Kids can do stupid things. One moment, one bad decision can change the rest of your life. Five teenagers were drinking and partying in the woods, when something went terribly wrong. A tragic death. There are many secrets among the teenagers, and their parents as well. The story flips to 20 years later. There are many twists and turns, some that you will predict and some you won’t. Many thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Lisa Scottoline hasn't disappointed me yet. I actually really liked this one, even though the characters are younger for a lot of the book than her characters normally are. I often recommend her titles to my colleagues and friends/family, but I think I could also recommend this one to students if I want. The book is basically split in half between the younger years of the characters (in 1999 while in high school) and the older versions of the characters (present day). I think it was also interesting to me because the characters are close to my age and we can all relate to stupid decisions and how they can mess up your whole life. Overall, I definitely recommend this as well as her other titles for good domestic dramas.

Lisa Scottolini’s standalone novel, Someone Knows is an intense novel that will grip readers immediately. Allie Garvey shares an ugly secret with a few others, and twenty years has passed since she and a group of her friends got drunk, handled a gun, and witnessed the death of an acquaintance when he shot himself playing Russian roulette. None of the group knows who loaded the gun, and none have mentioned the secret in the twenty years since it happened. At the time, they had all agreed to keep their involvement in the death a secret, and the police ruled the death a suicide without knowledge that the group witnessed the shooting; none of them were prosecuted. Allie has come back to her hometown to attend the funeral of one of the members of the group, and hopes that the guilt she has felt for twenty years will go away. Allie has punished herself throughout the years, and her guilt has affected every aspect of her life. Attending the funeral and expecting closure, Allie finds that things get worse, and as she tries to untangle the mysteries surrounding the incident, she finds herself in grave danger.

Scottolini is excellent at developing her characters, and she makes them appear believable; readers will put themselves in the position of the characters and relate to their plights. It seems that everyone knows someone in their lives who is similar to those in the novel, so it seems real. The novel is well-organized, and Scottolini’s writing style makes the book difficult to put down. The novel is very intense, and some of the issues are uncomfortable.

Someone Knows is an excellent novel for those who enjoy thrillers with intense plots and intense scenarios. The subject matter in this novel can be a bit unnerving, which will keep most readers on the edge of their seats. Close to the end, readers will think they have figured things out, but there is a twist at the end that will be totally unexpected.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Author Lisa Scottoline describes Someone Knows as "an exploration of a modern family, and of how the ties that bind are meant to nurture us, but may also warp us. It's also about justice, exploring themes of guilt and innocence. At it heart is this issue -- not guilty doesn't always mean innocent." Someone Knows is a domestic thriller examining how a teenage prank goes horribly wrong and effects everyone involved for decades.

As the story opens, Allie Garvey is en route to her childhood home to attend the funeral of a high school friend. Allie is grief-stricken and full of dread because she fears she will encounter the two surviving classmates with whom she has shared an unbearable secret for 20 years.

The action then moves back in time 20 years to a horrific night when the lives of five teenagers, including Allie, were changed forever. They were drinking and partying in the woods near the tony development in which they lived. One of them suggested they play a deadly prank on the boy who has just moved into the neighborhood. The prank results in tragic consequences. The teenagers kept what happened a secret, believing that getting caught would be the worst thing that could happen.

But time has taught Allie that not getting caught was far worse. She has been haunted for two decades by what she and the others did, and by the fact that she never told. The secret has caused her to remain aloof and detached from everyone she loves, especially her husband in whom she has never confided. Allie has served as her own judge and jury, sentencing herself to a life sentence for her silence.

Allie is on the brink of losing everything she holds dear and knows that her silence has to end. At long last, she longs to stop wondering exactly how the prank turned deadly, but her inquiries lead her to a shocking and deadly revelation.

In her latest domestic thriller, author Lisa Scottoline takes her readers on an emotionally dark exploration of families whose lives appear, from all outside appearances, to be happy and stable. But those families harbor secrets and conflicts. No marriage is perfect, but in the case of Allie's parents, the chronic illness and death of Allie's beloved older sister strains her parents' marriage and destroyed her mother's mental health. Against that backdrop, fifteen-year-old Allie, grieving her sister's death the prior year from cystic fibrosis, goes along with the prank after drinking to excess and in order to impress David, the boy upon whom she has a serious crush.

Scottoline explores the home lives of the other teenagers, as well, as a foundation for the manner in which they behave. In particular, new kid Kyle, a talented basketball player who has been forced to move to the neighborhood with his mother after a scandal involving his father, is troubled. Julian and Sasha, from wealthy families, are popular, self-assured, and in search of thrills. David, whose best friend is Julian, is obsessed with reading the writing of David Foster Wallace and emulates him. His father is particularly critical of David, which causes him to question himself.

There is one overriding mystery in Someone Knows related to how the prank went horribly wrong, but Scottoline includes plot twists, false clues, and a jaw-dropping conclusion that readers will likely never see coming. Through it all, she asks readers to question what constitutes justice, who should deliver it, and the myriad ways in which secrecy can damage relationships. She inspires readers to ponder what they would do if placed in a similar situation. Someone Knows is fast-paced, thought-provoking, and sure to be another bestseller for one of the most inventive and creative contemporary storytellers.

I am a huge fan of Lisa Scottoline so I was beyond excited to be offered Someone Knows. Now this book wasn't one of my favorites from Lisa but it was really good.
Lisa writes a good story that will have you glued to your kindle wanting more and when the book is done the ending will rock your world.

This book wasn't for me. I had initially thought the premise of 4 teenagers playing Russian roulette with an "unloaded" gun when in fact it was loaded and one is killed seemed interesting. After all, who loaded it and do they all keep the secret? The way the story played out and the back and forth of the timeline left me frustrated. There wasn't a likable character to root for in the bunch and the structure and plot felt scattered and chaotic. By the last fourth I didn't at all care what had happened and really hated the ending.

"Someone Knows" by Lisa Scottoline, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 400 pages, April 9, 2019.

Allie Garvey is returning home to Chester County, Pa. for a funeral.

She didn't have many friends in high school. Her older sister, Jill, died of cystic fibrosis at the age of 17. They were best friends.

Twenty years earlier, she and four other teens were partying in the woods. Two boys found a revolver. They played a prank which results in the death of a third boy, newcomer Kyle Gallagher.

The teens didn't admit what happened. They were never charged, but Allie has been dealing with the guilt. One of their group commits suicide on the 20th anniversary of the first death.

Scottoline's acknowledgments call her stand-alone novel a “deep domestic."

There's a lot of time spent on the angst of entitled privileged teens. It is difficult to like any of the characters. This is not one of her best novels.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

DNF - 4/2019

Got 150 pages into the book and then flipped to the last chapter. Too many characters, didn’t connect with them. So many cliches like the spoiled princess with an absentee mother, rich kid who is a voyeur, chubby girl who wants to be popular like her older sister.... and the parents of all these kids get a storyline too. Disappointed ☹️

Lisa Scottoline calls Someone Knows a “deep domestic.” It plumbs the dirty secrets that the well-to-do and those pretending to be well-to-do try to keep hidden in the past so their lives do not collapse in the present. It is a story in which teenagers don’t show a spark of rebellion and adults cling desperately to the status quo. In my experience, it is totally inauthentic, and I had no interest in sharing a world with these people. Scottoline is a serviceable writer so I moved through the chapters quickly, but even so I found myself skipping to the end and was able to tie up all the loose ends efficiently by omitting two thirds of the book. Now obviously, if you like this kind of book, that is not something you would choose to do, but I have discovered I will never be a fan of this author or genre so I will be even more efficient in the future and skip her books completely.

Someone Knows is an ambitious book that is classic Lisa Scottoline--it has a great plot (that handles the time span well) and great characters. I loved everything, and think that despite a writing style that's a little clunkier than usual, Ms. Scottoline has created a read that's engaging and will interest both adult and teen readers. This makes Someone Knows a title that will generate a lot of book club interest, imo. Highly recommend.

This domestic thriller has an ambitious story line that spans twenty years. The linchpin for the narrative is a game of Russian roulette that went horribly wrong. Our story begins and ends with Allie Graves who turns out to be a key player in the drama. There were times when the twists and turns in the plot were riveting. At others the large cast of characters seems to be unwieldy. Faithful fans of Lisa Scottoline will find this a decent addition to her list of novels and one of her better domestic dramas. I found it to be a somewhat depressing read and would not commend this title to those unfamiliar with Scottoline's earlier works.

A big thank you to Penguin Press and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this new thriller in exchange for an honest review.

Predictable story filled with cliched characters. Overall, it was a solid read, but slightly disappointing.

I know LS has a huge fan base but for some reason over the years I’ve only read one of her books before. This one sounded exactly like the type of book I would like, there’s always something about domestic suspense that pulls me in and this was no exception, and made me eager to go back and check out her other books.

This is told via two timelines, present day and twenty years ago. It opens with the current day and then the majority is told in the past only flipping forward towards the end. One thing I really liked here was the multiple narrators, you hear from almost every single character in the story at some point and there are quite a few. I wasn’t confused by this, it was fairly easy to work out who was who and how they all related to each other early on. Most of the chapters were on the short side as well making this a compulsive read for me.

The plot focuses on one terrible night when a group of teenagers made typical awful teenaged decisions but their unfortunate choices ended in a tragic death. Along the way you learn that everyone from the kids themselves to their parents have some juicy and sometimes disturbing secrets, so there was also something interesting going on here no matter who’s viewpoint you were currently reading. It is on the slower side as far as suspense goes, it’s a gradual build but the ending packs a solid punch. There were twists, some I predicted and others that shocked me, but overall I was satisfied with how it all ended. It loosely reminded me of a Liane Moriarty novel in that it had the same lighter style but this one definitely had more dark moments too, it explored some heavy issues so keep that in mind.
Someone Knows in three words: Tense, Gripping and Dark

I am a big Lisa Scottoline fan, but this one just did not work for me. I felt like there was just way too much going on and and the characters lacked depth. The plot was far-fetched and unbelievable at times. I predicted the ending but did not find it plausible. Definitely not my favorite from this author!

Many thanks to Netgalley, G. P. Putnam’s Sons and Lisa Scottoline for my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Sometimes you conscience is your most loyal companion, even when it seems like your worst nightmare come to life. Allie has struggled for twenty years to come to grips with a teenage tragedy. However, she is not alone, a pact was made that has been honored by all. But something is changing, the death of one of the four starts a domino of events that will change many lives forever.

What if what you really thought happened in your past is not what happened at all. This book deals with that from several different viewpoints, all with well developed characters and some amazing twists. All Lisa's fans, or just fans of a good thriller will appreciate this book.

I struggled to finish this story. I have a,ways enjoyed and looked forward to reading the work of Lisa Scottoline, yet Someone Knows is not one of my favorites by her. There was just so much going on and so many characters being introduced with everyone having their own “issues” it was much too overwhelming and difficult to keep up with. The story does offer mild thriller/psychological page turning, but it was difficult to finish.

Lisa Scottoline is an auto-read author for me, and I've really enjoyed many of her books. This one fell a little flat for me. I knew the basic premise going in from the blurb, but I think the main reason it wasn't as compelling of a read for me as some previous books by the author was the amount of time spent telling the story from the teenagers' points of view- I didn't expect this from the blurb and, while it was the majority of the book, it was the weakest part, particularly the amount of time that leads up to the "secret" event that defines the rest of the teenagers' lives. It still came in around 3 stars for me- the last section of the book, told from the perspective of the teens as adults was much more interesting.

Privileged people behaving badly and getting away with it. I'm not sure what happened here. I have read everything this author has written and I am sure it is the first time I've been disappointed.

They weren't really even friends. Maybe Allie had reason to behave the way she did after losing her sister, but the rest could have fallen off the page for all I cared. 

And the ending was just unsatisfying. This just didn't work for me.

NetGalley/April 9th 2019 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

I am a fan of Lisa Scottoline’s novels, but this stand along “domestic thriller” was not one of my favorites. Told from the points of view of many different characters, it moves between the past (twenty years ago) and the present. All of these characters seem to have an over abundance of tribulations and clichéd emotional baggage.

Although this is a fast read, it seemed to take a long time to tell the story. There are many twists and turns, with the final reveal less than satisfying. Still, the book held my attention……

Twenty years ago, Allie and her friends were partying, drinking, etc. in the woods when they found a gun. The temptation to play with the gun could not be resisted and one of them ends up dead. Now adults, the friends are gathered together again for a funeral. What happened that night 20 years ago? Was it really an accident? How does the past tie now to the present?
This was a good book! I love all things Lisa Scottoline and I will continue to gobble up everything she writes! Thanks to Lisa Scottoline, Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the ARC of this great book!