Thank you Libro.fm / Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Minotaur Books, #partner for the advanced copy of No Rest for the Wicked in exchange for my honest review.
Version 1.0.0
Publisher: Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio
Published: September 16, 2025
Summary:
With an expert hand, Rachel Louise Adams’s debut No Rest for the Wicked reads like an edge of your seat, heart-pounding scary movie.
In one Halloween obsessed Midwestern town, everyone’s on red alert after a local politician goes missing. Little do they know it’s only the beginning.
It’s been close to twenty years since forensic pathologist Dolores Hawthorne left her hometown of Little Horton, Wisconsin. The town is famous for its Halloween celebrations, but also its history of violent deaths linked to the holiday. To Dolores, it’s the place she fled, family, bad memories, and all. Until the FBI calls to tell her that her father–the former mayor turned US Senator–is missing under mysterious circumstances.
Some people count to ten to wake up from a nightmare. Dolores always counts the bones of her head instead: sphenoid, frontal, lacrimal. But no matter how many times she counts them, it doesn’t change the fact that her father is missing, that his final words of warning to her were to trust no one, and that now, the rest of her family is giving Dolores a chilling welcome. With Halloween fast approaching, Dolores must face the past she left behind before it’s too late.
My thoughts:
Don’t let this cover fool you! It’s not the cozy mystery it appears to be and yet I loved every second of it!! And it was a debut, which is even better…I cannot wait for more from this author!
This is the perfect read for spooky season and one I did read last year but decided to reread since the next book in the series, Where There’s Smoke, is coming out next month. I really liked this book the first time I read it and I enjoyed it again, possibly even a little more!
I loved that this book was set in a Halloween-obsessed town. I love Halloween – it’s one of my favorite holidays, so right away I was sold! The story itself is full of deliciously complex characters that I found so compelling. I definitely want more of them and am quite eager to see how the series progresses. I loved our FMC, Dolores – she is deeply flawed, yet quite relatable in many ways and I love that she is a forensic pathologist. That is a field I find so interesting and I always love getting any insight into the field that I can. She has some baggage, mainly in the way of trauma, and it led to her running from her hometown. Getting to the root of that was painful, both mentally and emotionally, yet it made me love her even more.
This author knows how to write a good story and I’m in awe, especially as this is a debut! It’s full of misdirection and plot twists, while also delving into some rather heavy topics topics I wasn’t expecting, such as how trauma impacts memory, justice, and family dynamics. It’s such a twisted, dark read – I mean it’s set in a town that lives for Halloween after all – and I cannot wait to read that next book.
Audio thoughts:
The narrator for this book was fantastic! Jeremy Carlisle Parker is a new-to-me narrator but wow did she bring her A-game to this narration! She infused just the right tone, emotion and suspense into her voice as needed. I happy to see that she is narrating the next book in the series, Where There’s Smoke…I love when there’s consistency with narrators in series.
Books in this series:
- No Rest for the Wicked
- Where There’s Smoke – due out 10/6
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