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First Session: Book One of The Interview Room Series
He knew things no stranger should know.
Dr. Dana Rowe has spent nineteen years inside the minds of killers. She's interviewed murderers, dissected their pathologies, written the books other clinicians study. She is, by every measure, very good at this.
Then she meets Eli Marsh.
Convicted of poisoning four colleagues over eighteen months, Eli is calm, articulate, and unsettlingly attentive — the kind of patient who answers every question and somehow ends up asking his own. In their second session, he mentions the name of Dana's childhood dog. A name she's never written down. A name she's never spoken aloud to anyone.
When she asks how he knows, he tells her something impossible.
You told me.
As Dana digs deeper into Eli's case, she uncovers a friendship that predates the murders, a notebook that was never supposed to surface, and a financial trail that someone has spent years trying to bury. But the more she learns about Eli — and about the man who arranged this evaluation, and asked for her by name — the more she begins to notice the gaps. A street name that isn't hers. An eye color that changes between sessions. Seventeen minutes of recorded footage with no sound at all.
Dana Rowe is the best in her field at spotting what doesn't fit.
She's about to discover the thing that doesn't fit is her.
The first book in The Interview Room series — a psychological thriller for readers of The Silent Patient, None of This Is True, and anyone who's ever wondered whether the person telling the story is the one you should be watching.
Dr. Dana Rowe has spent nineteen years inside the minds of killers. She's interviewed murderers, dissected their pathologies, written the books other clinicians study. She is, by every measure, very good at this.
Then she meets Eli Marsh.
Convicted of poisoning four colleagues over eighteen months, Eli is calm, articulate, and unsettlingly attentive — the kind of patient who answers every question and somehow ends up asking his own. In their second session, he mentions the name of Dana's childhood dog. A name she's never written down. A name she's never spoken aloud to anyone.
When she asks how he knows, he tells her something impossible.
You told me.
As Dana digs deeper into Eli's case, she uncovers a friendship that predates the murders, a notebook that was never supposed to surface, and a financial trail that someone has spent years trying to bury. But the more she learns about Eli — and about the man who arranged this evaluation, and asked for her by name — the more she begins to notice the gaps. A street name that isn't hers. An eye color that changes between sessions. Seventeen minutes of recorded footage with no sound at all.
Dana Rowe is the best in her field at spotting what doesn't fit.
She's about to discover the thing that doesn't fit is her.
The first book in The Interview Room series — a psychological thriller for readers of The Silent Patient, None of This Is True, and anyone who's ever wondered whether the person telling the story is the one you should be watching.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 29, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 19, 2026
Suspicious, But Stable
ARC Review: Thank you to the author/publisher for the advance copy. All opinions are my own and unfortunately cannot be controlled.
I knew I was in trouble the moment the mind games started. 🧠🔪
Nothing says “relaxing reading experience” like realizing you may not be able to trust a single detail.
This one hooked me fast. The central mystery is genuinely compelling, and the psychological premise has exactly the "something is profoundly wrong here" energy I love in a thriller. A convicted killer knowing intimate details he absolutely should not know? Yeah, okay. You have my attention. 👀
The psychological chess match is easily the strongest element. Dana is supposed to be the expert analyzing the dangerous mind across from her, but Eli keeps destabilizing that dynamic simply by knowing too much. Their interactions carry an underlying tension because neither side ever feels completely in control. And honestly? Information is a terrifying weapon when it’s in the hands of the right person. 😬
I also enjoyed the way the mystery uses inconsistencies to keep me questioning what I was seeing. Missing evidence, altered details, suspicious connections, and buried information gave me plenty to theorize about without making me feel like the book was holding my hand. A few twists genuinely caught me off guard, and the strongest reveals made me stop and reconsider what I thought I understood.
The atmosphere works particularly well. It’s dark, cerebral, and increasingly paranoid, relying more on uncertainty and psychological unease than nonstop action. I could absolutely feel that creeping why is everyone acting weird? energy. 🔪 Unfortunately, the execution didn’t consistently match the strength of the premise.
My biggest issue was the pacing. Around the 20% mark, the momentum noticeably dragged, and although things picked up around halfway through, the slower sections weakened the tension rather than deepening it. I enjoy slow-burn thrillers, so this wasn’t about needing more action. I needed those quieter sections to give me a stronger reason to stay emotionally invested.
That was my other major struggle: the characters never completely got under my skin. Dana is intelligent, capable, and interesting, but I understood the stakes more than I felt them. I wanted to be more emotionally invested in what was happening to her, particularly as the mystery became increasingly personal.
Some reveals landed well, while others didn’t have quite the impact I expected. I could appreciate the construction and admire the ideas without always feeling the payoff. That’s ultimately what kept this from moving into four-star territory for me.
The writing is sharp and atmospheric, and the author clearly understands how to create psychological unease. The clues are thoughtfully layered, the mystery holds together, and the darker themes are handled with purpose.
But the experience is uneven. The book has the ingredients for a genuinely gripping psychological thriller; they just don’t come together consistently enough for the entire reading experience to hit as hard as the premise promised.
I would recommend this to readers who enjoy cerebral psychological thrillers, forensic psychology, serial-killer mysteries, unreliable perceptions, buried secrets, and slow-building paranoia. If you prefer psychological chess matches and clue-driven mysteries over nonstop action, there’s plenty here to appreciate.
Readers who need fast pacing or immediate emotional attachment may find some of the slower sections frustrating. But if one deeply unsettling conversation can do more for you than twenty pages of people running through dark alleys, welcome. Come sit with the suspicious people. 😌🔍
Overall, this was a solid psychological thriller with a compelling premise, delicious mind games, strong atmosphere, and enough twists to keep me paying attention. The central mystery absolutely carried me through, even when the pacing dragged or certain reveals didn't land as hard as I wanted them to.
I didn't regret reading it, and I do think the book delivers what it promises. The flaws are noticeable, but so are the strengths. This is one of those reads where I kept thinking, You almost had me completely. And sometimes? Almost is still enough to make the ride worthwhile.
For me, this was entertaining, unsettling, occasionally surprising, and memorable enough to recommend to the right psychological-thriller reader. My seatbelt stayed firmly on, but I was at least checking the rearview mirror. 😏
🖤 Something was wrong here from the beginning—and honestly, that was exactly what pulled me in.
⭐️ Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
🫠 Emotional Damage Level: 🫠🫠½ — Almost Hit
🔥 Chaos Level: 🔥🔥🔥 — Controlled Chaos
🔪 Tension: 🟡½ — Increasingly Suspicious
🌀 Twist Impact: 🌀🌀½ — Wait a Minute
‼️ Content Intensity: 🟠 — Know Your Limits
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
ARC Review: Thank you to the author/publisher for the advance copy. All opinions are my own and unfortunately cannot be controlled.
I knew I was in trouble the moment the mind games started. 🧠🔪
Nothing says “relaxing reading experience” like realizing you may not be able to trust a single detail.
This one hooked me fast. The central mystery is genuinely compelling, and the psychological premise has exactly the "something is profoundly wrong here" energy I love in a thriller. A convicted killer knowing intimate details he absolutely should not know? Yeah, okay. You have my attention. 👀
The psychological chess match is easily the strongest element. Dana is supposed to be the expert analyzing the dangerous mind across from her, but Eli keeps destabilizing that dynamic simply by knowing too much. Their interactions carry an underlying tension because neither side ever feels completely in control. And honestly? Information is a terrifying weapon when it’s in the hands of the right person. 😬
I also enjoyed the way the mystery uses inconsistencies to keep me questioning what I was seeing. Missing evidence, altered details, suspicious connections, and buried information gave me plenty to theorize about without making me feel like the book was holding my hand. A few twists genuinely caught me off guard, and the strongest reveals made me stop and reconsider what I thought I understood.
The atmosphere works particularly well. It’s dark, cerebral, and increasingly paranoid, relying more on uncertainty and psychological unease than nonstop action. I could absolutely feel that creeping why is everyone acting weird? energy. 🔪 Unfortunately, the execution didn’t consistently match the strength of the premise.
My biggest issue was the pacing. Around the 20% mark, the momentum noticeably dragged, and although things picked up around halfway through, the slower sections weakened the tension rather than deepening it. I enjoy slow-burn thrillers, so this wasn’t about needing more action. I needed those quieter sections to give me a stronger reason to stay emotionally invested.
That was my other major struggle: the characters never completely got under my skin. Dana is intelligent, capable, and interesting, but I understood the stakes more than I felt them. I wanted to be more emotionally invested in what was happening to her, particularly as the mystery became increasingly personal.
Some reveals landed well, while others didn’t have quite the impact I expected. I could appreciate the construction and admire the ideas without always feeling the payoff. That’s ultimately what kept this from moving into four-star territory for me.
The writing is sharp and atmospheric, and the author clearly understands how to create psychological unease. The clues are thoughtfully layered, the mystery holds together, and the darker themes are handled with purpose.
But the experience is uneven. The book has the ingredients for a genuinely gripping psychological thriller; they just don’t come together consistently enough for the entire reading experience to hit as hard as the premise promised.
I would recommend this to readers who enjoy cerebral psychological thrillers, forensic psychology, serial-killer mysteries, unreliable perceptions, buried secrets, and slow-building paranoia. If you prefer psychological chess matches and clue-driven mysteries over nonstop action, there’s plenty here to appreciate.
Readers who need fast pacing or immediate emotional attachment may find some of the slower sections frustrating. But if one deeply unsettling conversation can do more for you than twenty pages of people running through dark alleys, welcome. Come sit with the suspicious people. 😌🔍
Overall, this was a solid psychological thriller with a compelling premise, delicious mind games, strong atmosphere, and enough twists to keep me paying attention. The central mystery absolutely carried me through, even when the pacing dragged or certain reveals didn't land as hard as I wanted them to.
I didn't regret reading it, and I do think the book delivers what it promises. The flaws are noticeable, but so are the strengths. This is one of those reads where I kept thinking, You almost had me completely. And sometimes? Almost is still enough to make the ride worthwhile.
For me, this was entertaining, unsettling, occasionally surprising, and memorable enough to recommend to the right psychological-thriller reader. My seatbelt stayed firmly on, but I was at least checking the rearview mirror. 😏
🖤 Something was wrong here from the beginning—and honestly, that was exactly what pulled me in.
⭐️ Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
🫠 Emotional Damage Level: 🫠🫠½ — Almost Hit
🔥 Chaos Level: 🔥🔥🔥 — Controlled Chaos
🔪 Tension: 🟡½ — Increasingly Suspicious
🌀 Twist Impact: 🌀🌀½ — Wait a Minute
‼️ Content Intensity: 🟠 — Know Your Limits
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
July 30, 2026
This was a total mind twist for me. Dr. Dana Rowe knew everything about killers. She has been studying them for 19 years. Then she is asked to meet Eli Walsh. He killed four colleagues over 18 months. This is when the mind twists start. Eli says things very precisely and controlled. Even though he is being interviewed and analyzed, he kept control. He only said things that he wanted people to know. He’s like a perfectionist of conversation. Near the end of the first session, he says it was nice to meet her ‘again’. He threw the word again out there like a baited fishhook and then took it back right away. What the heck?? Eli knows more about her than he should. He drops other things as the story continues. Even more mysterious is that her mentor and supervisor seems to know more about the case and Eli and doesn’t tell her. Who is really interviewing and assessing who?
August 19, 2026
Psychological Mind Games
Mind games and psychological twists keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what is happening. Dana is the official investigator interviewing Eli about his crimes. However, he knows way too much and everything seems to be wrapped in inconsistencies and tension. There are times when this story slows down in pace and leaves you feeling still but then picks up into something that has you questioning everything.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Mind games and psychological twists keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what is happening. Dana is the official investigator interviewing Eli about his crimes. However, he knows way too much and everything seems to be wrapped in inconsistencies and tension. There are times when this story slows down in pace and leaves you feeling still but then picks up into something that has you questioning everything.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
July 30, 2026
I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
With no other words that come to mind to describe this book, I find myself borrowing from Alice in Wonderland….curiouser and curiouser. WOW this one really taxed my mind…in a good way. Wonderful thriller. And that ending? Makes me think there is more to come. I hope.
With no other words that come to mind to describe this book, I find myself borrowing from Alice in Wonderland….curiouser and curiouser. WOW this one really taxed my mind…in a good way. Wonderful thriller. And that ending? Makes me think there is more to come. I hope.
August 8, 2026
this was a really good book i recommend reading it. It is action packed page turner makes you keep wondering what is going to happen next.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
September 9, 2026
Dr. Dana Rowe, renowned Psychological Therapist meets Eli Marsh who claims he murdered his colleagues. She's studying him, he's studying her, Eli knows her secrets. Fast-paced, great characters. inside the mind of a killer becomes twisted and unrelenting. A twisty, hand wringing, must read!
August 2, 2026
Quite a lot of psychological wording that made some parts hard to read. But the storyline itself was very intriguing.
October 7, 2026
Dr Dana Rowe gets a new case but something is not just right, it goes all the way back to her childhood.
She questions all she knows.
I found it a long and puzzling read.
She questions all she knows.
I found it a long and puzzling read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews