I just reviewed No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall. #NetGalley

I almost gave this one a DNF around 20%, but I held on and I’m glad. I enjoyed it overall. I felt like the end got a tad confusing with the twist reveals that seemed to keep contradicting itself. My mind was a bit tangled. Overall, I’ll give 4 stars. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!!

A twisty, fast paced psychological thriller, from an author of "What Lies in the Woods."
Emma, due to financial problems, is forced to moved to her childhood friends together with her husband. She left the house, and her two sisters, after a tragedy shaken their family and the small town. Now she is back, and all the secrets are slowly coming out. But will ALL secrets be reviled?

This was a very satisfying whodunnit thriller. It kept you guessing until the end, each layer of secretes artfully reviled, until a very satisfying conclusion.

I loved What Lies in the Woods so when I found out about No one Can know, I was so excited to read it! I devoured it in 2 days. I love an inreliable narrator and this one had 3! Sisters! So many lies and twists and unknowns sprinkled through your that made it a page turner!

This was not my favorite Kate Alice Marshall book. I feel like her young adult novels are so creative and fun to read, but her adult novels have been just meh to me. The characters and story felt a little flat to me and I had a hard time getting into this one.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

No One Can Know
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A twisty, psychological thriller, with a whodunnit murder mystery throw in.

This story is mainly about Emma and her husband Nathan. After falling on bad times, they move back to her family home. This is when we learn about her past, along with her 2 sisters. Emma is pregnant and wants to know the truth of what happened.

Told in a multiple person point of view with a then and now timeline, we get to piece together what each sister knows. Who is telling truth? Who did it? Is Emma as innocent as she says she is? After all, everyone keeps secrets.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. There were a few times I felt it was slow but then picked up again. The twist(s) were good and I didn’t see some of them coming. Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron books for my advanced reader copy. This is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Mark your calendar because this book comes out January 23, 2024. You’ll want to add it to your TBR list!

Awesome author. Check.
Gorgeous cover. Check.
Riveting story you can't put down. Check.

Emma and her sisters JJ and Daphne experience the traumatic death of their parents when they are young, in their own home. While they go on to live separate lives, Emma finds herself back at the house with her husband, Nathan. The uncertainty of what took place coupled with the crime and general uneasiness of the town starts to draw tension between Emma and Nathan.

When the unthinkable happens at the house again, it makes everyone wonder what happened all those years ago and why is it happening again?

Thank you, Netgalley and Flatiron books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I read a prepublication copy of this book. The highly-relatable main characters and their unusual sister relationship kept my interest throughout the reading. This is a story of mystery, personal growth, relationship, and family loyalty. Every time I thought I had figured out what had happened at that pivotal moment in the sisters' past, the story offered another avenue of suspicion to pursue.

This book was full of twists and turns. I thought the many characters added a lot to the story. We hear from all three sisters' perspectives in both the present time and the past. I found Nathan to be unpleasant from the very beginning. The parents were also not very sympathetic victims of a violent death.
I am giving this book 3.5 starts rounded down to 3. It was perfectly fine, but I never felt myself fully sucked in. I think some of that had to do with Emma's seeming lack of boundaries and backbone. It drove me a little crazy because I felt like she should be seeing these glaring issues but instead chose to bury her head in the sand.
Thanks to Net Galley for the book to review.

Cool concept, but underwhelming.

I think this didn't work for me because we never got to see Emma being anything other that a traumatized victim with Dark Secrets. At one point, she mentions being a web designer, and I thought, oh, that's right, I guess she has a job too. Too much of the book is Emma, who had one dramatic night of quick-thinking and brave actions, just being a doormat to her jerk husband. I never felt invested in unraveling Emma's secrets, which is weird because I usually love a family-secrets thriller! That's why I wanted ot read this one! But I didn't have the mystery feel, just wanted her to ditch her annoying and horrible husband.

Also there are a few clues that are just way too clearly signposted. I like to work out a bit of a thriller, but when there's a long long description of a misbehaving dog, in a book that's generally sparse on description, it's too heavily a clue.

Exceptional domestic thriller. The murders set in the past were an interesting enough storyline, but then about halfway through there is a new storyline that develops that really, truly shocked me. I read this in one sitting and was completely absorbed.

Kate Alice Marshall is earning a spot right up there with my other auto-read authors such as Sally Hepworth and Laura Lippman.

My only minor complaint is that I found it difficult to place the “now” and “then” timeline. I didn’t really piece it together that “then” is probably 2009/2010 until after I finished the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me have an ARC!

I was so excited to receive this ARC, I am a huge fan of this author’s work. My last read by them was a five star read. This was did not disappoint at all! This author has become an auto buy for me.

Three sisters, two dead parents, a town full of skeptical people, and a ton of secrets every where. Emma, Juliette, and Daphne have secrets from the night their parents were found shof dead in their home. They all have been estranged and split apart for the past 14 years. But that all changes when Emma, and her husband are stuck moving into the old family home. Emma is pregnant, her husband is jobless, their home loan is now out of reach, and now she is stuck going back to her childhood murder. Will Emma be able to hide her past and the secrets she keeps from her husband? Will her sisters come back? Is she the only one hiding something?

What I enjoyed:
- this was so well paced! I was hooked with in the first few chapters. I spent a few hours reading this book in one sitting. I was intrigued and needed to know the secrets
- Multiple POVS from all three sisters. As well as past and present time lines. As you read, you are also trying to piece together what happened
- The twists! I didn't see a couple coming and I was very surprised.
- Small town and dark vibes

I loved more but I don't want to giveaway too much. This was a real page turned and kept me intrigued through out. I througholy enjoyed this book and can'r wait to read more by this author. 4 stars out of 5! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

You’re thrown into the mystery that is Emma’s life - she and her husband fall into some unfortunate circumstances which leave them with no other choice to move into Emma’s childhood home. The catch? This is the home that Emma’s parents were murdered in when she was a kid. And Emma is still the prime suspect.

I loved learning more about Emma’s complicated history and the complex web of family dynamics. It seems like Emma is not who she has told her husband she is, and maybe her husband isn’t being truthful either? As they try to get more settled into their home, more questions are unearthed and more of Emma’s past is inevitably dug up. You get to know her sisters, who also may be putting up a decade long facade, as you switch between the present and past timeline to discover what really happened that night of their parents’ deaths.

This dual timeline and the switching of multiple POVs lead to a gripping psychological thriller that you did not want to put down. Since there are so many lies and so much deceit, as a reader you don’t understand where the story is going until the author wants you to. I changed my mind so many times about who the killer was that I inevitably gave up trying to guess and just let myself enjoy it! I liked the development of our main cast of characters, I wouldn’t say I loved any of them or that they were stellar people at heart, but I know that was on purpose and always enjoy unreliable narration.

Unfortunately, in the last 10 or 15% of the book, SO much happens, SO much is revealed, there are SO many plot twists, that it ended up just confusing me and making me dizzy!! I feel like the author tried to skirt around the problem lots of mysteries have in which the last 5 or 10% fall flat because the reveal happens and we need resolution. I appreciate the effort, but for me it really just felt a bit overboard. I don’t need reveals on top of reveals at the end of a mystery novel to truly enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

I absolutely devoured What Lies In The Woods and was SO excited to get my hands on No One Can Know. This book was all gas and no brakes. It makes you think you know what’s going on multiple times and then you’re proven wrong each time! I really enjoyed this one and am looking forward to more books from this author!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron books for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

On the brink of homelessness, Emma and her husband move back to Emma’s family home - where her parents were murdered. This move puts Emma back in contact with her two estranged sisters; they have not spoken since the murders. What really happened that night? This book has so many plot twists! It’s a fast, entertaining read told from multiple POV. I thought I had it figured out about halfway through and was so wrong! I highly recommend this one for anyone who likes mysteries with a twist.

A great thriller! Multiple POVs of each sister trying to grapple with the murder of their parents that happened 15 years ago. I was left guessing until the end of the story and was surprised by the twists. A fun and quick read.

3.5 stars rounded up

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Kate Alice Marshall book and I will absolutely read another one of her books. No One Can Know is set with multiple POV’s and then/now (14 years later). I think the writing and POV’s was well done and was not confusing, but I did not connect with any of the characters. I felt like the MC, Emma, was hard to relate to in that she was so complacent in life.

This book did contain all the things that are great - drama, who-done-it, mystery and let me guessing, but I do feel like the plot was something that could be guessed.

All in all, this was a well written book and if I had been able to connect with the characters I would have rated it higher!

A huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I just want to start by saying, I absolutely love Kate Alice Marshall's writing style. No One Can Know was written in such a unique way, and started off by Emma finding her parents dead. She knows she didn’t do it, but finds she's taking the blame while trying to protect her sisters. Left orphaned, and alone, the sisters do not speak again, until 14 years later when Emma and her husband return to their childhood home as a last resort. Upon returning Emma finds her marriage, and the new identity she created for herself being peeled away one secret at a time. This book was thrilling and kept me hooked until the very last page. It was amazing to see all the loose ends being tied up when the book finished. I enjoyed the fast pace, and I really enjoyed figuring out everyone's secrets they kept purely for their own survival. I felt like I knew who did it, but in the end I was pleasantly surprised and my guess was way off! Kate Alice Marshall is becoming a new favorite of mine. I highly recommend this one if you enjoy fast-paced, whodunit mystery/ thriller with a lot of family drama.

Three sisters are separated after their parents are murdered in their family home and many people suspect Emma is the culprit. Emma seeks out her sisters because she’s pregnant with no where to go and needs to stay in their empty house. Who really killed the parents? This is twisty and exciting. I loved every second. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

If you’re looking for a run of the mill, get you out of your slump thriller with so many twists and turns, this is for you!

I don’t mean that in a bad way - it was good, I was hooked and while I had theories, I never would’ve guessed how it ended.

That being said, it was just a little slow and a little confusing with multiple different now/then POVs and a lot of characters. It also had me wondering why the MC did (read: didn’t do) a lot of things. The characters were shallow and not complex and I had nothing to root for, really. I think that’s where you lose me - I need to connect with something or have a purpose besides just needing to know what happened.

Regardless, if you don’t read too deep into it, it was a good OTT twisty turny thriller! Will def get you out of a reading slump, but you probably will never think about it again or remember the plot when you’re done.

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall: When Emma's husband gets laid off and they lose their apartment, she reluctantly agrees to move into her childhood home, which she co-owns with her estranged sisters. Unfortunately, she hasn't told him that her parents were murdered there and she was the prime suspect. Emma hopes to keep her past buried, but a hostile police force and small town gossip won't let her skeletons stay in the closet. Although I didn't like it as much as What Lies in the Woods, it was still an intriguing novel that kept me up way past my bedtime.

Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The book officially comes out on January 23rd, 2024!