Something in the Walls: A Novel by Daisy Pearce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
Mina has been educated to be a child psychologist, but she lacks real world experience. Unfortunately, this makes it challenging for her to secure a position in the field.
It’s one of those odd circumstances, where people only want to hire individuals with experience, but how are you to get experience if no one will hire you?
Thus, Mina is stuck, just spinning her wheels. That is until Mina is suddenly presented with an unusual opportunity while attending her local bereavement group, where she goes to help process her grief from her brother’s death.
She meets another member, Sam Hunter, who happens to be a journalist and he asks for her assistance with a story he’s currently working on.
In the remote village of Banathel, 13-year old, Alice Webber, lives with her family. After unsettling behavioral changes, Alice reveals that a witch is haunting her, causing various disturbing occurrences.
Sam and Mina travel to Banathel to stay with the Webber family, to see if they can get to the bottom of what is going on with Alice. Sam is hoping for the scoop of a lifetime, while Mina is hoping to help Alice, whilst also gaining the experience she so desperately needs.
I loved the way this story was set-up. I had listened to 47% of the audiobook before I even came up for air. I was absolutely engrossed.
The narrator was a perfect match to our MC, Mina, and I felt like she succeeded in bringing the story to life. From the start, this loosely reminded me of The Wonder, but much creepier and more atmospheric.
I just felt like Something in the Walls was so good. It’s chilling and gripping. I raced through it, needing answers. The various scenes and things going on in Banathel, it got under my skin; genuinely creepy AF at times.
While it wrapped up too quickly for my tastes, after the reveal, I still think it was so hella good. It was intriguing and horrifying in a very human way. I also loved Mina and Sam working together, digging into the history of Banathel.
Overall, this story had me absolutely hooked throughout. It had all the things I need to love a story and I appreciated the author’s ability to write some truly chilling horror imagery.
Thank you to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I am so stoked to read more from the author in the future!