festivities, Dolores Hawthorne returns home after 20 years. Dolores fled from home 20 Halloween’s ago, she only returns now when the FBI calls to tell her that her father has disappeared. The mystery of what caused her to flee all those years ago and where her father has gone in the present day is well-balanced.
The pacing of this novel is great, and I enjoy that the flashbacks aren’t every other chapter, they are used sparingly and are well placed.

The setting is a great small town overrun with cats and obsessed with Halloween. The characters are well drawn, and I was surprised by the ending.

This will be a perfect fall read. Thank you, Minotaur Books and @netgalley for the advanced readers copy.

I love a return home after decades mystery, I don’t love 2003 is more than twenty years ago.

⚠️ CW: Mentions of sexual assault and animal abuse. ⚠️

Rachel Louise Adams’ No Rest for the Wicked may well be the best debut novel I’ve read this year. Having said that, I did expect more in the way of a creepy Halloween vibe, as much was made of the fact that the small town the story was set in was known as “the Halloween town”, with a thriving tourist trade built around the holiday and a history seemingly tailor-made for the maximum amount of macabre fascination. The story is instead quite dark, and more than a little heavy on blood and gore.

Adams’ skill as a writer is without question, and the story is fast paced and compelling. Protagonist Dolores is an intriguing combination of formidable and fragile, and while the supporting cast is not deeply developed, one gets the sense that is by design – No Rest for the Wicked appears to be the first of a forthcoming series. Still, the reader learns enough about many of the secondary characters to form opinions, and while I want to be careful not to share any spoilers here, I will say that by the time you realize who the killer is and what motivates them, you’re not entirely certain you can blame them.

So what, you may be wondering, led me to give this book what is, for me, a lukewarm rating? This came down to one significant detail in the book, and that is the lack of content warnings. There are none. Zero. Not even a line saying “check my website for….,” which I hate, but would have agreed was at least due diligence. Because this book needs content warnings.

Within the pages of this book there are numerous descriptions of violent and bloody death. There are discussions of cruelty to animals and descriptions of animal death. There are repeated references to sexual assault and rape, and partial descriptions of the same.

I am of course aware that all of these things are parts of life, and frequently parts of the plot for works of fiction, and it is well within an author’s rights to use them to further their narrative as they see fit no matter how I or any other reader may feel about them. As it happens, in some cases I may even decide to read a book that contains these elements if they have a purpose and share an important message, and I’m in the right frame of mind to read them. However, that decision should be available to any reader going in, and because it was not in this case my rating dropped.

No Rest for the Wicked has a lot of potential, and I do recommend it, provided that you’re prepared for the content within. I am not ruling out reading the rest of the series myself if they begin including aforementioned content warnings so that I can make an informed choice ahead of time. If you do choose to read it, be aware that while it’s a well-crafted suspense novel, it is far from a light read.

3.5⭐️

Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and am leaving a voluntary review.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read this as an e-arc! The cover is actually pretty funny after finishing the book.

I was immediately hooked and it gave the PERFECT amount of spooky vibes for the fall! I really enjoyed Dolores as a character and related to the struggles within the family.
5 stars and cant wait for more from this author!

Pick this book up if you love atmospheric thrillers with political intrigue, an estranged daughter whose father goes missing, and a Halloween coded town. Dolores Diaz has moved to sunny LA where she has become a forensic pathologist after completing med school and has made a name for herself as an expert in the field. She ran as far as she could from her hometown of Little Horton, a town obsessed with Halloween, after a sexual assault that she believes to be perpetuated by her boyfriend. Although she adored her father, his marriage to Charlotte, only a few years older than her, and the assault left her with trauma and an icy relationship she cannot wait to escape. She's been happily establishing herself in LA, but a call from some FBI agents regarding her missing father draws her back to her hometown. Some things have changed but Dolores' memory looms large - she works to rebuild her relationships with her younger half siblings and her stepmother Charlotte. As Dolores assists Agent Holt and Agent Turner investigate the case, she realizes that there may be a connection to another unsolved Little Horton murder, Kristin Horowitz. Add into the mix a few cases of mistaken identity, a salty police officer with a chip on her shoulder, and increased proximity to Halloween where Delores' dad becomes more involved in the show than he may have wanted, and you have the makings of a thrilling mystery. The twists and turns in this story will keep you guessing - I didn't know what to expect from this story but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would heartily recommend to all fans of thrillers and spooky mysteries!

No Rest for the Wicked is a slowburn psychological thriller about the past not letting go. I thought the book was very well written but I did have some issues with it. First, I felt there were too many characters introduced in the beginning and it almost turned me off reading this book because I couldn't keep straight who was who. Also, I wanted to play a drinking game for how many times the author used "chuckled." Third, the way one of the FBI agents was acting was so embarrassing it was hard to read and whenever he spoke I skimmed over it. The big twist definitely got me but the conclusion took way too long to wrap up in my opinion and the ending got so convoluted I'm actually. not sure what happened. I think this book has a lot of potential but I think it needs to be polished a lot more. There were so many things I thought might happen and I feel it was a missed chance. .

This one was such a fun, cozy, spooky read. I loved it so much and got me ready for spooky season! I look forward to reading more by this author

No Rest for the Wicked by Rachel Louise Adams, set in small town Little Horton, Wisconsin, is a thriller centered around Dolores Hawthorne, a pathologist who grew up in Horton and now lives in LA. Dolores left her hometown after high school and never returned, never kept in touch with anyone including her own family. There are hints of a serious trauma she endured that made her never look back. Her father was the mayor of the town, then became a US Senator. They had a very close relationship, which made it even stranger that Dolores never kept in touch. She gets a phone call from the FBI that her father is missing, and she needs to return to her hometown to help in the search. She reluctantly returns, works with the police and FBI, while dead bodies start piling up. Is her father responsible? Did he fake his own disappearance? The history of what happened to Dolores is brought back into the present, and relates to the murders and disappearances happening in the present.
Also worth noting, Little Horton is the Halloween capital of the USA. They take the holiday very seriously, decorate all year long, have tons of stray cats roaming the town (hence the cover)… When reading the synopsis, I thought this was going to be a horror story due to this spooky element. But in actuality, it could have been left out and really had very little to do with anything (I guess a reason for wearing masks, but I thought its importance was overplayed). Dolores also perhaps sees ghosts? Multiple times she seems to be seeing them, but it’s never clear if it’s just her memories and imagination or really something supernatural. This inclusion was pretty subtle and confused me a bit as to why it was even there. I also didn’t see a great tie in with the book title.
As a thriller with murder and detective work, it’s a good one. Readers will enjoy the fast paced vibe of figuring out who the murderer is, and it really kept you guessing. Fans of Lisa Jewell or Liz Nugent will probably enjoy this one as the suspense is a bit darker than some others of the genre. However, I felt a bit disappointed by the supernatural elements and the cats, which I felt were distractions from the story. There is some implications like this may be a start of a new series, with the FBI wanting Dolores to join the team, and I would give a second book a try to see where Adams takes it. Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for my ARC.