Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Review - Buyer Beware

Title:  Buyer Beware
Author Catherine Ryan Howard
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster
Genre:   Mystery & Thrillers
Format:  Kindle ARC
No. of Pages:   288
Date of Publication:   July 28, 2026
My Rating:   3 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

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.


MY THOUGHTS:

The house at One Delaney Row has finally been sold. What the seller never disclosed, however, was the home’s dark and unsettling past. This is a detail that proves to be far more than a simple oversight. Ellie, desperate for a fresh start and carrying secrets of her own, is relieved to have found the perfect place to begin again. But almost immediately after moving in, she can’t shake the unnerving feeling that someone is watching her.

This story unfolds through multiple perspectives. While Ellie is the primary protagonist, readers are soon introduced to Erin and Hannah, whose lives become intricately connected - not only to one another, but also to a man named Jason.

There is another unforgettable character in this novel as well: the house itself. Told in a compelling then-and-now structure, this atmospheric domestic thriller gradually peels back the layers of the home’s disturbing history. As the truth begins to emerge, one question lingers: has Ellie unknowingly become the house’s next victim?

The dual timelines add an extra layer of suspense. In the present, Ellie grows increasingly anxious, paranoid, and ultimately terrified as the sensation of being watched intensifies. In the past, readers first meet Erin, a brilliant eighteen-year-old who believes she has found love with Jason. Years later, Hannah enters Jason’s life, unaware of the shadows that surround him.

How do Ellie, Erin, and Hannah’s stories intertwine? What role do their carefully guarded secrets play in the mystery surrounding One Delaney Row? Although the novel takes its time establishing its characters and atmosphere, the pace steadily builds until the tension becomes impossible to ignore. 

Catherine Ryan Howard skillfully layers secrets, deception, and unexpected twists into a gripping psychological thriller that kept me eager to uncover the truth. Despite the slow start, by the time the final revelations arrive, every carefully planted clue falls into place, delivering a satisfying and thought-provoking conclusion that lingers long after the last page.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Catherine Ryan Howard is an internationally bestselling crime writer from Cork, Ireland. Her debut novel, DISTRESS SIGNALS, was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey/New Blood Dagger. THE LIAR'S GIRL (2018) was shortlisted for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. REWIND (2019) was shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year and is currently being developed for screen by Clerkenwell Films (Misfits, Lovesick, The End of the F***ing World.) THE NOTHING MAN was a no. 1 Irish Times bestseller and a no. 1 Kindle bestseller (UK) and was shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year. Her latest novel, 56 DAYS, was published in August 2021. It is a thriller set in lockdown that Catherine wrote while she was in lockdown.



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