NO REST FOR THE WICKED is a layered, clever novel that balances suspense, emotion, and complexity with remarkable skill.

The novel follows a woman returning to her hometown after her father goes missing, something she hasn’t dared to do in nearly twenty years. Her homecoming forces her to confront a dark and traumatic past, and the narrative intricately weaves together multiple POVs and timelines in a way that never feels confusing—each perspective and era adds depth and resonance to the story.

What impressed me most was Adams’ treatment of trauma. It is handled with sensitivity and nuance, giving the characters a lived-in, real quality that avoids one-dimensionality. The main character, along with the supporting cast, is fully realized—flawed, compelling, and deeply human. The suspense builds organically, and the revelations about her father’s disappearance and its connection to past events are both surprising and satisfying.

Adams’ writing is clever and thoughtful, blending a sense of mystery with emotional weight, and the story remains engaging from beginning to end. The ending, in particular, is striking and left me reflecting on the story long after finishing. A masterful blend of suspense, character, and emotional depth that I would recommend to readers who enjoy layered mysteries and thoughtful explorations of trauma.

Thank you to Minotaur and NetGalley for the advance copy. All opinions are entirely my own.

*3.5 Stars*

Dolores Hawthorne has not been home in twenty years, determined never to return to the Halloween-obsessed town of Little Horton, Wisconsin. Yet when the FBI calls to notify her that her father, a former U.S. Senator, is missing, Dolores finds herself compelled to go back for answers. Upon her arrival, she faces a chilly welcome from her family—and receives a letter from her father, warning her not to trust anyone. Teaming up with two FBI agents, Dolores begins searching for the truth. But as their investigation deepens, bodies begin to pile up. With Halloween fast approaching, Dolores must grapple with her past before time runs out.

When I saw the cover of this book, I was under the impression that this would be a paranormal mystery. I quickly realized that this would not be the case. Not only was the small town of Little Horton obsessed with Halloween, but it also had a severe stray cat population. There are several references to these cats throughout this book, but not in the way I was expecting. However, I still enjoyed this debut mystery. I enjoyed delving into Delores’s past through the dual timelines and discovering how her past is connected to the FBI investigation. Although I found the ending to be surprising, several clues are given through different characters point of views.

If you are looking for a darker mystery with a Halloween theme, I would recommend No Rest for the Wicked.

No Rest for the Wicked is out September 16th.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to review No Rest for the Wicked. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I personally believe that reading spooky should be a year-round thing, not just during “Spooktober”, but, when a book is set in that classically perfect creepy time of Halloween, it just adds that extra special spine—tingling touch, and Rachel Louise Adam’s’ No Rest for the Wicked has it all. Add in the fact that it’s set in a small town, where buried secrets are always going to eventually be revealed, and No Rest is spooky season perfection.

This is a great read for the Halloween season. It is a moody, mystery thriller that really does read like a movie. The plot is tightly- structured with perfect pacing and plenty of twists. Some of the twists may be predictable [or not], but even so I enjoyed watching how the story unfolds. In a nutshell, estranged daughter Dolores returns to small town after nearly twenty years at the request of the FBI because her father is missing. We follow a number of the characters through the investigation, and through flashbacks that explain Dolores’s long absence and estrangement. The characters are imperfect and untrustworthy – and filled with secrets and resentments. Strong writing anchors this novel that shines with its complicated relationships, strong character development, and compelling narrative.

This is not a “Halloween” novel per se. It is set at that time and in a town that goes all out with decorations and celebration, but it is really a police procedural/whodunit-type of book. The cover looks like it could be paranormal/supernatural - or maybe even cozy mystery depending on how you feel about those cats – but that’s not this book. What it is is a well-crafted debut novel that has me intrigued about what’s next from this author.

No Rest For The Wicked by Rachel Louise Adams, when Dolores got the call from FBI agent Wyatt telling her her father had gone missing she fled LA the same way she fled her hometown 18 years before. She came from a little town in Wisconsin known for Halloween in the mini odd deaths that happened there. Dolores initially fled her hometown due to a trauma and her best friend Christian going missing. FBI agent Paul and Wyatt initially started investigating Alexander Hawthorne do to money he got before his campaign for senator with no one knowing where he got it from. When Dolores arrives in town she will due to a lack of credible pathologist assist the FBI with their investigation when the town doctor is found dead but he will not be the last and as the deaths pile up rumors fly and Dolores will try to get closer to the truth. Unfortunately there is more than one truth that needs to be uncovered from the money her childhood trauma her father going missing it’s so much more but last and not least why does Kate Savage dislike her so much? This is a horrible review but trust me when I say this was a pretty good enjoyable read. I almost didn’t want to finish it because I accidentally read a review saying it was predictable but trust me when I say if you can predict the end of this book it is because you are psychic and not because the way it is written I will admit there are some parts that are easy to figure out but who and why was a shock to me and I mean a big shock not to mention everything that happened in her childhood threw me off there are a lot of twisted turns in this book itself overall it is not predictable and I truly enjoyed it. I wish there would’ve been more surrounding Halloween but either way it is still a good read. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #RachelLouiseAdams,#NoRestForTheWicked,

4.5 stars!

No Rest for the Wicked is the perfect spooky season read!!
It’s equal parts eerie small town mystery and chilling family drama. Set in a town where Halloween looms large, the story follows forensic pathologist Dolores Harrow as she’s pulled back into her haunted hometown and forced to confront long buried secrets when a new disappearance stirs up echoes of the past.

What I loved most was the atmosphere. Rachel captures that unsettling small town vibe so well that you can practically feel the crisp October air, the shadow of old tragedies, and the tension simmering beneath the festive Halloween façade!! The pacing kept me engaged, with each chapter revealing just enough to keep me guessing,

That said, the number of shifting perspectives and details occasionally slowed things down for me, and I found myself wishing for a bit more in Dolores’s personal journey.

Still, the mystery hooked me, and the final reveal tied things together in a satisfying way.

If you’re looking for a chilling, atmospheric read to curl up with this fall, No Rest for the Wicked is a strong pick.
For fans of seasonal mysteries and small town secrets.

The perfect Halloween read. Great characters and story. It kept me guessing. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

A much loved local disappears from a small Midwestern town known for its Halloween celebrations, drawing his adult daughter back to the town she escaped from years earlier. Long buried crimes are brought back to the surface as someone seems focused on vengeance.

This was an unsettling mystery that captured the Halloween atmosphere and small town setting that I can't get enough of this time of year. I had strong suspicions about the who and why before it was revealed, but I liked the story enough that the lack of a shocking reveal didn't detract from my enjoyment. 

Overall, No Rest For The Wicked was an atmospheric mystery with enough twists to keep me wondering, plenty of possible suspects, and a multi-faceted story that never let my interest stray. A great choice for readers looking for a dark, seasonal mystery.

This book sinks its (cat) claws in from page one. The opening: Los Angeles, a few days before Halloween. Forensic pathologist Dolores Hawthorne gets an eerie phone call that pulls her back to her hometown of Little Horton, Wisconsin, nicknamed "Halloween Town" for the tragic and brutal incidents that have just so happened to take place on Halloween throughout the town's history. Although the last incident was decades ago, the town really leans into the Halloween aesthetic and has become a macabre tourist destination, making this an incredibly fun setting for a spooky, small town mystery.

Returning to Little Horton, Dolores is thrown into an investigation alongside local cop, Kate, and a newly arrived FBI agent named Wyatt. Each chapter switches POV between Dolores, Kate, and Wyatt, which gives the story this addictive momentum, especially because every chapter ends on a mini cliffhanger, leaving the reader wanting more.

The twist is at about 75%, and I while I kind of saw it coming, it was in a satisfying way. The kind where you feel like you're solving the puzzle with the characters, not just being spoon-fed a gotcha moment. The “who” clicked into place, but the “why” still gave me chills.

If you love a little Midwest Gothic, small town legends, forensic science, and just the right amount of spooky mystery to curl up with on a crisp October night, then No Rest for the Wicked needs to be on your radar. It’s dark, clever, and atmospheric without trying too hard. An easy 4-star read for me. I enjoyed every second of this wild ride! I couldn't put it down and finished it in a day. I'll be recommending this book to all of my friends!

Having read the synopsis, I expected No Rest for the Wicked to be a lot more of that eerie mystery that I tend to crave around this time. A Halloween obsessed small town with family drama, secrets, and now a missing politician? I was so poised for an investigative crime thriller or even a paranormal caper should the narrative decide.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
While her father’s kidnapping is the main draw for the protagonist, Dolores, to return to her small town; the book itself is much more focused on her personal journey and trauma than anything else. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I found Dolores a little too apathetic and the narrative far too predictable. This is definitely the type of story where the characters don’t play a role as an active catalyst, and instead are just affected by the events of the plot as they occur. Personally, I am not a huge fan of this type of storytelling, as it tends to feel a little monotonous after the first fifty or so pages.
This of course was not helped by the fact I was able to predict who the culprit was (for both mysteries) before even the halfway mark.
Overall, there is nothing wrong with No Rest for the Wicked, it just wasn’t as standout as I would have liked it to have been. I also think marketing it as a “Halloween” thriller is just not the right move. Besides all of this occurring near Halloween, there is almost nothing Halloween-ish about this book, and that was a bit of a let-down.

If you LOVE this time of year, this is the perfect book for you. It’s thrilling and suspenseful. Do not let the cats on the cover fool you, this was dark and gruesome pretty quickly! There are secrets, lies, and twists, set in a Halloween Town the week of Halloween! This was Rachel Louise Adams’ debut thriller, and I really enjoyed it and look forward to her writing more in this genre.

This releases in ONE WEEK, on Tuesday, September 16th. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my Advanced Reader’s Copy.

When her father goes missing and the crime scene is a mess, Delores is called back to her long-forgotten hometown. She is a pathologist who ran from her past (because of course she is) but when her father's disappearance is followed by some local murders, Delores is asked to recall the events that made her leave town to tie them to the crimes in real time. Her Halloween obsessed hometown never felt less welcoming and her family is hiding secrets of their own.

I liked the premise- especially the Hocus Pocus-like town setting, but other than a few touches, I found this book to be fairly bland. I liked it but it wasn't propulsive like a thriller should be and it was somewhat predictable. I liked the cover a lot and the book was fine, but I'm not sure I will remember it. Readers who liked Listen for the Lie will like this one and it would be a good Halloween season book to read if you don't want horror or supernatural elements.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

Dubbed as a scary movie type of story, I was apprehensive delving into the story as I'm not a huge fan of horror or scary. The black cats on the cover don't scream scary, but there's unfolding around said cats that was not pleasant. This is definitely not a cozy mystery but more a thriller that takes its time to scurry up your spine with the tingly sensations you get whilst watching a horror movie. If you love that sort of feeling, then this book is for you!

The writing is terrific for a debut. This centers around a town that is obsessed with Halloween but also has a lot of murders occur. The main character is a forensic pathologist with a prominent father who goes missing. The mystery unfolds with intense incidences and lots of dead bodies. Adams does a great job keeping you on the edge of your seat even when grossed out and scared out of your wits!

I give this 3 stars just for certain content surrounding the cats and for the fact that it is not my type of vibe. Others will love this type of content and mystery.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

I liked this overall! It felt a bit Gillian Flynn to me: the old 'return to the small town" trope, and a pretty dark story. Then the small town is a Halloween-obsessed town overrun with feral cats (!). There is mention of the intentional and unintentional killing of said cats, so if that is a hard no for you, here's your heads-up.

Dolores is a forensic pathologist who is summoned to Little Horton, Wisconsin after her father was presumably abducted. She left town, changed her last name to her mothers' maiden name, and wanted to put the town and remaining family members behind her. But her father's case is only the tip of the iceberg, as other people close to her father begin to die. We are kept in the dark for quite a while about Dolores's reasons for leaving town, but slowly a picture emerges.

If you're up for a Gillian Flynn-adjacent Halloween story, grab this one!

very fun and impressive thriller. I was a bit nervous about this one, because the cover looked a little odd, but the book itself was wonderful. would definitely recommend. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

I was able to get this ARC through NetGalley.

Holy smokes was this book good. And I mean GOOD. I wanted to get to the ending so I could have the whole story because MAN! Its claws were hooked and didn’t want to let go. The book had spooky vibes from the start, especially with Halloween being in the background the entire time. There were numerous twists and turns and I thought I had things figured out.

Trust me when I say you don’t want to put this down. The ending is chefs kiss and worth the entire book.

⭐⭐⭐.5

Pre-Read Notes:

I grabbed this one for the cover! There is a cat in this story, but definitely not central to the plot.

"Today, her body wasn’t allowed to quit. She might help her team catch a killer." p132

This book is sort of like a cross between a domestic thriller and a dual-era mystery. The combo was successful, and so was the use of two timelines. Sometimes the transitions are a little rough, but in general, I found it interesting to the story and the mystery.

The lead character, Dolores, was the perfect unlikeable lead. She has so many secrets that I think the choice to alternate perspectives is smart. It keeps the story moving when Dolores can't or won't address what comes next.

If you enjoy a twisty mystery that pushes into domestic thriller territory, I recommend this book for you. It quite reminds me of THE BELLES by Lacey N. Dunham, which is a mashup of dark academia, domestic thriller, and mystery, with a definite streak of girl power. I've realized I really like these genre mashups that all seem to rally around girl rage!

Content Notes: cheating, divorce, FBI, alcohol consumption, party pranks, gr*pe, roofies, unconsciousness, trauma memory,

Thank you to Rachel Louise Adams, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of NO REST FOR THE WICKED. All views are mine.

Overall, this was a good read. However, I feel like so much about how the book was presented was misleading. The cover is just a bunch of cats and while there are cats in town, they don’t really serve a purpose in the plot. There is also a lot of hype about Halloween and how there are deaths on Halloween but that also doesn’t feel like it is really further explored or executed well.

The plot about Dolores, her father and the mysterious past history is intriguing but I felt distracted by this all throughout. I’d say if you go into this expecting nothing, you may enjoy it more.

Thanks to @minotaurbooks and @stmartinspress for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to Minotaur and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC. DNF at 20%. I just found this book to be so slow. I didn’t care for the characters and didn’t love the way the book was playing out. I have no desire to keep reading it and find out what happened and so for that, I decided to DNF. I think if you like mysteries and crime books, this one might be for you though.

3.5⭐️

This was an interesting book about flawed characters and how far a parent will go to protect their kid. I found Dolores to be such an interesting character who did what she had to as a teen with the information she had. Considering her father was trying to protect her just as much as she was trying to protect herself it made sense that they never communicated for real again and it was heart breaking to know that she might not get the chance to make up with her father. When she returned to Little Horton, the dynamic between Dolores, her step mother that she never got along with and the half-siblings she hadn't seen since they were children lead to a lot of tension that made the story more interesting. The background story of the missing girl from Dolores childhood and the tension between her and Officer Butcher also added a lot of intrigue to the story.

I'm guilty of judging books by the cover so I went into this expecting a cozy mystery. I felt like Little Horton being a "Halloween Town" really played into that cozy vibe. This definitely wasn't a cozy mystery but it also didn't feel like a true thriller. There was something missing that I couldn't put my finger on that made this fall a bit flat for me even if it was enjoyable.

Thanks Netgalley and Minotaur Books for providing this ARC to me!