•domestic thriller
•family secrets
•small town murder mystery
•multiple POV
•alternating timelines

Add this book to your list of twisty thrillers to read. The main character is Emma: she's in her early 30s, in a struggling marriage, with a husband who recently lost his job. They have no choice but to move back to Emma's small hometown and reside in the childhood home she inherited after her parents were murdered. Emma was the prime suspect in the case and the police are quick to let her know they still have their eye on her. To complicate matters, her estranged sisters come back into her life and the cold case is reopened. The three sisters have never talked about what happened that fateful night, but their secrets must come to light before someone goes to prison, or worse.

This was a really quick read and I enjoy books with alternating timelines. But with that and multiple points of view, it often felt like too much. Especially the end, when most of the plot twists happen. So I was ultimately left feeling confused, but still enjoyed it as a whole. If you loved 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙇𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨 then I think you'll also love this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for providing me a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

No one Can Know is a fitting title because I was never quite sure where this story was headed.

The parents of three sisters were found murdered in the family home and one of the girls is considered the chief suspect. Through flashbacks we discover the traumatic childhood that gave each girl a reason to want their parents dead.

The case goes cold and present day one of the sisters moves back home. What could possibly go wrong.

I found the premise compelling, I’m all for family drama but some of the decisions of the characters had me yelling at my book.

Twisty and a fun read though I thought the build up was better than the conclusion.

I love a good sister story, and No One Can Know featured three adult sisters who endured a terrible tragedy as children and have not spoken to each other since. They return to their childhood home and begin to confront the past. But someone (who might very well be one of them) does not want the truth to come out.

I LOVED this premise! There were definitely aspects of it that didn't make complete sense and that you just had to go with. Readers who are like amnesia stories and don't mind a more atmospheric and less propulsive narrative will love this one!


My full review was posted on Jen Ryland Reviews on January 3 and is linked below!

Let me tell you about this book! It was so good! I loved every minute of it. When I say I carried my phone and kindle every where I went I did. I could not stop reading this book. I love this author so stink much. This was a GREAT read! I wish I could read it again. This was an edge of the set read for me. I enjoyed this book so much. The characters were so relatable.

This was super twisty and I loved almost every minute of it! I really enjoy the way that Kate Alice Marshall builds up secrets and then slowly reveals twist after twist. This is her second adult thriller (I am also a big fan of her YA and MG books) and I think it was very well done. The characters in this one aren't particularly likeable, but I actually liked that because then I wasn't too upset or shocked by any of their actions.

Anyway, I would definitely recommend this one to thriller lovers.

3.5 Stars

Plot -
Three sisters grew up in an abusive home until one night their parents were murdered and middle child Emma was always the prime suspect. Years later, Emma returns with her husband to fix up the family home, but there are people who want to make sure she doesn't share what she knows.

Thoughts -
I thought this book was just okay. It didn't wow me. The plot centers around the sisters being suspects and delves into the idea that their parents were abusive. There were a couple of unhinged moments and examples, but it felt like it wasn't explained enough. The sisters as girls kept having this idea that they could "never leave," despite one of the sisters about to turn 18. The whole thing just wasn't explained well.
There were also too many plot twists for me. I often enjoy a double plot twist, but this one felt like it kept saying, "this person it the murderer, just kidding, this person it the murderer. Psych! It was actually this person. Lol got you! This is the real murderer." It got to be too much for me and a little confusing.
I really enjoyed Kate Alice Marshall's first book, WHAT LIES IN THE WOODS, but this one missed the mark for me a little bit. Overall, it was well written and a fast easy read, but I would have preferred more focus on the backstory and less on the endless plot twists.

Kate Alice Marshall is an auto buy author no matter what she writes. No One Can Know is phenomenal. Sisters keeping secrets, conspiracies, cheating, lies, and so much more. I genuinely loved this thriller, and the red herrings were plausible and basically perfect. Marshall does not disappoint with this one, keeping us guessing til the end.

I was a huge fan of "What Lies in the Woods," so I was really excited to read this new release by Kate Alice Marshall. In addition to being a twisty thriller with an ending I didn't guess, this book gets props for having one of my favorite features -- a grand old house that's such a presence, it becomes a character in and of itself. I also liked the parallels with her debut, with three girls once again serving as the protagonists, but in a completely different way than in "What Lies in the Woods." This was an easy five-star read for me.

I read Marshall's other adult centric book - What Lies in the Woods - earlier this year and was enthralled - I leapt at the chance to read this ARC and was NOT disappointed - This was my last read for 2023 and it was a ride. Centered around a family with a tragedy that causes lots of whispers in town as to whom might have been responsible for this great tragedy and sends each of the children in a different direction. Due to circumstances, one of the siblings move back into the family home with her husband and whispers and secrets come bubbling to the surface. The story goes back and forth between a Now and Then narrative and flats between the 3 siblings, as the story moves along you learn more and more about what may have happened the night of the tragedy and how that has affected their current life. Highly recommend.

All in all this was a great thriller that had you racing to the end to figure out what secrets it held. I'm a real sucker for deep, dark family secrets, so this one was right up my alley.
To be honest I was expecting something more dramatic to happen than what did, given the actions of two out of three main characters. And I wish there was a little more explanation for some of the story threads, but overall | enjoyed the book. Four stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

🤫 No One Can Know - Kate Alice Marshall

4 ⭐️ - This is my second Kate Alice Marshall read and I’m definitely a fan! This one had a spooky setting, lots of plot twists, unreliable unlikable characters, and a bit of an open ended ending. I felt addicted to this rollercoaster ride of a thriller.

Emma hasn’t shared a lot of her past. Her husband knows her parents are dead and she hasn’t spoken to her sisters in years. When Nathan is laid off, they lose their apartment and their bank accounts are in the red - Emma decides to share that her and her sisters jointly own their parent’s house. But returning home brings up a lot of secrets for Emma, including that her parents were murdered… in this house… and the town thinks Emma did it.

I am a big gullible mystery/thriller readers. I never know who did it. In this one, I had my suspicions, I thought I could be right, guess what.. I wasn’t. This book kept me hooked from the beginning, kept me guessing for answers, and secrets that everyone seemed to have. The ending is a big vague and keeps you guessing at what is true and what is false, which can sometimes be frustrating but I really liked it for this story. Definitely recommend if you’re a Marshall fan or looking for a new thriller!

Keep your eyes out for this one on shelves on 1/23! Thanks to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and Flatiron Books for the early ARC copies!

I was immediately sucked in by the tangled past and present of a family haunted by tragedy. With a double timeline and unreliable narrators, I found myself questioning everyone and everything. Marshall throws you off track with every turn. I gave up guessing and just myself enjoy the story.

Even without the mind-bending mystery, these characters would pull you in. They're messy, complex, and deeply human, struggling with grief, secrets, and the whole family drama package. I wanted to know everything about them, past and present, even if I never found out who murdered their parents.

The ending throws a lot at you at once. It's like narrative whiplash, but in a good way. It keeps you reeling, processing, and buzzing with the amount of things revealed at once.

"No One Can Know" is a masterclass in keeping you guessing until the very last page. Compelling characters and enough twists to make you dizzy – if you like your mysteries dark, layered, and riddled with lies, this is one you won't want to miss.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for a free copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

Emma’s parents are dead. She hasn’t told her husband about it but they were murdered and she’s the main suspect. She was just a teenager though. Her sisters were questioned as well but who would want to murder their own parents?

Emma doesn’t have a relationship with her sisters anymore but once she goes back to stay at her parents old house, things start happening around her and she’s forced to look into what really happened to them.

I totally loved the mystery of “who did it”. I recommend giving this book a read.

I loved what lies in the woods, so I was super excited about this book. I rated them both 4 stars but I loved what lies in the woods more. I’m excited for more books from this author.

After racing through her debut adult thriller WHAT LIES IN THE WOODS, I was eager to get my hands on Kate Alice Marshall's sophomore offering. Unfortunately, the pacing of the story was off, and the characters lacked depth, nuance, and their own voices.

This story follows three sisters whose parent's brutal murders have haunted for years. The police and their community was certain that the sisters had been involved with the deaths of their parents, but were never able to pin it on them. Now, they are all brought back to their hometown where they become the heart of yet another mysterious death.

No One Can Know was well-written and and developed. Told from each sister's perspective from childhood and currently, the story unfolds in multiple directions at once. I found some of the dialogue to be a bit over-the-top dramatic, but the book itself was very enjoyable. I rate this book 3.5 stars.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a free copy of this e-book in exchange for my honest review.

I really loved this author’s last mystery thriller, but this one fell short.
Not only did I find it a tad predictable, but the sisters were all desperately unlikeable. Emma, I swear, drove me insane. You’re married and you don’t tell your husband anything? Her little personality quirks irritated me. I feel she was a bit cold with wanting to kiss Gabriel like ten seconds after finding her husband dead. I also found her being drawn to the dude she hadn’t seen in years just odd.
I liked the family drama but this one wasn’t a hit for me.

I enjoyed Marshall’s last thriller but felt that this one was pretty standard. Secrets from the past, sister relationships, marriage in trouble - but none of this felt very fresh. If you’ve read a lot in this genre I don’t think this will give you anything out of the ordinary.

However, I am a sucker for a dual timeline and think this was incorporated well in this story. Our main character was a bit bland, but there were some twists and turns at the end. I had a fine time reading this but don’t feel like I was ever completely hooked!

I love a thriller with multiple points of view and multiple timelines. This book mastered that perfectly and was full of twists until the very end.

Three sisters, Emma, Juliette and Daphne, were at the center of the investigation into the brutal murder of their parents fourteen years ago. The police and the town of Arden Hills suspected that Emma, the middle sister, was responsible for the death of the girls’ parents. The sisters have not been in touch since they were separated after the deaths and none have returned to their childhood home, but now Emma and her husband need somewhere to go after her husband loses his job and Emma learns she is pregnant. They return to the childhood home and immediately the past comes rushing back in. It is not long before Emma starts to question what really happened that night.

I really wanted to love this book, and there were a lot of things that I did love, but there were also a lot of things that I didn’t love. I loved how well done the multiple perspectives and timelines were put together. I loved the feeling that no one really had the full picture of what happened on the night of the murders.

I was not a huge fan of Emma’s current day character. As a teenager she was strong willed and defiant in the best possible way. As an adult she came across as weak and the complete opposite of who she was as a teenager. While I do understand that people change and trauma can have a big impact on who someone is, I felt that this took away a lot from the story and made her deeply unlikeable. As an adult, she came across as a doormat who allowed herself to be treated very poorly and I wanted more of the strong and vibrant person she was as a teenager.

Overall, I gave this book 3.5/5 stars (rounded to 4 for the 5 star rating system). It was an excellent thriller and a good mystery, but I could not get past my dislike of Emma as a character.

This book was good and had the elements of a good thriller, but it just didn’t quite click for me. I felt like since all the sisters were keeping so many secrets for a majority of the book that their characters were never fully fleshed out. So as a reader, I didn’t really feel like I knew these characters until close to the end of the book and felt a bit disconnected from them.

I liked the plot in and of itself, but I think since I didn’t really feel connected to the characters, that meant that I didn’t feel particularly invested in the plot either. I think the author did a good job weaving together of multiple POVs from two different timelines. There were a lot of details that needed to come together in order for this plot to make sense and the author was able to pull it all together. This also made the book feel like a quick read. However, as I mentioned earlier, since I didn’t feel particularly connected to the characters, the plot fell a bit flat for me. I did still like the book, but it wasn’t a home run.

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 5!

This was fantastic! This totally reminded me of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, which is another fave of mine.

Three sisters are found at the scene of the crime where their parents were murdered. Everyone knew they weren’t telling the whole truth and were hiding something, but our main character Emma never knew what happened for sure. All she knew was that she had to protect her sisters fourteen years ago.

Now, Emma is returning to her childhood home where the murder occurred, and she certainly isn’t welcome in that town since they all believe she got away with the murders. Emma hasn’t even been in contact with her sisters since what happened, but she reluctantly returns to her home with her husband Nathan after he pushes her to do so.

This is told in the POVs of all three sisters and dual timelines (in present day and past chapters), which is my favorite way to read a thriller like this. I loved the format of this book and it was a very engaging read!

The twists were unpredictable and every time I thought I had it figured out I was wrong 😅 this was an intricate plot with a web of lies and secrets that kept me wanting more, I binged this in a little over a day because I HAD to know what happened. Kate Alice Marshall’s writing is compelling and suspenseful and I will continue to devour her thriller books!

🎧 Amazing audiobook alert! Karissa Vacker can do absolutely no wrong in my eyes and she is one of the best narrators in the game! I highly suggest this one on audio, and whenever you see her name just know it’ll be a good one! Her inflection, pacing, tone, and storytelling skills are top tier.

Thank you NetGalley and FlatIron books for this ARC and MacMillan audio for the ALC. This publishes on 1/23/24!