In 1993 Fiona's parents went to a party and when their car broke down later, a man--Eddie--rescued them, but her dad took off and her mom was never found. So Eddie went to prison as it was assumed he is responsible and now he's being released so grown-up Fiona has questions. Vacillating between past and present, the novel shows us the events leading up to Fiona's confusion and all of the misconstrued clues that will finally give her the truth!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Wow, this was a surprise hit for me! I was not expecting to love this and cannot believe it's based on a true story. Suspenseful and page turning throughout- what a great thriller.

Thank you, Atria Books, for providing a copy of Keep This for Me by Jennifer Fawcet. I loved the premise of the book and wanted to love it, but I never warmed up to Fiona. I really enjoyed some of the other characters, and the chapters talking about them were more interesting. I would read this author again, because I loved much of the book and maybe I was distracted and didn’t get totally into it. 3 stars

Based on a true story, Keep This For Me bounces seamlessly between time and characters to weave a tale of murder, mystery, and growth. This one took me a while to think on, because I truly do think quite that highly of it. While I wouldn't consider any thriller life changing, I would say I am in total awe of how much respect this book in this particular genre lends to a true crime inspired case. To me, it is a fine balance between implementing real cases into a book in a way that isn't cheesy or voyeuristic- and this one managed to make that line balance look graceful. There are very real traces of life's daily anxieties, motherhood, grief, total character development, and twists- I can't imagine much else I'd find in a thriller to enjoy, this one checked that many boxes for me. Thank you so much to Atria Books, Jennifer, and Simon & Schuster for the chance to read an early eARC.


#atriabooks #simonandschuster #keepthisforme #jenniferfawcett #keepthisformejenniferfawcett

this was a quick read and had thrilling moments! I enjoyed seeing what would happen and look forward to more books by this author. The cover is so good!

4.25⭐️



Treinta años después de que su madre desapareciera tras ser secuestrada por un asesino serial, Fiona Green regresa a su pueblo natal al enterarse de que el culpable, Eddie Ward, ha declarado en su lecho de muerte que no la mató. Lo que parecía una historia cerrada se reabre de golpe. Fiona, arrastrada por recuerdos, traumas y preguntas sin respuesta, se adentra en una investigación que conecta el pasado con el presente, especialmente cuando otra mujer desaparece en circunstancias similares. Todo apunta al hijo de Eddie, Jason Ward. Pero cuanto más indaga Fiona, más se da cuenta de que su propia vida, sus relaciones y su identidad están profundamente marcadas por los secretos que su madre dejó tras de sí y que la tragedia no ha terminado.



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Es una novela de suspenso emocionalmente intensa que combina el misterio de un crimen sin resolver con un poderoso retrato de la pérdida, el legado familiar y la memoria. Jennifer Fawcett crea una atmósfera envolvente y cargada de tensión, alternando el presente con fragmentos del pasado para construir lentamente el rompecabezas de lo que ocurrió en 1993. Fiona es una protagonista compleja, desgarrada entre el deseo de seguir adelante y la necesidad de saber la verdad. La narrativa fluida y los personajes bien desarrollados hacen que esta historia sea mucho más que un thriller: es también una reflexión sobre el dolor, la resiliencia y el eco de las decisiones que otros tomaron por nosotros.

Uno de los elementos más logrados es cómo Jennifer aborda el tema de la herencia emocional: lo que dejamos y lo que cargamos, incluso sin saberlo. El paralelismo entre las desapariciones pasadas y presentes mantiene la tensión constante, al tiempo que resalta la fragilidad del azar y el peso de las coincidencias.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest

Powerful, moving book, that i will be thinking about for a long time. I love books that raise complex issues while telling a strong interesting story. In this case, we look at how what happens to our family affects our destiny for years to come. Told with heart and I loved it

As a reader I loved this book. Strong but flawed female lead, fiona goes back home to talk to the man, who she thinks killed her mother. It is her story, her mother's story, the story of the son of the serial killer and his daughter. It is a story of motherhood and all that brings, the intense challenges and the love and a story of the aftermath of tragedy for both the victim's family and the family of the killer. It is a deep look at this issues, told with compassion. It raises some moral issues which would be good for class discussions and also how much our family's destiny is our own.

Keep This for Me opens with a chilling premise: a decades-old disappearance, a serial killer’s final confession, and a daughter returning home to search for answers. I was drawn in by the setup, but ultimately, this one didn’t quite land for me.

The mystery felt predictable, with reveals that came too early or didn’t carry the impact they needed. And while the story shifts between narrators, only Fiona’s chapters are written in first person—a choice that created emotional distance from the other perspectives and made the structure feel uneven.

I also struggled to connect with Fiona as a protagonist. Her mother’s disappearance is undeniably tragic, but I wanted more insight into who Fiona is beyond that trauma—more reason to root for her, especially when her decisions started to strain believability. And by the end, I was still unclear on what exactly her goal was. What was she really searching for? The story never fully clarified that, and the conclusion felt abrupt, leaving a lot emotionally unresolved.

That said, there are moments of atmospheric tension and interesting reflections on generational trauma that kept me curious throughout.

Thank you to Atria Books and Simon & Schuster for the advance copy.

A woman returns to the town she grew up in hopes of confronting the person accused of being responsible for her mother's death, and gets tangled up in a multi-generational tragedy as she (perhaps unknowingly) seeks her own redemption.

This was a good read, and really hit the sweet spot for me between genre fiction and literary fiction. Meaning: it delivers the suspense and I wanted to follow the primary mystery, but it also includes that interior journey that I want to see characters go on. Furthermore, it invites the reader to ask questions about the nature of evil and violent acts. Are perpetrators driven by some overwhelming and irresistible force that "makes" them do these things, or, at a certaion point, are they acting by choice? Is evil inheritable, inevitable? (A very Bad Seed kind of a question, if you know that play or movie!)

There's a lot more going on than that, though. Other things I liked: the lake town setting, the variety of ages and types of characters, and the subtle examination of how we (as people, as culture) are both drawn to and repelled by tragedy.

The book includes various timelines; patience as the various timelines are set up will pay off. The central mystery of the story was not based on predictable and overrused tropes, nor were there any overly contrived "twists." Just a good, solid, well-written piece of suspense for people that want to linger with a book, not race through it.

This was my first book by this author, and I enjoyed it! Well-written, dark, and reflective. Fiona has lived in the shadow of her mother's abduction and presumed murder by a local serial killer back when Fiona was only 2 years old. As such, she has no real memories of her mother, and as her body was never found, no real closure, either. When she becomes a mother herself and struggles to adapt to this identity, she finds herself returning to the town where it happened, hoping to seek answers from her mother's killer, who is now a sick old man living out the rest of his life behind bars. He also has a family who has been deeply and unalterably affected by his deeds, and the book features his son's POV as well. There is some dual timeline involved as we travel back and forth between Fiona's search for answers now, and the last night of her mothers life decades ago. There were some loose ends, IMO, in the ending of this book, but since most of it was well-constructed, I can overlook that. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this book including the characters, the timelines, and the setting. This is a really strong sophomore novel.