These Toxic Things: A Thriller

Written by Rachel Howzell Hall

Narrated by Susan Dalian

A dead woman’s cherished trinkets become pieces to a terrifying puzzle.

Mickie Lambert creates “digital scrapbooks” for clients, ensuring that precious souvenirs aren’t forgotten or lost. When her latest client, Nadia Denham, a curio shop owner, dies from an apparent suicide, Mickie honors the old woman’s last wish and begins curating her peculiar objets d’art. A music box, a hair clip, a key chain—twelve mementos in all that must have meant so much to Nadia, who collected them on her flea market scavenges across the country.

But these tokens mean a lot to someone else, too. Mickie has been receiving threatening messages to leave Nadia’s past alone.

It’s becoming a mystery Mickie is driven to solve. Who once owned these odd treasures? How did Nadia really come to possess them? Discovering the truth means crossing paths with a long-dormant serial killer and navigating the secrets of a sinister past. One that might, Mickie fears, be inescapably entwined with her own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Sep 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781713592266

Rachel Howzell Hall

RACHEL HOWZELL HALL is the author of the acclaimed Lou Norton series, the standalone thriller They All Fall Down, and co-author of The Good Sister with James Patterson, which appeared in the New York Times bestselling anthology The Family Lawyer. She is the senior development officer for the Donor Relations Department at Cedars Sinai. Currently she serves on the Board of Directors for the Mystery Writers of America, is a member of Sisters in Crime, and has participated as a mentor in the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ Writer-to-Writer Program. She lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews for These Toxic Things

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Michaela Mickie Lambert is a digital archaeologist. She makes digital memory ‘scrapbooks’ for clients to record the images and provenance of cherished items for clients to ensure they are remembered. When her latest client, Nadia Dunham, owner of a curio shop and in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, commits suicide just as the project is startng, Mickie decides to continue with it since it is already paid for. As she researches each item Nadia has left for her, she discovers they were all from women Nadia had helped in the past but, as Mickie, dives deeper into their stories, she discovers they are all either missing or dead. And now Mickie is receiving threatening messages under her door..I really enjoyed the premise of These Toxic Things by Rachel Howzell Hall and the first chapter offered the promise of a fast-paced and engrossing story. Unfortunately, it didn’t fuly live up to this promise. Instead, it often got bogged down in other sub-plots that added little to the main story and too often served only to slow it down. I also didn’t much care for Mickie who I found very hard to relate to.Still, I did finish it and the ending certainly went a long way to mitigate these criticisms so, overall, I would recommend it for fans of thrillers looking for something a little different and aren’t concerned about the pace.Thanks to Netgalley & Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

[sucharita1986 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unique and ThrillingThese Toxic Things by Rachel Howzell Hall is an amazing and unputdownable thriller. Each and every page has something new to offer. The climax will definitely blow your mind. The book turned out to be real page turner with a superb plot. Also, each and every character has a different story. The book is a wonderful thriller recipe for 2021. I am glad that I have read the book. You would not be disappointed by adding it to your TBR. I would definitely give the book 5 stars. Also, I am thankful to Netgalley for providing me an opportunity to read the book.

[ibkennedy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting....good story line

[cathyskye · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

These Toxic Things is a book that I wanted to like a lot more than I did. I've read other books by Rachel Howzell Hall and really enjoyed them, but this book is definitely not being added to that list. Granted, I did like the premise: being a digital archaeologist, tracking down the original owners and histories behind cherished items. If there'd been more of that, my enjoyment of the book would have been greater. But alas, there wasn't. After a fantastic first chapter that really raised my hopes, These Toxic Things turned into a bloated, slow-moving thriller with few real surprises-- the exact opposite of what a thriller should be.Another real hindrance to my enjoyment of this book was the main character herself. Michaela "Mickie" Lambert, one of these twentysomethings who would have to have her cell phone surgically removed from her hand. Spoiled rotten, overprotected Mickie Lambert who thinks nothing of wearing and ruining her mother's designer clothes and snooping in her things to the point of searching high and low for a key to unlock a box in her mother's bedside table. Mickie Lambert, who freaks out at every noise and shadow yet can't be bothered to turn on the alarm system in her apartment. Can you tell I just loved this girl to bits? There's a secondary mystery in These Toxic Things concerning the reasons why Mickie has been so overprotected her whole life, but her childish response to learning one of the secrets surrounding this just made me shake my head and roll my eyes. These Toxic Things starts out with a killer first chapter and a very intriguing premise, but it's grievously hampered by a glacial pace, easily deduced surprises, and an extremely annoying main character. Sorry, Mickie. I'm not hiring you as my digital archaeologist.