Finders Keepers: A Novel by Natalie BarelliPublication Date: February 24, 2026
Pages: 352
Add the Book on:Goodreads
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Rating: ★★★½
Source: From the Publisher
Genre: Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press / Sourcebooks
Synopsis:
From bestselling indie thriller writer Natalie Barelli comes a riveting novel about a woman who finds her darkest secrets published in a bestselling novel - and she'll do anything keep the past from being rewritten.
"Dear Diary. Today I'm going to kill her. Love, Rose."
When Rose discovers her troubled past splashed across the pages of a bestselling book, she knows her carefully constructed life is about to unravel.
The author, Emily Harper, claims the story is fiction, but Rose knows better. Desperate to find out how Emily discovered her deepest secrets, Rose ingratiates herself into the author's life, posing as an eager assistant and adoring fan.
But as Rose gets closer to the truth, long-buried memories resurface. Slowly, the horrifying events of her teenage years come into focus, revealing that sometimes, the people you trust the most are the ones you should be most afraid of.
REVIEW
Natalie Barelli is back with a premise that is pure nightmare fuel for any writer. In Finders Keepers, the line between admiration and obsession blurs when Emily Harper, a bestselling author, unwittingly becomes the target of a masterful deception. When Emily’s new biggest fan moves into her home under the guise of seeking refuge, she has no idea that the laptop she found at an airport holds chilling secrets.
Inside that laptop lies a diary penned by a troubled thirteen-year-old, depicting real-life horrors disguised as fiction — and that diary is what Emily Harper has now published as her own coming-of-age novel, Diary of an Octopus. Enter Rose, twenty-two, two part-time jobs, boyfriend Ben, Aquarius who checks her horoscope daily, and the actual owner of that laptop. She lost it at LaGuardia Airport two years ago and thought losing it was freeing. Until she passes a Barnes & Noble and sees that bright yellow cover on display and feels a wave of nausea. The realization that her secret teenage diary is a bestseller, and that her past actions are intertwined with Emily, fills her with dread.
Barelli plays this as reclaiming a stolen story, with deadly consequences. The tension builds as the truth about Emily’s acclaimed novel comes to light — it’s based on a murder she never truly understood — and the confrontation between truth and deceit reveals that some stories have deadly consequences. Rose grapples with feelings of being a recovering psychopath while trying to appear normal to Ben, and Emily’s polished influencer persona versus her own checkered past makes you question who is actually manipulating whom. It’s an absolutely gripping psychological thriller setup that kept me turning pages.
It loses half a star because the second half leans heavily into inner anxiety spirals and the cat-and-mouse gets a bit repetitive before the final showdown. But if you love author-obsession, stolen diaries, and that creeping dread of your past being exposed, this hits. As the cover teases, “Reclaiming a stolen story, with deadly consequences.” Finders keepers indeed — until the original owner comes knocking.
Content and Trigger Warnings
- Stalking/obsession
- Theft of diary / intellectual property
- References to murder
- Anxiety/paranoia
- Identity theft/deception
- Invasion of home
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