I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.a very thought provoking and intense thriller. One day Kristen disappears with her twins. What happened and is she really running away from her estranged husband Paul? Wonderful characters and a story that will keep you turning the pages. Very enjoyable.

The beginning of Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser is a little confusing with a lot of characters to "get to know". Once into the story Ms Strawser makes the reader feel as if they were part of the neighborhood and personally know the neighbors. Not That I Could Tell quickly becomes a page turner with some edge of the seat moments. I was given an early copy to review.

A thrilling read with complex characters and dynamic storylines. The book successfully melds characters stories together while maintaining an exciting and detailed account. Very good read. This is an author I will keep my eyes on.

Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser is set in a lovely Ohio suburban neighborhood, the kind of place to which you move when you're looking for somewhere safe to live. It features a group of six women, the kind of women you would hope for as friends in this new, safe neighborhood. And it focuses on the sudden disappearance of one of these women and her two children. Kristin is the friendly, involved parent at the local preschool who is always happy to head up school projects and parties. Everyone knows and loves her. When she vanishes without a trace, everyone wants to know how it happened. First they turn to Claire, Kristin's next door neighbor and closest friend. Claire is worried about Kristin, but doesn't know how this terrible thing could have happened.
What didn't she see?

The last night they all are together, they gather around Claire's backyard firepit, get a little loose-lipped from all the wine, and start to share more than they planned. Was something said that prompted Kristin's disappearance? How much is too much to share with your neighbors? Once Kristin is gone, it changes the dynamics of the group, but can the pull together and protect one another?

This book is a fun mystery with a girlfriend side to it that I really liked. I always appreciate a good book about women and their relationships. It mostly focused on Claire and, the newest to the neighborhood, Izzy, but I would have loved to know more about the other women in the book, Randi, Rhoda, and Natalie. I enjoyed reading this book and it was perfect after the last, longer, heavier book I read. It was fast, fun, and it kept my attention to the end. Add it to your list.

A great family drama that is set in the idyllic suburbs of Ohio. I loved that there were multiple characters but it was told primarily from only 2 perspectives. The whole time the reader wasn't sure whether or not they could trust the husband and I loved the ending!

I was really excited for this book based on the synopsis, however the whole thing fell pretty flat for me. I discovered about halfway through that this is that same author that wrote 'Almost Missed You', which I read and did NOT enjoy (the characters were just awful). I rarely pay attention to the name of an author as I'm more interested in the story itself, but had I made the connection earlier, I would not have requested this title. My fault.

Once again, Ms. Strawser writes characters that are flat and unlikable. The main reason I continued to keep reading was to find out what happened to Kristin and the kids, but it went exactly as I expected it to. The entire story is predictable and boring. There's no 'thriller' happening here (there was a weak attempt near the end, but again...it fell flat). Just a bunch of women and a couple of small town detectives speculating as to what happened to their neighbor whom they quickly realize they never really knew at all.

Izzy is perhaps the most unlikable of the bunch. Bitching and pouting that the man who was her best friend all through college and beyond married her sister. How the hell was he supposed to know she was in love with him if she NEVER TOLD HIM. No one knew how Izzy really felt, but she treats her sister horribly over something that she has no knowledge of and is completely in Izzy's own head. I loved when her father finally called her out on her crappy behavior.

Rhoda and Randi are the clique'd lesbians of the neighborhood. They have a baby girl and own a Bohemian store in town. That's about all we know of them. Same for Natalie...she's a military wife who's daughter Hallie needs some serious parenting. Clara and her husband Benny have two small children and their back story is a little more fleshed out. It was at Clara's house that the ladies all got together around the fire pit the night before her next door neighbor Kristin disappeared with her twins.

Paul, Kristin's husband is a cardboard cut-out of a psychopath. He's a charming doctor who plays the bereaved and confused husband perfectly. I won't give away the ending, but you can spot it from a mile away.

Overall, I just can't recommend this. As I sit here trying to think back on any action that may have happened in this book (which I finished last night), I just can't come up with anything. It plods along until the ending when you finally learn Kristin's fate. There is a small twist at the end that I didn't see coming, but it was just not enough of a surprise to make up for the rest of the story being so predictable and uneventful. I don't like to give out low ratings, but I just did not care for this book.

**I received a free digital copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

I was sent this book to review.
I read and liked her first book- Almost Missed You.

Girls Night (kinda) Out -
6 friends come to relax on Saturday night ... they meet in a backyard with baby monitors on... -
Now on Monday morning - a mother and her two twin babies are missing.

As they all tr to remember and think about what they know ...they also learn what they do not know!

How well do we REALLY TRULY KNOW our neighbors, our friends, each other??

What a fabulous book. I’m so glad I carved out some time to devote to reading because once I started it, there was no putting this one down. There’s so much I want to write about but I don’t want to give anything away. So instead I will just say that this one kept me flipping pages. I adored the characters and the writing was flawless and brilliant and I finished the book with a sigh and a smile. It was perfection!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a brilliantly written story that keeps you turning the pages as quickly as you can and leaves you very happy that you read it. I loved this one!

I received an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was my first Jessica Strawser novel and from the moment I started reading I knew this was going to be a story that would keep me curious about what was up with this charming little neighborhood!

All the ingredients for a compelling mystery are here - the ladies, the backyard get together, the wine, the sleeping children. What no one realizes is that one of them will soon disappear and detectives will come knocking on doors!

You may not know everything about your neighbors or your friends. You may not even remember your last conversation. Some of the ladies turned suspicious eyes to their missing friends doctor husband (who she was divorcing!) while another instead decided to give him a shoulder and an open ear. Who knows....maybe he is hurting too.

I loved the characters and the many times they surprised me with their own assumptions about what happened to their friend. Lots of peering through curtains and checking out driveways will lead to an unexpected end. Highly recommend for domestic mystery fans!

This book was really good and I could NOT put it down once I started it! Not to ruin it, briefly it is about a group of women friends who have a get together and the next morning one of them has disappeared along with her children. The questions then remain: what happened to Kristen? How well do these ladies really know each other? There are many hints and twists throughout the story and I thought it was going to go one way but surprise, it didn't! Great drama, writing and characters. Love, friends, family, betrayal, secrets: definitely all are in this one! Worth your time for sure!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I was very excited to get a chance to read Jessica Strawser’s next novel especially since “Almost Missed You” was such an amazing debut novel. This book did NOT disappoint. The book begins in a similar way as Lianne Moriarty’s “Truly Madly Guilty”; with the hangover of a wine-fueled night. From there the book focuses on the disappearance of the perfect Yellow Springs wife/mother and her precocious twins and how it’s affecting her neighborhood “friends”.

The book keeps a very good pace from page one. As I write this I’m trying to think of a point in the book where the plot lagged but there really wasn’t one in this book. Also, usually novels with a mystery in them try to throw out a lot of “red herrings” to get you to think something else but in this book there wasn’t any of that. That alone made this book more interesting to read because I kept over-analyzing every chapter looking for the plot twist. Eventually you DO get one but it is not what you expect and it will make you want to turn back to page one and reread the entire book.

Stellar sophomore novel from Jessica Strawser and if this book is any indication her third book will be even stronger!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

How well do you know your neighbors? This book starts out with a friendly back-yard gathering of women and wine. By the next day, one of them is missing along with her twins. It is interesting to follow the different characters and their reactions to the mystery and the media circus that arises at their front doors. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot development and the interactions of the women, the police, and the press. I look forward to other books by Jessica Strawser.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s debut novel “Almost Missed You” and looked forward to reading her latest novel. This one felt flat to me — the pacing, plot and characters. I found myself skimming at times to finish the book.

Wonderfully written, fast-paced mystery. Strawser does a fantastic job of building believable characters and relationships within her works. I had hoped for a similar ending, but didn't think I would get it. I was pleasantly surprised by this aspect.

I got caught up in this book right from the beginning! It's the story of some women in a neighborhood and what happens when one of them disappears with her children. Her soon-to-be ex-husband is a person of interest, but no one knows if she left on her own and if she is even still alive.
I liked that the characters were all three dimensional, with their own lives and problems beyond the central story of Kristin's disappearance and how it effected them and their own lives. It also touched on an important subject without even using the words directly. A wonderful read

Excellent!! I was immediately caught up in this story on page 1 and couldn't put it down. This is a neighborhood, and a group of women, I'd love to live in and among. A well written cast of characters and a story with a brilliant twist I never saw coming.

This is the slow burning kind of thriller. The kind that makes you wonder if you are even reading a thriller at all. The case of the missing woman and her children takes a backseat early on in the story and we meander through the neighbors' lives and their own issues. We briefly come back to case of the missing every now and then, but it's never where our focus lingers- there's too much going on to stay still and wait for them to be found. In the end, it is less thriller and more of a story of relationships and relationships gone wrong. We do in the end find out what happened to the missing woman and her children, but by that point it almost doesn't even matter.

The neighborhood women get together for a night of fun around the fire and maybe too much wine. The next morning one of them is gone, along with her 2 children. The police investigate and, of course, the soon to be ex-husband is right up there on the list of subjects. They all live in a small town in Ohio and think they know everything about each other. When the police start to investigate secrets are revealed. Will the police find this family in time? Do you ever really know someone????

NOT THAT I COULD TELL
Jessica Strawser


MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️
PUBLISHER St. Martin’s Press
PUBLISHED March 27, 2018

A fun girls night out with wine and friends turns one neighborhood into the media’s spotlight.

SUMMARY
A group of neighborhood women gather around a fire pit one Saturday night. With wine in hand the conversation turns both giddy and personal. On Monday morning, one of them is missing. Kristen, the mother of four-year-old twins and school mom volunteer extraordinaire is in the midst of a divorce to a handsome doctor. No one saw her leave or knows why she might have left. As secrets are revealed Kristen’s ex-husband to be, Paul is at the center of the police investigation. Clara who was Kristen’s closest friend on the block, is very much reminded of an incident in her past, and has suspicions of her own. Izzy who only moved to the neighborhood recently, is not jumping to any conclusions, besides she is dealing with issues in her own love life. As the weeks pass and the media attention dwindles the neighbors are left to realize they may never know why Kristen disappeared.

“The missing, the hidden, the murdered and the other wise lost never get to tell their sides of the story. It’s the last and sometimes cruelest injustice.”

REVIEW
The big question is what happened to Kristen and the twins? Was she running away from something or was Paul responsible for her disappearance? A search of Kristen’s computer revealed visits to domestic abuse sites. But if that was the case, why didn’t she say something, or reach out to someone for help. NOT THAT I COULD TELL is an intriguing and evocative domestic thriller that will captivate you and leave you wondering about how well you know your own neighbors. JESSICA STRAWSER has drawn an ideal cast of neighbors who all react differently to Kristen’s disappearance. Strawser creatively imparts backstory in italics at the beginning of each chapter. The writing is absorbing and will keep your head in the book until late into the night.

Strawser is the Editor-at-Large at Writer’s Digest Magazine. Her debut novel was Almost Missed You (2017). Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press and Jessica Strawser for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I got caught up in this book right from the beginning! It's the story of some women in a neighborhood and what happens when one of them disappears with her children. Her soon-to-be ex-husband is a person of interest, but no one knows if she left on her own and if she is even still alive. Some of the chapters begin with a first person narrator who isn't identified immediately. The rest of the book is limited third person narrative focusing in on two of the neighbor ladies
I liked that the characters were all three dimensional, with their own lives and problems beyond the central story of Kristin's disappearance.
This book was exciting and absorbing and intriguing, I am glad I read it, and definitely recommend that others do too.
I received an Advanced Review Copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.