Rebecca Keller's impressive debut, YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN is an unputdownable twisty mystery suspense of one grandmother's obsession for justice—while crossing moral lines.

AUDIOBOOK: 🎧 I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator, Petrea Burchard, was outstanding! She was soothing and offered a perfect voice for Frannie for an engaging listening experience. She reminds me of a cross between Elizabeth Berg and Cassandra Campbell. She made the book! I will be looking for more audiobooks by this narrator. I loved it so much that I purchased the e-book, and glad I did to read the Author's note and reading guide.

Meet grandmother Frannie Greene in her early 70s. She is lovely; her husband, Cal, passed on six years earlier. However, recently she has taken a nasty fall and needs assistance. She lives alone in a condo they purchased after selling their house. Her son and daughter want her to move to an assisted living facility.

She wants to live independently but finally agrees, having little choice. She has a true friend Ruthie that she writes to.

The Ridgewood Senior Apartments is her new home; she is reminded that the people there are residents, not patients. Each has an apartment and can live independently, but services are readily available for those needing them.

Frannie was a nurse and went to med school but dropped out when she started a family. She is not thrilled with the activities, socializing, or nosy people. But her son and daughter encourage her to get involved and meet new friends. Frannie is smart, intelligent, and funny.

Their family had experienced a tragedy that had left them with many scars. Her daughter, Iris' daughter (her granddaughter) Bethany, was killed in a horrible car crash.

There was a lot of hurt, anger, rage, and resentment regarding this accident after the Judge had let off the drunk driver. The man was back on the streets again and was responsible for killing her granddaughter. There was a massive scandal. She blames the Judge and has wanted revenge since the accident. Lawyers had power, and power corrupts.

Iris was in a bad way, and she worried about her mental health. She had been the one driving and suffered much guilt and grief. She had pushed them all away, including her husband, Jimmy, her friends, Charlie, and her.

Charlie, her son, is married to Pam, and they have two sons, Adam and Danny. Frannie loves her grandchildren, but her grown children want her to enjoy her life and her new living arrangement and encourage her to get involved with people her age, even though she has to use a walker and wants to remain independent as long as possible.

However, she gives it a try, and after a few weeks at the new facility, she meets the staff and a lovely lady, Katherine. They develop a friendship and bond over books, pie, and Young and the Restless. She joins a book club, and they visit the in-house library often.

Katherine was a former interior designer and then met Nathaniel. Katherine became a stepmother to Nathaniel's daughter, Lisa. Frannie is not wild about Nathaniel since he appears entitled, very controlling, and jealous of things she picks up from Katherine.

When Katherine finally meets Nathaniel, she is SHOCKED!

She knows this evil man. He is the man responsible for her granddaughter's death. He was the corrupt Judge! Bethany would still be alive if the drunk driver had been jailed after the first offense.

Two lawyers had finally gone to prison. The scandal had been going on for years— prosecutors and defense lawyers bribing clerks to get certain judges, then paying those judges to ensure leniency. Although Judge Nathaniel Karney and a prosecutor were charged with accepting bribes to let Stinson and other drunk drivers off easy, the charges were dropped because the evidence was insufficient.

Does this wonderful lady, Katherine know how evil her husband is? Is she aware of his business? She cannot let on to Katherine she is aware of her evil monster judge husband. However, the more she thinks about it, the more she knows she must find a way to make him pay.

She thinks of an idea when she sees the medicine cart in the hallway. She can get justice. She will take matters into her own hands. She cannot tell anyone her plan. How could Katherine be married to a person like this? He was corrupt.

She can switch out the meds. Since she is a former nurse and knows medications, she has some of Cal's old pills- the same as Nathaniel takes and can make the dosage stronger. She can switch out his meds.

This was nerve-wracking! The tension builds as Frannie puts her plan in motion. But things do not go as planned.

Someone winds up dead, she learns the next day, but it is NOT Nathaniel!

What has she done? How can she live with herself? She thinks she is as bad as the Judge. No one can find out about what she has done. Should she go to the cops to confess? Remorse, guilt, disgust. She grapples with good vs. evil. What had she become?

She thinks back to the letter that Katherine slipped under her door. About Katherine saying what a good person she was. Was there a hidden meaning in the note?

Also, Frannie cannot let Iris see this man. She will recognize him and vice versa. She will have to relive this entire tragedy over again.

In the meantime, there is another resident, Evan. His brother-in-law was a cop, and he tells his story. Does he know what she did? He knows her connection to the Judge. He knows about the drunk driver, the lawyers, and the Judge. He knows that the Judge got off and was never brought to justice. He had been investigating the crooked attorneys and how they almost got Kearney. He had even helped put one of the lawyers away. But did he mess with the evidence?

Did he try to get justice same as her? Is he on her side? Can she come clean with him?

Guilt-ridden, Francie is worried about what she has done; she digs deeper. The poor woman, Graciela, who was in charge of the meds, has gotten into trouble. She may be deported. She must help her and learn more about what happened.

Things are not as they seem. So what really happened? So many emotions.

I loved this book and the satisfying conclusion. Brilliant!

The author spins a highly realistic creative tale with highly relatable characters in this suspenseful story of how good people can be tempted to do bad things. A cautionary tale about taking matters to achieve justice into our own hands.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I enjoyed the Author's note and reader's guide. YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN is an ideal book club pick. The author expressed she set out to write a morally complex story about a good person who had succumbed to their worst impulse. What prompts someone to stray from the straight and narrow? What if they were convinced justice was on their side?

Indeed, she exceeded all expectations!

Brilliantly plotted, I loved the relationship between the two women, their friendship, the topics of justice, revenge, and complicity, and how they intertwined with her religious beliefs. She also explored status, hierarchies, and class.

Also, as the author references, Ridgewood is almost a character within itself. I lived in a similar environment for five years. There is a wealth of information for a book within this generation of seniors living in one hi-rise with many exciting stories and pasts.

I resonated with this story so much since I am in this age range. My grown sons are far away in another state. As you get older living alone you worry about falls and having to one day give up your independence. I once lived in a senior high rise downtown for 62 and over and hated it. I finally moved and decided I could not handle all the nosy old people that were depressing. Now I live in an all-age community with much more privacy.

I felt for Frannie and was glued to the audiobook as I could not wait to see how the story would unravel. I loved Frannie and Evan! What well-developed characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed the author's writing style, which reminds me of a cross between Elizabeth Berg and Catherine Ryan Hyde (two favorites). This book is for those who enjoy suspense, mystery, women sleuthing, humanity, humor, superb writing, and family dramas with wise life lessons. The author explores the bonds of family and the grudges we refuse to let go.

The author has been added to my favorite author list and I cannot wait to see what comes next! Highly Recommend!

Special thanks to #DreamscapeMedia via #Netgalley for a gifted ARC and the introduction to this newfound author. I also purchased the e-book and hardcover.

Blog review posted @
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: April 4, 2023
My Rating: 5 Stars +
April 2023 Must-Read Books

3.5 stars. Widow Frannie Greene moves to an assisted living facility at the persistent urging of her children. Once there, she mostly keeps to herself until she makes a friend in a vibrant woman named Katherine. Katherine's husband, however, is cold and controlling, and one day Frannie recognizes him as the corrupt judge she blames for the death of her young granddaughter. Impulsively, Frannie tampers with the medicine cart, rationalizing her actions as a sort of karmic justice. The next day, however, she finds that the judge is still very much alive, but someone else is not. Is it Frannie's fault? And if so, how will she live with herself?

This was an enjoyable thriller from a fresh perspective! I feel like most of the books I read in this genre have a young female protagonist, so I really enjoyed Frannie taking that role. I was invested in the story, the pace was excellent, and some of the twists surprised me. Overall a solid read! Narrator Petrea Burchard does an excellent job of bringing the story to life.

Thank you to Rebecca A. Keller, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for my advance audio copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was an oddball mixture of crime, corruption, family life and secrets. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t my favorite. The main character was confusing at times and the rest of the characters were rather unlikable.
The ending wasn’t what I expected either and there really wasn’t any climax to the whole book at all.
Narrator did an ok job.

Sorry this was a DNF for me. I gave it all my effort to finish and at 60% in I’ve decided this book just isn't for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the free audio book in exchange for an honest review.

This was narrated by Petrea Burchard who did a fabulous job with all of the characters. Highly recommend the audio version!

This is an interesting mystery about people committing a crime for the wrong reasons and a thought-provoking reminder that all of us will grow old at some point despite our best efforts!

Frannie Green is a retired nurse who has reluctantly moved into assisted living at the insistence of her kids. While she has her mental faculties, her movement in her 70's is just not what it should be. As she acclimates and begins to make friends in the home, she discovers something about a couple that she befriends...the husband did something horrible and it impacted Frannie's family. Despite an inner struggle, Frannie takes her revenge and it ends up causing harm to an innocent person. As Frannie struggles to sort through the mess and discovers the truth, we see that things are more complex that they seemed.

I really enjoyed this! I liked Frannie and had great empathy for her as I too have a mother in memory care. I thought the author was brave to set the book in a nursing home as that is not a sexy setting that any of us want to end up in. Recommend!!!

You Should Have Known by Rebecca A. Keller
Narrated by Petrea Burchard

This is such an interesting mix of crime, past and present, and the self reflection that comes with grief, loss, age, and guilt. Retired nurse Frannie Greene has been moved into a senior living facility after a fall that led to a broken knee cap and the decision by her doctor and grown children that she should no longer live at home on her own. Her family has had enough heartache in their past for Franny to feel like she can add more stress on her children so she does her best to settle into this fate even though she's not happy about the situation.

Soon Franny is embroiled in a precarious situation. A judge that she considers crooked is living in this home and Franny had become friends with his wife before she was aware that this judge played such a huge part in the tragedy that befell her family. If only Franny could get justice for her granddaughter and others but that's just a pipedream. Then things come together to make Franny's dream a possibility...maybe?

Instantly Franny has regrets, especially when someone who least deserves it may pay dearly for something she didn't do. How could Franny throw away everything that made her the person she had been in the past by trying to change the future? Nothing she could do would change the past and now she's mucked up the future for so many people. What was the right thing to do? What is the right thing to do now?

Petrea Burchard does a fantastic job with the narration of this story. She makes it easy to picture Franny as she tried to work through all that has happened and should happen in the future. Franny is at a crossroads. She can fight her fate in ways that make things harder on her children or she can adapt and find happiness in her last years. She may not be where she wants to be but there is no fighting the aging process. And now she has to make sure her actions don't hurt even more people than her family. For some of what Franny reflects upon, there are no answers, what is coming will come no matter what Franny does.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ARC.

After a fall, retired nurse, Francine Greene has been persuaded by her children to move into an assisted living facility. She quickly befriends Katherine, another resident who shares her love of books and soap operas. That friendship quickly curdles when Frannie discovers that Katherine’s husband is the judge who let the drunk driver who killed her grandchild off with house arrest. Succumbing to the temptation for revenge, she takes drugs from an unattended meds cart to prepare a lethal cocktail for the judge. When death is the result, Frannie is consumed with feelings of remorse, guilt and the fear of discovery. Less a thriller than an intense study of the human psyche, this thought provoking story is perfect for book groups

Wow, I was not expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. This audiobook had me hooked from the beginning!

Thank you Dreamscipe Media and Netgalley fir this alc. It was a different and surprisingly good debut. I loved the dynamic an unique settings that made a mystery thriller really complex. There were really some difficult decision and was really hard to say were good or bad but I enjoyed this audio a lot.

First, I am so thankful to Crooked Lane Books, Dreamscape Media, NetGalley, and Rebecca A. Keller for granting me advanced audio access to You Should Have Known, which details a saddening downtick in our ever-aging lives, but the process of receiving elderly care when one might not be ready for it. Our main character is jetted off to a senior living facility after it's deemed she can no longer care for herself alone. What she stumbles upon is a community like no other, and one that's not portrayed in the stereotypical media sequences.