I was never really very interested in New Orleans… till I read this title. You can almost feel and smell New Orleans while reading and I just loved all the wonderful food that was mentioned. It makes – for me at least – a story so much more lively to read descriptions of the sounds and smells of a location, and see characters prepare real meals instead of the usual salads and pasta dishes. Not to mention the take-away pizza’s.
Anyway, I was hooked from almost the first page on and I loved the way the story unfolded through the memories of Selina, who met Daniel in New Orleans, Daniels sister Caroline, who is ‘not pleased’ when she discovers Daniel went away without her, and Daniels three friends Max, Sage and Richard. All characters have secrets and flaws that they share very reluctantly in their attempt to find out why Daniel was found dead.
It was beautifully written and the pace was such I sometimes didn’t want to put it down. The tension creeps up on you slowly but steadily. The kind of book that asks to be read more than once!
Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for this review copy.

Let the Bad Times Roll had all the ingredients I usually love - an atmospheric New Orleans setting, and even recipes woven into the narrative. I really appreciated how vividly the city came to life on the page. You could almost hear the jazz, feel the humidity, and smell the spices in the air.

But while the setting pulled me in, the story itself didn’t quite hold my attention. What started as a search for a missing person gradually lost focus, with too much emphasis placed on backstory - especially the drinking, tarot reading, and the early days of Selina and Daniel’s relationship. I found myself wanting to get back to the central mystery, which unfortunately felt sidelined.

The characters were certainly distinctive, showcasing a mix of naivety, manipulation, protectiveness, and toxicity - but for me, they didn’t fully land. I didn’t find myself rooting for anyone or feeling that “love to hate them” grip that often makes flawed characters compelling.

That said, I enjoyed the inclusion of spiritual elements like tarot and ouija - it added a unique layer and fit well with the vibes. The writing was rich in detail, and I think readers who enjoy slower-paced, character-driven stories might enjoy this more than I did. For me, though, the momentum dipped in the middle and I never fully got it back.

This book started well and was an atmospheric read from the start, but it seemed to get a bit bogged down through the middle.

⚜ 🍹༄ Let the Bad Times Roll Review ༄ 🀧 🔮𓆌

Happy Publication Day!!! 🖤

SPOILER FREE!!

4 ⭐️

At dinner party in London, a group "friends" and a physic stranger aim to solve the disappearance of a mutual friend, Daniel, who is missing in New Oreleans. The plot is narrated through the dinner party conversation using mutliple povs broken up with delicious servings of food. And, just like the guests, I ate the story up!

I really enjoyed reading this. The book is a quick and easy read with enough mystery and unreliable characters to keep you hooked. In my opinion, Alice Slatter is the master of creating addictive unlikeable characters. Did I like any of the characters? No. Did I want to spend more time with them all? Absolutely! It was fun trying to work out who was being honest and who was hiding secrets.

Overall, the book was entertaining but the reveal (if you can call it that?) was not shocking enough for me to be blown away into 5 star territory. That being said, I would still recommend it for a fun taste of New Oreleans with a slice of crime followed by a shot with an aftertaste of disgust.

Let the Bad Times Roll - Alice Slatter

Thank you @netgalley , @alicemjslater , and  @HodderBooks for the eArc

Caroline hosts an intimate dinner party and invites those closest to her brother Daniel to attend. She wants to get to the bottom of what happened to Daniel who disappeared in New Orleans. Will she discover the truth?

I loved Alice Slater’s debut so was really excited to read her second novel. She has definitely proven not to be a one hit wonder and has written another fun, dark and incredibly addictive thriller. The story is told in past and present and the reader slowly gets to understand Daniel and his relationships between his family and friends. I found all the accounts fascinating and was completely gripped, compelled to carry on reading.

The story really works due to the strong characterisation, all who felt authentic and interesting in their own rights. I enjoyed that the characters had flaws and I had a lot of fun to discovering their shadowy sides. I was hooked all the way through, needing to reach the conclusion so I could find out what happened. I really enjoyed the New Orleans setting and was liked the clever way the food from here was used at the dinner party. This was an excellent, well written thriller overall with plenty of darkness and eeriness. This has made its way to one of my top books of the year and cemented this author as a must read. I need more already! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

This is a great second book, Death of a Bookseller left me wanting more from Alice Slater, and Let the Bad Times Roll provided. A overall enjoyable read, I would say a great beach read for some.

Daniel has vanished and his sister Caroline gathers his nearest and dearest for a dinner party where they get together with a psychic who was the last person to see Daniel alive.

Each person recalls their story and how they met Daniel as it’s slowly pieced together where he really is and what happened to him.

This had lots of twists and turns to it and I never really knew where it was going which kept me intrigued until the end. I did like the storyline and how it all unfolded but I do think it did drag on slightly and some bits could’ve been cut it make it slow better.

I did prefer Slater’s debut but this was a solid follow up (and I did enjoy the subtle nods to her first book in this one)

Daniel is charming, charismatic and addictive to everyone around him. He’s also missing in New Orleans. His sister Caroline has invited his friends round to discuss his disappearance. The two of them have a weird relationship. She also invites Selina, a psychic who Daniel spent time with in New Orleans.

This is so atmospheric, the setting of New Orleans feels so vivid and lush. It was definitely the part of the story I preferred, it bounces back & forth between London & I didn’t care as much when we were there.

The food writing? Delicious. The drinks? Made me hungover. The hostels? I could smell them. I felt like I was in a bar being told a crazy & unbelievable story. And people kept interjecting with what they heard or they knew.

I will say there were a few things left a little unresolved for me. Also some characters I could’ve done without. But on the whole it’s one hell of a time.

This story was slow and atmospheric. Danielr has gone missing from New Orleans and his cloying sister and his friends gather over dinner to talk of their life and last times with him to try to work out what has happened to him. As his life gets revealed we realise he's not the happy-go-lucky person he appeared to be.
I quite like this book but it was a bit slow for me.

I enjoyed this author's debut - Death of a Bookseller - when I read it a couple years ago. It was just the right side of bonkers for me. So imagine my delight when I got my mitts on this, her new offering. And, although not as bonkers as DooB, it was just as compelling...
We start with Caroline who is expecting her brother Daniel home from a trip away and who has planned a welcome home meal. He never arrives and, weeks go past with no sign... They are very close and she is out of her mind with worry. So she invites their closest friends to be with her with a view that maybe they could pool their resources and try figure out where Daniel is. Also on the guest lists is a psychic. No, she hasn't gone that far. This psychic claims to have spent time with Daniel on his trip. Surely she has some idea where Daniel could be, or at least , tell them more about his final movements...
And so begins a strange tale. Starting with how Daniel got to New Orleans. How he meets up with Selina. And what they do next... The delights of which I will leave you to discover. But I will just say that by the end of the book I was pretty much hoarse having shouted at her so much for being, well, let's just say naive...
As the fun continues in the past, we also keep cutting to the present day dinner party. This also sends us off to different characters' pasts as we find out how each person there met and got to know Daniel. All of which starts to build up a better picture of him, which again, leaving you to discover...
What really impressed me as we came towards the end of the book, was the perspective switch and we saw things properly from Daniel's side and... oh. my. days.
One thing that really made this book pop for me was the cast. As well as the main ones - Caroline, Selina, Max, Sage, and Richard - all present at the dinner party, we also have a plethora of supporting roles who were so well defined and described that I never got anyone mixed up and that is usually something I do - I didn't even have to write me a cast list!
The story does escalate spectacularly, many times, in many threads, past and present. And the whole truth is cleverly obfuscated all the way through. Spitting me out at the end of the book, not only thoroughly satisfied, but also in awe of the author.
All in all am absolute cracking book which cements the author firmly on my watch list, I am more than excited to see what she will serve up for me for next time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
PS: I really really want to go to New Orleans now...

This is a dark, twisty mystery told through shifting timelines, tarot cards, and secrets no one wants to admit. It’s messy, stylish, and just the right amount of unhinged.

After reading the great reviews on Alice Slater’s debut novel Death of a Bookseller, I was excited to read this – the setup sounded great: Daniel goes missing in New Orleans, and his sister Caroline throws a dinner party in London with his friends and a psychic he met before disappearing.

The atmosphere was spot-on – you really feel like you’re in New Orleans, and the recipes woven into the story were a nice touch (I was constantly hungry!). But overall, the plot lost focus. The story spent too much time on Selina and Daniel’s backstory – lots of drinking and tarot – and not enough on the actual mystery, which is what I was hoping for.

Beautifully detailed, but with mostly unlikeable characters and a dragged-out middle, this one didn’t quite land for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Caroline is missing her brother, Daniel, who has been gone for weeks without a trace. She hosts a dinner at her London home, asking Daniel’s closest friends to meet and try and find a solution as to what they can do. You can guarantee the truth will be set free, as it were, in part thanks to one of Caroline’s guests. But what happened in New Orleans, and who is the woman who met with Daniel there? If you’re looking for a read-in-one-sitting novel for summer 2025, let it be this. Incredible.

Such thoroughly unlike-able characters all round! lots of bitterness, jealousy, lies and smokescreens the story is told from several viewpoints, all of which differ slightly and none of which seem to be the whole truth. The setting of New Orleans is beautifully described, from the humidity to the scents and sounds of the streets and bayou but the tarot card aspect became a little overworked for me.
Overall a reasonable read

A brilliant second book by Alice Slater. Evocative, mysterious, tense. And crocodiles! Thanks to the publisher for this early look.

3.5***

I found this simultaneously gripping however quite slow. I'm typically a reader who needs to like at least one character to enjoy a book and this one was full of unlikeable sorts. That appeals to some, for sure, but it doesn't work for me unfortunately. Regardless, I still really enjoyed the story and will be looking out for this authors future work!

When fun, loving and charismatic Daniel goes missing in New Orleans, his sister Caroline who has a very close relationship with him and some say unhealthy. Decides to throw a dinner party In London. She decides to invite his 3 closest friends and Selina a physic that he met in New Orleans just before he went missing. They met and spent lots of time together, so she knows a bit of his mental state before he disappeared. But things do turn out as expected.
Thank you, Hodder and Stoughton, for a copy of Let the bad time roll by Alice Slater. I really loved the author’s debut novel Death of a bookseller, so I was looking forward to reading this.
Let the bad times roll was different to what I was expecting. Yes, this is a great atmospheric story set in New Orleans and made you really feel like you were there with the characters. with the bonus of the recipes intertwined in the storyline. But that were is ended for me. I thought that the author went too off track of the main objective of finding Daniel. It just felt too overloaded with the back story of how Selina and Daniel met, drank and tarot reading that I started getting bored. I just wanted more of the mystery element but sadly for me, it wasn’t to be. 3 stars.

Let the Bad Times Roll by Alice Slater was the perfect book to get me out of my reading slump. With the past and present point of views and the different twists that I didn’t see coming, I couldn’t help but thoroughly enjoy the book and couldn’t put it down.

With Daniel’s disappearance causing his sister Caroline to invite their nearest friends and Selina, a psychic Daniel spent time with in New Orleans, to her flat. Each character is dark, complex and not as they seem, all harbouring their own secrets of the past. New Orleans is described beautifully and I found myself thoroughly immersed in Selina and Daniel’s chapters.

I would overall recommend Let the Bad Times Roll, thank you to Net Galley and Hodder and Stoughton for providing me with the digital ARC.

Daniel is gone— swallowed whole by silence, leaving neither note nor footprint behind. In the flickering gloom of her London flat, his sister Caroline gathers the remnants of his life: old friends, former lovers, those still haunted by his absence. At the heart of the evening sits a stranger, veiled in strange calm, who claims to have crossed paths with Daniel in the fated shadows of New Orleans. Now, under the influence of wine and candlelight, what begins as a search for answers soon spoils as each guest finds themselves unraveling the man they thought they understood.

Steeped in the spectral heat of New Orleans, Alice leads us once more into a world thick with lore and humming with the ghosts of secrets kept. The atmosphere swallows us readers whole— you taste the absinthe and sugar on your tongue, feel the sweat bead down your spine, hear the cicadas chirr in harmony with horns. Equal parts elegy and enigma, it’s a love letter to a city that festers and blooms in the same breath.

The characters are a feast of flaws, each one sour, bitter, and complex. Amongst them innocence is absent, rendering the need for deeper details irresistible. With a palate refined in Cajun indulgences, back-alley spirits, and blood-warm bayou air, the story simmers steadily— every page a small confession, a slow drip of something too rich to rush. Sinful and sultry, the writing style is Southern Gothic decadence meant to be lingered on. Twisting timelines and tangled points of view blur the edges of what we think we know, allowing dread to burgeon from the spaces between truth and fiction.

I smirked. I shivered. I closed the final page like the last bite of something wicked— dark, rare, and impossibly satisfying. Only Alice could make a grotesque tale taste this good.

Laissez les bons temps rouler.

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Death of a Bookseller by this author, I was very grateful to receive a copy of this title. Again a dark tale with characters who are not as they seem.
When Daniel does not return home as his sister demands she is first angry and then concerned for his whereabouts. She invites their closest friends and Selena, who met and spent time with Daniel in New Orleans to a dinner party. Each of the characters tells their story in relation to Daniel interspersed with Selena's story. No-one is quite as they seem - and none of the characters are particularly likeable. There are two sections from the point of view of Daniel - and many of the situations are not portrayed by his friends, as they are by him.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Alice Slater/Hodder & Stoughton for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.