NetGalley Buddy Readers discussion

Join us in reading
Things We Do in the Dark beginning on July 5!

We will read at our own pace and use spoiler tags.

When Paris Peralta is arrested in her own bathroom—covered in blood, holding a straight razor, her celebrity husband dead in the bathtub behind her—she knows she'll be charged with murder. But as bad as this looks, it's not what worries her the most. With the unwanted media attention now surrounding her, it's only a matter of time before someone from her long hidden past recognizes her and destroys the new life she's worked so hard to build, along with any chance of a future.

Twenty-five years earlier, Ruby Reyes, known as the Ice Queen, was convicted of a similar murder in a trial that riveted Canada in the early nineties. Reyes knows who Paris really is, and when she's unexpectedly released from prison, she threatens to expose all of Paris's secrets. Left with no other choice, Paris must finally confront the dark past she escaped, once and for all.

Because the only thing worse than a murder charge are two murder charges.

I just added this one! I will join your buddy read. :)

This one is coming up quick!
Super excited. I have loved everything I have read by her. She doesn't pull punches and it sometimes very shocking.

I'm looking forward to it too. I've only read one book by her so far, Little Secrets. I really enjoyed it and wanted to read something else by Hillier. I'm hoping to be done my current read in time to start this one, but I might be a little late.

I am still working on and I fell behind because of covid but I still think I can start this one even if I am not done with the others. I might be able to get one of these done sooner rather than later.

No worries, bell. I'm usually a slower reader anyway, so it's likely you won't be much behind me, if at all.

I haven't made any progress on my other book, so I'm just going to go ahead and start this one tomorrow. Looking forward to it!

I started! I made it to chapter 4 (6%). The book started out by jumping right into the action! I'm enjoying it already. I just hope that our MC doesn't (view spoiler)[ turn out to be an unreliable narrator. I hate when I read a book and feel like the MC was lying to me the whole time. It's one thing if they are under the influence or confused or forgetting, etc, but when they outright lie just to throw the reader off I really dislike it, especially if the thoughts they had (versus when they are telling the reader what happened) were lies. (hide spoiler)]

Have either of you started this one?? I went back to my other book today and plan to pick this one up again tomorrow unless you aren't starting for another day or two, then I'll finish my other book first.

Starting today!

Sounds good! I hope to finish my current read today or tomorrow and get back to this one. :)

I'm hoping to jump in too, just finishing a few reads :)

I'll be back at this one tomorrow. Of course, we're heading into the weekend, so I probably won't get too far.

I started it and got as far as you did Kristie but I am definitely agree with what you wrote. I was able to finish one of my books and still reading the other plus this one. I think I will do this one today though I have a free day to read today nothing else planned for the day.

8%

(view spoiler)[ I thought it to be strange that she is married to Jimmy and they sleep in different rooms but the more it is described in the story the more it makes sense. I think there is a 29 year age difference. I think they married because the enjoyed each others company. I know Paris is keeping some secrets but it was way to convenient for her to be washed in blood razor in her hand with no idea what is going on because she was knocked out. (hide spoiler)]

22%
(view spoiler)[ Ok she has a secret background from her past and it seems like she changed her identity as well. She murdered someone in the past a girl. She is being blackmailed as well. Anyways this is interesting and making me wonder truly about her. Oh and the will was changed she is going to get like 46 million dollars now with his death. I don't think she killed him. I think it was the assistant but we will find out. I am not sure if I like all of this yet it is an interesting story but maybe just to much if you are trying to change your life why would you agree to marry someone famous like that doesn't make sense to me. (hide spoiler)]

Response to the 8% spoilers

(view spoiler)[ Started out strong and intense!
Wondering about that waking up in the bathroom stuff too. Or why she wasn't MORE upset about not knowing what was going on.
I am suspicious of the assistant Zoe. She seems very involved in his daily life.
(hide spoiler)]

Response to the 22% spoilers

(view spoiler)[ I definitely don't think she killed her husband. I am suspicious of Zoe, but I think she might be too convenient.

He was retired when she met and married him. It was more recent that he made his comeback and that is when Zoe entered the pic.
(hide spoiler)]

I am at the end of Chapter 12 - 25%
(view spoiler)[
I am getting a little confused about the relationship between the characters.
Is Paris really Joey who is the daughter of the lady in prison who is blackmailing her?
Because she killed (or took advantage of a death) of her friend so she could fake her own death and get away?
Isn't anyone wondering what happened to the missing girl or is Paris the whole identity of the dead girl?
I am wondering why in the first place she felt she needed to start over so deep that she was dead. It sounded like she had somewhat of a support system with the social worker who kept in tough and her friend Drew.

And Drew is doing a podcast that is going to explore the lady in prisons background?

There is a lot going on here. I am thinking it will intersect and make sense at some point and to just keep going?
(hide spoiler)]

Response to 25% spoilers
(view spoiler)[ I have to agree everything is strange but I do believe Joey is Paris and Joey's mom is Rubi but this could be so wrong. Because the lady that owns the bar or knows about the bar said there where two Asian girls they looked alike and the other girl I would assume would have more reason to disappear because her boyfriend is part of an Asian gang so I can see her maybe being Paris and she would of killed Joey. I am not sure but things are to simple and I don't think it is that simple as far as Paris being Joey. I will read on and see where this book takes me. I do agree about Zoe but something in my gut tells me that the lawyer could be guilty too especially if he was seeking other counsel and she found out that could push her over the edge. He did change the will with another firm. So much there and everyone feels like a suspect so we will see where the book goes. Also the lawyer took a long time to show up initially for Paris. (hide spoiler)]

Vicki Willis wrote: "Response to the 8% spoilers

Started out strong and intense!
Wondering about that waking up in the bathroom stuff too. Or why she wasn't MORE upset about not knowing what was going on.
I am suspi..."

Yes, (view spoiler)[ Zoe gives me a bad vibe. (hide spoiler)]

Made it to 12% today. :)

60%
(view spoiler)[ Omg so Joey is Paris and yes Rubi is her mother and she knows it all her demands for 10 Million now to keep that a secret. May is the one Joey killed. The story is going back and forth between Joey working as a stripper and current Paris. Zoe looks more and more guilty but that still seems to convenient. Zoe was not in Jimmy's original will. With the new will he left her 5 million plus 20% of the money he received for the 3 special shows for Quan which totals 11 million that's a lot of money. That is enough money to kill for. Elise is no longer Paris attorney she finds her another attorney. I don't know everything still seems crazy. I still don't think Paris killed her husband. I think one of them did a background check on Paris and figured out her story. It was interesting how she was knocked out in the bathroom floor. Someone did that. (hide spoiler)]

80%
(view spoiler)[ The story went backwards to her mother and her court. It is going over her mother murdered her boyfriend. Joey is on the stand being asked questions about her mother murdering her boyfriend. So the story is intertwined by the past and present. Also Joey did not kill may per se she was basically dead from the beating she got. Joey started the fire but she did not beat the women someone else did. It seems like it was May's Asian gang member boyfriend. (hide spoiler)]

100%
(view spoiler)[ I was right earlier when I guessed the lawyer. I did like the duel timeline to explain how Paris got where she is at now. It was an interesting read. I also thought it to be strange how Paris handled her mom at the end. Her mom was not a nice women. Oh and most importantly Paris did murder or gave the final blow to Charles the man her mom went to jail for. Charles was molesting Joey when she was a young teen. It seems moms boyfriends had a bad habit of doing this to her and her nasty uncle as well. (hide spoiler)]

Wow! You flew through, bell! I haven't had any additional reading time today, so I'm still at 12%. I hope to have some time tomorrow. I look forward to reading all your spoilers. :)

Kristie wrote: "Wow! You flew through, bell! I haven't had any additional reading time today, so I'm still at 12%. I hope to have some time tomorrow. I look forward to reading all your spoilers. :)"

I had a free day yesterday and spent it reading this book.

I was hoping that meant it was good, since you read it so quickly.

I have some free time today, so I am going to try to read another chunk.

I am at end of chap. 18 - 38%

(view spoiler)[
I like the scene with Cherry and the backstory of the club/strip joint.

A lot of points being made about the 2 girls looking so similar. I am wondering which one is actually dead and HOW did she die before the fire burnt her up.
Sad that nobody even looked for "Betty" after she "disappeared.

The scene where Drew left Joey at the apartment and went to cool off before coming back to speak her her was so sad. And then it being too late - extra sad.
I can't wait to get to the part where he calls of the wedding - which we know because somewhere it mentions he was never married.

I also like that the police detective did not just flat out shut him down when Drew was speculating about what happened. I hope she come back into the story at some point.

Joey just got taken to her aunt and uncle's house and already he is doing creepy things. I hope it doesn't go down that path. (hide spoiler)]

Lots of good threads in this one to tug on. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Made it to 42% today. (view spoiler)[ I agree. Poor Joey seems to have had a very rough life. She mentioned something about wishing she had stayed with the evil she knew. I feel like this new situation is going to be really bad.

I'm sure the one that was killed was her friend. I'm assuming that Joey is Paris. I'm not sure exactly what happened though. She says that she killed her best friend and it wasn't an accident. I'm going to guess that she didn't actually kill her best friend. Maybe she did something that led to her death or she's not referring to Betty. I'm really curious to see what happens.

I wonder if she and Drew will end up together.

I have to admit that I'll be pretty frustrated if it turns out that Paris killed her husband because one of my pet peeves in books is when the MC flat out lies to the reader, especially when it's about their feelings. Like her saying how much she misses her husband and she was surprised about possibly becoming homeless, etc. That would have been in the book only to mislead us.
(hide spoiler)]

It was not as complex as I thought it was but I don't want to say more than that because I don't want to give anything away.

Thereadingbell wrote: "Response to 25% spoilers
[spoilers removed]"

I thought I replied to this. (view spoiler)[ I also wondered about the lawyer. She may have known about the will change. There could also be jealousy there. (hide spoiler)]

One more thought... (view spoiler)[ Did anyone else think it was really dumb of Paris to fire Zoe the way she did? I understand wanting to, but I would worry that she might be vengeful and it cold affect her court testimony. All of a sudden her opinion of Paris could change to imply that she was always a terrible person.

Also, I've considered Paris's yoga partner as the killer as well. Maybe he is interested in her. He knew she would be out of town for the yoga retreat so he would have thought she'd have an alibi. He's just enough of a side character to make him a possibility.

Or! Is her mom out of jail? Maybe it was her mom!
(hide spoiler)]

Kristie wrote: "One more thought... .
This is what makes the story good so many people that could be suspects. It keeps you guessing who did what and when.

Yes, it does! At 48% - If I'm reading it right, then (view spoiler)[ the mom can't be the killer. Drew is talking to her in the prison before her release and Paris's husband has already been murdered. Plus, again if I'm remembering correctly, Paris found out her mom was going to be released after her arrest. I just thought maybe there had been a delay in her getting that info and her mom was out already, but nope. It seems it didn't happen that way. Darn. She would have been a good suspect! (hide spoiler)]

Additional thoughts 45%
(view spoiler)[I am actually wondering if Joey killed the moms bank bf. Was he abusing her?Young Joey keeps saying things alluding to being sorry to the mom or wanting her to know she is sorry.
Bc he is married and not leaving his wife, and giving the child expensive gifts (the necklace).
Still a lot that isnt connecting, but i think it is going to start coming together.
I think Drew is going to find out some facts and then be conflicted what to do - report on the podcast or protect Joey/Paris
(hide spoiler)]

Vicki Willis wrote: "Additional thoughts 45%
[spoilers removed]"

I was thinking that about Drew too. (view spoiler)[ I expect them to end up together. (hide spoiler)]

I'm at 70%. I don't think this spoiler adds anything from the story since the last spoiler, but I realized at some point that we were not considering the option that (view spoiler)[ Paris's husband actually may have killed himself. Both his wife and his best friend think so, so why can't it be that simple? He was expecting his wife to be away for the weekend so it would have ben the perfect time. I was thinking of who it might have been and why and realized that I didn't have a good reason for ruling that option out other than the fact that it's a mystery. So, still could be the assistant or the best friend, but quite possibly an actual suicide. (hide spoiler)]

Have you read anything that makes you think it couldn't be?

response to your 70% spoiler
(view spoiler)[ I think you might be right. There hasn't been much or anything to rule it out AND the author SEVERAL times has referred to Occams Razor - about whatever is the simplest is the most probable. (hide spoiler)]

Done!

What a fun read!
(view spoiler)[ liked the ending and that we found out what happened to Charles.
Far fetched though that there was zero investigation about her final encounter with Ruby and that noone would think it MIGHT be her daughter, but it was satisfying to know Ruby got hers .
It did show though that Joey, though abused, was manipulative just like her mother.

I thought this book was different than her others. Her others that i remember were extremely graphic and over the top disturbing.

I am giving this one 4 stars. (hide spoiler)]

Finishing today! I’m at 90%.

Thereadingbell wrote: "100%"

I agree about (view spoiler)[ the dual time line. At first it was hard because there were a lot of characters. But I like how it gave out the pertinent information.
I feel like enough time was spent in each instead of just switching after too short of a time.
I also found it interesting that though Elsie was the one who accidentally killed him, she only wanted to be with him her whole life.
I thought the explanation of his memory issues being one reason he didn't remember promises he made to her valid.
If she were just a cold blooded killer, she would have somehow killed Paris so she could be with Jimmy.
(hide spoiler)]

Vicki Willis wrote: "Thereadingbell wrote: "100%"

Ha Ha we even rated it the same. I think our tastes for thrillers is about the same we seem to rate the books the same that we have read together.

I finished today too! I really enjoyed it. Definitely had to suspend your disbelief for some of it, but still an enjoyable and entertaining read. I'm going with 4 stars too.

(view spoiler)[ I thought she handled the dual timelines well. They weren't overdone and we didn't have too many time switches. I felt like we had a main story and some shorter background threads that gave us the information we needed.

As you mentioned, the ending was fairly far-fetched, but I still liked it. I don't think it would have played out that way for a minute, but I was still able to remain absorbed in the story.

I thought it was meant to be presented as she was jealous, but then he forgot about his plans with her, which made her feel replaced again, and then he was hurt her feelings by lashing out at out her. I guess we are supposed to believe that those three things together just pushed her over the edge. I think it was also supposed to have partly been an accident that she tried to cover up.

I loved when Zoe finally figured out what was going on. She didn't catch on to why Paris was making a big deal of the razors, then when it clicked she was so shocked! I really didn't like her because she was pushing the comeback too much, but she turned out to be ok.

I figured out that Joey had something to do with Charles's death pretty quickly, though I wasn't sure to what extent. I'm not sure why her mother wouldn't have said something about it sooner. She seemed so vindictive. I was surprised Joey admitted to planning the clean up. I didn't expect that.

I figured it was either Zoe or Elsie who committed the murder, but wasn't sure which. I wasn't 100% certain that it wasn't suicide though. It made some sense with him being determined not to go down the same path as his mother and also already having memory issues.
(hide spoiler)]

Finally got to my review for this one.

my Things We Do in the Dark review

Good review. :)

Thank you. :)

Through Part 1 / Ch 9

going really good so far
(view spoiler)[ I don't have a lot of guesses about what's going on but I feel like. . .Zoe is super obvious. Does she know more about Paris though? That I don't know

I like the attorney. she's great (hide spoiler)]

I look forward to seeing your thoughts, Trisha. Glad you got it and are enjoying it so far.

Through Part 2 / 23 chapters

(view spoiler)[ I really liked Drew's POV. learning more about Jeoy's life and Ruby (ugh)

as soon as I knew he identified her with the tattoo, I figured they were matching tattoos with the other dancer

Joey is resourceful and wanted a different, quiet life. Very Joey. Curious to see who's POV Is next. Maybe back to Joey? (hide spoiler)]

Through Part 3 / 33 chapters

(view spoiler)[ Ugh, I do not like Zoe. And she had so much control (and gave Paris/Joey the new phone). It's easy to think if it wasn't suicide maybe it was her

but there is something we're still missing for sure

I wondered if Vinny had actually killed Mae - something I thought was pretty likely. so I think Joey's story there adds up

I too think Drew know more and be conflicted about the podcast (hide spoiler)]

Through Part 4 / 38 chapters

(view spoiler)[ interesting. I thought for sure she'd killed charles but I guess her mom really did do it?

and interesting that she didn't tell about the abuse - but she's right, her mother wasn't protecting her

and huh, that cut on the leg of her uncle (and Ugh, so many gross men in this little girl's life) . . .I mean, could she have hurt her husband?

there is definitely something here we still don't know (hide spoiler)]

still really liking it!