💊💊💊💊 / 5

this was a solid thriller. the story is told through the POVs of the three sisters in both the present and past (before their parents were murdered). things really began to heat up about halfway through, and i found myself not wanting to put it down. the writing was exceptional, and i appreciated the various literary devices used throughout. this was my first read by this author, and i can’t wait to read WHAT LIES IN THE WOODS soon!

Typical for me I was let down by this book after loving the last one. On the plus side it was a quick read, it was a plot line I haven't really read before, it wasn't completely obvious what had really happened. On the other hand, I didn't really like any of the characters except Gabriel, it was shallow, it wasn't that interesting,

Title: No One Can Know
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Pub Date: January 23, 2024
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5 Rounded Up)

When Emma Palmer and her two sisters, Daphne and Juliette, were young, their parents were found murdered in their home. Although the case was never solved, Emma always remained the prime suspect. After the murders, the sisters separated and did not speak for years. Emma eventually married and becomes pregnant, and for financial reasons, has to move back into her childhood home with her husband. She knew this would mean that she would have to disclose secrets to her husband and that questions about what happened that night would resurface. Everone seems suspect and Emma doesn’t know who can really be trusted! When she starts to ask questions about that night and reunites with her sisters, she won’t stop until she clears her name and finds out exactly what happened…

This was a twisty thriller that will make you want to read on to find out what actually happened to Emma’s parents and who is interfering in Emma’s life now that she has returned home. I had not read any other books by this author, but What Lies In The I Woods has been on my list for awhile. After reading this, I will definitely be reading that one soon!

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this advanced reader copy!

I enjoyed this one. It wasn't super twisty, although it tried to be at the end which only made it more confusing in my opinion, but I don't always need my books to have a bunch of twists. I just need to enjoy the journey and not hate the characters 😂. The author tried to keep you guessing on who murdered the parents but it ended up being who I suspected all along. However, there is something about the reveal that didn't make sense to me but I can't explain without spoilers. The three sisters were well fleshed out and not 2-dimensional and the book was well written.

4.5 ⭐️

Kate Alice Marshall’s books get better as you get deeper into the story. Some authors snag you from the get-go and may or may not keep the interest high; now having read a few of KAM’s books, I know there might be some lag in the beginning but JUST KEEP READING because it’s guaranteed the characters are withholding information that I’m DEFINITELY gonna wanna know!

This is Marshall’s second adult thriller, and if you read last year’s What Lies in the Woods and enjoyed it, don’t miss out on this one! There are some similarities: three women connected by secrecy around a traumatic childhood experience and now dangerous truths are threatening to be revealed. In What Lies in the Woods, they are friends; in No One Can Know, they are sisters.

This story is told from three points of view and in two timelines—each of the three sisters, then and now. While having six different narrative lines sounds like it would be overwhelming, Marshall deftly guides the reader between the perspectives and timeframes, and each chapter is labeled with the POV and its situation in time. I think it’s fascinating that the author chose to write the “now” chapters in past tense and the “then” chapters in present. This is seemingly counterintuitive, but I never found it confusing. Instead, it’s a subtle reminder that the past and present are inextricably linked.

I will say that I personally found elements of this story very upsetting and hard to read. Aside from the things that are obvious from the synopsis, ⚠️trigger warnings⚠️ include physical and emotional abuse of children and domestic partners.

Kate Alice Marshall has become one of my favorite authors over the last year, and I look forward to reading more of her backlist and anything and everything that she comes out with in the future! For teens or adults!

Full review posted on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5716204332

This was good, but not as great as her previous book...for me at least.

I enjoyed the element of the sister dynamic and found the slow burn unraveling quite interesting and addicting. However, I never fully felt captivated or engrossed in the story the way I had hoped I would.

I really wished that I had enjoyed this as much as this author's previous thriller, but this one fell flat for me.

No One Can Know had an overall okay pull of a synopsis, seemingly a typical plot line. I loved her prior novel, What Lies in the Woods, and knew I would pick up another from her no matter the tag of the next book.

This one felt repetitive and rather boring for most of the book. I did find it hard to care about these characters and their respective stories. There was just something about this that didn't work for me. It was fast paced and I did finish it quickly but it didn't live up to what I hoped for.

Overall, this was a fine read that is enjoyable enough in the moment.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

Kate Alice Marshall won me over with What Lies in the Woods and I immediately knew I had to read No One Can Know. She did not disappoint. This book had me flying through the pages and trying to figure out how it was going to play out. Great book that kept me up way too late at night. Can't wait for more from this amazing author.

I read my first Kate Alice Marshall book a year ago and really enjoyed it! So when I received this book, I was so excited to try out another of her books. Unfortunately, I enjoyed this one, but it didn't quite hit the mark that her last book did for me.

What I liked:
- I liked the sisters. They were complex and dark and their development was insightful.
- I liked how the story slowly unfolded and pieces came together. I was hooked throughout the story and anxious to know more and figure out the mystery!
- It was twisty. I love a good twisty thriller and this definitely fit the bill!

What I didn't love:
- The ending. This is a personal thing. but that final twist didn't work for me and I haven't liked previous books that have utilized that type of twist either.
- I didn't get quite the sense of atmosphere that I did in Marshall's previous book.

Thank you for an ARC! I thoroughly enjoyed this one for so many reasons, the most prominent that I couldn’t figure out what was happening until the very end.

I enjoyed the small-town feel and believe the author did an amazing job developing the characters in line with the small-town setting. I am most impressed with Nathan — he was designed to be hated, and boy did I despise him.

The only part of this thriller that seemed unrealistic to me is how Nathan quickly believed Emma’s word about some insane stuff and just up and moved with her. That didn’t track.

This is my first book by the author and I will definitely be reading more.

The Palmer sisters are the focus of Kate Alice Marshall's latest thriller, No One Can Know. For much of the book, it was approaching a 5-star read. The transition between "then" and "now" had built incredible suspense, the sisters mesmerized me with their intimacy and distance, and the family was a nightmare that clearly was destined to combust. Every character had me wondering who was perhaps going to break down and kill the parents, but the unraveling and surprise murder in the modern "now" story totally drew me. I usually have an inkling when something like that will happen, but Marshall shocked me when the victim was found. It made no sense until it did. Unfortunately, the last 10% played a few too many games with revealing the killer, then changing the story, then another unexpected reveal followed by a final shocker in the last few pages. It made me a bit apprehensive to just accept too many flaws and disconnects, so I had to drop back to 4 stars. Still a thoroughly engaging read that gripped me right up until the final page.

No One Can Know kept me reading all the way through, and had overall is a thriller I would recommend. The one issue I had was how a lot of the tension surrounding Emma between her sisters and her husband is easily avoided with some communication. Even leaving her estranged from her sisters, the way she’s evasive with her husband is unnecessary. It adds frustration for the reader and makes certain events and reveals less impactful than they could have been.

Note: arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for honest reviews

This book is extremely well written. Kate Alice did a great job at introducing the characters and identifying each of their quirks and qualities without giving anything away. There were twists and turns with the characters and with the plot, which I liked a lot. As ,icy as you knew a character, you didn’t know them completely. I liked that aspect because one, you didn’t see it coming, and two, it’s just like real life. No matter how much you think you know someone, you really don’t. The other great part about these twists is that they weren’t predictable. Sometimes when you’re reading you can see it coming and what the author had planned. In this book, you didn’t. Most of the time when there are multiple twists and turns I get annoyed because it’s too much, but Kate Alice did it in a way that made it valuable to the story. I highly suggest this book to anyone that enjoys a good mystery book. You will not be disappointed.

Fourteen years ago, the Palmer sisters―Emma, Juliette, and Daphne―left their home in Arden Hills and never returned. But when Emma discovers she’s pregnant and her husband loses his job, she has no option but to return to the house that she and her estranged sisters still own . . . and where their parents were murdered.

Emma has never told anyone what she saw the night her parents died, even when she became the prime suspect. But her presence in the house threatens to uncover secrets that have stayed hidden for years, and the sisters are drawn together once again. As they face their memories of the past, rivalries restart, connections are forged, and, for the first time, Emma starts to ask questions about what really happened that night.

The more Emma learns, the more riddles emerge. And Emma begins to wonder just what her siblings will do to keep the past buried, and whether she did the right thing staying quiet about what was whispered that night: “No one can know.”


https://www.instagram.com/p/C1yMJxAAKig/?igsh=NzBmMjdhZWRiYQ

Thank to NetGalley and publisher for providing me with an eARC of this title.

I did not enjoy this as much as What Lies in the Woods. I think this started out really strongly, but somewhere in the middle of the book, I kind of lost interest a little bit. I enjoyed the flashbacks. I really liked the overall premise, but I felt like the final reveal lacked something. I had a hard time really caring about any of these characters. This was a pretty quick read and it was fine, but I am a little disappointed that I didn't love it as much as I thought I would.

I loved What Lies in the Woods when I read it last year so I was excited to pick up this new book from Kate Alice Marshall!! Emma and her two sisters haven’t been in contact since their parents were murdered years ago. Emma has built a new life in a new place, where nobody knows that everyone in her home town suspects she committed the murders. But when Emma returns to her hometown and the sisters come back together, all of their secrets start to unravel.

This was a twisty domestic thriller that kept me on my toes. I couldn’t put this book down and the build up to the ending was so so good. I will say the ending was a bit convoluted and wasn’t quite as big of a pay off as I was expecting. But it did keep me guessing!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!!

Thank you to Flatiron Books & NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

Honestly, I didn’t really love this book. It was a slow moving thriller, that had a very far fetched plot, with little making sense. I did keep reading because I ultimately had to know the answers to the big murder mystery, but like I said it all seemed like a reach and didn’t really add up.

Nathan & Emma are down on their luck. Nathan has just lost his job, and they are now out of all the money they put for a down payment on a house, and have to move out of their current home. It’s not the best timing for Emma to find out she is pregnant. Unsure of what to do they head back to Emma’s hometown where her childhood home still sits because at least they won’t be homeless.

But Nathan doesn’t understand how complex the situation is for them to return back to that house. Emma’s parents were murdered and everyone pointed fingers at her for killing them. Making matters even more complicated is her two sisters who she is estranged from who she hasn’t spoken to since the night of the murders; the night they made a pact .

The book is told in alternating timelines and dual POV from the times leading up to the murders, the murder, the aftermath, and current times. It was easy to follow but by the end of the book the story of who committed the murder and how everything went down seemed a like it was improbable to me and didn’t really make much sense.

Not my cup of tea, but someone else may enjoy!

Marshall has done it again! I loved her previous book, What Lies in the Woods, and my high expectations were absolutely met with her newest book. I loved the alternating POVs and the sisters' relationships to one another. This one was dark in all the right ways and the pacing was just perfect.

I really enjoyed this story - the story was told from 3 sisters points of view - the main being Emma, followed by Juliette and Daphne. While growing up in a house with abusive parents, lies and secrets, mom and dad are murdered and it's suspected Emma did it (the middle sister). These book really keeps you guessing until the end - it still leaves some things up to debate also - which I do like. This was a great dark twisty thriller!

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. No One Can Know chronicles the lives of Emma and her two sisters, the murders of their parents, and Emma's return to her hometown (and the scene of the murders, her childhood home) in the wake of her husband's unemployment and her unexpected pregnancy. Kate Alice Marshall weaves an intricate mystery, and throughout the book, I was left guessing as to the identify of the murderer. However, while the beginning and ending were particularly compelling, I became bored by the middle of the book, as multiple characters, perspectives, reveals, and time jumps made for a non-linear and somewhat overwhelming reading experience.