Review: Allison Must Die by A.M. Strong & Sonya Sargent

                                                                      

Print Length: 323 pages

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (September 15, 2026)

From Goodreads.com:  Evelyn Hughes has it all—a job she loves at a hot gaming studio, an adoring boyfriend, and a tight-knit circle of friends, including her brilliant bestie, Allison—until a series of increasingly unnerving events threaten to unravel her perfect life. Messages she didn’t send, being blamed for things she didn’t do, and the creeping sensation that she is being followed. As the incidents grow more personal, driving a wedge between Evelyn and those she loves, she finds herself isolated and alone.

Then Allison is brutally murdered, and Evelyn becomes the prime suspect.

With the pressure mounting, Evelyn is desperate to clear her name. But the more she discovers, the more twisted the truth becomes. Someone is out to get her. Someone who knows her every move. The question is, who…and why? In a deadly game of mirrors and deception, the answer is more disturbing than anyone could have imagined.

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

This book is a perfect example of why a strong beginning and a solid ending aren't always enough to save a story. The opening chapter immediately pulled me in, and I have to give credit where it's due: the final reveal was handled well. Even though I had figured it out fairly early on, it was still satisfying to see everything come together in the end.

Unfortunately... everything in between was an absolute hot dumpster fire.

My biggest issue was the sheer number of POV characters. Normally, I don't mind multiple perspectives, but there has to be a reason for them. Either the characters need to be interesting enough that I actually want to spend time with them, or each voice needs to feel distinct enough that I can immediately tell who's narrating. Neither happened here.

Instead, every chapter blurred together because I never connected with any of them. 

The female characters, in particular, felt less like real people and more like exaggerated caricatures of how the authors think women behave. Every single one of them was selfish in one way or another, to the point that I genuinely stopped caring what happened to any of them. By the halfway point, I was almost rooting for everyone to end up dead just so I wouldn't have to listen to them anymore. Evelyn was by far the worst offender. Some of her actions (and, more importantly, her complete lack of action in certain situations) were so over the top that one particular scene made the twist painfully obvious. The authors clearly tried to steer readers away from the truth afterward, but once I saw that moment, there was no putting the genie back in the bottle.

The men weren't much better. Oliver expects me to believe he managed to keep his one night with with "Eve" completely secret simply because she asked him to? Considering how much he seemed to enjoy the whole situation  (and believed it to be a role-playing fantasy with his girlfriend), I found it incredibly difficult to believe he wouldn't have accidentally let something slip while talking to Evelyn, or even asked her for a repeat. And Kai... well, from the moment we're introduced to him, we know he's a cheater. His wandering eye getting him into trouble was hardly the shocking development the book seemed to think it was.

Then there's the plot itself.

I can suspend my disbelief for a lot of things in a thriller, but this story kept asking me to ignore one ridiculous thing after another. Certain character decisions practically handed me the solution long before the book intended them to. And even setting aside the scene with the purse in the apartment, which immediately confirmed my suspicions, there's one huge plot point I simply couldn't get past. Evelyn comes clean to her friends about having an identical twin sister, yet not one of those said friends ever stop to consider that maybe, just maybe, the twin is responsible for the bizarre behavior that they all insist Evelyn is behind? Instead, everyone just accepts what's happening without asking the one question that seemed painfully obvious.

For me, that made the mystery far less mysterious and well.... annoying. 

Overall, this one just didn't work for me. The premise was intriguing, the opening hooked me immediately, and the ending itself was satisfying enough, but the unlikeable cast, excessive POVs, and increasingly implausible plot left me frustrated far more often than entertained. That said, if you're someone who enjoys twisty domestic thrillers and doesn't mind overlooking a few logic gaps, you may have a better experience than I did.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.