Buyer Beware by Catherine Ryan Howard #VirtualBookTour #BuyerBeware @cathryanhoward @bantambooksuk @randomthingstours #BookReview

 

If these walls could talk, they’d scream…

When Ellie moves into 1 Delaney Row, all she has to her name is the house, a small suitcase and the terrible secrets she’s desperate to keep. But what she doesn’t know is that her new home is already hiding someone else’s secrets – and the people determined to keep them are watching her.

When a grim discovery prompts Ellie to find out more about the house’s past, she unwittingly puts herself on a deadly collision course not just with her new home’s history, but with her own as well…

Inspired by so-called ‘stigmatised properties’ – houses with dark and violent pasts – Buyer Beware is an intricate puzzle-box of a thriller with a pulsing emotional heart, from an author at the very top of her game.

Buyer Beware by Catherine Ryan Howard was published on 16 July 2026 by Bantam Press. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Virtual Book Tour

This psychological thriller draws you in slowly before increasing the tension, making it hard to put the book down. Ellie arrives at 1 Delaney Row hoping for a fresh start. She has few belongings and wants to keep her past hidden. It quickly becomes clear that someone is watching her every move. Strange incidents occur around the house, creating a sense of unease. Alongside Ellie's story, we meet Erin and Hannah through earlier timelines. Their lives seem very different at first, but the author reveals subtle connections between them, allowing the mystery to unfold at a perfect pace. The multiple timelines are skillfully done, and each one adds another piece to a complex puzzle. However, this does not feel complicated; the structure kept me turning the pages as I wondered how these women are connected and what role Delaney Row plays. The author creates an unsettling atmosphere. There’s a constant sense that something lurks just beneath the surface. The characters feel real, each with their own vulnerabilities and secrets, which adds emotional depth to the story. There were moments when I thought I had figured out the story’s direction, but I was happy to be proved wrong. Buyer Beware is a gripping, character-driven thriller that balances mystery, suspense, and emotion very well. It's an absorbing and satisfying read. I recommend it.

Catherine Ryan Howard is an award-winning, no. 1 bestselling thriller writer from Cork, Ireland. 

Her novels have been included in the New York Times Best Thrillers of the Year, the Washington Post’s Best Mysteries and Thrillers of the Year and the Sunday Times Best Thrillers of the Year. 

Her work has been shortlisted for the Edgar Award for Best Novel, the CWA New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Daggers, and the Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year multiple times. 

She is published in 20 languages and a number of titles are being developed for screen. An adaptation of her lockdown thriller, 56 DAYS, starring Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia,  debuted exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in early 2026. 

She lives in Dublin.