A slow burn suspense novel about the secrets a house refuses to keep buried.
Release date: July 28, 2026
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Synopsis:
From the internationally bestselling author of 56 Days, a page-turning thriller about two women whose shattered lives come crashing together around a house whose secrets could bury them both.
If these walls could talk, they’d scream…
When Ellie moves to 1 Delaney Row, she hopes to find a fresh start—a place where no one knows her name, her history, or her secrets. But what she doesn’t know is that her new home is already hiding someone else’s secrets—and the people determined to keep them are watching her.
As Ellie starts to unravel the house’s disturbing backstory, coming closer to the shocking mystery at its center, she unwittingly puts herself on a deadly collision course not just with her new home’s history, but with her own as well.
A puzzle box of a thriller full of mind-boggling twists and turns, Buyer Beware is a chilling exploration of the dark secrets that any house can hold—and of the lengths we’ll go to start over.
Review:
The premise immediately grabbed me. I’m always a sucker for a creepy house with a complicated history, and Delaney Row had that unsettling atmosphere from the very beginning. One of the book’s biggest strengths is that I genuinely had no idea where the story was headed. Every time I thought I’d figured things out, another piece of the puzzle shifted. It never became predictable, which kept me invested even when the pace slowed.
I also liked the structure. The three timelines featuring Ellie, Erin, and Hannah gradually weave together, and watching those connections emerge was satisfying. Rather than relying on nonstop action, this leans much more toward slow burn suspense, letting the mystery build over time.
Where the book lost me was the pacing. For a relatively short novel, it often felt much longer than it actually was. Some of the backstory sections dragged, and it took quite a while before they reached the revelations they were building toward. Once everything finally came together, some twists worked well while others felt a little too over the top for my taste, making the ending a bit uneven.
Overall, Buyer Beware is an atmospheric suspense novel with an intriguing premise and an unpredictable mystery. While the slower pacing and some of the bigger reveals didn’t completely land for me, readers who enjoy character driven suspense with multiple timelines and eerie settings will likely have a great time piecing this one together.
Perfect for Readers Who Love
- Slow burn suspense over nonstop thrills
- Multiple timelines that gradually connect
- Creepy houses with dark histories
- Character driven mysteries with unpredictable reveals
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.
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