Little Threats

Praise

One of Bustle‘s Most Anticipated Books of November 2020
One of CrimeReads’ Most Anticipated Crime Books of Fall 2020

“A taut thriller.”–PopSugar

“A perceptive thriller….Schultz delivers an energetic plot fueled by incisive character studies.”–Shelf Awareness

“Fans of Tana French, Kimberly Belle, and Orange is the New Black will fall under this book’s spell….Terse and tense, Little Threats investigates righteous anger, teenage angst, and the enormity of setting the record straight.”—Booklist

“A masterful slow-boil, with a pal­pa­ble sense of menace suf­fus­ing nearly ev­ery scene, it is also a stark and re­al­is­tic de­pic­tion of the trau­matic legacy of vi­o­lent crime and tragedy.”--The Toronto Star 

“[A] taut psychological thriller…Schultz knows how to keep the reader engrossed.”–Publishers Weekly 
 
“[A] gripping character study of an accused girl making sense of her reality.”–Kirkus Reviews

“Schultz brings her level gaze and compassionate prose to all these fallible people as they finally unravel the truth, evoking the eras she writes of with intimate knowledge and a cultural depth that will resound with anyone else who lived through them too.”–Criminal Element

“Brilliantly structured and gorgeously written, Little Threats is a captivating mystery about a young woman accused of a brutal murder–one she isn’t sure she’s committed. It’s a story of love and loss, the power of guilt and the savagely delicate fabric of family.” –Kimberly McCreight, bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia and A Good Marriage  

“Schultz unfolds her story with masterful precision and restraint, delivering a novel that is pure emotional dynamite.” –Wendy Walker, bestselling author of The Night Before

“Emily Schultz’s Little Threats is a complex, powerful, emotionally wrenching thriller with a deceptively simple premise: what if you agreed to serve 15 years in prison for a murder you have no memory of committing? Intense, twisty, and compelling—once you begin reading, you won’t be able to stop!” – Karen Dionne, author of the #1 internationally bestselling The Marsh King’s Daughter

“Emily Schultz’s Little Threats is an exquisitely written and thrilling novel about growing up and breaking apart, about the past refusing to loosen its grip on us, and about the impossibility of going back and righting the wrongs that send us spiraling out of control. And, of course, it’s a whale of a whodunnit. This is a riveting and powerful novel about friendship and fate, youth and time, and the toll these things take on all of us. Don’t miss it!”–David Bell, bestselling author of The Request

“Little Threats hooked me from the first line. A gripping, haunting story about family, memory, and most of all, grief—this book is difficult to put down, and more difficult to stop thinking about.” —Rob Hart, author of The Warehouse

“At its heart, Little Threats is a devastating and elegiac novel about teenage friendships, sexuality, drug use, and ultimately betrayal. Emily Schultz is unflinching in revealing the way prison isn’t merely a place, but a feeling that can haunt a girl who grew into a woman behind bars. Freedom isn’t absolution, and the answers are as painful as the questions in this heart-stopping, powerful story.”–Bryn Greenwood, author of All the Ugly and Wonderful Things and The Reckless Oath We Made
 
“Emily Schultz gives us fierce, if damaged, Kennedy Wynn, a young woman returning home from prison, haunted by a crime for which she maintains her innocence and plagued by a legacy of pain and loss. Schultz has the reader eagerly flipping pages as secrets are revealed, while also pausing to consider Kennedy’s poignant observations about trust and love.  It’s a pulsating mystery and a deftly rendered portrait of a family in crisis, where small details, like little threats, enlighten and illuminate.”–Lori Lansens