Good Intentions by Marisa Walz is a dark and compelling debut about grief, obsession, and how far someone might go when their world falls apart. After the sudden loss of her twin sister, Cady becomes fixated on a stranger she meets in a hospital waiting room, convinced their tragedies are somehow connected. What starts as sympathy quickly turns into something much more unsettling. The story is tense, twisty, and keeps you questioning Cady’s motives right up until the shocking ending. A gripping psychological suspense that’s hard to put down.

WOW. Cady's twin sister Dana was killed in a car accident and Cady arrived at the hospital too late to say goodbye. She encounters a woman who just discovered her son was hit by a car and died while riding his bike. Cady becomes obsessed with Morgan and quite frankly, is delusional and insufferable to read through the entirety of the novel. I only kept reading because I wanted to see how it ended, but honestly it didn't really make sense.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars!

this was such an intense, psychologically suspenseful read. you follow Cady as she navigates the devastating loss of her twin sister, Dana. her last memory with Dana wasn't ideal, so she struggles with her grief. but on the day of Dana's passing, at the hospital, Cady sees a woman (Morgan) who has been given the news that her son's dead. Cady believes that if anyone can understand the loss of a twin, your other half, it would be a mother. this train of thought turns into a fixation, one that even Cady doesn't understand at first. as Cady tries to move forward in the weeks after Dana's passing, she becomes weirdly obsessed with Morgan. in this time, Cady also happens to keep seeing a man that she'd also seen at the hospital the day Dana died. the reader will spend a lot of the time wondering... WTH IS GOING ON!?

at first, you feel bad for Cady. if anyone has ever experienced grief & loss in any form, you want to believe she's just finding a way to cope. there's really no wrong or right way to grieve, right? and then you're like... WHAT IS SHE DOING!? you almost want to look away bcuz Cady's behavior goes beyond the scope of grief. as things continue, you're left at the edge of your seat and everything starts to unfold & unravel.

i thoroughly enjoyed this read. although the pacing was a bit rough in the first half, i think as long as you stick it out... you realize it's all for good reasons. it's absolutely worth the read! and i'd no doubt recommend it. somewhere down the line, i'd love to have my book club read it so we can break down Cady's journey during discussions. it'd be interesting to know at what point readers understand what's going on and their reactions after.

thank you to the author, Marisa Walz, and publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy via NetGalley. i leave this review of my own volition. all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Oh boy. Gave this a 3 (couldn't give it 2.5 as the option was not there. I did feel this was actually a 2 up until the halfway point) because it started to become a little bit engaging more than halfway through the book. I think that is a huge stretch for readers!!! Regardless of having some engaging points, this was a tedious book overall. It was so enmeshed in a MC who was extremely delusional. The delusional behavior and the stream of consciousness dialogue the the main character had with a dead person just dragged the story down. The end twist anticlimactic and just one more unbelievable tidbit fed to readers. I really do not recommend wasting time on this one. I was generous with attributing 3 stars to this one as I spent too much time feeling compelled to just get to the end and be finished rather than compelled to find out what transpires. Too long to stretch out a depressing mental break down and asking the reader to accept that so many peripheral characters would sit blindly allowing a loved one to exhibit dangerous behaviors and plummet into delusion.

Woah mama.
Well, that was dark. But, of course, I mean that in the best possible way. Idk how I feel about the situation with the dog.

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc. I really enjoyed this- the writing was very good, the plot was interesting, and the entire thing made me feel awkward constantly, which was the goal I think. Well done!

This was deeply unsettling in the very best way, probably because it is not too far-fetched to think it could happen to someone you know. This one kept me guessing the whole way through.

While the story was good and a quick read, the author did something inexcusable to me. She killed a dog, a Golden Retriever, and I can never read another book by an author who would do such a thing.

This was like watching a literal train wreck happen…(not derogatory) 4.25/5

I’m always pretty skeptical of debut novels, just because you never know what you’re getting yourself into with a brand new author. But this was done extremely well.

I’ll admit it was a bit exhausting from time to time following the narrative of our main protagonist. But I think that’s the intention. She was slowly going into somewhat of a downward spiral so reading her descent was frustrating (but enjoyable)

That ending definitely took me by surprise. Overall this was an entertaining read.

The main character of this book had my emotions twisted in a knot. This is a great read. Short chapters that flow easily and have you clinging on to what will happen next with Cady. There were parts of the plot that creeped me out and others that made me sympathize with her. I enjoyed the different approach of having her interact directly to someone we don't know anything about. I don't leak spoilers. This one was worth every turn of the page. The end really kicks you.

I didn’t know what to expect when I started this book.
Cady looses her twin sister in an accident and it follows Cady through the following year.
It made me cry. It made me question. And it made me laugh.
Great read. The end gave a sudden twist.
I did feel we had a few lose ends and I wanted a little more. But such a great read.

I received an ARC of this novel through NetGalley.

This book is narrated by a woman (Cady) in her thirties who is experiencing grief caused by the tragic death of her twin sister (Dana) in a car accident. This is done in conversational language with Cady speaking to Dana. I could not stop listening in.

It sounds strange to say that you enjoyed a story about a person experiencing grief. But the emotions expressed were so genuine, so deftly portrayed. Cady is a Type A personality, an energetic party planner. Her reaction to her sister’s death causes her to lose everything- her business, her husband, even her dog. She became a victim of her obsessions.

A terrific book, with bonus points for being set in suburban Chicago, my stomping grounds.

WOW! I was immediately engrossed in this suspense thriller from page 1. This is a story about Cady who loses her twin sister Dana in a horrible accident. In one night her entire world is upended and the consequences that follow are tragic. Initially you are sympathetic with Cady as her closest friend and sibling, who she shares that "twin bond" with is forever gone. But as the story unfolds, you end up disliking Cady thinking "what is wrong with her??!!" She just can't get past her grief and thereby destroys her marriage and her business in the process. She befriends a woman, Morgan, who also (on the same night), loses her son. You feel throughout their friendship that Cady is seeking a replacement for her sibling. But there is so much more to it. Her mother describes Cady as intense., which is so true. She is intense to the point of being scary. Then the ending, completely caught me off guard.
Fantastic book. It stayed with me for days.

NO! That’s all I can say. No, it didn’t happen like that, right?? And NO. No way this is the author’s debut. OMG. Wow, a book (DEBUT) that makes you feel ALL the feels?? Really?! And I’m not saying I was enjoying each of these feelings but I could not put this book down to bother about that, I HAD TO figure Cary out. HA. Good luck with that. I’m not certain I want to figure her out. I can be sympathetic to her to some degree but MAYBE her psyche is something I’m glad I’m not comfortable with?? But, if we all knew everyone’s darkest secret, I know I’d be on tiptoes! BTW, this authors debut would be an absolute 5 stars if there was some closure. Guess that’s how she’s certain I’ll be anticipating her next read. Kk.

I liked this move more than I expected to. I kept me reading to the final page. The big reveal at the end wasn't exactly a shock but wasn't disappointing either overall I would recommend you read for yourself

4 stars from Erin for Good Intentions by Marisa Walz! This is a tough book to review without giving the story away. If you like psychological thrillers, it is definitely worth checking out when it comes out in February/2026! Cady is a luxury party planner married to a high powered real estate executive. They have it all, but how quickly can it unravel after one devastating event? I found myself rooting for so many of the characters despite their lies, betrayals, and overall bad decision making. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Marisa Walz’s debut novel is one of the best I’ve read this year. It tells the story of Cady, the narrator who has lost her twin sister Dana in a horrible car accident on Valentine’s Day. As a result, Cady goes on to lose her husband, business and friends in the year following. We follow her that year as she befriends a single mother who has lost her only son. She forms an unhealthy obsession with her, which gets a bit out of control. We see in flashbacks that Cady has had similar obsessions previously and can be very (yet subtly) manipulative. Cady can never fully understand why anyone sees her actions as manipulation as she sees them as, Good Intentions. I highly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from the author.

I think Good Intentions, by Marisa Walz, was the third book about twins I’ve read this year. I’d say it falls in the middle of the three. Cady is a luxury party planner whose identical twin, Dana, and Dana’s unborn baby have died in a car accident. At the hospital just after Dana’s death, Cady encounters a mom whose 12-year old son died the same day in a bike accident. Cady develops a fairly unhealthy obsession with the woman, Morgan, to the point of going to a grief support group just to meet her. In the meantime, her marriage and her business are falling apart from her grief and her seeming inability to help herself move on from the death of her twin. The book is addressed to her twin, but to my mind, that doesn’t add much one way or the other to the story. This was one of those “I want to yell at the narrator” books for doing ridiculous, bizarre things. I’m not sure most husbands would’ve stuck around as long as hers does. While I enjoyed finding the truth about Cady satisfying, there were too many loose ends untied to make me truly like this book. I appreciate the opportunity to have read it, though, and certainly will read the author’s next outing.

Cady and Dana were twin sisters, which means they shared a closeness most of us could never know. Dana gets killed in a car wreck, though, and Dana’s life spirals. But she’s found someone to focus some of her energy on: a woman named Morgan who lost her son on the same day. As her husband, Matt, becomes increasingly worried and her successful party planning business begins to flail, Cady’s obsession gets worse and worse.

There were several times that I did a literal facepalm at Cady’s inappropriate behaviors. She definitely has a problem with inserting herself into someone else’s life, no matter what they think about it. And it’s hinted that this definitely isn’t the first time, either.

I enjoyed this book. I gasped at the twist. Then, I thought it through a bit, and the ending didn’t feel so good to me. It was maybe a bit clichéd. But overall, the book is worth reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Have you ever watched a train come flying off the tracks? What about if they did it repeatedly, Dana? Would you look away or keep steadily seated in your place.

Well, I for one could not look away— painfully watching as Cady continues to spiral with grief over the sudden loss of her twin sister. Valentines days is hard for anyone, but that day causes our morally gray MC to form an alarming obsession with a woman in the same hospital waiting room.
Read like an outcry, or justification , and an eventual confession in the form of a letter to her deceased sister, we learn just how far grief can take up arms with anxious attachment and moral high ground. An exciting psychological suspense that is likely to keep your eyes peeled until the very end.