Someone Knows by Vi Keeland is a gripping, emotional ride full of secrets, suspense, and a slow-burning romance that hits hard. The story pulls you in right away with its intense setup and keeps you flipping pages to find out what really happened. I loved how the past and present timelines weaved together, slowly revealing the truth piece by piece.

If you enjoy romantic suspense with emotional depth and a few twists you won’t see coming, this one’s worth picking up.

Someone Knows is a gripping blend of psychological suspense and emotional drama. Keeland masterfully weaves secrets, danger, and desire into a tightly paced thriller that keeps you guessing while tugging at your heart. If you enjoy morally complex protagonists and summer reads with bite, this one’s for you.

Vi Keeland is one of my favorite authors. Her books are a must read. This one isn’t any different. I couldn’t put it down. I would definitely recommend to others!

Someone Knows is twisty.
It’s a bit on on the spicy side, for a thriller, in my opinion. If you’re into that, you will like it.
I didn’t dislike it, but it gave trash thriller vibes.
Not a ton of substance, little character development, and quite a bit of sexual encounters.
Elizabeth is an English professor. She has some obvious trauma , but she when a student starts sending pages describing a secret she has kept for 20 years, her world starts to unravel. Will she figure out who knows her past?
The twists are crazy. Kept me interested for the entire book.
Thank you Atria books for the ARC!

This was such a great fast paced thriller! I loved the main character and the twists and turns all along the way.

4.5 Mind Blown Stars!!!

From page one this book had me hooked. This was a masterful story filled with electrifying suspense and mystery that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time desperate to uncover the truth. But just when i thought i had it all figured out, i was hit with a plot twist that i did not see coming.

Honestly, what i loved about this is how the bombshell was dropped half way through the story, allowing the rest of then story to unfold a very satisfying and unexpected way.

The ending wasn't what i predicted too and i'm glad it wasn't wrapped up neatly and tied with a bow.

Happy to say Ms Keeland played me like a fiddle and I ain't even mad about it. Super glad I went on this thrilling ride and I can't wait for the audiobook to do a reread.

Thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Netgalley for the ARC!>

𝗠𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 4 ½✨⭐️
SOMEONE KNOWS
🤍𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: psychological thriller
📖 288 pages
𝗘𝗺𝗼𝗷𝗶𝘀: 👀✍🏼📧🚔🤫📖🌇🏫🌶️💊⛪️🏥📸😱
𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲: 6/17/2025

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
◽️ dual POV / timeline
◽️ a dark secret
◽️ twisty
◽️ unreliable narrators

💛𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲💛

Thank you @simonaudio @librofm @atriabooks @netgalley for the #gifted copy!

What a wild ride! @vikeeland you did it again! You are an auto buy author for me! From the very first page, I was completely hooked. The “book within a book” structure adds an eerie, layer that blurs fiction & reality, keeping you constantly questioning what’s real. Told through shifting timelines & an unreliable narrator in Elizabeth, the story keeps you on edge, unsure of who to trust as past & present collide.

This dark, twisty thriller doesn’t shy away from heavy themes—child abuse, grooming, cancer, and more—so be sure to check content warnings ⚠️ . Set between rural Louisiana & New York City, the contrast in settings heightens the tension & creates a haunting atmosphere. With red herrings, cryptic emails, forbidden attraction, & one jaw-dropping reveal 🤯 halfway through, this one’s packed with suspense. Mark your calendars—this hits shelves on 6/17 & will leave your head spinning! 😵‍💫

𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁: Elizabeth, a college English professor, is shocked when a student submits a story that mirrors a dark secret from her past. The tale follows a high school girl’s affair with a teacher—just like what happened to her best friend Jocelyn decades ago. Elizabeth knows how the story ends: with the teacher’s death—at her own hands. Now, someone else knows the truth & is threatening to expose her through each new chapter. To uncover who’s behind it, Elizabeth must return to her Louisiana hometown & confront the past she thought she’d buried.

Wow! I cannot believe that this is Keeland’s first thriller. I was absolutely blown away. This has everything in it that I love about thrillers. The mystery was not predictable, the story was told in a unique manner, the twists were twisty, it was dark and spicy. There were no plot holes and the ending was completely unexpected. Maybe more romance writers should write thrillers!

I would recommend this to any psychological thriller lover.

Themes: Mental Health; Abuse; Trauma Bonding; Family Issues; Self Discovery;

Setting: a small town in Louisiana

Plot: A young woman travels back to her home town to tie up loose ends when her past comes back to haunt her.

Thank you to Atria for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this! The premise was unique, the plot felt fast paced and easily readable, and I had fun guessing what was going on. While parts of it were predictable, parts of it I definitely didn’t see coming and I liked that it kept me on my toes.

I’ve been very slumpy recently and not reading much but I pretty much read this is one sitting and I had a great time doing so.

This was the first book by Vi Keeland that I read, and I must admit—I really liked it! The start will hook you and keep you engaged right up to the conclusion. This was Keeland's debut thriller, and I found it to be fantastic. It progressed at just the right speed for me to keep flipping the pages. The pacing was perfect for my taste.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
🌶️🌶️
Content Note/Warning - grooming, abuse, sexual abuse, miscarriage, mental health struggles

I wanted to love this. I LOVED the idea that an English professor with a 20 year old secret receives a story from a student that feels too real. That somehow they know about her secret and are writing it. The reason it's only a 3.5 for me is I figured out each twist except the last one before they were revealed. And the last one left me with too many questions and feels more like a plot hole than a conclusion

Throughout the book, Elizabeth is trying to figure out who knows her secret. For me, there were 3 possibilities. Of those, 1 was the safe/predictable choice. The one I said while reading chapter 5 "if it ends up being this person, I'll be disappointed". I really wanted it to be someone else, it would have been such a great twist. But predictable won out and it was the safe choice.

As we learned more about Elizabeth and Jocelyn before they left their small town in Louisiana and Jocelyn headed to Florida while Elizabeth went to New York, something felt off about their shred history (hence the unreliable narrator mention coming up) and I thought "I wonder if . . ." and a couple chapters later, I found out I was right.

I almost tagged this as unreliable narrator because in a way Elizabeth isn't fully honest but at the same time the reason is because of the mental health struggles so it's iffy but if you're a fan of unreliable narrators this could check that box for you.

The final twist is the one I didn't see coming but it left me with more questions than answers.

This book was predictable, boring and fucked up. Very fucked up. This book has very dark content, and should not be read if you struggle with abuse, child abuse and other forms of abuse.
This story felt very cliche. The twists were easy to see, the narrator was chaotic and had too much happening. But also not a lot happened in the book. There was a lot of time skipping and when information was delivered it had no flow to it.
It felt like I got whiplash from trying to keep up from scene to scene.
I was not a fan. But that doesn't mean you won't be. The writing was well done, the pace could use work, but the story has good bones.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, I hope this helps it finds it's audience.
Lily's Little Library

I just finished this book, and I can honestly say this may put me in a book hangover. Like my jaw is still dropped, and I am rethinking everything I read.

To start, this book does deal with sexual abuse, physical abuse, and grooming. This is something that has happened to characters in the story, and it is neither glorified nor portrayed in a grotesque way. But if these are triggers for you, this may not be the story for you.

This story felt almost too perfect in the beginning. Like the plotting was nice and tight, and there were times when I felt almost bored because there wasn't anything too unexpected. And then I hit the midway point and this story got insane. You immediately realize this was intentional, and then I loved the plot even more. I am normally a big advocate of not continuing a book you aren't enjoying but for this one, I would get through it because it will be worth it.

The ending of this book was insane. My eyes had to have been like saucers after every twist because I was not expecting it at all. Elizabeth's character was unlike any I've read, and the author managed to make me feel disgusted and empathetic towards her all at the same time.

This will easily be a favorite book for me. Excellent writing, the twists were crazy, but they made sense (aka they didn't just come out of left field), and the cast of characters keeps you guessing.

Thank you NetGalley And Atria Book for the advanced copy!

An English professor’s deadly past comes back to haunt her in this chilling and sexy thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Vi Keeland.

As a college English professor, Elizabeth looks forward to the start of each new semester teaching her creative writing seminar. At least until she reads chapter one of The Reckoning, a tale about a high school senior who has an affair with her teacher. To anyone else it would be the beginning of a great page-turner, but to Elizabeth it is the beginning of the end.

She knows this story. It’s all familiar because she lived it. The girl in the story was her best friend Jocelyn, and Elizabeth knows exactly how the story will end—with the professor dead. Because she was the one who killed him.

Someone knows what Elizabeth did twenty years ago and her secret is about to be exposed, but who is the mystery student submitting the chapters? In an effort to find out, Elizabeth returns to her Louisiana hometown where it soon becomes clear that no matter how many years have gone by, she can’t escape her past.

My thoughts:

This was my first read by VI Keeland and it will not be my last!! This book drew me in from the beginning, and it kept me on the edge of my seat! The plot twists towards the end of the book left my mouth wide opened! I know a second book should be in the making because I want to know does this game ever end. There are some trigger warnings to be mindful of such as child abuse, miscarriage, drug/alcohol abuse.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this ARC on Netgalley!

2.75 stars.. This book was less than 300 pages and fast-paced, which sucked me in immediately. I read the entire book in one sitting. However, I do have some mixed feelings about some aspects of the story that gave me pause. There are some very dark themes in this book, which were addressed in a somewhat odd mixture of being empathized with and almost glossed over? While there were several victims within this story, it felt like only one character received the empathy that each & every one of the victims deserved. This was off-putting for me as a reader of this book. I also found the ending to be extremely disturbing and also left me with a ton of questions (i.e. who actually sent the letter? who actually killed him? who peeked in the blinds?)

While I initially thought I would love this book, I feel unsure of how I feel about the way some of the abuse in this book was addressed within the story.

TW: pedophilia, SA, substance abuse, murder, child abuse

This thriller hooks you with a chilling premise: English professor Elizabeth's dark secret resurfaces when a student submits chapters mirroring her own past—an affair, a murder *she* committed. While the start felt a bit slow and predictable for me, Vi Keeland absolutely **redeemed it with unexpected twists I never saw coming** – seriously, the plot took some sharp turns! 🤯 Elizabeth's panic and the unraveling mystery as she returns to her Louisiana hometown create genuine tension. The core concept is fantastic, and the pacing *does* pick up significantly. My only wish? **A deeper dive into the heavy themes** (guilt, trauma, consequences) and their impact on Elizabeth over those 20 years. It felt like the emotional weight could've been explored more thoroughly. Still, the suspenseful payoff and clever twists made it a satisfying, page-turning read overall. Great for fans of domestic thrillers with a dark past!"

Elizabeth is a college professor and always looks forward to reading her students creative writing assessments. Except this term, the story is quite familiar, as she was involved. She also knows it ended without someone dying, and she killed them.
This one was so wild, addictive and completely entertaining. There were a couple of surprising twists and as my first novel by the author, I certainly look forward to reading more.

Eh, potential...yes. But I just listened to a Radio Rental episode where an English teacher assigned a story assignment and a student submitted a paper, explaining how he could kill her. This....this is of that ilk.

Vi Keeland is a great romance writer, but this left a LOT to be desired for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The pace of the story was a little slow, a bit predictable, but interesting enough to keep my attention invested in the outcome. The ending plot twist was enough to satisfy me enough to want to read more from this author.

Elizabeth is an English professor with a dark secret, but when an anonymous student threatens to potentially expose her secret she sets out to find out who it is and why someone is threatening to expose her past.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for this Advanced Reading Copy in exchange for an honest review.

After reading Vi Keeland's debut thriller, I jumped into this one without even reading the blurb.

Someone Knows follows Elizabeth, an English professor living in NYC. She is very much an independent woman, focused on her career and doesn't allow men to get to close to her. She breaks it off before allowing any real relationship to form. A serial dater with no real connections through and through. When one of her students starts submitting chapters of an eerily familiar story, Elizabeth is reminded of a traumatic past and starts to wonder who knows her and her friends' secrets.

With a plot containing a "story within a story" Keeland pulls her audience in with all the little details and some interesting characters. We are taken from the big city to a small town that Elizabeth grew up in and are totally immersed in small town living and wondering who might be "haunting" Elizabeth with details of a past she'd rather forget. But with a religious and dying alcoholic mother and running into connections of a past, we are left with a woman that is running in circles trying to find answers while also forgiving a dying mother that never really showed her any love.

Keeland's sophomore psychological thriller is fast paced, with a not so likable protagonist that is set on uncovering a truth. There are flawed characters, some predictable twists, yet still left me totally invested and turning those pages to see if I was truly right. While I questioned if I even liked Elizabeth, I was quite drawn to her (possible) love interests in both NY and her childhood hometown. The twists of the story and her realizing how she was connected to her student's story had me excited when she discovered the truth. I felt like I was right there with her. Although the story within the story included some troubling content, to see it all come to the climax was 100% satisfying. And then the ending? What a clever little twist that had me smiling and shaking my head.

If you are a fan of Keeland's romances and want to dip your toe into a thriller, Someone Knows has a good combination of suspense with a side of romance that may be a little troubling, but still page turning excitement. 3.75 stars