Reviews

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier

Only show reviews with written explanations

thebookosaurus's review

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dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

“Because while you can reinvent yourself, you can’t outrun yourself.”

Story: 3.5★

Narration: 4★

Okay, so I’ve been in quite the rut with thrillers recently. BUT, I actually really liked this one. Jennifer Hillier did a great job of dropping the right amount of breadcrumbs to keep the suspense going.

There were just a few aspects that kept me from rating this higher. The main sticking points for me were the podcast element and the flow of the story. The way the timelines alternated in the beginning confused the plot for me. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be paying attention to because the two developing stories felt so disconnected. And even though the book is named after Drew’s podcast, the podcast barely even ties into the story. I also guessed the first twist pretty early on, but to be fair, I’m not sure I would’ve had I physically read it rather than listed to the audiobook.

I’m still getting into audiobooks and I tend to be pretty picky, but I thought the narration for the this was pretty well done for a single narrator.

Some of my fav quotes:

“Some people wear their hearts on their sleeve. Joey wore her trauma around her neck.”

“As a woman once reminded her a long time ago, the common denominator in all the terrible things that have happened to you is you.”

“And once they get it, you’re discarded, like a shirt with a stain that won’t come out, even though the shirt is new, and they are the stain.”

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gosselinb13's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

brittanysername's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

julia11's review against another edition

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3.0

Jennifer Hillier can do no wrong! She is an auto-buy author for me so I think I actually screamed when I got approved for this ARC.

Paris' Peralta has a lot of secrets, and being charged with the murder of her famous husband and thrust into the spotlight is not ideal. Her past starts catching up with her, both the good and bad parts. As the saying goes, whats done in the dark, will always come to the light.

I was not sucked into this book like I thought I would be, but I think it had more to do with me than it did the book. I did figure out the twist pretty early on so there was no surprises for me but it was still very well written and interesting. I loved all the backstory we got on Paris.. even though it wasn't a happy one. I really liked all the different perspectives as well.

This isn't my favourite JH book by any means, but it was good!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press/Minotaur books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!