It can be hard keeping secrets in a tight-knit neighbourhood.
In a tranquil, leafy suburb of ordinary streets – one where everyone is polite and friendly – an anonymous note has been left at some of the houses.
‘I’m so sorry. My son has been getting into people’s houses. He’s broken into yours.’
Who is this boy, and what might he have uncovered? As whispers start to circulate, suspicion mounts.
And when a missing local woman is found murdered, the tension reaches breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they’re telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their secrets?
Maybe you don’t know your neighbour as well as you thought you did . . .
Someone We Know by Shari Lapena was published on 25 July 2019 by Bantam Press / Transworld. Huge thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour
Someone We Know is a wonderfully traditional murder mystery, with many twists. Shari Lapena, once again, has created a setting, and a cast of characters who totally draw in the reader. For me, her greatest strength is her ability to construct such multi-layered characters who never cease to surprise me.
The murder of a local woman is at the heart of the story, yet it is the amazing character development and delicious sense of place; almost claustrophobic and incredibly atmospheric that really won me over.
Lead character Olivia is a regular American Mom. Until the day that she finds out that her teenage son Raleigh has been breaking into houses in the neighbourhood. He's not a thief, he hasn't taken anything. He's a hacker; breaking into personal computer systems, snooping around and sending the odd spoof email from his victim's accounts.
Olivia is horrified and decides she must try to apologise for her son, but wants to keep him out of trouble. She writes an anonymous note to the two victims that she knows of; apologising and explaining what happened.
Amanda Pierce is found dead. In the boot of her car, submerged in water. She's been brutally battered around the head. It just so happens that Amanda and her husband Robert were one of Raleigh's targets, and Olivia's apology note could just be the thing that really tears the neighbourhood apart.
As the police try to find out more about Amanda, the reader is treated to a serious of hidden secrets and scandals that prove that we never do quite know 'someone you know'. We can live among a group of people; socialise with them; become friends, but there will always be things that we don't know, and in the case of this neighbourhood, we wouldn't even imagine.
Compulsive and clever, I cannot fault anything about this book. Tense and gripping, this is the ultimate page turner. I loved it!
Shari Lapena worked as a lawyer and as an English teacher before writing fiction.Her debut thriller, The Couple Next Door, was a global bestseller, the bestselling fiction title in the UK in 2017 and has been optioned for television.
Her second thriller, A Stranger In The House, and third, An Unwanted Guest, were both Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers.
This is her fourth thriller
Twitter @sharilapena
Facebook /ShariLapena
Website www.sharilapena.com
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