I’m an avid listener of Crime Junkie and all the affiliated podcasts from audiochuck, so I’ve had host Ashley Flowers’ psychological thriller All Good People Here on my TBR list for a while. The other day, I noticed there was a Prime Day sale on the paperback (literally cheaper than the Kindle version!), so I finally grabbed a copy and blew right through it.

This is a book I’ve been excited about for a while, and right off the bat I can tell you it totally lived up to the hype. The suspense, the crazy twists, and THAT SHOCK ENDING?? I loved every moment of this one, and I already wish I could go back and read it for the first time all over again.

In 1994, six-year-old January Jacobs is kidnapped from her own home in the middle of the night and murdered. Her family is like small-town royalty – her dad is a farmer from generational wealth whose family built the town, her mom was the “it” girl in high school who aspired to become a Rockette, January is a little local celebrity with a budding dancing career, and her twin brother Jace… is just existing in their world. After the murder, incriminating evidence suggests that the family could be covering up the dark secret behind January’s cold case. Could her mom have committed the murder out of jealousy over the future her daughter had that outshone her own? Could her seemingly creepy brother have harmed her, leading their parents to cover his tracks in a desperate attempt to “protect” their remaining child?

Margot was best friends with January and grew up in the house across the street. In 2019, she returns to the small town to become a full-time caregiver for her ailing uncle while her journalism career is on the rocks. Then another little girl is kidnapped in the next town over, and the case seems to parallel January’s story in a few ways. Has the killer returned? It’s up to Margot and her investigative journalism skills to uncover the truth.

There are a lot of details that seem to be based loosely on the JonBenét Ramsey case (in a respectful way that doesn’t over-sensationalize it, by the way), while still crafting an entirely new plotline for the mystery. Having followed so many seemingly insane cases through her work in true-crime podcasting, Flowers is able to draw up a realistic tragedy that will have you on the edge of your seat.

The dual timeline in this one is very clear, pivoting between Krissy (January’s mother) in the past and Margot in the present with impeccable narrative timing between chapters. There’s always a great hook for each side of the story to leave off on at the end of a chapter, making you want to binge through the next one at record speed.

I honestly expected a lot from Ashley Flowers (she’s set the bar pretty high for herself within the true-crime reader/listener circle) and she really delivered. There are also a few preview chapters for her next book included, plus thoughtful discussion questions for a reading group. The current Prime Day deal on this one is just $7 for the paperback, so honestly, that’s really worth it for such a deeply satisfying read!