REVIEW: All Good People Here

By Denise @ Life With No Plot on May 12, 2025 • ( 0 )

About the Book

Title: All Good People Here

Author: Ashley Flowers

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 312

Edition Read: Kindle eBook

Dates Read: April 20 – 23, 2025

Blurb: 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?

** SORT OF SPOILER ALERT FOR THE ENDING **

** IT’S NOT THE KILLER’S IDENTITY, JUST WAY THE AUTHOR CHOSE TO END THE BOOK**

** READ AT YOUR OWN RISK IDK **

Review

It’s been a while since a book made me this angry. And not at the characters. I am extremely frustrated by some of the author’s choices.

This was the book club pick for April (and I was finally able to go to this one, so yay!). I started dipping more into mysteries and thrillers last year and was excited to get into this one. First off, I really liked Margot. She is smart and sharp and has to make some tough decisions in trying to uncover the truth. The other main character in this book is Krissy, January’s mother. I really liked her as well and I liked how the author wrote her. It’s not easy to write a point of view character and not know whether or not she’s a murderer. There was so much ambiguity that for a while, I genuinely thought that Krissy didn’t know herself whether or not she had anything to do with it.

The original murder felt very much like the famous Jon Benet Ramsey case from years ago. A young girl who was basically sexualized from a very early age (although January was through dance competitions instead of beauty pagents). She has a brother that seems very creepy and parents that seem just slightly off – not enough to outright convict them, but enough to throw suspicion on them no matter what they say or do. Then there’s the town of Wakarusa, which is almost a character itself. Anyone who has spent time living in a small town will recognize it. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone knows everyone else’s business. Keeping up appearances is more important that anything else.

This book was very well paced, full of twists and turns. I genuinely didn’t know who the killer was until the very end – red herrings were thrown EVERYWHERE. It was gripping and suspenseful. So why did it make me mad? The ending. The story . . . just . . . stopped. Mid-scene. In a crucial scene. Margot has found out the truth about January’s death and is in the same room with the person who killed her. This person realizes that Margot knows the truth and goes to attack her and/or prevent her from leaving.

Fade to black.

Okay, not exactly. There is an epilogue which is a flashback to the night of January’s death from the killer’s point of view. So we do finally learn the truth about what happened there. BUT WE NEVER FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO MARGOT!!!! If this had been a paper copy of the book, I would have thought that there were pages missing, but it was on my Kindle, so that’s not really possible. No, this is how the author chose to end it. Did Margot survive? Did the killer kill her? Did the truth ever finally come out? WE DON’T KNOW!!! And we never will, because this is a standalone book. There’s no sequel.

GoodReads rating: This was difficult, but I gave it 3 stars. The rest of the book was great and I really enjoyed it. I wish the author had actually finished it. It would have gotten 5 stars if she had.