Huge thankyou to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC of this amazing thriller!

Okay so I really enjoyed this, but the ending is left soooooo open. And almost makes me confused, which I am not a huge fan of. I have lots of questions that can be interpreted in so many ways. Other than that, this was truly a fantastic read!! Absolutely loved how we got twists sprinkled throughout and the big shock of characters, masterful!!

4.5/5!

Last year I was head over heels obsessed with Keeland’s The Unraveling and I’m here to tell you it’s happening again this year with Someone Knows!

I absolutely love stories where there is a hidden secret from the past coming back to haunt our main character. Bonus points if they have to go back to their hometown to confront it, which is exactly what Keeland delivers in this story. Mix in someone sending chapters from what appears to be our main character, Elizabeth’s teenage years and some small town strangeness and you have a combo that makes for binge reading.

Keeland smartly adds twists and turns as the story progresses at those exact moments where the reader has gained confidence that they know exactly where the plot is headed. I enjoyed each of them and the way they kept me glued to what was happening. I listened to this one on audio during my commute and it really made my drive 10x better each day!

If you’re looking for a popcorn thriller to keep you entertained this summer, I recommend giving this one a shot!

I did not want to put this book down. It left me constantly trying to guess who knew between all the characters. If you love mystery with a little romance this book is for you. Be prepared to not get anything done except reading this book.

Vi Keeland may be a romance writer but she is quickly becoming a must read mystery author. Someone Knows Is sexy, suspenseful, and has enough twists to keep you guessing until the end. The story is quick paced and told with alternating timelines between the present and the events of the past being shared in the mystery writer’s story. And that ending-chefs kiss!

This was my first book by Vi Keeland, and it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I constantly changed my ideas about who could be behind the pages being submitted to Elizabeth as part of a creative writing project. I'm not a fan of taboo romance and themes of grooming, but the added suspense and thriller elements had me completely hooked!

Great thriller! Kept my attention throughout and had me at the edge of my seat! Loved the twists! I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed the author’s thriller debut, The Unraveling so I jumped at the chance to read and review SOMEONE KNOWS.

Elizabeth is living her life in New York as a college professor teaching creative writing. She is grading first chapters of books when she comes across a submission by a student named Hannah Greer whose book is titled The Reckoning. As Elizabeth begins to read the chapter, she realizes that the story is about her best friend Jocelyn who had an affair with a professor that ended with Elizabeth killing him. As she continues to receive more chapters, she realizes someone knows what she did. Elizabeth tries to find out who Hannah Greer is and how she knows what happened twenty years ago, so she returns home to Louisiana to investigate.

I am going to be completely transparent here, at first, I honestly found myself a little bored – not much was happening to pull me in. But I am so glad I stuck with it! About two thirds of the way through, the story took a sharp turn with unexpected twists and revelations that completely floored me! From that point on, I was hooked and couldn’t stop reading. It turned into a wild ride that kept me flipping the pages. The ending was jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, and left me staring at the last page in disbelief. Talk about an ending! My first thought was the last chapter read like a Freida McFadden Epilogue. If you don’t already know, Freida is known for her mind-blowing Epilogues.
🤯 Well done, well done! I highly recommend SOMEONE KNOWS!

🔪 PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE TRIGGER WARNINGS IN THIS BOOK. SPECIFICALLY GROOMING AND SEXUAL ABUSE OF A MINOR 🔪.

Thank you @atriabooks @atriathrillers for sending me a copy! #AtriaPartner

Somebody Knows by Vi Keeland is a suspenseful read centered around Elizabeth, a college English professor whose life unravels after a student submits a chillingly familiar story in her creative writing seminar. The tale mirrors a real-life secret Elizabeth has buried for twenty years, the story of her best friend Jocelyn’s illicit affair with a teacher, a relationship that ended in murder. Elizabeth’s murder.

As she races to uncover which student is revealing her past chapter by chapter, she’s forced to return to her Louisiana hometown, where long-buried truths and unresolved trauma resurface.

The pacing is tight, making it a hard book to put down, and while some twists felt predictable, the final reveal still managed to surprise me. A few scenes bordered on repetitive, but overall, the story held my interest and delivered a satisfying blend of mystery and emotion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC. Fans of psychological suspense with a buried-secret hook will find this one worth picking up.

Thank you to Atria Books Emily Bestler Books #partner and Simon Audio for the copies to review.

I love Vi Keeland’s writing, having read a couple of her books now, and she knows how to keep it twisty and the pacing fast. This was a little awk for me throughout, but I enjoyed the story and how it unraveled, and thought the length was just right. I don’t like spice in my thrillers, so know that you’ll be getting a lot in here, thankfully with audio I could skip over it lol. This is an entertaining popcorn thriller that overall I enjoyed, and should note the audio was great as well.

Thank you to the publisher for the free book!

Rating: 2/5 stars

Elizabeth is an English professor with a dark secret—she killed someone twenty years ago. And when one of her students begins writing about her crime with details no one was ever told, she is forced to face the truth: someone knows what she did.

The premise of this one sounds great, doesn’t it? I agree, which was why I was excited when my book club picked this for our July read. Unfortunately, while the synopsis is great, the execution did NOT land for me in any way.

I don’t mind an unlikable or messy MC in a thriller—if they’re totally on top of things it leaves very little room for a plot to develop, after all. But the FMC here took “clueless” and “poor decision making” to new heights, and I was constantly infuriated by every new thing she did or thought she had. The reveals here were also increasingly ridiculous, and I ultimately cannot get over how unbelievable (in a bad way) I found this plot.

Finally, the last chapter…what? Absolutely no, and like some friends who I’ve discussed this with, I viscerally hated that moment. Even if I had been enjoying the book until then (and I sadly was not), that would have ruined things for me.

All of this said, I’ve seen a lot of good reviews for this, and if you like chaos it could be a more fun read for you! I wish I had enjoyed it a lot more than I did, but I DO think it will make for a fantastic book club discussion when my book club meets next!

CW: Child abuse; alcoholism; death/death of parent; child death; sexual abuse/rape; physical abuse/domestic violence; pregnancy; miscarriage

After reading Vi’s thriller debut, The Unraveling, I couldn’t wait for her next thriller! It did not disappoint. I plowed through this book and finished it in one sitting. I particularly enjoyed how we learned about the crime through the emails Elizabeth received from her student. There were some unexpected twists and turns that kept me riveted to my seat (especially the one about halfway through)! I appreciated the exploration into the long term effects of abusive relationships and mental health. Yes, there’s a little romance aspects but it doesn’t take away from the story at all. It actually helps explain Elizabeth’s character. I absolutely recommend that you check this out! 4⭐️ 1.5🌶️

What a nerve wracking story, I was biting my nails the whole time. Elizabeth was something else, that's for sure. It's hard to describe this book, without giving too much away, that would be a cri, because the journey is half the fun. Elisabeth was dealt a bad Hand in life and did. go through a lot of horrible things. All in all a book with a lit of twists you did not see coming and some nice characters who deserved better. And oh I still have goosebumps.

3⭐️
I've been a longtime fan of Vi Keeland's contemporary romances, so I was excited to see what she would do with a thriller. And this was fine? A quick and easy read, but I wasn't eagerly flipping pages the way I hoped I would be

I think part of the issue is there's no consequence? Like someone is emailing Elizabeth chapters of a "book", which are events that happened to her twenty years ago. But that's it? This person isn't threatening Elizabeth or telling anyone else the truth. So it really doesn't feel that dire.

Elizabeth makes a half-hearted effort into finding the emailer by going to her hometown, which she hasn't visited in twenty years, only to find her mother has terminal cancer. She then proceeds to make one stupid decision after another and uses everyone around for her own purposes. She's literally sneaking into peoples houses and lying to get into buildings and get secure information, but had the audacity to be mad at Sam when he did a background check on her?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing team for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was the best popcorn thriller I’ve read in a while. Sharp pacing, a twisty plot, oodles of red herrings, a satisfying conclusion, alllll with some genuinely steamy moments sprinkled in. 😏.

The setup: Elizabeth is a college English professor just settling into a new semester when a student submits a story that hits a little too close to home. It mirrors something that actually happened to her best friend Jocelyn back in high school.. Elizabeth knows how that story ends...because she was the one who made sure it ended that way. Now, someone clearly knows what happened twenty years ago, and they’re not afraid to start unraveling her carefully buried past.

This was a super bingeable thriller. I started it at the pool thinking I'd read just a bit, and ended up sitting there reading the first half of the book. Definitely my top popcorn thriller as of late (and I read a ton of them). Color me intrigued by Vi Keeland’s backlog, especially her romances.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

5/5

This is the first book I read from Vi Keeland and will definitely will not be my last. Her writing is incredible; it's detailed, engaging and straight to the point.

In Someone Knows, we read the story of Elizabeth who is a college professor teaching creative writing in New York. While reviewing her student's assignments, she stumbles upon a very interesting story about a student who has an affair with her high school teacher; this story mentions the exact same details as the events that occur to her friend in high school (20 years ago) and something she has worked very hard to forget about. As this student submits more chapters of this story, she decides to travel to her small town in Louisiana to further investigate and find out if someone from her past is trying to expose her darkest secrets.

Someone knows is a mystery thriller with some spicy scenes. The story is full of turns and twists that you don't see coming.

TW: murder, death of family members, inappropriate sexual relationship between student and teacher, miscarriage, domestic violence, alcoholism, terminal illness.

Thank you Atria Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This book had me fall in love with Vi Keeland's writing. This book was incredibly twisty and had me suspecting everyone. The premise of this book was so unique and unlike anything I had read before. The FMC is a professor who assigned her students a creative writing assignment, but when she gets a submission that hits a little too close to a dark past, she is forced to figure out who is behind the piece. I never saw the ending coming.

The story follows Elizabeth, a mid-forties English professor who has spent years keeping men at arm's length, focusing on her career, and distancing herself from the traumatic events of her youth in Louisiana. But when a student submits a story containing eerily specific details about a murder she committed two decades ago to protect her best friend Jocelyn from their abusive English teacher, Mr.
Sawyer, Elizabeth realizes her past is catching up with her. Forced to return to her hometown, she must confront the ghosts of her past:
Jocelyn, who has been missing for years; Ivy, her former best friend turned suburban mother; and her own alcoholic mother, whose neglect shaped her childhood.

Vi Keeland absolutely nailed it with this thriller! I love both her spicy romances, and thrillers, and this somewhat incorporates a little bit of both in one. Most of the plot twists were fairly predictable, but I still thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC!

4 stars-This was a chilling read about how those we trust the most can change who we are.

Elizabeth is an English professor in NYC, teaching an intro to composition class. A student submits a first chapter that talks of an inappropriate relationship between a student and teacher that sounds eerily similar to something that happened to her friend 20 years ago. Elizabeth goes back to her hometown in Louisiana to find out who knows and why they are bringing up the past.

I enjoyed the atmosphere of Louisiana and the cat and mouse game Elizabeth plays while trying to find the writer…It was hard to see how the abuse effected her as an adult, but I do think the author handled it appropriately. Overall, a dark read but a good one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Vi Keeland’s Someone Knows is a dark, twist-filled psychological thriller that more than lives up to the hype. I was hooked from the first chapter—this is a slow-burn mystery that builds quiet unease with every page, expertly layering suspense, secrets, and just the right amount of heat. The story centers on Elizabeth, a creative writing professor in NYC, who stumbles upon a student’s manuscript that eerily mirrors a murder from her past—one she’s kept hidden for twenty years. As anonymous chapters arrive in her inbox, the tension ratchets up, and Elizabeth realizes someone out there knows what she did. This book is fast-paced, wildly addictive, and emotionally complex, with morally gray characters, sharp twists, and a final reveal that literally made me shout. Though it carries a “sexy and dangerous” vibe, this is not a romance—it’s a smart, emotionally intense exploration of power, trauma, and the lasting effects of buried secrets. I devoured it in two sittings and kept thinking about it long after. Trigger warnings are essential here: sexual abuse, grooming, trauma, and the death of a parent are all on-page. Still, if you can handle the darker themes, Someone Knows is a bold, unflinching read that will leave you reeling—in the best way.

I loved this book. Someone Knows was everything I wanted—a slow-burn thriller with tension, twists, and just the right amount of romance woven through. From the first chapter, I was in deep. It has that quiet unease, like you know something’s off but you can’t put your finger on it… and when it finally hits? WHEW.

Vi Keeland nailed the suspense. The mystery kept me guessing the entire time, and the emotional layers made me care so much more than I expected. Every time I thought I had something figured out, she flipped it on me again. And one of the final reveals? I legit said “WHAT THE HELL?!” out loud. It was so good.

This isn’t your typical romance. It’s deeper, darker, and full of secrets that unravel at just the right pace. The writing had me feeling everything—tension, heartbreak, and that adrenaline rush of needing to know what happened.

Some thoughts I had while reading:
Wait… is that what really happened?
No. No way. There’s no way.
I don’t trust anyone.
Okay, I trust him. Wait—should I?
OMG. I need someone else to read this immediately so I can talk about it.

If you love suspense with emotional depth and a killer twist (or three), Someone Knows needs to be at the top of your TBR.