Thriller

Review: Goodnight Lydia by E. M. Jones

June 8, 2026

Synopsis:

She woke up in her own grave. Now she has one day to find out who put her there.

Lydia claws her way out of a shallow grave in the woods. She hears footsteps in the dark and a vehicle leaving on a nearby road. Covered in dirt, gasping for air, she doesn’t know how she got here. The last thing she remembers is rejecting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal.

Now, someone thinks she’s dead. If she stays hidden, she can investigate her own attempted murder. But these are the same woods where her younger brother died twenty-one years ago, and that’s a coincidence she can’t ignore.

As she retraces her steps and questions those closest to her, Lydia must confront a haunting darkness about herself and her brother’s death. But will she be able to live with the answers?

Or will the truth be worse than the grave?

Review:

When I saw that cover, it instantly grabbed my attention, and I was fortunate enough to be given a chance to read it before its official release.

Waking up in a grave, not knowing how you got there and only recollecting tiny pieces – not something I have on my list of experiences I want to go through. Lydia’s confusion was clear to me, and I wanted to follow along to find out what exactly happened. When she runs into a resident who offers help, she accepts it initially. But when something doesn’t feel quite right, it sets her on a wild ride to uncover what happened, and what is still happening.

We’re fed bits and pieces of various characters that feel random at first, but turn out to be puzzle pieces needed to complete the picture. Initially, everything felt a bit confusing to me, and I was somewhat lost on which day certain things were happening, only to realise along the way that this was (probably) deliberate – to keep me constantly guessing, with twists coming left and right.

This is not your average thriller. The author enjoys sprinkling a bit of supernatural into the story, and you need to be here for it. I certainly was, once things started to click for me. It felt very fast-paced, and I couldn’t put it down. Were some things a bit much? Sure, but you have to immerse yourself in it, and you’ll enjoy it as much as I did (hopefully).

🌙 Recension: Goodnight Lydia by E. M. Jones
📚 Genre: (Supernatural) Thriller
📅 Release Date: June 9, 2026
📖 Publisher: Lamppost Publishing
📗 included in Kindle Unlimited
📱 Read as: Kindle
💸 I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
🗣️ Language: English
📆 Pages: 274
⭐️ 4/5