Audiobook Review: Too Old for This by Samantha Downing

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Too Old for This by Samantha Downing

Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars

Genre: Thriller, Suspense

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Penguin Audio (August 12, 2025)

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Author Information: Website

Narrator: Elizabeth Wiley

I’ve never made it a secret how much fun I have with Samantha Downing’s books. Her thrillers are twisty, fast-paced, and just a little bit outrageous—and I mean that in the best possible way. That’s why I was immediately on board with Too Old for This, her latest novel about a retired grandmother with a rather inconvenient past as a serial murderer. I mean, how can you resist a premise like that?

The story follows 75-year-old Lottie Jones, our protagonist who looks every bit the part of a sweet little old lady. She blends into her small-town community, where she can be seen puttering about town with her walker, attending bingo nights at her church, and serving her visitors tea whenever they come around. But what people don’t realize is that Lottie has a secret past. In fact, she wasn’t even known as Lottie back then. Under a different name, she lived a far more violent life as a prolific killer, leaving a trail of bodies behind her. And she’s never been caught. Oh, there were times when the police came close, but they were never able to pin anything on her.

But now, many years later, just when Lottie thought she’d successfully buried her old identity, a young and determined investigative journalist named Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep threatening to dig it all back up. Plum is researching a string of unsolved cases from decades ago and wants to feature them in a new series she is making—one that, unfortunately for Lottie, will require her direct involvement. Somehow, Plum has uncovered her old name and its ties to those long-ago crimes. Suddenly, the quiet requirement Lottie has worked so hard to build doesn’t seem too safe anymore, not with someone like Plum eagerly sniffing around. But while times have certainly changed, making it much harder to get away with murder these days, Lottie fortunately hasn’t forgotten all her old tricks. Of course, it’s not something she ever expected to have to do again, but as she has learned over the years, some things simply must be done.

What follows is a little different from the previous books I’ve read by Samantha Downing. Her novels are usually packed with twists and shocking reveals that are way out there, keeping you glued to the pages, but Too Old for This takes a slightly different approach. For one, the pace is steadier, the surprises not as in-your-face, yet the story is still every bit as batshit insane as you’d expect—it just creeps up on you in a more subtle way. Much of the fun comes from the slow-building tensions as Lottie tries to navigate her carefully maintained image of a frail innocent old woman while dodging pesky reminders of her past that keep cropping up. However, the harder she tries to cover her tracks, the more mistakes and other unforeseen complications begin to pile up, and eventually her efforts snowball into a chaos that almost borders on comedic.

Then there is Lottie herself, who provides no shortage of entertainment. She’s a fantastic protagonist, full of dry wit and biting observations that make it hard not to root for her, even when she’s doing something morally questionable—and she usually is. There’s also something deliciously twisted about following an innocuous looking septuagenarian as she waxes poetic about the best way to dispose of a body in the same breath that she worries about what birthday presents to send to her grandbabies. Far from harmless, Lottie is sharp and calculating, and clearly age hasn’t dulled her instincts one bit. In fact, she uses her elderly appearance to her advantage, and it’s that constant contrast between the mundane concerns of everyday life and the casual brutality of her murderous actions that gives the book so much of its dark humor.

All in all, Too Old for This was another wild ride from Samantha Downing, even if it features more dark humor and character work than on the big, over-the-top twists she’s known for. Personally, I loved the change of pace, and Lottie has easily become one of my favorites of her characters. Speaking of which, I also loved the audiobook, whose narrator does the novel’s unique protagonist justice. Elizabeth Wiley’s voicework was incredible, perfectly nailing the sly humor and sharp edges lurking beneath Lottie’s sweet-little-old-lady façade. If you’re in the mood for a thriller that’s both darkly twisted and fun, I highly recommend picking it up.