Stephanie and Alison were flatmates when they were at university together but most nights Alison slept at Jason’s flat. One night, Stephanie was meant to meet her for a drink to discuss something but she went to a swanky bar with a male friend she fancied instead. Stephanie returned home the next morning. When she didn’t see Alison over that weekend, Stephanie thought she was with Jason but it turned out she was missing. They eventually charged Jason although he protested his innocence.

Nine years later, a TV researcher gets in touch with Stephanie to ask about interviewing her and her husband about Alison to see if there are any details that will help with finding her killer or where she is now. Stephanie is hesitant as she had a really bad time dealing with the loss of Alison and doesn’t want to bring it all back up now she has a family, her husband doesn’t want it either. Then she gets to thinking about it and decides to help. To start with Stephanie sees the researcher with her husband but he doesn’t seem interested so she carries on by herself. It’s when the researcher starts asking questions and she sees the photos that things start coming together for her and then her life is in danger!

The burning question is what really happened to Alison that weekend and why mustn’t it come out?

This was an intriguing story and got me hooked straight from the start. I found it really hard to put down and I really enjoyed reading it. It was really well written and very descriptive. I believe I have read one of Miranda’s books before and I will certainly be reading more of her books as she seems to have a flair for a storyline I seem to like. This was something a little bit different and would make a great TV programme to watch.

What She Knew wasn’t my cup of tea....but that doesn’t mean it can’t be yours!

Did not finish so three star rating for fairness.

⭐⭐⭐ -- Went pear shaped near the end.

This one was okay. The mystery held my interest and kept me guessing until the end. The characters were intriguing, and it was a relatively quick read. However, the ending felt rushed and the big "twist" was rather far-fetched and dare I say, cheesy? 🤷🏻‍♀️

**ARC Via NetGalley**

I've become a bit of a fan of Miranda Rijks. This wasn't my favourite of her books so far but it did keep me turning the pages. I found the ending a bit far fetched but it was worth it. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

There's something so addictive about Miranda rijks's writing style, i don't know if it's about how fast paced and engaging her storytelling is, or just how her characters , although really flawed,are really relatable.
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This book doesn't have a gritty, heavy and rich plot, i would actually dare to describe it as quite bare, it had a really simple plot, not that original i might add, but it was hella engrossing, it was so unputdownable, i felt like devouring the book, that's how good it was.
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The main character, whom the story is told from her pov, is not a reliable narrative, which gave the story some edge, i liked how it felt like i truly was in Stephanie's head throughout the book, and although the character's thoughts were at times frustrating, it just showed how humane she was.
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The storyline was really engaging, while it definitely has a simple plot, almost straight forward, i liked the simplicity of it, it was a nice break after some hardcore books.
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The ending was half expected, but there was a plot twist that i truly didn't see coming, which was good because if it was done the anticipated way that would've put the book on the "tacky" shelf.
So overall, a really good read.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review via netgalley and the publisher*

We like to think we know those around us. But what happens when those closest to us aren’t as they appear?

This story has a slight predictability, but that could be because this is the genre I prefer to read and I read hundreds of them a year.

Like watching an 80’s horror flick where you’re screaming at the girl not to go in the house by herself, you’ll find yourself yelling at Stephanie for some of her actions.

Read this story!

Stephanie is content with her life, married to a college professor and mom to two children. When a TV journalist contacts her regarding the mystery of her missing college flatmate, Alison, she has no choice but to recall her memories of what happened so long ago. Alison's boyfriend Josh was charged with her disappearance and has been in jail for her presumed death. As Stephanie starts digging deeper she realizes that she might not really know the people she trusts the most.

This is the second book I've read from this author and I enjoyed it. The book goes back in time to Stephanie and Alison's college days, where Alison starts acting strange and tries contacting Stephanie about something she wants to talk about right before she disappears. In the present someone is threatening Stephanie to stop looking for answers, which propels her to figure out the truth and putting herself in danger. I thought this was a good read and didn't figure out the big reveal until the ending. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Inkubator Books for the opportunity to read this book.

This is an easy read, good for the beach. The plot was too predictable for me with the typical lack of character development you see in a “beach read” mystery. I found Stephanie to be too naive as a character and it made the book too unbelievable for me. The ending was also a little too much of a happy ending for me. Overall though, a 2.5 which I will round up to 3 stars.

This was such a delightful read. Stephanie has suffer loss after loss in her life. And just when things seem to be perfect: a wonderful marriage to a handsome and successful man, two healthy kids: an unraveling begins that deconstructs her entire life and everything she has known to be true. It is a wild ride as each layer of the onion is unpeeled. I would love to read it again now that I know how it ends. A great book.

Stephanie’s university flatmate, Allison, disappeared without a trace 9 years ago and a documentary researcher has begun investigating her disappearance causing Stephanie to reevaluate what happened to her friend. Stephanie is now married to her former professor and is a stay-at-home mother to two children.

Once again I seem to be reading two books with very similar storylines. Both stories involve the disappearance and presumed murder of a close acquaintance 9-10 years previously while they were attending university/college. Both are told mainly from the viewpoint of the narrator in chapters identified basically as 'Then' and 'Now'. The stories went in different directions but to me this one was more fun and a quicker read. Even though Stephanie appeared to be subservient to Oliver, I think she had more backbone than she was given credit for. None of the characters had a lot of depth but sometimes you just have to smile and go with the flow of the story. There were a couple of twists that caught me by surprise and the epilogue brought a tear to my eye as did the author's notes at the end.

I think this was a Read Now on Netgalley so thanks to Miranda Rijks, the author, Inkubator Books, the publisher, and to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC of "What She Knew". All opinions expressed are my own.

Publication Date: July 18, 2021

This book left me very unsatisfied. The characters were quite flat. It started off with a dual timeline but this was dropped and forgotten. The plot was quite predictable and I kept waiting for a big twist that never came.

Almost 10 years ago Stephanie's best friend and flatmate, Alison, went missing. Stephanie feels extremely guilty about not being available when Alison needed her. She suffered from nightmares for a long time after, however, she is now happily married to Oliver, a college professor, and has two young children. One day, a true crime reporter visits, he wants to investigate Alison's case and wants to interview those who knew Alison. Stephanie is eager to find out what happened to her friend. Unfortunately, the nightmares return and somebody is sending Stephanie messages warning her to stop investigating the past.

I went into this expecting not to like it at all. There were parts that dragged and I didn't really care for the characters. Then it got a bit interesting and I was somewhat pleased with how it all turned out. Stephanie came off as so naive, it was annoying. I also didn't feel the closeness of her relationship with Alison. She also kept dismissing all the negative things about Oliver. The other characters didn't get interesting until towards the end of the book. The ending wrapped up nicely, although I was left wanting just a bit more, I felt there were minor loose ends and it just all wrapped up to quickly and easily.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Inkubator Books and Miranda Rijks for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Oh my god. What an intense thriller! Miranda has an incredible talent for writing books that instantly draw you in and keep you guessing until the last page. All your questions are fully answered by the end of this book. I managed to read it in one sitting as I was completely gripped. I can’t recommend it enough. It is dark, scary and gritty.

I loved this book, yet found it to be very predictable towards the middle of the book. I read a lot of mystery books, and this may be why I was able to catch it so soon. However, it is an excellent read just for the way the book ended. While I say I figured out who did it, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it play out. It did have moments that were suspenseful where you hoped people didn’t get caught, etc. I read this book in one sitting, because it was a very easy read and easy to follow. I felt the book had good continuity, but once again, a but predictable. The story has moments of real life and moments of unbelievability. I gave it a rating of 4 for the enjoyment and ending. The 1 extra star left off was due to the predictability. .

I got this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book so badly. I really did. It's got an excellent premise. Woman's bestie's murder is to be the subject of a true crime show, and she begins to realize the case isn't as closed as it seems. It started out with a dual timeline, flipping between the "present" and ten years prior, just before the bestie's disappearance, but the dual timeline does not persist throughout the book; it's only in the early chapters.

I did not like the writing style at all. I found this book very hard to read. Normally I'm a sprint reader, finishing a book as quickly as I can, but this took me several weeks to finish because I did *not* want to continue. Honestly I would have DNFd it were I not obligated to write this review.

As far as the mystery elements go, it was contrived and cliche. Perhaps that was the author's intent? If it were, I wish I'd known that, because then I could have appreciated it for what it was. Does the entire book build suspicions against one and only one character? Yes. Is that character implicated? Yes. Even if they did not do the actual murder, they were indirectly involved. So there really wasn't a surprise twist, which was a let down. Then there *was* a twist, but it was such a lame and irrelevant twist. It didn't change the stakes, it didn't impact character dynamics, it was unnecessary.

Okay, sorry to get into super spoiler territory for a minute, but I HATE that she winds up with Rahul at the end. My hope for the book was that while we're lead to find the husband suspicious, it was really Rahul who was the killer. He was always marginally present in the story, just enough for an avid mystery reader to suspect something was up. That could have been an interesting twist for this novel, rather than, oh it was the husband's friend, and the husband's a bad guy, and the tv show guy isn't doing a tv show...

I feel bad for being so harsh, but NetGalley asked for an honest review, and this is how I truly feel about this book

Steph & Alison share a flat while they are at uni, and then Alison disappears.
Years later a true crime reporter/producer contacts Steph to look into her disappearance. Steph's husband, lecture Oliver is against Steph talking to him.
The plot then takes twists and turns - a page turner - I could not out this book down.
Miranda Rijks describes the characters so well and keeps you guessing. First book that I have read from this author, but I will now be going to read her previous novels.

Stephanie is married with 2 kids. Her husband, Oliver, is a college professor. Stephanie is living the good life now.

Nine years ago, Stephanie’s room mate disappeared. And Stephanie doesn’t know what happened to Alison.

Now, a true crime series wants to investigate Alison’s disappearance and to interview Stephanie. And of course the more the try digging for the truth, the more secrets they discover.

I’ve always totally enjoyed books by this author, and find them super hard to put down. This one was no different – go get it!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Thank you #netgalley for the complimentary copy of #whatsheknew in exchange for an honest review.

I’m relatively new to thrillers, and this one was different to any I have read. It’s a dual timeline novel telling the story of our main character, Stephanie, who’s flat mate/best friend went missing right at the end of university. We follow the events that led up to that day, and the modern day where a tv researcher is looking around to use the story in a true crime series.

For the most part I really enjoyed this book. I had a feeling through the whole book who did it, and while it was wrong, it wasn’t so far off that the reveal was shocking. I really enjoyed the writing style though and there was a point at the end I was scared to keep reading

Past Returns To Haunt…
The past returns to haunt. Stephanie, now living a seemingly perfect life, has no idea that digging up the past will see her own life disintegrate. Compelling psychological suspense with plenty of twists and turns, keeping the reader turning the pages. A clever plot with credible characters.

Rounding up from 3.5. Enjoyable but probably not memorable.

This was a solid read, and I finished it in one day. The writing was serviceable; there was a bit of clunky dialogue/info dumping but overall it was very readable

I thought from early on the story would be predictable; I was only partially right. One reveal felt obvious, but I didn’t clock the entire ending (although I had suspicions about the villain—but there were pieces I didn’t put together). There were one or two things mentioned that didn’t really get resolved—not entire plot threads, just little clues/red herrings I had hoped would be explained in the end.

The narrator/protagonist, Stephanie, is often a frustrating POV character because of how she doubts and second-guesses herself. It’s certainly a deliberate character choice, but it may grate some readers.

At the story is the question, what happened when Stephanie’s college flat ate disappeared years ago? And did the wrong person end up imprisoned? I was interested in the answers, though never exactly on the edge of my seat.