Thank you to NetGalley for this Audio book of YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN written by Rebecca Keller. Very impress with this debut novel. The narrator of the book was fantastic. Her voice was soothing and made it easy to connect with the book.

This book is about a retired nurse who goes to live at a retirement home and her past seems to have followed her. What are the odds she ends up in the same place as the corrupted judge!!
I really loved Frannie and thought she was a great person. I felt so bad for how much loss and sadness she has experienced in her live.

I look forward to reading more books from Rebecca Keller in the future.

Overall I give this book a 3/5. I base my score on an average from plot, characters, pace, and enjoyment.

Plot.
I really really enjoyed the plot. I thought it was new. I've never listened/read a book with this setup. Franny moves into an assisted living facility, mostly against her wishes. She runs into a familiar face that she would rather never see again. Unfortunately she also comes to rather enjoy this person's wife, which means she is around him more. I have to say that I did not see the twists coming and was surprised when they happened.

Characters.
I liked the characters. They really weren't anything special. There wasn't a lot of depth, which I honestly didn't mind. I think more depth would've added too much fluff and dragged out the pace. I think they were just your basic characters, but given the storyline, they fit it well.

Pace.
I think the pace was good. There wasn't a lot of fluff and it got to the point quickly. There were some interruptions which I don't think we're needed but I don't think they dragged it out too long.

Enjoyment.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I listened to it audiobook to and from work. I looked forward to listening to it and was excited to know what was coming next. I don't think I would've been able to put it down had I read it on a kindle or physical book form.

A well written and unique story with an interesting premise and set of characters. I enjoyed having an older main character and seeing her POV to being put into assisted living and seeing her deal with the trauma of her past, this was a really unique perspective and incredibly well written. Unfortunately it did start to feel repetitive towards the middle so it did fall flat slightly in terms of the thrilling and suspenseful atmosphere of the book. However the overall plot was good and I enjoyed listening to this.

An unusual and impressive debut.....
but just not my cup of prune juice.

"You Should Have Known" is a melodramatic tale of love, loss, death, ethics, family dynamics, and revenge set in an assisted living facility.

The book boasts compelling characterizations and an over-the-top audiobook narration by Petrea Burchard.

The atmospheric backdrop of the assisted living facility was well-researched and spot-on.

The setting seemed so "real" that it brought back the PTS traumatizing memories I worked hard to suppress after my siblings and I selected an assisted living facility for my parents.

The book starts off strong but falters as the plotline progresses.

Midway through the book, the text became repetitive and the storyline started to go around in circles.

Had the 10-hour audiobook been a 7-hour book, this definitely would have upped my star rating.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars rounded up.

If you are looking for a book that will keep you guessing until the end, look no further than this amazing mystery. This book is a puzzle of clues and red herrings, logic and intuition, that will make you think, wonder, and speculate.

The author has created a clever plot that is complex and intriguing, with a satisfying resolution that will make you say "wow". The writing style is smooth and engaging, with subtle hints and wit.

The book is also full of characters and settings that are colorful and realistic, with a touch of mystery and charm. This book is not for the lazy or the bored, but for those who love a good challenge and a fun story.

This book is a must-read for all mystery fans. You won't regret it. Great job!

You Should Have Known" by Rebecca A. Keller is an unexpected thriller that takes place in a senior living center. While initially skeptical of the older characters and the setting, the author quickly convinced me with her engaging writing style and captivating plot.

I enjoyed the way the different storylines fit together and how the author kept me guessing throughout the book. Although I was able to guess the final twist, I found the reveal to be satisfying and enjoyable.

Overall, "You Should Have Known" is a well-written and engaging thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a great job telling this story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Because I read a lot, some plots and tropes become tired. I was so pleased that this book was different. The setting of an assisted living home made it interesting and novel. There were also interesting reflections on aging and family. I was completely loving this book (despite the silly cover), when it fell victim to the most dreaded of conclusions: The Extremely Unlikely Coincidence.


Review copy provided by publisher.

A unique novel and well written, You Should Have Known made me fall in love with Franny and her stubborn but loving self. It didn’t wow me but I enjoyed it! It wasn’t as much of a thriller as it was advertised.

When retired nurse Frannie Green falls and hurts herself in her condo, her doctor & kids convince her to move into a senior living apartment; much to her dismay. She is surprised when she makes a new friend, but what will happen when she discovers her friend is married to the judge who she believes is implicated in a tragedy her family has suffered through. Will her desire for revenge go too far?

This debut novel by Rebecca Keller is fantastic! This is billed as a crime/mystery, but be warned that it is a slow burn, a character driven mystery. This didn’t bother me, in fact I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and their backstories. To me, this is a mystery combined with a “coming of age” of an older person who is learning to live without her husband and how to face mortality. As the author states, “a morally complicated story about a good person who has done a bad thing”.

Frannie is a loveable character, she has gone through a lot in her life and though she’s made decisions that are questionable, she is someone you want to root for. As her desire for revenge grew, I found myself wanting to yell at her; but I still found that I really liked her. Frannie’s backstory, the choices she has made in life, her love for her children, and her development were the driving forces behind this book and the reason it was so compelling. As a reader, you get to face what growing older truly means through this character’s eyes.

The audio was outstanding on this! What a wonderful job done by Petrea Burchard; her voice was the perfect fit for Frannie! She kept me engaged through the entire book! She will be a narrator I look for in the future!

Overall, this was a 4-star book for me. I really enjoyed the storyline and the slow burn of the mystery at its core. The characters were very well written, and I think the author did a great job writing morally complicated characters that were believable. I really felt for these characters, so much that I even teared up at some points. As a debut novel, this is great! I can’t wait to read more from this author!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Rebecca Keller for the audio ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Retired nurse Frannie is moving into an assisted living facility after one too many falls at home and her children are concerned for her safety. They are all trying to navigate what is best and deal with the frustration of growing older and not as independent. These are all very realistic challenges and characters.
A few years ago. frannie lost her granddaughter to a drunk driver and she felt that the judge was too lenient in handing out the sentence. So imagine her surprise when she makes friends with Katherine only to discover that her husband is the judge. Frannie devises her revenge! Can she really go through with it? How do you handle the guilt when you decide to act on it? As Frannie’s anxiety becomes unbearable, she works to make it right and in the process, discovers that things are for more complicated than it seems.
I liked the narrator. She did a great job of keeping the characters defined and engaging.
Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Frannie is moving out of her home and into a senior assisted living facility and she is not very happy about it. Her children are are insistent on the move due to a recent fall that Frannie had at her home. This way Frannie can request assistance anytime that she needs it from the nursing aides. Frannie reluctantly agrees to the move and it doesn't take long for Frannie to make friends with another couple that resides at the same facility. Frannie has a new friend to share interests with and to watch soaps with on a regular basis. Then Frannie finds out that her new friend's husband happens to be the Judge who is responsible for setting free Frannie's granddaughter's murderer. Frannie is horrified and cannot get that horrible day out of her mind. Then one day Frannie sees the medicine cart sitting outside her apartment door and all the medications are labelled for each resident. As a former nurse, Frannie recognizes the medication that is to be dispensed to the Judge. For one horrified minute Frannie has a thought to intervene with the dosage of this particular medication that is being given to the Judge as payback for her granddaughter's death. Does she follow through with her plan? and what happens when one of the residents ends up dead but not the one Frannie was hoping for? I loved this story and it kept me entertained the whole way through. I will look for more books by this Author. Well done!!! Enjoy!!!

I found the book blurb to be a bit misleading on this one. I was expecting a suspense thriller involving revenge and murder. But it was really more of a dramatic fiction dealing with the pain and despair a family endures after they lose loved ones, the difficulties of growing old, feelings of guilt over life choices, and extreme anger towards a corrupt justice system. It was still a great read, it’s just not something you want to read if you are looking for a thriller.
Francine is dealing with a lot of adjustments after being placed in a retirement home and having the home she shared with her husband sold. This was a touching topic they we don’t really see often. The author brought so much life to this character that I could feel what it must be like to lose everything as your prepare for your life’s end in a retirement home. At the same time, she is watching her suicidal daughter try and pick up the pieces and rebuild her life after her daughter is killed by a drunk driver. Francine meets a new friend in the retirement home that she really enjoys but soon realizes that she is married to the crooked judge that is responsible for the death of her grand daughter. This poor woman is forced to endure seeing him live in the same building and eat in the same dining room and witness what a seemingly great life he had as she deals with her families destroyed lives. It’s only natural that she would become fixated on revenge.
But her internal struggle reminded me of the quote “While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself. ...”. Can she live with the choice that she made and the impacts it has on the other people in her life?
This was such a touching beautifully written story. Just maybe categorized incorrectly.

i don’t think there’s nearly enough fiction with elderly protagonists, so i was very excited to read this. while “you should have known” does have a great mystery plot, it’s not a classic whodunnit. if anything, it’s primarily a novel about ageing, grief, guilt, friendship and family. rebecca keller does an amazing job at portraying how franny comes to terms with getting older, copes with grief as well as supporting her daughter with her own and how she deals with the consequences of a fatal moral lapse. overall, a very enjoyable read!

I love books with older ladies still having adventures. This one was amazing. She is in a care facility with her sworn enemy. She is helping her daughter and getting into trouble and then figuring things out. Amazing. The narrator was perfect.

While "You Should Have Known" definitely belongs in the mystery category, it offers so much more than a typical who-done-it — it's not a thriller by any means, instead providing a character-driven plot that doesn't need cheap thrills to succeed. I appreciated the book's heavily interwoven themes of aging, grief, loneliness, and the unintended consequences of our decisions.

Frannie, a septuagenarian who has suffered one too many falls, has recently been moved into an assisted living facility by her family. A retired nurse, Frannie can see the need for this move, while simultaneously grieving the loss of her youth and independence. Through Frannie, Rebecca Keller treats us to a much-needed immersion into the mind of someone living in a care home.

It isn't long after she arrives at the home that Frannie is introduced to "Judge," a retired judge who Frannie has long seen as complicit in the death of her granddaughter years earlier. His pretentious disdain for others quickly escalates her emotions, and she hatches a plan to meddle with his medication. When she awakes the next morning to find her actions have led to a death, she's aghast. Just like the judge's decisions years earlier affected her granddaughter, her own decision has had unintended consequences for Judge. As police attention on the death grows and an innocent bystander is about to take the fall, Frannie does her best to make things right.

This is a very impressive debut and Keller offers us a fresh approach and voice in the mystery genre. While the resolution may not have provided everything I hoped for, based on the earlier intrigue of the book, it did feel realistic; ultimately, I appreciate Keller's restraint where so many other thrillers go over the top. I look forward to reading more from her in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to the audio version of this fantastic book by Rebecca A. Keller. Francie moves to an assisted living home after a bad fall. She is 72 years old and doesn’t like the idea of moving from her condo at all, but her children encourage her to give Ridgewood a chance. Soon after moving in, she befriends a woman named Katherine and they bond over their love of books, soap operas and a true desire for a meaningful friendship. It isn’t long into their friendship that she realizes that Katherine’s husband is somebody from Francie’s past. Francie digs deep into the mystery surrounding Katherine’s husband and also the surprise death of a resident at Ridgewood while reflecting on her memories of the past.

You Should Have Known by Rebecca A. Keller was interesting but ultimately just too slow for me. It's rare to find a book written from an elderly point of view and it was very different than what I'm used to in a thriller. The pacing was very slow and I kept losing interest every few chapters. I like the main character but a lot of the side characters, like Evan and Iris, are underdeveloped. This one was a miss for me but I'm sure fans of slow thrillers will like it.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of the best written books I have read recently! I didn’t really I know what to expect when I requested it, but I am so glad I gave it a chance! It has the heart-warming elements of an elderly women trying to protect her family’s emotional state, while also being a stubborn, sneaky, independent woman. The past and present were beautifully woven together, and the thought process of someone living in an elderly home was very interesting to me! If you liked Killers of a Certain Age or Very Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, you will love this as well!

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the narrators voice and felt like it fit perfectly for the age and description of the main character! This book is about a retired surgical nurse joining a retirement home community and dealing with skeletons from her past when a new friend of hers passes away unexpectedly. I haven’t seen many psychological thrillers set in an elderly community, and found it very memorable for that and how all the main characters are in their 60’s-80’s. I would definitely recommend to anyone who likes these types of books and are looking for one that stands out amongst the others from the setting.

"His face had awakened the ghosts."

This was exactly what I needed right now! This isn't something that would normally catch my eye but I'm so happy it did. My Nana recently fell and is having to stay in a rehab center so I needed to hear an old lady getting around in assisted living and living her life.

This was unique and darkly witty and self-deprecating at times. I loved all of the characters and I felt so comfortable following Frannie's journey with her. It felt very natural.

Frannie is a mom and grandma who took a tumble and hurt her knee. After some time in rehab, she and her family decided it was time for her to move to an assisted living community and let them sell her condo. It was bittersweet for Frannie because while she knew it was time, it was the last place she'd lived with her late husband. This just felt so final for someone her age.

Luckily her kids still come around a lot to take her out and she's still involved in their lives. The family suffered a loss 4 years ago when they lost Bethany, Frannie's granddaughter. Not only that, but they were denied real justice too so it's a wound that's never truly closed, at least for Frannie and Bethany's mom. Iris.

Frannie finally finds a good friend there in Katherine. They're from different worlds, Katherine being a southern wealthy woman. Katherine's husband Nathaniel is suffocating and Frannie isn't used to that kind of relationship so it weirds her out.

But there's something else about him and she finally places it. He was the corrupt judge that denied Bethany justice. What are the odds?! Frannie finds herself, as a retired nurse, in a unique situation wherein she can take the justice that wasn't given.. if she dares.

I loved this! So many moral dilemmas and gray areas but bring up a lot of thought experiments and it really makes you ask: what would I do?? It's a very interesting story..

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to listen and review. The narration was fantastic!