Tense and well plotted, it kept me turning pages and on the edge. Good style of writing and character development
Highly Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

📚 Book Review 📚

No Rest For the Wicked by @rachellouiseadams 🎃

Dolores Dias (nee Hawthorne) is a forensic pathologist living in LA, not having returned to her hometown of Little Horton for 20 years. When she receives word that her estranged father has gone missing, she finds herself boarding a plane, returning to the hometown she so desperately needed to flee from.

With a hostile ‘welcome back’ from her family, Dolores has an incessant need to find out exactly what happened to her father, and why…

This is Adams’ debut novel and it did not disappoint. Firstly, I’d like to say how much I admire that cover, and I think it fits perfectly with Little Horton’s love for Halloween. The town read as though it was similar to Salem, with Halloween decorations shrouding the entire expanse, perfectly setting a spooky scene. Like most little towns, everyone in Little Horton knows one another, and secrets aren’t kept quiet for long.

The heart of this story is the mystery. Dolores’ determination and drive to uncover the truth of her father’s disappearance is admirable, and I rooted for her the whole way. As she encounters old school acquaintances, cops, and her childhood flame, Dolores unravels secret after secret, and that’s where Adams’ use of red herrings really throw you off the scent. The whole journey I didn’t know who to trust or believe, and that explosive ending was so satisfying.

I loved the use of titled chapters that gave you a little insight as to what the chapter will be about. Although they’re told from different POVs, it was great to read from different perspectives, which added to the atmosphere and tension that was so essential to the story.

All in all, this is a cracking debut and I can only hope that there’ll be a second book. I’d like to say a huge thank you to @titanbooks, @rachellouiseadams, and @netgalley for the gifted eARC in exchange for my honest review. No Rest For the Wicked will release on 16th September 2025! 🎃

I really tried to love this book, it's an extraordinary debut novel, but the moment I realized it was a thriller mystery and not at all horror, I felt extremely disappointed. That said, objectively this should not be reason enough not to recommend the book, as long as the recommendation is addressed to the right audience! I'm certainly not the right audience, though I did enjoy reading it: he characterization is superb, the plot quite intricate and hugely entertaining, not to mention such well-crafted scenes as the Halloween party. It was dark enough to keep my interest (as a horror fan) and complex and bleak throughout, with many triggering situations which I found engrossing and memorable. For lovers of dark thrillers with complicated family histories, interesting reveals (though a bit predictable), and high quality writing, this is a must-read!

Read in 3 hours and 26 minutes.

I read this book right after finishing a time travelling fantasy, and this couldn’t be further from that plot; I was shoved back onto grimy pavements, slick with rain, and a chilly air.

It took me a while to settle into this book, with its feral cats and stray woman disappearing from an eerie rural town famous for its Halloween legacy- but it was worth the adjustment.

On the surface, it seemed as nondescript as any another ‘badass woman outperforming the male cops’ trope and I wasn’t impressed.

However, like agent Paul had been in this story, I had judged too quickly, and the current of emotion soon tugged me into the murky depths.

These characters have a dark secret binding them all together- whether they’re aware of it or not- and someone ruthless is collecting on their debts.

This is a stunning debut novel. I will go as far as to say it is the best debut novel I have ever read. As a curtain raiser to a literary career it certainly hits the bullseye at the first attempt.
Rachel Louise Adams has invented characters that are so real I quite expect to bump into them the next time Halloween comes around but that suddenly becomes a rather chilling prospect. Dolores, Jacob, Asher, Josie, Charlotte, Wyatt, Kate and Paul will all have a place in my memory for a long time I am sure.
The plot construction is perfectly engineered. The intrigue and growing suspense made it almost impossible to turn the pages fast enough and at the same time I didn't want to reach the end. Ever.
I'm pretty sure Rachel Louise Adams is a name we will see at the top of a great many bestsellers charts in the very near future. I can't wait to read her next book.

Loved it. Deliciously dark debut novel. Hope the main character gets more outings from this author

As a true autumn/winter book lover, I absolutely loved this one. It’s the first book I’ve read by the author, but I’ll definitely be recommending it. A Halloween-themed story full of mystery, thriller, suspense, and horror. Especially for those who enjoy these themes don’t miss it!

This is an ARC review. I appreciate receiving this copy from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review.

Now this is how you make an entrance. No Rest for the Wicked is one hell of a debut for Rachel Louise Adams.

Fast, sharp, and full of shadows that twist when you're not looking.

We follow Dolores as she returns to her Halloween-soaked hometown for the first time in 18 years, searching for her missing father. But this town holds more than just childhood memories. It holds everything she tried to leave behind.

What unfolds is a tense and tangled hunt for answers, through missing persons, buried secrets, and the eerie possibility of something much darker. The pacing is relentless, the reveals come at you quick, and all of it is drenched in the soft, flickering glow of Halloween week.
It's the perfect blend of mystery and menace with a bite of nostalgia. I couldn’t put it down.

Dripping with atmosphere and perfect for this spooky season, sometimes the true horrors aren't supernatural at all...

Get it onto your TBR. Releasing September 16th 2025

Solid horror / thriller with a missing ex-senator, family trauma and a collision in style between local police and the FBI, all set against a backdrop of the most Halloween-centric town in the mid-west. Delores is a great central character - a pathologist, long estranged from her family, and back to deal with the crisis (and do some pathology work on the side - an unlikely occurrence in an active investigation but these details don’t really matter. Were I to criticise, the police vs FBI conflict is a bit overplayed in the opening third of the book but it all helps to build conflict in the investigation.
Overall a great read with some good tension and genuine “wtf” twists.

There is a quote that kept running through my mind as I read this book - “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”.
This book is about the secrets, the lies and the tragedies in the past that re-emerge eighteen years later to haunt the present. The writing is great, the descriptions vivid and detailed. There are unexpected twists aplenty. The characters have depth, are well fleshed out and you can see clearly where they are coming from. The small town setting during Halloween is handled perfectly and that creepy, dark and tense atmosphere permeates the book making you expect something nasty at every turn.
I am amazed and grateful that Dolores got through all that and survived – bruised and battered but she survived.
I love this book.

I absolutely could not put this down. I read an eARC of this book so thank you to the author and the publisher.

I was so intrigued by this. It was gripping! It’s more thriller than horror (from the cover it does look like a horror novel). But it does have a few horror elements and it is set at Halloween. In fact, it’s set in a small town that is obsessed with Halloween. Our main character Dolores has to return to her home town after fleeing nearly two decades earlier. Her father has gone missing and the FBI want her to come speak to them. Her hometown is hugely into Halloween and she happens to be going in October. She hasn’t been back since a traumatic Halloween night when she was a teenager. Now she has to face her past, deal with hurting family members and try to find out what’s happened to her father. She’s also a forensic pathologist! This didn’t necessarily need to be set in a Halloween obsessed town, it would have made sense regardless, but for atmosphere, this was a real winner! It just added a fun dimension to the story and a quirkiness to the town as well as helping to frame events.

Dolores was a really cool and interesting character. She is quiet, reserved and plays her cards close to her chest. She’s deeply scarred by what happened in her past, but she will not talk about it, leaving people wondering, confused or even raging at her for leaving.

The mystery was compelling and there were a few curveballs I didn’t spot which was exciting! I had a really good time reading this and I was utterly gripped!