Real rating 3.5
This book starts with one of my biggest fears - finding a dead body in the woods. It's been my fear since I've started watching crime shows, so yeah the beginning got me hooked.

This wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't anything special imo.
The characters were ok, not unlikable but not very likable either.
The writing is good, very suspenseful - especially the "before" part, but the ending wasn't very surprising.
Also, just my opinion, if I were accused of a terrible crime I would not move to a small village. I'd move to London and you'd never hear of me ever again.

I Know You by Claire McGowan starts off strong. The story begins with Rachel, while walking her dog she finds a dead body, and walks home. Never calling the police, pretending she never saw it. It’s happening again. Rachel thinks by doing what she didn’t do last time, she will avoid being arrested and accused of murder. The problem with her theory is she is dating the estranged husband of the victim. She is trying everything to keep her past hidden.

20 years ago, she was Casey, a young nanny with dreams of being an actress in LA. That job ended badly, as in the family was murdered and she was charged and convicted, facing the death penalty. She was able to overturn her guilty charge on appeal, but will she ever feel innocent? After dealing with such a traumatic past, Rachel goes about everything the wrong way. It seems as though she is being framed for this murder, but can lightening really strike twice? It seems someone knows who she is, what she did, and wants revenge.

This book seemed really long. I struggled to get through a lot of it. I liked Casey better than Rachel, same person, I know…maybe being on death row changes a person, even if they do end up appealing their conviction. I knew who did it, I was a little surprised by the emergence of one of the characters, but it still felt dragged out. I give this book a 2.5 stars, I’ve read other books by Ms McGowan and enjoyed the more, hopefully this was a one off.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer publishers for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this book, but it's not going to be a thriller that stays with me. It felt very 'samey'- and not particularly original. It followed a similar format to other thrillers I have read.
Nothing special.
Just OK.

I Know You is your pretty run-of-the-mill thriller but still succeeds at telling a story you feel as though you might've read before. There's a lot to like with the writing but I couldn't find myself fully entertained with the story! Recommend to those who like dual-perspective suspense novels.

If you are looking for a book that sucks you in and grabs you this is it. #iknowyou #clairemcgowan imagine being a young girl from England. Rachel is 19. A nanny for a family. Young Madison whose 5. With auditions, an attitude, and a bed wetting problem. Butterball the baby who doesn’t sleep at night. The husband whose a famous producer. And the mother an actress trying to find her place again in acting. You come home from a walk with the baby and the family is murdered. You’re charged. In a foreign country. Facing death. This book has phenomenal writing. A story with twists. Turns. It’s definitely a 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟read. #amazonpublishinguk #netgalley #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #netgalleyreview #bookrecommendations #readeveryday

I found this book well crafted. I don't usually enjoy books that go back and forward in time or are told from the POV of two different characters but in this case, the time lines were clearly defined and the two characters were actually the same person at different times in her life.
Casey having been convicted of horrific murders in the past and then exonerated is now faced with finding another murder victim, the estranged wife of her lover. It seems that her past which she thought she had buried is coming back to haunt her. Is she being set up by someone who knows her past?

Oh.My.Goodness.

What a complicated, convoluted take. So many possibilities of what happened and who did it.

This is a a crazy mix of clues of improbable behavior of a truly unlucky woman who stumbles into murder TWICE and could totally be guilty. But is she? Worth while read!

I Know You delves into both Casey and Rachel’s story-with each chapter as riveting as the last. The book will keep you on the edge of your seat, and you, like me, will have plenty of suspects in mind as you turn the pages. The killer, however, will make your jaw drop!

Read full review here: https://thatsouthafricantraveller.wordpress.com/2021/11/12/clinton-dean-book-club-november-read-i-know-you-will-leave-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat/

This book was intriguing and set over two timelimes; 2000 and beyond and then the present day. When Rachel stumbles upon a body in the woods, she knows what she has to do: run. Get away. Do not be found at the scene. Last time, she didn’t know, and she ended up accused of murder. But when this victim is identified as her boyfriend’s estranged wife, Rachel realises she’s already the prime suspect.

With mounting evidence against her, Rachel’s only hope is to keep the truth about herself well hidden. Because twenty years ago she was someone else―Casey, a young nanny trying to make it as an actress in Los Angeles. When the family she worked for were brutally murdered, all the evidence pointed to her and she went to prison. Back then, she narrowly escaped the death penalty and managed to free herself on appeal. Now she’s fighting to save the life she’s spent years piecing back together.

I have enjoyed this book and would recommend.

They say that lightning doesn’t strike twice. Well, try telling that to Casey aka Rachel Caldwell, when for the second time in her life she stumbles across a dead body and ends up in the frame for murder.

Careless? Definitely. Implausible? Maybe. But as far fetched as this premise may seem, McGowan somehow — incredibly — makes it work.

Her plotting is as tight as a duck’s ar*e — there isn’t a single, eye-roll inducing moment in sight. And in Rachel, she’s created a female protagonist who is just as authentic as a naïve 19 year-old nannying in LA, as she is 20 years later living a low-key, unremarkable life in rural Cumbria.

Truth is, I didn’t pause once to notate whilst reading this. It is not a narrative that you linger over. This is a stuff-your-face, all-you-can-eat buffet; not an elegant canapés and wine soirée. I devoured it in two greedy helpings.

The dual timeline is executed brilliantly, leaping back and forth between Casey’s shocking, death-row experience in America, and her fresh nightmare two decades on as Rachel, when she bolts, panic stricken from the scene after discovering a body in the woods.

As she sets out to defend herself and at the same time keep her true identity hidden, it becomes clear that Rachel can trust no one. Her past has come back to haunt her, and the only person she can rely on is herself.

The pacing — tense segueing into adrenaline charged — is judged to perfection; the multitude of twists — in both the past and the present — beautifully disguised. The plot teeters dangerously on the fanciful — I mean, seriously, twice? — but the niggling sense of credibility sticks like a limpet and, ultimately, cannot be denied.

A brilliantly conceived and constructed thriller. I stuffed my face and I loved it.

Most people would report finding a dead body in the woods, but would you if you had been accused of murder before then acquitted? This is a riveting and thoroughly engrossing offering from Claire McGowan It is told in a dual timeline using flashbacks and the plot and characterisation are terrifically good. I loved every moment of this extremely well written psychological thriller. Very highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Amazon Publishing UK, Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

“What would you do if you found a dead body?” I Know You by Claire McGowan

3.5 stars. Whoa. This was good. I liked it but I didn’t like that I could put it down and was actually impatient to reach the end of the book.

This is the story of Casey. Or rather, Rachel as she’s known now. Told in 2 POVs, the past as Casey and the present as Rachel. Casey, a 19yr old newly transplanted nanny from the UK, shows us the events leading to her arrest and conviction to killing the family she was living with. Rachel shows us who Casey is now, a woman working in a pet shelter in UK, who stumbles on a dead body - again.

It was interesting to see how the events leading to the murder, arrest and conviction and subsequent reversal of the conviction. And to see how Rachel is now. Casey is painfully young here, not the best at making decisions. Rachel too at some parts of it. I was rooting for her, but still kinda of detached. I guess the buildup took too long for me. I easily went to other books. No twists here that I see but that’s ok.

Thank you Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for the arc of this booK.

This is a sensationally addictive book by one of the best authors of psychological suspense. I loved the way the flashback chapters were interspersed with the present day ones although I imagine that would have made the book harder to put down. I say imagine because by the end of page one I knew this was a book to be read in one sitting. I can honestly say that I had absolutely no idea whether or not Casey/Rachel was guilty of either set of murders, I wavered between being positive that she was guilty and being assured of her innocence so the final denouement left me stunned. A really great book that is well deserving of 5 stars.

Rachel finds a body in the woods and is considered a prime suspect because the victim is identified as her boyfriend's estranged wife. 20 years ago, Rachel was Casey, a young nanny trying to make it as an actress in Los Angeles. The family she worked for were brutally murdered and all the evidence pointed to her and she went to prison. She narrowly escaped the death penalty and managed to free herself on appeal and changed her name to Rachel. Now she’s fighting to save the life she’s spent years putting back together. Was her discovery in the woods really just a coincidence, or is someone framing her for murder? Someone who knows she is Casey, and wants revenge. This book is a hard-to-put-down page turner with interesting characters. The chapters switch back and forth from 20 years ago to the present. The suspense builds with surprising twists. It kept me guessing until the very end. I have read and enjoyed all of McGowan's books including her Paula Maguire series except for the Killing House which I will be reading very soon. I would like to thank NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for a free copy for an honest review.

It’s a cold, rainy day in November and it’s getting dark at 3pm. You really need a good psychological thriller that will draw you in so you can forget about your friends who are sunning themselves on a beach.
There are a few authors who won’t let you down when you need to escape your surroundings: Claire McGowan is one of them. I passed a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon reading this thriller, so thank you to the author, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for lightening up a dull day with an ARC.
The story transported me to both LA and the Lake District, but this wasn’t an LA setting to make you envious.
The main character, Casey, 19, from a poor family, thinks that nannying for a film producer’s family in LA will be impossibly glamorous, but the neglectful, seedy husband and the bitter, ‘hangry’, anorexic wife exploit her, leaving her to deal with all the housework and childcare. Casey’s dreams of fame as an actress end in tragedy as the family is murdered and Casey is falsely accused of the crime. She becomes notorious as the ‘Mary Poppins’ murderer.
What lifted this thriller above the average for me were the all-too-realistic details of the trial by media of poor Casey. Just one plausible detail: her skimpy teenage clothes, worn by young girls in the UK, are seen in America as evidence of her promiscuity and therefore of her guilt. The workings of the American ‘injustice’ system adds a layer of interest to the thriller.
As the story opens, Casey has reinvented herself as Rachel, an unglamorous volunteer at a dog shelter in the Lakes. She thinks she has eliminated all traces of her past life in LA - but has she? And is it a coincidence too far when Rachel discovers another dead body when walking her dog in the Lake District?
I found the portrait of Casey/Rachel utterly convincing and just had to keep turning the pages until I found out what really happened to Casey in LA and whether Rachel will once again be falsely imprisoned for murder.

This would make a great beach read if you’re lucky enough to be on a beach; if not, it’s a great compensation if you aren’t.

Two crimes, two decades apart, told from two points of view by one accused murderer.
The question of ‘who done it’ both then and now kept me turning the pages. The conclusion was shocking and the real truth revealed.

Wow. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Couldn’t put it down and read it in 2 nights. The storyline is really good and keeps you on your toes to the very end. I recommend anyone who enjoys mystery and thrillers to read this. You will not be disappointed. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the privilege of getting an advanced copy

This is a classic Claire McGowan thriller with lots of plot twists that don’t come together until the very end of the book. She is a great storyteller and a lot of the chapters end on a good cliffhanger, so I raced through it.

I found that the plot was a bit less plausible than in What You Did or The Other Wife, and I was lest invested in the characters, which is why I’ve given it a lower score than the 4 stars I gave those books. But it was still an enjoyable read and I would definitely read more Claire McGowan books in the future.

With thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Claire McGowan books always go on my tbr, she knows how to write a thriller/suspense full of twists leaving the unsuspecting reader in a daze! Rachel finds a dead body and has to bolt because the last time something like this happened she was suspect number 1. Unfortunately the victim is her boyfriends ex so she’s suspect number 1 yet again. Thrilling read and will keep you enthralled through to the very end.

This was a well written thriller. Kept me guessing until the end. It was kept interesting by the 2 points of view Casey and Rachel, past and present. Great characters and intriguing and interesting story and plot. Looking forward to more books by Claire McGowan

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion