Name: dal's review of All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers
Item: All Good People Here
Rating: 4
Author: dal

Ashley Flowers

In the propulsive debut novel from the host of the #1 true crime podcast Crime Junkie, a journalist uncovers her hometown’s dark secrets when she becomes obsessed with the unsolved murder of her childhood neighbor—and the disappearance of another girl twenty years later.
 
You can’t ever know for sure what happens behind closed doors.

Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the infamous case of January Jacobs, who was discovered in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist. But she’s always been haunted by the feeling that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

When Margot returns home to help care for her uncle after he is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, she feels like she’s walked into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembers—genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under circumstances eerily similar to January’s. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and to solve January’s murder once and for all.

But the police, Natalie’s family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could January’s killer still be out there? Is it the same person who took Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night twenty years ago?

Twisty, chilling, and intense, All Good People Here is a searing tale that asks: What are your neighbors capable of when they think no one is watching?

A Novel

All Good People Here

THE FUCKING CHILLS DOWN MY BACK RIGHT NOW 

Shanelle M.

"Margot thought of Krissy, of Natalie,  of Polly, of all the girls in Elliott Wallace's box and all the girls across the world who'd been trapped alone in rooms with men just like him and others just like Billy, men who in one way or another,  threw girls away.  To so many, those girls were nameless and faceless, numbers in a sad and growing list. There was nothing she wouldn't do, Margot thought, as Billy dragged her closer to the basement doorway, to keep him from turning her into one- just another forgotten girl added to another list." 

"Billy turned from January to climb the stairs, his mind already spinning with what the next day would bring, preparing himself for the performance of a lifetime." 

saw it coming from a mile away. also such an unfinished ending

Anna Lane

As a former journalist, I loved the read. Did not one hundred percent love the ending though.

Daisy Reilly

This was such a wild story with lots of twists and turns. Some parts were a little slow in the beginning but the last half had me locked In. This doesn’t have a positive ending for anyone involved. 

Brianna Hickey 

armoni mayes

Pierre

Long setup, poor denouement. Awkward voice acting

Danielle Blandina

It was captivating and had me guessing the plot the entire time. 

Kristin Iacono

This review contains spoilers so don’t read it unless you’re really sure you want to know. 

This book doesn’t have anything really wrong with it: it’s well written, the characters are okay and the plot kind of makes sense <SPOILER>except the part where everybody tampered with any evidence or crime scene so much it’s a miracle anybody got arrested and I feel like in real life any lawyer would be able to get the killer off in no time because they could argue the evidence was planted since Margot broke in the storage unit</SPOILER>.

I guess this might all come down to personal preference, but I just didn’t really enjoy reading this book. 

Roberta

This review contains spoilers so don’t read it unless you’re really sure you want to know. 

This book doesn’t have anything really wrong with it: it’s well written, the characters are okay and the plot kind of makes sense <SPOILER>except the part where everybody tampered with any evidence or crime scene so much it’s a miracle anybody got arrested and I feel like in real life any lawyer would be able to get the killer off in no time because they could argue the evidence was planted since Margot broke in the storage unit</SPOILER>.

I guess this might all come down to personal preference, but I just didn’t really enjoy reading this book. 

I liked the writing and the way Ashley tells the story but I feel like it was a disappointing ending.

felt like a armchair detective rewrite of the JonBenét Ramsey case, but well written

Nina

Ashley Flowers really did a thing! I have to say, I feel like you have to be a pretty good storyteller to be able to pull of the types of plot twists in this book, so I was very impressed. You could tell she had been inspired by several real cases (JonBenet, the girl that disappeared right around the time of the columbine shooting and didn’t get any news coverage), but she did a great job still keeping the story original. You can tell she had a lot of fun with all the twists and turns. I’m impressed. 

Katie Avila

Took me along time to get into it, and I hated how it just ended?? Is Margot okay??

Miranda Ramirez

         So, apparently, Ashley Flowers has a podcast.  I didn’t know that; I had never heard of this woman prior to starting this book, but apparently, she has quite the following because of the previously mentioned podcast.  I had made a social media post about this one, and a bit later, my younger daughter asked me what I thought of it.  She was the one who informed me of the aforementioned podcast, my daughter is a fan.  I was about halfway through so my insights were sparse, but I did tell her what I thought at the time.

            Unfortunately, getting to the end of the book DID change my thoughts and not in a positive way. 

            The premise is solid: a small town faced the loss of a few young girls, the murders were never solved until a prodigal daughter turned journalist comes back and makes it her personal mission to put an end to the mystery.  It had the start to a great novel, but along the way, Flowers stumbled a tad before she fell completely and couldn’t get back up.  This book moves painfully slow…there’s a fine line between keeping the mystery alive until the last possible moment, and focusing so little on the mystery the reader loses interest in said mystery and wonders about the smaller plot-lines.  I became frustrated with the meandering walk this story seemed to be on, there was little to no solid destination. 

            Then there’s the worst ending of a book I can think of (I read a lot of books, I can’t remember all of them, I’m sure there have been terrible endings prior to this one, but my feeble brain doesn’t have the capacity to retain knowledge of all of them).  I was pleased towards the end, the murders had been solved, all was well in this tiny Indiana town.  Margot has one lingering question, but for the most part, she’s relieved to put that mystery in the past.  She makes the decision to make one more probing visit. 

            And that’s it.  That’s all there is.  That’s where the buck stops.  It felt like the publishers sent this book to the printing company and somewhere along the way the final chapter became misplaced.  The publisher previewed the book, realized there was a missing chapter, but after a cost-benefit analysis of doing a reprint of the inaugural launch, they decided it wasn’t worth it.  The book ran with the missing ending, and the reader was left with eight million questions.  This is complete speculation.  I have no idea if this ending was intentional or not, but either way, it was terrible.  The end destroyed any redeeming qualities the book might have had, however sparse and lacking they might have been.  I’m just one reader, I’m sure somebody thinks that ending was brilliant, so please don’t just take my word for it. 

Kristen Claiborn

         So, apparently, Ashley Flowers has a podcast.  I didn’t know that; I had never heard of this woman prior to starting this book, but apparently, she has quite the following because of the previously mentioned podcast.  I had made a social media post about this one, and a bit later, my younger daughter asked me what I thought of it.  She was the one who informed me of the aforementioned podcast, my daughter is a fan.  I was about halfway through so my insights were sparse, but I did tell her what I thought at the time.

            Unfortunately, getting to the end of the book DID change my thoughts and not in a positive way. 

            The premise is solid: a small town faced the loss of a few young girls, the murders were never solved until a prodigal daughter turned journalist comes back and makes it her personal mission to put an end to the mystery.  It had the start to a great novel, but along the way, Flowers stumbled a tad before she fell completely and couldn’t get back up.  This book moves painfully slow…there’s a fine line between keeping the mystery alive until the last possible moment, and focusing so little on the mystery the reader loses interest in said mystery and wonders about the smaller plot-lines.  I became frustrated with the meandering walk this story seemed to be on, there was little to no solid destination. 

            Then there’s the worst ending of a book I can think of (I read a lot of books, I can’t remember all of them, I’m sure there have been terrible endings prior to this one, but my feeble brain doesn’t have the capacity to retain knowledge of all of them).  I was pleased towards the end, the murders had been solved, all was well in this tiny Indiana town.  Margot has one lingering question, but for the most part, she’s relieved to put that mystery in the past.  She makes the decision to make one more probing visit. 

            And that’s it.  That’s all there is.  That’s where the buck stops.  It felt like the publishers sent this book to the printing company and somewhere along the way the final chapter became misplaced.  The publisher previewed the book, realized there was a missing chapter, but after a cost-benefit analysis of doing a reprint of the inaugural launch, they decided it wasn’t worth it.  The book ran with the missing ending, and the reader was left with eight million questions.  This is complete speculation.  I have no idea if this ending was intentional or not, but either way, it was terrible.  The end destroyed any redeeming qualities the book might have had, however sparse and lacking they might have been.  I’m just one reader, I’m sure somebody thinks that ending was brilliant, so please don’t just take my word for it. 

I thought it was great! The ending felt a little abrupt thought. Would’ve given 5 stars.

Alyssa

did she DIE?!?!???? hello????????? i hateeeeeee cliffhangers like that tbfh. also the book itself wasn’t repetitive but idk why ashley flowers felt the need to recap the end of the chapter we had JUST read at the beginning of the next chapter. and she repeated a lot of phrases too much (im looking at you “cut-and-dried”) 

Tatum Miller

This only didn’t get 5 stars because I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO MARGOT

Hailey Carr

spoiler 

This only didn’t get 5 stars because I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO MARGOT

Sara Turner

Great story- so many twists and kept me guessing until the end. Truly. But that ending was so abrupt!

Mae Erceg

All I’m gonna say is there definitely needs to be a second one. Or some sort of series because I need to know how this ends! I have to minus a half star cause the cliffhanger ending is too frustrating for me when a story is this good. Not cool Ashley !! But I did really love this book. 4.5/5 stars would recommend.

Alexis Donahue

The ending was too abrupt. No real answers. Kind of unsatisfying after reading a slow mystery.

Almost DNF. The ending was sooo bad and the whole thing just felt slow. 

🌞Laur🌞

I never saw all of the plot twists coming!!

Kate W

This definitely kept me guessing just not so satisfied with the ending. But I would recommend it and decide for yourself.

Abigail

Margot returns to Wakarusa to take care of her uncle after being away for 20 years. Upon her arrival the news that a little girl has gone missing shakes the town. For Margot it’s all too familiar to the disappearance of her childhood best friend, January Jacobs, that went missing just across the street all those years ago. Margot, a reporter, will have to find a balance between caring for her uncle and uncovering the truth of what happened… all those years ago. 

I absolutely loved this book. The way it’s written makes you feel like you’re right there with Margot figuring it all out and then when you think you’ve got it, it twists again. The ending may leave you frustrated, but I honestly thought it went with the book so well. 

Margot returns to Wakarusa to take care of her uncle after being away for 20 years. Upon her arrival the news that a little girl has gone missing shakes the town. For Margot it’s all too familiar to the disappearance of her childhood best friend, January Jacobs, that went missing just across the street all those years ago. Margot, a reporter, will have to find a balance between caring for her uncle and uncovering the truth of what happened… all those years ago. 

I absolutely loved this book. The way it’s written makes you feel like you’re right there with Margot figuring it all out and then when you think you’ve got it, it twists again. The ending may leave you frustrated, but I honestly thought it went with the book so well. 

dal &
All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers

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All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers