Wow. Super dark. Super heavy. Super emotional. Super good. I love Wendy Dranfield books.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc.

Let me first say that I really like Wendy Dranfield and the Madison Harper series. I liked the Dean Matheson books as well. So I was really excited to see a stand alone book.
The description of the book sounded right up my alley.
Didn't finish it.
Like another reviewer, maybe its the timing, but it doesn't grab me. as for Scott, don't really like him either, seems he is just as screwed up as Julia.
Maybe I will give it a try later, but for now, no

After some time away, Julia comes home to her daughter sitting in the room with her deceased husband. The questions continue when Julia & her daughter disappear. Enter Scott — Julia’s ex boyfriend, determined to figure out where Julia is & to expose the truth.

I enjoyed the alternating chapters with different POVs. The characters were well developed, including the secondary characters.

Although described as a jaw-dropping & addictive thriller, I did not feel that this book was high stakes. I enjoyed the read, but as there was no true climax, I found myself absentmindedly flipping through pages.

Thank you to NetGalley & Bookouture for the eARC.

This book is quite disturbing - which is not to be taken in a bad way at all. Because it includes the point of view of a killer, and also that of a depressed person (two, if you count a few diary pages that appear as flashback chapters), I often felt I shouldn't even enjoy reading it, but I did. Like all the other books by Wendy Dranfield that I've read and loved, it's told in such a way that I just had to find out what would happen next. So let's call this one disturbingly good.

I think this book was very well written and engaging. This is about a woman named Julia who runs away from home with her daughter after she finds her husband dead. However, she makes it seem like they were taken, so her ex-boyfriend starts investigating her disappearance.

I liked the multiple POV chapters between Scott, the ex, who is investigating, and Julia.

I was not really prepared to have the POV of Scott because, based on the blur,b there was no mention of him. I definitely thought we would just be following Julia on her journey.

It was sometimes slow to read, the pacing was not always high stakes, but it was still a good thriller. There were good twists, and everything was definitely not as it seemed based on the summary, which is always good for a thriller. Overall, I did enjoy this book.

This book was very heavy! I was not expecting that at all. This book was so much more than I could have imagined. I do recommend checking trigger warnings, some people may be sensitive to certain things. I thought the book was great, it was also crazy.

3.5 rounded up to a 4

This book definitely will have you hooked from the beginning simply from how it starts, has an interesting story line, However I do wish the plot twist was slightly more interesting. I will say anytime I went to put the book down little details will be exposed and made me want to keep reading to see what happened next. Overall if you’re looking for a quick read and are in the mood for a thriller and like a crime shows I definitely say pick this up.

Thank you to Netgalley for a Digital Arc of Please Don’t find me in exchange for honest review

I was so excited I got an ARC for this book! The cover had me itching to read it! I loved everything about it! While the beginning was a little slower and a lot of backstory, I later came to appreciate all the information! You need to know Julia’s backstory to understand what she’s doing. Albeit she’s NUTS, but an incredibly twisted story to read about! I will definitely be reading more from this author!

This is a one sitting read! I could not put this down. Twists on every page and I just couldn't wait to find out what happened next!

I adore this author! This book had a different vibe than her others for me. I didn’t relate to the characters as much and could kind of see the plot coming. Not having a character I empathize with made it a bit more difficult to dive into this one for me. However that is 100% based on my type of reading personality. The book was well written and had a great plot. The characters were well thought out and brought to life.
Overall it was a good read

Hooked from page one! This emotional rollercoaster had my full attention the entire book! Full of suspense, heart, and unexpected sympathy for characters like Julia, despite her secrets. Scott Walker is a standout, and I’d love to see more of him. A fast-paced, believable thriller that kept me turning the pages. Looking forward to reading more from this author!

Thank you NetGalley for this wonderful thriller

This book is brilliantly written the detail, pacing, and rising tension are all spot on. You feel every ounce of the character’s fear, staying tense from the very beginning. I was hooked right away, and the jaw-dropping ending completely surprised me. It’s a powerful read that handles a sensitive topic with real care. I absolutely loved it and can’t wait to recommend it to others. Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read such an incredible story.

The blurb for Please Don’t Find Me got my attention right away. It promised a tense, emotional thriller about a woman on the run, faking a kidnapping to protect her daughter after discovering her husband’s dead body. I expected a fast-paced, high-stakes story filled with secrets, danger and sharp twists.

While the premise is strong, the story just didn’t pull me in... the way I expected. The pacing isn’t necessarily slow (things do happen), but I kept waiting for that
"can't put it down" moment, and ..oh well... it never really came. The tension didn’t fully land for me, so I kind of ... struggled to stay engaged. There are emotional layers here, especially surrounding Julia and her mindset. She's clearly struggling and searching desperately for a way to fix everything. By the end, we get a clearer picture of her family history, which adds weight to her internal battle, but even then, things still felt a little unresolved/unfinished.

The one character who truly stood out for me was Officer Scott. He’s a significant part of Julia’s story and his connection to her past, his personal choices and the way things ultimately unfold made him the most compelling part of the book for me. Honestly, I would read a follow-up just to see where his story goes.

ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! Wendy Dranfield has pulled a blinder with this dark, dark thriller!

Julia returns home and instantly senses something is wrong. Her husband is dead with their young daughter sitting in the room with his body. He took his own life and Julia knows why; keeping her secret would be too much for anyone.

Julia is a fascinating and complex woman; I don't think I've ever come across a character like her in a book before. A psychopath with a conscience? Does such a person exist? I felt so much sympathy for her at times yet found her behaviour abhorrent. Officer Scott Walker is determined to find Julia and feels it's the least he can do after he walked away from her years ago, a decision that has haunted him since that day. He is a great character with lots going on and a heart of gold underneath his obvious anguish.

A brilliantly put together plot where nothing is as it seems. Another big winner!

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Wendy Dranfield and Bookouture, for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This was fantastic, I haven't stopped thinking about it even though I finished it some days ago. It is utterly compelling and completely drew me in immediately, dark and disturbing at times which made it all the more better for me. I loved it

The story is about Julia. When she gets home she finds her husband dead and their little girl in the same room. Why would her husband put their daughter through this knowing how this would affect her for years to come. .When her ex partner who is a cop comes to hear of this he wastes no time in coming to her aid. He will soon wish he hadn't.
Great book that you can't put down.

this book is disturbing in all the right places. it feels bad to have been addicted and wanting to read such a eeeesh kind of plot and book but wow it was just so dam good.
the book is so well written. the details, the pace. the tension build. its just all so perfect. and you are afraid every step of the way the character is. you are tense from the very beginning.
Julie returns home from a trip and finds her husband dead. but her young daughter is there with him, thankfully alive. straight away she knows she has to go. but to do so she needs and does present the house as if there has been an abduction. thats what she needs those who finds the scene to believe. but why?
the officer who becomes involved in this is Scott walker. who knows Julia from before. but Officer Scott also knows things from her past. he needs to know what happened because things arent adding up.
what comes next is superb. and i have to admit the added issues installed into this book was handled brilliantly. the characters were grey and strangely relatable because of this. but the shocks and disturbance just keep building throughout until well, you just wait!
this was a stunning book. so different from anything ive read before and that is really hard to do in this genre.

This book reminded me of the movies "Enough" and "Double Jeopardy." The majority of the story was pretty average, with her ex-boyfriend detective investigating her husband's murder and peeks into Julia's history. The final twist in the story made up for the the slow pacing earlier and had me shaking my head in disbelief at the conclusion.

Please Don’t Find Me is a dark, twisted thriller that grabs your attention from the very first page. Julia’s world shatters when she comes home to find her husband, Robert, has taken his own life, leaving their young daughter, Avery, alone with his body for hours. On the surface, they seemed like a happy family, but Julia knows the truth: Robert had been carrying the weight of her dark secret, and it ultimately destroyed him.

Just days later, Julia and Avery vanish, and it looks like an abduction; but nothing is as straightforward as it seems. Is Robert’s death tied to Julia’s secret? And what really happened to Julia and Avery?

This is a seriously messed-up story, but in the best way. Once the twists start to unfold, the guessing game fades, and what’s left is excitement. Wendy Dranfield crafts a charged thriller that keeps you hooked, even as the truth becomes increasingly disturbing.
Told in multiple POV, both in 1st and 3rd person, it can be read as a standalone novel. Overall, it was an enjoyable read and hope you enjoy it as well!

Thanks to Wendy Dranfield, Netgalley, and Bookouture for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review. (Expected publication: May 22, 2025)

Story starts Julia Bowers comes home from a spa trip and finds her husband Robert dead and their little girl Avery sitting on the bed in the same room as her husband.

Julia knows she needs to vanish but wants it to looks like she and Avery your taken perhaps by the person who killed Roberts. So stages their abduction – first going through the house, pushing over chairs and rummaging violently through drawers. Even cuts herself to add some drops of blood to the mix.
Julia even scatters some of Robert’s items. She then gets the money she and Roberts have put aside and out they go. When Officer Scott Walker learns of Julia’s situation, he goes to help but knows he isn’t part of the investigation so has to be careful. He dated Julia before she married Robert and he knows her secret. Also knows she never wanted to children so is surprised to learn about six year old Avery. We soon discover that these characters are all complicated with secrets, resentments and unresolved trauma in many cases is holding then from moving on. When I saw Wendy Dranfield had out a new novel I knew I wanted to read it ~ went into this story without any knowledge as to what it was about - other than I love this author.
I have only read four of her stories and all were GREAT! These characters are all complicated with secrets, resentments and unresolved trauma holding them from moving on. In a ‘’Letter from Wendy” Ms. Dranfield tells us she has continued to think about some of these characters and just may revisit sometime in the future. She also points out that she loves pets in fact her books usually contain animals- as she cannot imagine writing characters who wouldn’t want an animal in their lives - they can bring comfort in stressful times.
Hmmm Perhaps this story should have come with a trigger warning to ‘be fire to have your pet handy while reading this! I love that one reader said this story threw her from left to right by the sharp, surprising, and fantastic twists. This is another great Dranfield story and is a glimpse of the twisted world of Julia Bower. Definitely a unputdownable nonstop read! I was sure I knew how it was going to end but had to keep on reading! Not sure I can call it an enjoyable read but I certainly am looking forward to Wendy Dranfield’s next thriller with her typical complicated/complex characters and surely a dog or cat to help release some stress!!