Dead of Night is the newest suspense thriller by Lisa Gray. It is a stand-alone read.

Serena Winters has writer's block and cannot put a single word on paper. Mourning the loss of her partner, Michael, and her part in his death she decides a change of scenery might be what she needs. She finds a clifftop house in California and sets off in search of finding peace from her guilt. Shortly after arriving, she learns of the missing family that rented the house years ago. Not wanting to write about the missing family, it does however, give her ideas that she could use to write the expected book.

Being a famous writer is hard to keep secret, but the people in town jump to conclusions and soon Serena discovers she is the focus of someone that does not want the truth to be revealed. It does not take long for Serena to find herself in danger.

This was a fun and quick afternoon read. The story is told from several points of view as well as different time periods. It took a few chapters to get hooked, but once I was caught there was no turning back. The characters were well written, and the plot was very believable. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a real page turner.

Another brilliant read by Lisa Gray!

What a fantastic book!! I loved it from the moment I picked it up. Told from different points of view and across 3 time lines this book will keep you guessing right to the end.

Lisa Gray has fast become one of my favourite authors. I simply see the cover of her latest book and I KNOW I’m in for a thrill ride. Her latest book DEAD OF NIGHT was a fine example of this.

Brilliantly thought out storytelling that’s twisty and compelling with excellent character development and scene depiction. This book has it all.

For those who’ve not read Lisa before you’re in for a treat and for those that have - I believe I’ve found you you’re next #goodread

Thank you to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

OMG, definitely one of THE best books that I've read this year! Simple plot. Suspenseful yet engaging way of writing that's really easy to follow. Then revelation after revelation after revelation until the very end. So good!

A crime writer. A cold case. Will she survive to tell the story?! Since the sudden and tragic death of her partner, bestselling crime author Serena Winters hasn’t written a word. With deadlines looming, she packs up her grief and escapes from New York City to a secluded clifftop house in small-town California, hoping the change of scenery will cure her writer’s block! Great book! This book had some dark hidden secrets! It also had great suspense, murder, mystery, intriguing, and some chilling twists! The storyline was very interesting! I highly recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

The main character is a writer who starts uncovering a 30-year-old mystery of a family’s disappearance. The plot unfolds layer by layer. There are a lot of characters—it was hard to keep track of everyone, so I kept going back to check who was who (though that’s probably just my bad memory). Overall, the book is pretty good.

3.5 stars rounded up. This was an entertaining thriller about a crime fiction author who rents a house to get out of writer’s block and ends up unveiling a decades-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of an entire family.
I got through this fairly quickly, and the eerie atmosphere of the house and constant discovery of secrets from the past kept the plot moving along nicely. I also appreciated that what I thought would be a big reveal turned out to be another twist, and that who I suspected of messing with Serena/breaking into the house kept changing as the book got further along. I enjoyed the cast of characters, although didn’t really connect with the MC, and the side characters felt a bit one dimensional at times. Overall I enjoyed the book, and found it to be an engrossing thriller that kept me guessing until the end.

Best selling author Serena has writers block. She decides to rent a clifftop house where a young family disappeared from years ago. Lots of mysterious things start to happen as Serena digs into the story of the family. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to mystery lovers.

Thank you Netgalley & Thomas & Mercer for this ARC.

A writer alone in a secluded clifftop house that does obviously includes some chilly story bout the young family living there thirty years earlier? Yes, yes, and yes! Even more when someone is obviously not happy about Serena living there, and she gets messages telling her to leave the place again very early on.

The story is told in the present POV by Serena, the writer who fled to the house hoping to escape her writer's block there, and two women named Ruby and Dani, whom we do follow into the past. It was all easy to follow and gripping from the start. I do not think I have read anything by Lisa gray before, but she is surely on my radar now. Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. 4.5/5!!!!! (rounded down)

Dead of Night follows crime writer, Serena Winters, as she escapes to a secluded clifftop house to shake her writers block. Only, the house she is renting comes with a rich history of a young family who mysteriously vanishes one day, never to be heard from again. A dual timeline lends itself to the strange happenings of 40 years ago, which Serena begins to peel back layer by layer.

I am a big fan of Lisa Gray and her writing; she does the most from page one. A cold case mystery, a secluded clifftop house in a small town, townies, an accidental death, missing persons… pull my leg.

Dead of Night is a fast paced thriller that left me speechless- the end shocked me, along with every other twist I couldn’t guess. The setting is atmospheric- I could just feel myself in the house with Serena and experience her worrying thoughts with all of the strange occurrences.

I loved the dual timeline and multiple POVs; there is just enough overlap to write the rest of the story yourself, but to never land on the actual resolution. There were many characters with intriguing backstories; one in which is heartbreaking. I really couldn’t be sure who to trust throughout the story. Initially I did not know how to feel about the FMC, but the reality of it is that not everyone can be likable every single moment in time; this is reality.

I highly recommend this book for those who love head spinning thrillers, and long-kept dark secrets that make you go hmmm….

ARC review • pub date 05.15.25

I loved Lisa Gray’s last book, and I enjoyed this one as well!
Told in multiple POV as well as multiple timelines, we get the story of a teenager growing up and falling in love 40 years ago, a family that disappeared in the middle of the night 30 years prior, and a present day writer who is staying in the house they disappeared from and digging into their past trying to solve their disappearance and getting inspiration for her next novel.

I had lots of theories but didn’t really get any of them right, it was fun to see how the stories intertwined, and I’m honestly still confused a bit by the epilogue/last paragraph 🤣 so maybe there is more that I missed - who knows- but the story was fun and can easily be read in a few sittings as it’s less than 300 pages.

4⭐️

Thanks to Thriller Book Lovers The Pulse, NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer for my ARC

3.5* Wasn't expecting this, but a worthy introduction to this author, with decent red herrings.

There are quite a few twists in this ultimately rather sad, and weirdly low-key, tale, despite the tension of some of the chapters. The 'secret of her own' part didn't feel necessary and didn't really go anywhere but the rest was nicely done.

I couldn't quite believe the machinations of the person harassing and gaslighting Serena, but kind of did get their motivation. The former were creepy, and when things cane to light, actually pretty sadly inderstandable from the perspective presented. But, twisted. The tale elements involving the mysterious woman were well orchestrated. The nosy neighbour guy turned out to be an excellent and believable addition. The mother losing her child aspect, and what triggered the main mystery of the tale, were neatly done. The author had me thinking one thing of the husband who kept mysteriously disappearing at odd hours, then I thought he redeemed himself, only to dislike him for what he ultimately did.

The romance was a non-starter for me, and the tale could've worked entirely without it. There wasn't any passion or much visible liking or attraction between the leads.

Overall, I enjoyed it and would read more from this author.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer, for my reading pleasure.

Wow what a ride that was. Dead of Night by Lisa Gray, published by Thomas & Mercer is a thriller of its finest. Fantastic world building and plot twisting, unexpected twists and turns that had me guessing till the very last page. A remarkable read that deserves all the stars.

A writer’s life turned upside down by an accidental death, a cold case mystery, and a secluded mansion on a cliff- sign me up! In true Lisa gray fashion this was a twisty quick read with multiple POV and short chapters.

Serena’s partner died tragically in an accident, her latest book in her bestselling detective series is due and she hasn’t written a single word. She decides to rent a secluded/isolated (iykyk) beach side mansion to work on her next book but when she gets there she finds out the house is the last place a family of 3 was seen. They disappeared in 1994 and were never heard from again. As someone who exclusively reads thrillers I can tell you I got every single twist wrong! Such a fun read. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Serena's partner recently died in an accident that she blames herself for. She is also overdue on providing the next installment in her detective series to her publisher, so she leaves NYC and heads to Seaton Park, CA in search of inspiration. The cliff side house that she rents turns out to have been occupied by a family that disappeared abruptly 30 years ago, leaving all of their things behind. Of course, Serena, the author of a detective series has to figure out what happened to this family and once she starts digging into it, she starts getting threats against her.

4.5 stars.

I really like Lisa Gray, her books are an auto request for me. This was another good one. In addition to Serena's point of view in the current day, there were some chapters sprinkled in from Dani, the wife in the family that left in the 90's and Ruby, a 18 year old girl in 80's and you don't really know how Ruby's story is related. This was a good quick read that held my intrest throughout. I look forward to this author's next novel.

Short and fast paced makes this thriller one to not put down until the end. While I sort of guessed the ending based on the limited number of characters introduced, there were still twists that I didn't see coming. The book is atmospheric with a creepy house. I wasn't sure who to trust throughout the story. Really well done and probably my favorite that I've read from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Twists and turns, along with red herrings, made this novel suspenseful. Realistic characters kept the story moving quickly. Don’t try to guess the outcome. Really almost impossible. This talented author has written a page turner. Secrets of the past and present…a mystery writer…a family disappearing…clues…guesses…foreshadowing…all of this makes for a mystery well worth reading. Thanks Netgalley.

Dead of Night is the first book I have read by Lisa Gray. The plot was well done, and I loved that the main character was an author suffering from writer's block who fell into a mystery. The story was definitely a page turner; and I thoroughly enjoyed it; however, there were a few things that I found difficult to believe.

The first was that as soon as the author arrived at her new rental, she was already getting threatening notes because someone was upset that she was looking into the past account of a family who disappeared from the house. She told people over and over that she was a fiction writer not a true crime writer. So why get worked up? Although, that did greatly enhance the plot, but still--it was puzzling.

The second thing was the ending. I couldn't fathom that young man keeping up the pretense for a large number of months. Why not confront the person he felt lied to him? . While I wont spoil what happens, it honestly fell a bit off for me.

I'd still recommend the book even though I had a few issues.

I am a big fan of Lisa Gray's books, but I have to say that, though this one was good, it was my least favorite. It still has an intriguing plot, great writing and lots of surprising twists, but something was missing. I think it might be that I never warmed up to Serena. There were a lot of fun side characters but Serena kind of grated on me. She was rude and irritating at times. I did enjoy the multiple timelines and POVs. One character's story in particular was so heartbreaking. Dead of Night is an easy read that I flew through in less than a day. Despite not loving the MC, I was invested in finding out what happened to the missing family. I do recommend this book, but if you haven't read Lisa Gray before, I would suggest starting with a different one. The Dark Room, The Final Act and To Die For are all excellent! I look forward to seeing what the author comes up with next.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC!

I read the annotation, checked out the book three times, and decided to give it a try.

The main character is an author, but after her husband's death, she's struggling to write anything. And then, we've got an author + a house with a dark past = adventures filled with threats.

What happened years ago? Where did the family go, and who’s threatening our heroine?

It's a short thriller, so I breezed through it quickly—it was super atmospheric.

What gets me every time: a house with a dark history. Seriously, I always fall for that.

I liked that there are three timelines from three different characters, and everything slowly weaves into one story.

The heroine wasn’t annoying; she thought things through like I do. Even though I guessed most of it, I totally forgot one twist, so that surprised me a bit.

I enjoyed the writing style, so I think I’ll check out more books by this author!

-3 time lines
-A house with a dark past
-Family disappearance
-Threatening e-mails