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Book Summary and Reviews of Good Intentions by Marisa Walz

Good Intentions by Marisa Walz

Good Intentions

A Novel

by Marisa Walz

  • Readers' Rating (2):
  • Published:
  • Feb 2026, 336 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A deft and immersive psychological suspense debut about a luxury party planner who becomes obsessed with a woman she encounters in a hospital waiting room.

Cady has worked hard to have a good life. She has a thriving luxury event-planning business, the man she's loved since she was seventeen, and a social calendar she can barely keep up with. She also has Dana, her identical twin, her beyond best friend, her most trusted confidante. When Cady gets a call that Dana has been in a serious accident and arrives moments too late to say goodbye, her world falls apart.

But to Cady's family's growing concern and confusion, it's not Dana's death that consumes her. It's Morgan, a grieving mother Cady encountered in the hospital waiting room, the day her sister died. It can't be a coincidence, that they both experienced tragedy at the same moment, in the same place―Cady doesn't believe in coincidences. Instead, she is convinced that she must help this stranger overcome her tragedy, in order to come to terms with her own.

Or...is there more to it? Is it possible that Cady wants something else from Morgan? Something she can't even admit to herself?

Slyly twisted and deeply provocative, Good Intentions captures the moral ambiguity that can arise in the face of impossible choices. Like the aftermath of a car accident―and against your better judgment―you won't be able to look away.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Compelling. [For] readers who enjoy psychological suspense about grief, obsession, and unraveling relationships." —Library Journal

"Good Intentions is an absolute feat of a debut. Both an honest and unflinching exploration of grief and an extremely unsettling peek into one woman's snowballing obsession, Walz has managed to create one of the most complex and morally grey characters that I have encountered in a very long time." ―Stacy Willingham, New York Times bestselling author of Forget Me Not

"A stunning debut with razor sharp tension and surprising twists. Good Intentions is a compulsive and chilling exploration of grief, obsession, and voyeurism. Walz is an author to watch!" ―Jeneva Rose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Divorce

This information about Good Intentions was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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she treads softly

highly recommended psychological suspense
Good Intentions by Marisa Walz is a highly recommended psychological suspense novel. This slow-burning debut explores grief and obsession.

Cady has a luxury event-planning business and has been married to the man she's loved since she was seventeen. When her identical twin sister Dana suddenly dies after a car accident, Cady's life falls into a downward spiral. While deep in her grief she focuses on and becomes obsessed with Morgan, a grieving mother she briefly met in the emergency room who lost her twelve year-old son in a bicycle accident on the same day. Cady begins to stalk Morgan and deceptively inserts herself into Morgan's life. Cady's grief and obsession quickly threatens her marriage and business.

While this is a well-written novel the plot does proceed very slowly and the initial complete submersion into Cady's grief and constant internal dialogue to Dana can be overwhelming. This does allow the tension to slowly build along with trepidation over what will happen next. For anyone who has grieved the loss of a close sibling, at first Cady's grief is understandable, but quickly turns to something darker and disturbing as she obsesses over Morgan and helping her deal with her grief too.

It is abundantly apparent that Cady is an unreliable, flawed narrator and that something unspoken is going on. The plot depends upon Cady's obsessive thoughts, which are unsettling, distorted, and untrustworthy, to create tension. Spending so much time in her mind is uncomfortable. The atmosphere becomes oppressive as the dread over what may happen next increases. The final chapter was shocking.

Good Intentions is a good choice for readers who appreciate psychological suspense novels with an unreliable narrator dealing with grief and obsession. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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Author Information

Marisa Walz

Marisa Walz is a Federal Reserve executive who also writes novels about people behaving badly. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and two young children.

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