This one was really really scary! I loved it! So many twists and turns, a great twist at the end....but now I need a sequel. A few things weren't answered...but overall, a great thriller.

I saw a pretalk by the author and she discussed fertility issues being at the center of the book and I wondered how that would work in a thriller, but it does. I’m always a little torn on what to write in a thriller review so that I give you an idea about the book without spoiling it. A lot of the book revolves around Olivia. She is trying desperately to conceive and have a child for her husband. I have not had any type of fertility issues and still the book is a little heartbreaking at times as this runs throughout the book. It is intertwined into the story and really the basis for everything that happens. And make sure and read the authors note at the end of the book, where she discusses her connection to the issue and how it affected the story.

I was hooked on Olivia and Park’s story from the beginning and was a little thrown that as soon as I was hooked, a whole slew of new characters were introduced, but I needn’t worry as the book took a step back and picked just a handful to focus on. One of the things I liked was as the POV shifted from character to character, instead of using the character’s name as the heading, they were titled Mother, Father, Donor, Murderer. It served as a reminder of what role they played.

There were twists and turns as per the author’s usual MO. Even switching narratives from character to character, you weren’t privy to all the facts. So not quite unreliable, but definitely not on the up and up. The plot creeps along at times, but never felt slow as I was invested in the main characters. I figured out a few of the twists, but I suspect that was intentional. And I fell for a few red herrings.

I really enjoyed the complexity and layers of the plot mixing both the social issue and the thriller. It really will appeal to a broad audience, but if I haven’t stressed it enough, if fertility issues are a trigger, this might be too much.

I will be mentioning It's One of Us in my February Wrap up on my youtube channel as well

🧬 This was a super interesting premise and I loved the format of the writing surrounding the different characters! “The Brother” “The Mother” “The Killer” etc. It’s One of Us involves a premise that has been popping up in real life in the last 10 years or so with DNA testing for ancestry websites getting more popular. Which is when sperm donation is misused and/or the patient is lied to regarding the source of the sperm donor (think “Our Father” documentary on Netflix 👀 )

🧬 Tie all of THAT drama in with a murder case and you’ve got a really good thriller on your hands!

🧬 I was kind of biased going into this because I LOVE J.T. Ellison’s other books so I went into this expecting something great and I feel like it delivered!

From the outside, Olivia and Park Bender lead a charmed life. She runs a successful interior design business and he writes books. They live in a gorgeous home and really it seems like fate must be smiling on these two people. But don’t be fooled by how it looks from the outside. Olivia has been trying to have a baby for a long time. Her hopes and dreams dashed every time. Park is devastated too but he tries to be supportive.

A knock at their door changes everything. It’s the police with unbelievable news. Park has a son who is wanted for murder. Olivia is heartbroken but Park swears he has no idea who could’ve given birth to his child. A sperm donation when he was in college provides the answer, and holy crap, how many times can a donation be used?

On one hand it’s a very sad story about the cost physically, mentally, and monetarily of infertility. On the other hand, it’s a Cray Cray scenario. Told through multiple POV‘s, I didn’t love how it ended but I enjoyed the ride. Don’t skip the Author Note’s at the end either! You never would, right? The author shared a lot about how the story came to be.

There is so much happening in J.T. Ellison’s new thriller. The main character, Olivia, is battling fertility issues. Her marriage to husband, Park is strained as a result. She has a lot of history with Park’s twin brother, Perry who is back in town. And then to complicate matters more, girls start disappearing. The DNA reflects that Parks has a son who is the suspect. Parks didn’t know he had a son! Twists, turns, a story that will keep you guessing….this is a fast paced novel that you will like! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

It’s One of Us is J.T. Ellison at her very best. A twisty-turny domestic thriller that examines the many ways to have a baby, and the devastation that occurs when you find the process is far more complex than expected.

Her morning starts with blood. Olivia Bender had not been expecting to flush this particular pregnancy down the toilet, but she has done that with so many others that it isn’t exactly a shock. What is a surprise is having to entertain the police over breakfast almost immediately afterward.

A DNA test has led the cops to her door. Turns out her husband Park has a son. A son who has murdered a woman in an eerily similar fashion to how Park’s college ex met her demise. The police are naturally inquisitive, and Olivia is naturally very confused. Fertility treatments, IVF, a pure diet, and dang near every other thing she has done have not resulted in her having a baby. She has been with Park through most of his teen and adult life. How, then, does her husband have a son she knows nothing about?

Park quibbles with the two detectives, assuring them they must be wrong. They push back, assuring him the test won’t lie. They are suspicious and questioning throughout their visit, but it isn’t until after they leave that Park confesses. As a college student, he’d earned a bit of extra cash by donating sperm. He has no idea how often it was chosen by potential moms nor how many kids he has sired as a result.

Scarlet Flynn doesn’t know exactly how many kids Park has sired either, but she does know her donor father’s sperm was used a lot more than the fertility clinics are ethically supposed to. So far twenty-eight kids – nineteen boys and nine girls – have matched with the DNA sample she submitted to an ancestry site. She has created an online chatgroup called The Halves for her fraternal siblings, and it is through them that she learns that DNA testing has proven one of the boys is a killer. But no one knows which one or where he is.

Olivia and Park quickly discover the killer is a lot closer than they think. He has made himself quite at home in their house, in their workplaces, and now, he’s planning to make himself quite a large part of their lives.

Infertility and the trials, travails, and anguish that surround the issue play a large role in this novel, so if that is a trigger for you at all, you may wish to avoid this book. The topic of sperm donation and the moral and ethical issues around that are also discussed, as well as abortion and some of the emotions and moral questions that surround it.

The author gets so many things right about this story. I loved how she uses Olivia to show us the role women have in conception and how that aspect of our biology affects us. From the hormones that rage through Olivia because of the fertility treatments to the guilt and shame she feels over a teenage decision, Olivia becomes our guide to the world of what happens when you don’t easily conceive. In a lot of ways, as the story progresses, it is easy to judge Olivia and even dislike her. Yet the author balances her nuances so well that we can still sympathize and empathize with Olivia’s desire for a baby and feel pity for all she has gone through to have one. I also appreciated the subtle pressure displayed by Park, who is (on the surface anyway) a fabulous, supportive husband but also one desperately in want of a child. Knowing that places an extra layer of stress on Olivia as she grapples with her infertility.

Park, like Olivia, becomes less likable as the story progresses. Where she is cool, calculating, and driven to the point she bulldozes over people at times to get to her destination, his more laid-back, light-hearted bonhomie personality only superficially hides his dark side. While Olivia’s coldness is a shield to protect herself from additional hurt, Park’s is actually his inner core. As in most thrillers, this isn’t just a nice couple going through an unimaginably horrifying development; the story unfolds to show us how, in many ways, this was inevitable given who they are.

I hasten to add these two aren’t psychotic, they’re just not very nice. Like real people, they have good and bad traits, but their bad traits lead them down slightly darker paths than most of us would be willing to walk.

Naturally, discovering that Park has not just one child but twenty-eight adds a LOT of tension to Olivia and Park’s relationship. That he had never told her about donating sperm turns what was simply a rather mundane decision into a devastating betrayal. The tale does an excellent job of showing how the desire for a child has taken them from being a couple to being a fractured family with a large piece missing. Also well done is how the author uses backstory to show us that the fissures in the relationship were always there, but that the fertility issue really, really amplifies them.

Scarlet, and her mother Darby, as well as the murderer, are all tied to Olivia and Park through his donation. They help us examine the ideas of nature or nurture and what role, if any, each plays in a person going down the wrong path.

The pacing here is just right. There are numerous narrators and jumping between them allows us to get a comprehensive picture of the action and also to have a constant forward momentum to the story.

The one quibble I had with the tale is its implausibility. As certain things happened, especially in the epilogue, I couldn’t help but shake my head at the sheer craziness of them. That’s where the excellent pacing really helped; for most of the story, I didn’t have time to nitpick. I was on a rollercoaster ride, and the thrills came from taking the twists and turns at a rapid speed.

It’s One of Us is by no means a perfect thriller, but it is an incredibly good one. If you like domestic noir, you should definitely give this a try.

First of all- thank you SO much HTP Books for my gifted ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was my first JT Ellison book I've ever read, and it's DEFINITELY inspired me to read her backlist, if that tells you anything.
I loved the pacing of this, and the shorter chapters, and how the author structured the different POV's throughout. Labeling them as "The Wife" "The Husband" "The Murderer"; that was incredibly helpful and made the multiple POV's less confusing to read.
Sperm donation has always fascinated me, because how DO they prevent one donor from having like a hundred kids? Contracts, I guess, but then here's my next question: I assumed that the sperm bank Park used would be talked about more throughout the novel because of the severe mishandling of Park's sperm and breach in contract. But something that maybe wasn't made super clear to the reader was the "why" behind the murderer's victims. I didn't get a clear answer on motive. I also didn't feel like I had a clear explanation on how Peyton and Scarlett ended up having the same donor dad when Darby had been told Peyton's donor was no longer available. That didn't make a lot of sense to me.
Otherwise- this book definitely kept me on my toes and had me up until 1am because I just HAD to know how it ended. Very well done and I can't wait to read more of her books!

It’s One of Us is a thriller, and a good one, but it’s way more than that.

I’ve had the opportunity to watch a few launch week interviews with J.T. Ellison, aka @thrillerchick and she describes her latest book as the most important work she’s done, that this book might help someone.

What a powerful statement. Although the main point of fiction is obviously to entertain, it’s also to form connections and to start conversations, to find friends with similar experiences. There’s so much in It’s One of Us to process and to think about, but to also be thoroughly entertained while we’re doing it. Bravo, J.T. Ellison!

Trigger warning: Infertility, miscarriage

I adore J. T. Ellison, and I was fascinated by the premise of this. However, it was a little difficult for me to get into this one. This story had several interesting turns. The brief chapters and many viewpoints were enjoyable. A different character from the story was examined in each chapter. These were all equally entertaining to me. One of those tales where just when you think you understand what is going on, another twist appears.

However, even though there were numerous perspectives and POVs, I wasn't immediately drawn in and I felt like the pace was very slow burning. It did pick up after 75% where you could expect twist after twist.

As much as the mystery element of it attracted me, I did predict the ending and felt the ending was a bit rushed, but overall, the plot and structure were original, and there was a lot of suspense included.

I did appreciate the author’s candid discussion regarding infertility and its struggles. It’s not a subject that is talked about much and I appreciate her being open and honest about it with her readers.

It was an interesting angle about the DNA and trying to figure out who was responsible since they have issues with infertility.
The mystery was interesting , and how everything is uncovered and investigated kept me intrigued and involved in the story. However the Park/Darla/Scarlett storyline was just silly and I couldn't believe how quickly he went from being devoted to Olivia to not caring at all what she was thinking or feeling at all.

Although the mystery itself isn't very surprising, the why kept me reading.

It's One of Us is J.T. Ellison's latest suspense novel.

Oh, the premise of this one is downright devious!
Olivia Bender and her husband Park seem to have it all. But the one thing they both want, is to have a child of their own. However, when the police come knocking on their door, things will never be the same for this couple. DNA that matches Park's points to his son being the perpetrator. But he doesn't have any children - or does he? And that's just the opener. Ellison takes her plot down paths you won't see coming!

I really liked how Ellison presented One of Us. Almost every character is given a point of view and a voice. As the reader, we're the only ones who have all of that information in one place. Also running parallel to the search for the crime culprit is a dissection of a marriage in crisis mode. The cracks are widening with every disclosure.

Ellison's writing makes for addictive reading. With the rotation of points of view, I can't wait to get back to one thread and another and another! And without providing spoilers, Ellison's plot premise is more than possible. Current technology of a certain type has opened the door for professional and amateur sleuthing. (I know I'm being quite obtuse but I don't want to ruin this read for you!)

I quite enjoyed this latest from Ellison.

Thank you HTP and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately I couldn't get into this one... due to my current life circumstances, the topics of miscarriage and infertility were too distressing.

All of this is under a spoiler tag only on Goodreads:

While I thought the mystery and reveals were exciting the overall story sort of depressed me. I felt so horrible for Olivia being married to Park who never seemed committed to her. It felt like she was more of a prize to him and then when she couldn't carry their child he was off concerned about his donor kids. Behind her back. What a complete liar and a cheat from the beginning. She'd have been better off with Perry from the beginning. The story was this emotional love triangle and despite Park saying he didn't want to lose Olivia he did everything he could to alienate her and treated her like crap. I was happy with some of the ending, but would've been happier if it was more of a happy ending for her with Perry. God, just thinking about Park and I want to just slap him!

It’s One of Us is J.T. Ellison at her very best. A twisty-turny domestic thriller that examines the many ways to have a baby, and the devastation that occurs when you find the process is far more complex than expected.

Her morning starts with blood. Olivia Bender had not been expecting to flush this particular pregnancy down the toilet, but she has done that with so many others that it isn’t exactly a shock. What is a surprise is having to entertain the police over breakfast almost immediately afterward.

A DNA test has led the cops to her door. Turns out her husband Park has a son. A son who has murdered a woman in an eerily similar fashion to how Park’s college ex met her demise. The police are naturally inquisitive, and Olivia is naturally very confused. Fertility treatments, IVF, a pure diet, and dang near every other thing she has done have not resulted in her having a baby. She has been with Park through most of his teen and adult life. How, then, does her husband have a son she knows nothing about?

Park quibbles with the two detectives, assuring them they must be wrong. They push back, assuring him the test won’t lie. They are suspicious and questioning throughout their visit, but it isn’t until after they leave that Park confesses. As a college student, he’d earned a bit of extra cash by donating sperm. He has no idea how often it was chosen by potential moms nor how many kids he has sired as a result.

Scarlet Flynn doesn’t know exactly how many kids Park has sired either, but she does know her donor father’s sperm was used a lot more than the fertility clinics are ethically supposed to. So far twenty-eight kids – nineteen boys and nine girls - have matched with the DNA sample she submitted to an ancestry site. She has created an online chatgroup called The Halves for her fraternal siblings, and it is through them that she learns that DNA testing has proven one of the boys is a killer. But no one knows which one or where he is.

Olivia and Park quickly discover the killer is a lot closer than they think. He has made himself quite at home in their house, in their workplaces, and now, he’s planning to make himself quite a large part of their lives.

Infertility and the trials, travails, and anguish that surround the issue play a large role in this novel, so if that is a trigger for you at all, you may wish to avoid this book. The topic of sperm donation and the moral and ethical issues around that are also discussed, as well as abortion and some of the emotions and moral questions that surround it.

The author gets so many things right about this story. I loved how she uses Olivia to show us the role women have in conception and how that aspect of our biology affects us. From the hormones that rage through Olivia because of the fertility treatments to the guilt and shame she feels over a teenage decision, Olivia becomes our guide to the world of what happens when you don’t easily conceive. In a lot of ways, as the story progresses, it is easy to judge Olivia and even dislike her. Yet the author balances her nuances so well that we can still sympathize and empathize with Olivia’s desire for a baby and feel pity for all she has gone through to have one. I also appreciated the subtle pressure displayed by Park, who is (on the surface anyway) a fabulous, supportive husband but also one desperately in want of a child. Knowing that places an extra layer of stress on Olivia as she grapples with her infertility.

Park, like Olivia, becomes less likable as the story progresses. Where she is cool, calculating, and driven to the point she bulldozes over people at times to get to her destination, his more laid-back, light-hearted bonhomie personality only superficially hides his dark side. While Olivia’s coldness is a shield to protect herself from additional hurt, Park’s is actually his inner core. As in most thrillers, this isn’t just a nice couple going through an unimaginably horrifying development; the story unfolds to show us how, in many ways, this was inevitable given who they are.

I hasten to add these two aren’t psychotic, they’re just not very nice. Like real people, they have good and bad traits, but their bad traits lead them down slightly darker paths than most of us would be willing to walk.

Naturally, discovering that Park has not just one child but twenty-eight adds a LOT of tension to Olivia and Park’s relationship. That he had never told her about donating sperm turns what was simply a rather mundane decision into a devastating betrayal. The tale does an excellent job of showing how the desire for a child has taken them from being a couple to being a fractured family with a large piece missing. Also well done is how the author uses backstory to show us that the fissures in the relationship were always there, but that the fertility issue really, really amplifies them.

Scarlet, and her mother Darby, as well as the murderer, are all tied to Olivia and Park through his donation. They help us examine the ideas of nature or nurture and what role, if any, each plays in a person going down the wrong path.

The pacing here is just right. There are numerous narrators and jumping between them allows us to get a comprehensive picture of the action and also to have a constant forward momentum to the story.

The one quibble I had with the tale is its implausibility. As certain things happened, especially in the epilogue, I couldn’t help but shake my head at the sheer craziness of them. That’s where the excellent pacing really helped; for most of the story, I didn’t have time to nitpick. I was on a rollercoaster ride, and the thrills came from taking the twists and turns at a rapid speed.

It’s One of Us is by no means a perfect thriller, but it is an incredibly good one. If you like domestic noir, you should definitely give this a try.

I will always love JT’s books; she has a way with telling a story that keeps the tension high and she makes the most chance details make sense when everything pulls together beautifully at the end.

When the police show up to Olivia’s door to tell her that her husband, Park, has a child that is possible suspect in a brutal murder, she is shocked and heartbroken. After her own struggles with infertility, she feels betrayed and shaken. What follows is a story full of suspense and mystery that kept me fully invested.

This is a twisty tale that has a serious and heartbreaking issue at its core, that of infertility, so if this is a trigger for any, be aware. I think it’s important to read the authors note at the end. It is a beautiful story that gives a really unique insight to her own struggles and experiences with this. It really touched me.

My thanks to @HTPBooks for this #Gifted copy!

Ya'll it's been a while since I read a psychological thriller and while it took me a minute to get into the book I ended up really enjoying it.

The story is told from multiple point of views and I enjoyed them all for the most part. The main central characters are Olivia and her husband Park, who I despised from the moment that his first lie was revealed and couldn't really wrap my head around why Olivia was even with him the more you got to know about him. He was just an unpleasant character. I really enjoyed Olivia though and her struggle with infertility was heartbreaking to read but one that will be relatable for many female readers. I also actually really enjoyed the "killer" even up till the end. His character was just interesting and dare I say likeable even when he was being creepy and unhinged.

I've never read the author before and her writing hooked me. Even though I figure out who the "killer" was early on way before it was revealed, it didn't take away from my enjoyment. I was hanging on to ever word, just waiting for what secret / lie of Parkers would come out of the wood work next. The ending which is something that I find tends to be underwhelming in thrillers left me satisfied. I will definitely be reading more of J.T. Ellison in the future.

This intense thriller by J. T. Ellison begins with a murder as it is taking place. Then the book segues to the home of Olivia and Park Bender. Tragically, Olivia has just learned that she has suffered yet another miscarriage. This would be a good place to put infertility and miscarriage as trigger warnings in this review. Just as Olivia is trying to figure out how to tell her husband the news, she hears someone knocking on the door. It is the police and they want to talk to her husband Park. They inform the couple that a body has been discovered.

Just as Park is about to declare his innocence, they let him know that the DNA found on the scene belongs to his son. Shock and dismay hit the couple for very different reasons. For Park, the realization that he has a son soon proves that this news is only the tip of the iceberg. For Olivia, desperate to become a mother, discovering that her husband just might possibly be a father already is almost more than she can bear.

There is another story being told. There are a group of young people who have formed an online network that ties all of them together because they came into this world due to IVF and have learned that they all have the same father, none other than Park Bender. Then the fact that this recent murder is in the news it doesn’t take the teenagers long to realize that one of them might very well, in fact, be a murderer.

Meanwhile, Park needs to explain to Olivia how he indeed has become the father to what is soon learned more than a few children. Why has Park keep this a secret and can Olivia get to the truth, all while holding her own secret from him?

What an intriguing story. This story has many aspects, and they all thread together to provide a chilling answer to whoever it was that had been murdered in the very beginning of this book. In fact, there are other murders, and the question keeps circling back to Park. More than that, there are tidbits about Olivia’s past that start to seep into the story, and that just makes this a truly compelling read that was utterly impossible to put down. The twists were many, and the final twist literally blew me away. Every book I have read by J. T. Ellison has been fabulous and this book is definitely one of her best.

Many thanks to MIRA Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Please enjoy my YouTube video review - https://youtu.be/0uMYkrdo5hM

It’s One of Us is the latest twisty thriller by J.T Ellison. Olivia Bender seems to have the perfect life, handsome husband Park, beautiful house and successful career as a prestigious interior designer. However she longs to be a mother and has multiple miscarriages and failed fertility treatments and IVF. This heartbreak is taking a toll on her marriage and a shocking visit from the police leads to more marital strife- a prime suspect's DNA shows that he is Park’s son. Park admits that as a university student Park donated sperm. Terrible truths and hidden lies are further revealed and questions arise about how well you know a person.

What I liked about this book:
-explores the world of sperm donor clinics and raises some interesting ethical and moral questions
- the tense, twisty plot-at times I was left wondering where it would all end up
-satisfying ending though more details could have enhanced it further
- the Nashville setting and Olivia’s career with the description of her client’s houses
-the multiple POVs and tense fast pace
-DNA testing and Ancestry sites and the potential fallout from the results
- the issue of infertility was handled in a sensitive, compassion matter
-the additional backstory of Park’s ex girlfriend’s murder in the 1990s

What I didn’t like about the book:
-my only complaint was that the characters were not entirely likeable but I think that added to the storyline and progression of the plot

My rating: 41/2 stars out of 5

Trigger Warnings: Infertility and miscarriages as well as violent deaths

My final takeaway: I highly recommend this tense, twisty thriller for fans of domestic thrillers. It is a highly entertaining, fast paced read.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing MIRA for this eARC.

Ellison is a successful American author of many thrillers, her most recent of which was "Her Dark Lies". She has also written many fantasy novels under the name of Joss Walker. This new release is another thriller that was inspired by her own struggle with infertility. In the book Olivia and Park have just suffered yet another miscarriage when the cops arrive at their door. They have linked the DNA on the body of a murdered woman to Park, telling him it is from his son. Park is forced to confess to his wife that when at college he donated to a sperm bank. Of course the search for the killer brings to light many secrets the couple have kept. This is a fun read and a good recommendation for fans of the genre.

Struggles with infertility have become a common plot theme for thrillers lately. It really seems like it’s more common then we all think. I myself got pregnant very easily, and am thankful I didn’t have to go through what so many women have to. Even though I’m one of the lucky ones, I do sympathize with those that can’t conceive.
It’s One Of Us is a thriller that starts off as a fertility journey, but ends in a nightmare. Olivia has just found out her husband has fathered over a dozen kids, while she can’t even give him one. One of those kids is a murderer. Can you even imagine what that does to someone? Olivia has my heart in this book. She is stronger then she realizes, with some hidden secrets of her own, and an excellent protagonist for this book. Her husband, well, I’m not a fan.
I didn’t find this book as thrilling as Ellison’s past books. I’ve come to expect crazy twists and darkness from her books. I didn’t feel that so much in this book. So, don’t go into this one looking for thrills and chills.
It was a good book, but not what I expected.