Holy Smoke!!!

What made me wait so long to pick this one up? Beyond the fact that I might have lost my mind, the rabbit hole, I plunged myself into with this one has me at a loss for words.

Sophie Flynn has made a name for herself with, If They Knew, and I am so here for it.

If They Knew, is a complex and emotional thriller that will have you completely consumed by the time you conclude the first chapter.

Don't make my mistake, pick up this book NOW!!

check out this teaser :

What would you hide to get everything you ever wanted?

After years of infertility and heartbreak, Hannah and Charlie are finally going to get their dream family. Two-year-old Isabelle is a week away from being theirs; they just have to get through the final adoption approval process.

But when a global popstar is found murdered at the celebrity members’ club in their sleepy Oxfordshire village, Hannah fears her past is finally catching up with her. Exposing the truth could see her lose everything… her husband, Isabelle – perhaps even her life.

But Hannah doesn’t realise that Charlie has his own secrets, and, in trying to save her, has put them more at risk than she ever thought possible. As the couple get drawn in further to the murky world of celebrity and murder, they soon find themselves caught in a nightmare, forced to make terrible choices.

How many bad things will a good person do to hold onto what they love?

I was pretty interested in this book but the ending was somewhat predictable for me. But that aside, I still really enjoyed it and would recommend it to my friends

A tale about what happens when your past collides with your present. When all the secrets you've packed away come tumbling out and threaten your future. The truth will always set you free!

This book was a creative, twisty, turny story about murder and betrayal. It makes you consider how far you would go for the ones you love. You’d do anything for them, but would you kill for them?

Do you ever look at the tagline for a book and just marvel at the skill of the copywriter?

The three small images on the right are from the ad campaign for Sophie Flynn’s domestic noir If They Knew.

Those words just made me request the audioARC from NetGalley:

“They were the perfect couple. Until the body was found.”

“Whose body?” I thought. “And what even is ‘the perfect couple’ anyway?”

Spoiler alert: Hannah and Charlie are anything but perfect. Although they are going through a process that often makes couples feel the need to appear perfect - adopting a little girl.

An exploration of trauma and its impact on the memory and sense of identity, in Hannah we have a protagonist who is able to be hugely empathetic and scarily disassociated as the situation demands. Working for a DV charity she knows all the theories around rape and male violence but has managed to avoid admitting to herself that she was once in a relationship with someone who exercised coercive control and went on to do terrible things to her and to other women.

If you’ve ever wondered how people process truly horrific things and go on to have a seemingly ordinary life afterwards, this book may well be for you.

Three Word Review: trauma begets trauma.

Narrated by Tamsin Kennard ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Story by Sophie Flynn ⭐⭐⭐

This is my first time trying a book by Sophie Flynn and while the prem was really good it just moved so slowly and became quite repetitive.

This is a book I would still recommend but not necessarily purchase for a friend.

If They Knew
by Sophie Flynn
Narrated by Tamsin Kennard

Rating: 3.8/5.0 Stars

Hannah and Charlie are so close to having their happily ever after with the adoption of sweet little Isabelle...if only a dead musician with ties to Hannah hadn't gotten in the way of things. Hannah and Charlie are both desperate to get to the bottom of things so that Hannah isn't implicated in the murder. One problem-Hannah and Charlie haven't opened up to each other and are hiding everything from each other.

If They Knew is a slow burn of a book, with Hannah trying to make sure that her name is cleared from the suspect list, while Charlie is separately trying to find out what really happened. They don't want to lose the chance to adopt Isabella, the child they've longed for. The story goes back and forth between the past and present, telling Hannah's story about when she attended a prestigious arts school, and where something terrible happened. Hannah's tried to forget about what happened, but the past is quickly catching up to her, and at the most inopportune time.

The narration was well done and the story, which was interesting, was a bit drawn out and I found myself wondering when something was going to happen from time to time. Overall, this title is worth a listen or read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Saga Egmont Audio for the chance to listen to and review this ARC!

3.5/5 stars

Thank you Saga Egmont Audio for the advanced listening copy!

Hannah and Charlie are finally getting what they have worked so hard for -- the opportunity to adopt a beautiful baby girl named Isabelle. Their plans are rapidly derailed, however, when pop superstar Jesse Carter is murdered at the country club near their home, The Farm. Suddenly, Hannah is transported back to New York City, where she first met Jesse years ago. She's forced to confront her past and their sordid history in an attempt to keep her tiny, growing family safe.

This was a pretty solid thriller overall! I enjoyed Hannah's character and really wanted to root for her and Charlie's future. I was pretty surprised by how things turned out, though there were a few twists that I predicted early on. I enjoyed the narrator a lot and feel she added a lot of dimension to the story. The ending dragged on a bit for me -- it felt like the entire last 10% of the book could have been cut and we would have been left with essentially the same conclusion -- but it was a solid and enjoyable read nonetheless.

What a thrilling read!! I throughly enjoyed this audiobook. The plot twists were unique, the writing and plot were executed almost perfectly. I love a good dual POV. I think this book and audiobook is one that every mystery/suspense thriller lover should definitely read! 4.75 stars!!

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller about a couple, Hannah and Charlie, who are about to adopt a 2 year old girl after several failed rounds of IVF, and suddenly end up in the middle of a murder hunt when a global pop star is killed in their small village.

The story is told mostly from the POV of Hannah in 'then' and 'now' chapters, and I found their infertility struggles heart wrenching. Hannah obviously has a big secret in her past which involves the pop star and I kept reading, desperate to know what that secret was, and hoping nothing would upset the adoption. There were twists and turns in abundance leading to the shocking, but satisfying (IMO) ending.

Great narration by Tamsin Kennard.

Told over 2 timelines, which flowed seamlessly, the story follows Hannah. She went to university in New York but didn't quite fit in as she imagined. Something happened there and fled back home to the UK.

Her life now sees her a few days away from adopting a child and her struggles to get there. But her past is threatening to destroy her future.

I absolutely loved this book and listened it in one sitting. I just didn't want to put it down. I enjoyed the narrator and the voices she gave to each character. I would listen to more of her narrations.

I now have another author that I NEED to read all their back catalogue.

Fast-paced, entertaining, and well-narrated. A recommended purchase for collections where domestic suspense is popular.

If They Knew is a fast paced psychological thriller full of emotions and secrets. This book has a big focus on infertility. It gets to a point where it starts to feel repetitive and distracts from the other aspects of the story. I really liked getting to know the characters. They were all so real, unique and full of secrets and flaws. It was very interesting to see how far everyone was willing to go to protect themselves and their loved ones. I really liked the ending even though it left a few loose ends. I'd love to read more by Sophie Flynn soon!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Features infertility and abuse.

Hannah and Charlie are an ostensibly very happily married couple living in a picturesque village who have no secrets from each other. Their only disappointment is not having children, which they hope is about to be remedied by the arrival of their adoptive daughter Izzy.

When a global popstar arrives at an exclusive retreat nearby, Hannah assures herself it is a coincidence, even though he was her college boyfriend in New York where she studied briefly.

But Hannah hasn't told anyone what really happened to make her leave New York, and Charlie hasn't admitted to Hannah that he already knows that trouble is brewing, or that he is putting his technological skills to use much closer to home.

As events unravel, they enter into increasingly elaborate cover ups to protect their secrets and avoid losing everything.

An engaging read and great narration. Slightly drawn out ending.

Thanks NetGalley, Sophie Flynn and publisher for the audiobook copy of If They Knew. It was a very intriguing psychological thriller.

Hannah and Charlie are a happily married couple struggling with infertility. They begin the adoption process and find themselves about to be parents to a little girl named Izzy.

As this happens a famous musician is jfound murdered. This shocks Hannah because she knew him, loved him in college. Trying to stay under the radar as to not affect their adoption process by being affiliated with a murder Hannah begins to look into the death when she is informed that he had been trying to contact her.

To a couple that doesn’t have secrets- Hannah secretly investigates and then Charlie begins to investigate. The present becomes entangled with the past and Hannah finds herself more confused as her memory is limited.

What I liked about this book was how the past event is pivotal in the present but we don’t entirely know what happened until the end. The characters unravel pieces. And Hannah and Charlie go through bizarre coverups. It was a well paced book.

Trigger warnings of infertility and abuse for this one. Following the last dreadful night of what Hannah did not realize was an abusive relationship, she has lived in fear that what she had done in her drugged state would catch up to her and ruin her life. She has devoted her entire career to making up for the wrong they said she committed. Now, after years of infertility struggles exacerbated by guilt, they are about to finally adopt their little girl when the past comes crashing in, threatening to ruin everything. Unbeknownst to Hannah, Charlie has known something was up longer than she has and is desperately using his tech skills in an underhanded attempt to protect them and the dream that they have worked hard to achieve. Hannah catches up right as things twist into an even bigger mess and they have to make a terrible choice.

On the surface, Hannah and Charlie appear to have the perfect lives, a lovely home, a beautiful toddler. But secrets roil beneath the surface and when a local pop star is killed, the secrets they’ve buried threaten to ruin everything