4.5⭐️
The premise of Darling, You're Next had me hooked from the beginning, and it absolutely lived up to it. The dual timeline worked brilliantly, gradually revealing Abby's story while Maren began noticing unsettling similarities in her own relationship. I loved the slow-building sense of dread, constantly questioning whether my suspicions were justified or if grief was clouding everyone's judgement.
This is definitely more of a slow-burn psychological thriller than one packed with relentless twists, but the tension kept building until an ending that completely justified the payoff. I flew through this and finished immediately wanting to talk to someone about it. One of my favourite psychological thrillers of the year.

Wow! Without fanfare or corny flashbacks, Marlee Bush immediately hooked me with an original premise, well-paced, dynamic writing, and intriguing characters.

Maren meets Topher after an accident on the running trail. They meet again, by coincidence, at a grief counselling group. She is grieving her father, and Topher, his fiancé. But there is a strange and frosty tension between Topher and two other members of the group Maren starts to form a friendship with.

How much can we read in first meetings? In this simple sequence of events, seemingly mundane, and even heartwarming, Bush establishes a nagging sense of doubt that doesn't leave the reader.

I can't wait to read this book in full!

Oh this mystery thriller had it all.
Two POVs, one is before and one is after.
We had Topher and Maren and we had Topher and Abby.
Topher seems to always have too many coincidences when he is dating, he moves fast ready to ask them to move in within a month or two of dating. Topher's mother is a drunk and he has times where his anger and rage takes over at times he doesn't remember how he got where he is.Abby has no one but coworkers and foster friend/sister Carla. Maren only has coworkers, no one else. When Maren meets Topher at a grief counseling group she quickly becomes very suspicious after learning that his fiancee Abby died after falling down the steps of his home.
I was immediately drawn in from the start due to the amazing writing and found myself very happy with the twisty ending.

Darling, You're Next delivers a thrilling blend of suspense and psychological tension that keeps readers hooked from the very first chapter. Marlee Bush skillfully balances shocking twists with emotional depth, creating a story that's as gripping as it is unsettling. It's a fast-paced thriller that will leave readers eagerly turning pages.

❤❤❤❤❤ hearts for me

A great psychological thriller with a very satisfying and deserved ending. I completed this in 24hrs and still I'm not able to get it out of my head 🤯

"How can we kill a wolf if he looks like a sheep? "

This aims perfectly on the story and it shows greatly the toxic love, the helplessness in the woman who falls in love (not in a wrong way but in trusting their partner completely and giving them their first preference and next anything else), some scenes it's creepy, very tense, fast paced one which as I mentioned I'm not able to stop reading until I reached the end. It's so unpredictable, I kept guessing and every time I was wrong.

The end was very satisfying for me and Marlee did a very great job in her writing, she had me hooked from the very first page till the last without losing interest, or getting better but instead as I was reading I became more intrigued.

If you are a fan of twisty, emotional, psychological thriller with a satisfying ending, if you are fab of Frieda, Gillian then this is for you ❤

Thank you NetGalley for sending this book for me 💞

Ummm what!? 5 stars for that ending alone! This is Marlee’s best book yet!

After falling during a run a man helps Maren to her feet. She ends up running into him again at a grief support group. He is kind and handsome. The only problem is that Topher’s fiancé died a few years ago and everyone is convinced Topher did it. The parallels between both women become eerie. The chapters flip back and forth between the two of them. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Will Maren meet the same fate as Abby?

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Darling, You're Next by Marlee Bush is a gripping and suspenseful thriller filled with tension, secrets, and unexpected twists. Bush creates an atmosphere of unease that keeps readers questioning every character and revelation as the story unfolds. The pacing is sharp and engaging, with emotional depth woven into the mystery to make the stakes feel even higher. A thrilling and addictive read that keeps you hooked until the very end.

This book had me questioning every interaction, every coincidence, and every person's motives. It starts as what feels like a chance romance, but there's an uneasy tension beneath every page that never lets up.
The dual timelines work incredibly well, slowly revealing how Maren and Abby's stories mirror each other in unsettling ways. Just when I thought I understood where the story was going, another layer was peeled back. I found myself constantly saying, Just one more chapter, until suddenly it was 2 a.m.
Topher is the kind of character who keeps you guessing. Is he charming? Manipulative? Dangerous? The uncertainty is what makes this novel so addictive. The psychological manipulation feels disturbingly realistic, and the themes surrounding grief, obsession, and emotional control are handled in a way that makes the suspense hit even harder.
What I appreciated most was that this wasn't just a thriller built on shocking twists. It also explores how vulnerable people can become after loss and how easily love can blur into something much darker. The ending was satisfying, tense, and left me thinking long after I finished.
If you enjoy psychological thrillers with unreliable feelings, mounting paranoia, dual perspectives, and the constant fear that something terrible is just around the corner, this is absolutely worth picking up. Fans of Freida McFadden, Gillian Flynn, and Alice Feeney will have a hard time putting this one down.

Okay… 🚩🚩🚩 THE RED FLAGS WERE RED FLAGGING and I was still over here like, “Maybe he’s not THAT bad?” 😂

Maren meets Topher while she’s grieving the loss of her father, and then he just happens to show up at her grief group a few days later. Cute coincidence? Fate? Or the beginning of a giant GIRL, RUN situation?! 👀

Then Maren starts noticing that she has a few too many similarities to Topher’s late fiancée, Abby… who just so happened to die under some VERY suspicious circumstances. And that's when I was hooked. The story goes between Maren and Abby, slowly showing you how these two women became connected by the same man—and the more I learned, the more uncomfortable I got.

This book is toxic relationships, grief, manipulation, obsession, and psychological mind games all wrapped into one giant WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS HAPPENING?! 😂 Every time I thought I knew where it was going, I started questioning myself again.

And Topher?! SIR. I HAVE QUESTIONS. 🚩

I loved the darker feminist angle and especially how this wasn't just about figuring out whether Topher was dangerous—it was also about the women caught in his orbit. Creepy, unsettling, twisty, and exactly the kind of psychological thriller that keeps me reading when I should absolutely be sleeping.

Marlee Bush delivers a sharp, emotionally complex domestic thriller that rises above a crowded genre. The dual-narrative structure — Abby in flashback, Maren in the present — effectively shows the repeating pattern of Topher’s manipulation without ever feeling repetitive. The craft is in the execution: Bush shows you the blueprint of a toxic relationship unfolding twice rather than simply telling you it’s dangerous.
The characters are where this book truly shines. Everyone carries weight — guilt, regret, missed chances. Even the antagonist is written with psychological nuance that makes his chapters genuinely unsettling. The supporting cast of women who come together in the back half adds a powerful thematic layer about breaking silence that never feels preachy.
The final twist recontextualizes the entire novel and lands because it’s earned, not gimmicky. It’s the kind of ending that lingers after the last page.
Minor pacing dip in the middle before Part Two shifts gears, but once it does, the momentum doesn’t let up. Bush clearly respects her readers’ intelligence and it shows throughout.
Recommended for: Fans of The Silent Patient, Gone Girl, Behind Closed Doors, and readers who want their thrillers emotionally grounded with a twist that means something.

Marlee Bush has been an auto-buy author for me since the beginning. Three books in, I stand by my decision. “Darling, You’re Next” was another exceptional thriller.

I loved the back and forth between Abby and Maren. It was crazy to see the parallels between both relationships. I will say, Topher was the absolutely worst. I don’t know that I’ve ever hated a character so much in my life. If he were real, I would punch him in the face, honestly. Ugh.

I absolutely devoured this book in one sitting, that’s how good it was. I was hooked from the beginning and the book just really never let up. And when it ended?!? Excuse me, my jaw was on the freaking floor.

5 stars, I already preordered a copy because I will be rereading it when it’s released in January!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

YES!!! What an amazing thriller! I was completely hooked and flew through this one. The twists, suspense and tension kept me turning the pages, and I genuinely didn’t want to put it down.
This was my first book by this author, but definitely not my last! I’ll happily be adding all of her other books to my TBR. I’ve found a new thriller author to follow, and I’m very excited about it!