Van Reed and Harry Steinbeck are back. Told in two timelines where the facts of the then and now are slowly revealed, showing the connection.
Van is questioning what she actually does when she sleeps. Harry calls her to a homicide and something of hers ties her to the crime. As more bodies pile up, Van becomes less and less sure of herself. Oh, and a member of Harry’s family, who was taken years ago, may be tied to this case too.
A lot of information was revealed so I have to wonder if there will be more adventures for these two? If it is the end, it wrapped up nicely. If not, the stage is set a developing relationship between these two.

I get excited when a mystery/thriller has 1980's throwback moments. It takes you to another whole place and time. The Laughing Dead picked up pretty much right after the last book ended. Van, starts having nightmares and visions again which can only mean one thing, crime is being committed. Van is avoiding Steinbeck after the realization of thinking her "father" aka the cult leader abducted Steinbeck's sister Caroline. Van is looking into this possibility while also fostering a dog, which I think is the brightest spot in the book. Of course Van, with her lack of social skills, doesn't let anyone else know what she is doing about looking into her Father when two women are murdered and their cases match some cold cases from the 80's. Twists and turns pursue throughout the whole book but eventually Van solves the case and finds out who her real mother is. I don't want to give much more away but if you are fan of this series, you will love this book.


Thank you Jess Lourey and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC. The Laughing Dead is set to release on July 22nd, 2025.

I got so excited when I got mail from netgalley saying I got approved for reading this arc! 📖

"The laughing dead" by Jess Lourey is set to be released on the 22nd of July of this year. For the real thriller girlies, this is it.

Triggerwarning though, throughout the story there will be a backstory weaving through. It's about cult building and being part of said cult.

We follow Van, short for Evangeline whom works for the BCA (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) and is specialised in Cold Cases. When called to a case, she recognises the address; the owner of her temporary foster dog Owl lives there. Her police badge from two years ago has been found at the scene. But how?
After seeing the victim and the specific way she had been "un-alived" catches the attention of her team. After some digging a serie of cold cases pop up. All died within a week, all with the same horrifying smile on their faces. Three in total. One was ruled a natural death and the others suicide. But that can't be true. The only way to get a death mask like that is through some kind of poison.

Van visites the families of the girls that died in '86 to get a better picture. All while juggling with a secret investigation she's kept from her partner Harry. Finding out if Harry's sister, that was abducted.. Was abducted by her father and cult leader Frank Roth.

In the back story we mostly follow "just Judy" who was taken in '86 and how her live mapped out. The unwinding of this story was so good, I seriously didn't know who really was the suspect until the end.

4 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the ARC!

Jess Lourey always hits it outta the park and this Reed & Steinbeck thriller is amazing of course! When a Evangeline "Van" Reed is hit with a new case this time it’s personal. Her ID was found at the scene and she has no idea how what when or where! 👀 loved this new book in this series!!! Highly recommend as always!

OMG!!! I want to give the 5⭐️s five more stars!

The Steinbeck and Reed series is a great thriller series, if you can read from the prequel Catch Her in the Lies to this third book coming in July, do it! Do it right now!

Van is such a complex character built from trauma growing up in a cult commune, escaping and becoming a cold case investigator. You just want her to succeed, to overcome her past, to love and to be loved! And then there’s Harry, broken in his own way yet presenting this scientific suited man. Together they are a great crime fighting duo!

This book brings them both closure to past cases they’ve been haunted by. Makes you not hate certain annoying characters from past books, makes you hate some even more than you did before, that is a job well done by author Jess Lourey!

I can’t wait to see where Van and Harry go now, but I know they will conquer whatever comes their way fiercely!

I love this series, it’s one of my faves.
I enjoyed the hell out of this book, until the last two pages.
Is it over? Is that the ending? If so, I’m left wanting and unhappy. I just need more. Please please please let there be more.

Another amazing book by Jess Lourey. She manages to take situations that are unbelievable and make them believable. The way the past is entwined with the present in this one is incredible. Admittedly, I'm a sucker for MN based books and like the "home" vibe of reading places I'm familiar with but that's just a bonus with this one, I'd enjoy it no matter where it took place.

I did not know this was part of a series. I feel i was still very much immersed in the story and was fine to read it by itself. With that said I will read the others and probably best to start with number one! I loved how the murders from the 80s are linked to a new murder, and secrets are unraveled. It all came together in the end and I liked the twists.

This latest Reed & Steinbeck thriller is spectacular! There’s a new case for Evangeline “Van” Reed that’s a bit personal, as her ID was found at the scene and she has no idea how it got there or what it means. Worse, the victim is someone she knew, so she’s worried she won’t be believed that she has nothing to do with it. But how will she investigate and clear her name when she only works cold cases?

Well, when Harry, her forensic scientist partner, shares some case information, they realize it ties to 3 cold cases from over almost forty years ago. How? Because of the way the victims appear in death, with a gruesome rictus grin stretched across each of their faces. Thus, they were dubbed ‘The Laughing Dead.’ It's too bad that only one newspaper gave their cases any attention at all. They were sadly forgotten too soon.

Now able to involve herself, the more Van investigates, the closer to home the current and cold cases get for her, as her secret past might not stay so secret anymore. And then Harry’s past gets drawn into it and all the cases are found to be tightly intertwined. But to get justice for the victims, Van has to lay it all on the line and hope it’s worth the danger she’ll put herself in.

The science in this story is fascinating and I had to take a short break from reading to do my own research on rictus grins. Be prepared if you do the same, it’s quite macabre and dark. Then I went off again when Harry disclosed what he believed to be the cause of the smiles. I love learning from stories and not just being entertained by them. And oh my goodness, I do hope Owl is here to stay if there are further books in this series!

This was a seriously amazing book from one of my favorite authors, you have to check this series out!

My Rating: 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Easy 5 Stars for me!! Love this Series and Loved this Book!!

Two murder investigations, deceased apart, threaten to expose a cold case agent’s darkest secrets. The bodies of three girls are found in their beds in the 80’s each with a their mouths fixed with a ghoulish grin, smiling at a deadly joke no one can hear. But authorities eventually rule no foul play and close and forget the curious cases.

Decades later, Evangeline “Van” Reed. Is called to the scene of a crime where the victim wears the same horror-movie smile. But this time sometime seems to be sending Van a message, her police ID is at the scene making her a prime suspect. The more Van digs in to the case, the past and her own secrets the more deadly things become for her… her insomnia is out of control and she begins to doubt her own mind.

Can she work out what is going on before its too late.

OK!! This is part of a series, there are three books and a short story prequel they are all on Kindle Unlimited and they are all awesome! This story will not read well as a standalone although there is recap… I don’t recommend it plus… the others are just awesome so why not just do yourself a favour.

First of all a huge shoutout to my GR Buddy Kristy for bringing my attention to this one on NetGalley, the minute I saw her message.. I ran to NG, downloaded it, sped read my current read and then promptly started AND finished this one… now I am of course devastated at my lack of self control and the fact that it’s over!!! NO REGRETS I WOULD DO IT AGAIN!!!

I love this series… its not my usual style there is a little bit of a woo woo… Van has visions… that might seem weird but just go with it. Honestly its not ghosts and truly it actually adds to the creep factor of these books. I mean its fiction after all and its only a little bit of woo woo… just the woo!!

I love all the characters in this series, Van, Harry, the supporting acts, the DOG Owl aww you’re gonna love her!!!

This book really brings it home too… there is A LOT of closure… we have some running storylines that we needed answers to that we finally get… I am not doing spoilers but honestly if you are waiting on the answers to secrets, lies and WTF happened with Frank… you’re gonna find out. There are twists and turns and there are aww moments and OMG moments… literally this has everything.

Maybe I am biased (of course) but I just love this series so much. The little prequel really was worth reading it sets the scene for the whole series and I as glad I read it cause it intro’s into the woo woo I was talking about and made me go.. hmm not too bad I could handle that.

These books push the limits of supernatural and you think OMG NO NOT GHOSTS but honestly there are not ghosts I promise. ALSO, the twists of who ended up being who was just “chefs kiss” and yeah I guessed a couple but who cares… it was done really well.

You aren’t going to get me to shit on these books.. and this one was no different. Again thank you Kristy for the red alert to this one… I just honestly hope that Jess Lourey keeps writing these I love them… sure some parts are closed now… but we could literally just keep the series going!! Right Jess??? Come on… just do it Please!!!

Overall, I am going to recommend to everyone, you may not love it as much as me but they are entertaining and they are fun and Van is a loose cannon but a good one. Harry is the ultimate gentleman and you will love his nerdy style as well… everything is just great. There is a cult factor… and well.. just read it go on!! But go back to the prequel don’t rip yourself off!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Thomas and Mercer for this ARC (which made my week) in exchange for an honest review.

This series features some of the most unusual, appealing characters ever to solve a mystery and this book shows them at their best and weirdest. A tense and confusing blend of cold and current cases make main character Van dive headfirst into her own past and her own involvement is unclear. How reliable a narrator is Van herself? This author has a wonderfully realistic style when it comes to narration and human behaviour and this makes for an incredibly engaging reading experience. The delightful inclusion of Owl the dog adds an extra layer of warmth to this otherwise somewhat chilling tale.

I loved the first book in the Steinbeck and Reed series, “The Taken Ones,” and by the second installment, “The Reaping,” I was obsessed with agents Evangeline Reed, a cold case investigator who is plagued by lucid dreams, and Harry Steinbeck, the forensic scientist extraordinaire, who is all ‘by the book” and consistently described as “dapper.”

This thriller is primarily told from Van’s viewpoint, interspersed with vignettes of teenage girls experiencing misfortune 35 to 40 years ago. Steinbeck calls Van in when a murder occurs almost directly across the street where she lives in a women’s shelter. The victim, Emily, is the previous owner of Reed’s fostered dog (Owl), and her face has been transformed, Joker-style, to resemble the victims known as “The Laughing Dead.” That reference is to a very cold case from four decades ago, which was inexplicably dismissed as bizarre suicides (and overshadowed in the past news by a Hormel strike — this book is so Minnesotan — I always expect a hot dish ready to be served).

You can read this as a standalone, but this is such a great series, you should read the first two as well as the short story “Catch Her in a Lie.” Harry and Van’s relationship keeps evolving; trust is still a risky emotion, especially as Van’s childhood cult leader/father might have been involved with the tragedy that haunts Harry from years ago, an unproven presumption that Evangeline hadn’t shared with Harry in the last book’s cliffhanger (well, along with dealing with some unsavory characters from the short story). The addition of an adorable farting dog just enriches the series.

The cases of the rictus grins also eventually connect to Harry and Van’s terrible childhood memories, much of which was revealed in “The Reaping.” In a way, “The Laughing Dead” is more of a sequel, but I truly hope this isn’t the last Steinbeck and Reed book. These two detectives have so many more cases to solve even if it takes a few nightmares to reveal the clues. 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO But there are even more rare eyes mentioned, heterochromatic eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO But we have a plant villain: hemlock water dropwort plants, which as Steinbeck notes, are swamp plants unlikely to be around in April.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, the author, and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

Quite interesting!! The twist of mystery, supernatural and thrill was mindblowing.

I enjoyed this read although the plot was predictable. It was exciting non the less.

This novel was one that I could not put down. I wanted to understand the concept behind the antagonist. In essence, he was selfish, arrogant, manipulative and a groomer which led to the lifestyle he lived.

I especially liked the incorporation of the love for animals and how the author included this in the story.

I rate this read 4/5 stars. I enjoyed it.

I first read Jess Lourey’s The Quarry Girls, so I was excited to pick up another book by her. I did not read the other two books that follow these characters, but I didn’t feel lost or confused. The story does a great job of filling in background info and not leaving you confused.
We follow Evangeline, Van, on an investigation to a cold case. She is connecting this cold case to a current one that keeps relating to her own personal past trauma. I did wish that the characters had a bit more personality. Van is the forefront of the story but no one else gets more than a couple lines here and there and it leaves them a little bland. Overall, it was an interesting story and wrapped up well.

Anything by Jess Lourey is an automatic must read, and The Laughing Dead did not disappoint! It was a great addition to the Steinbeck and Reed series. Van is thrown into the middle of a murder investigation that connects back to a cold case from decades ago. When Van realizes that these cases are much closer to her than she originally realized, it starts ramping up her visions and horrors from her past.

I think that this may actually be my favorite book of the series so far. And I think a lot of that is due to the character growth that we see in Van. She still struggles with her relationships with other people but you do see her start to be able to trust again. It's still a work in progress but the fact that she is able to let Harry in, even just a little bit, speaks volumes. I can't wait to see what comes next!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really love this series by Jess Lourey. The character growth and development is really spectacular, and I will absolutely be continuing with the series.