Member Reviews
I loved the book and how well it was put together.
The suspense and action was written and expressed extremely well and timed perfectly, and is definitely worth the read! I was so immersed in the book and finished it in less than a day.
Matties boyfriend has gone missing. She squats in a derelict house and is overcoming a drink & drug addiction. She is also a police informer and is desperate to make a clean break.
Joy is an influencer, living the high life full of perks but also with the usual online hate. But Joy has been missing for 5 years.
This book is how their two worlds collide.
I found the first part of this book a bit slow & plodding. I was constantly frustrated with Mattie - but I understand that living on the streets made her that way.
The second part of the book was much more fast paced as it all comes to a crashing conclusion.
3.5stars rounded down as the first half of the book just didn't do it for me.
Joy Maddison, the perfect wife and mother, disappeared without a trace during a sweltering summer heatwave five years ago while on her evening run. Over a hundred million people have watched the final video of Joy, which was posted online by her devastated husband. In the final shot, she smiles at the camera, waves, and bids farewell with "See you later, my darlin'" before heading towards the gate to the woods. And suddenly, she was nowhere to be found...
'You Know Her' is a contemporary thriller divided into two parts. The story has three key characters, Joy the missing influencer, Maddie a recovering alcoholic and substance misuse living rough in an abandoned warehouse, and Jono Maddie’s abs’s absent boyfriend. Maggie is becoming increasingly trapped in a dangerous situation as she works for local gangster Ned. Ned is unaware that Maddie has a secret. Memories of an unrecognizable life resurface as Maddie leaves behind her drug addiction. Maddie's life takes an unexpected turn after a random meeting with Lucy Joy's sister, a police officer.
The author's writing style is impressive, and they skillfully weaved the story throughout the book, even with a few repetitions. The abducted woman's experience was unbelievable, but she managed to get through it.
What a major twist at the end. I didn’t see that coming!!
Many thanks to @Netgalley @Stormbooks_co & @DEWhiteAuthor for a copy for review.
Five years ago Joy disappeared during her afternoon run and for 5 years it was presumed she was dead except for her sister and father. They still believed she was around. At the same time Maddie was living rough and trying to stay under the radar from her boss who was a crime boss. Eventually Maddie gets entangled with the police, crime, disaster, and a shocking discovery.
This book started kind of slow for me and I thought it was boring at times. I understood it was the lead up to what was about to happen but it was very hard to keep reading. Once I got about half way through I quickly couldnt put it down. It quickly turned into an amazing book and kept me trapped until the end. I really enjoyed the end half of the book and thought it was the perfect psychological thriller!
I was lost during the first half of the book because the characters were quite jumbled.
It began to sort itself out after the halfway mark but the book had lost a good deal of its appeal for me.
I wasn’t surprised who the culprit was, but the narrative did go on deviated routes that made it hard to follow.
This is an extremely gritty urban tale. I have friends in recovery so I felt like maybe I would relate more to our protagonist. She seemed so real. She was really struggling and trying so hard to do better and basically survive, but I never really connected with her. I liked Bobbie and the mystery.
This just wasn't the book for me but I know people who would devour it!
The plot was absolutely fantastic! I could not put the book down once I began reading it. I cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know. It was a joy reading on my kindle again.
I have to admit that I was going to give up about 20% gone as I felt this was very slow. I am so glad I didn't. The story got better and better.
Mattie, a recovering junkie, lives in a derelict house. She works in the fish factory and does other jobs for her boss, Ned, that are definitely not legal. She was living with Jono, but he has disappeared and she thinks that Ned has killed him.
She has been recruited by the police in his absence to take his place as a informer. She has to be careful what she says to them as she knows a secret about the disappearance of vlogger, Joy Maddison, five years before.
Unfortunately she spills this to her handler and Joy's sister, who is the handlers, boss, is in the car..... this is where the web is truly tangled.
Once you're past the first quarter or so of the book, which is scene setting in reality, this book snowballs and leaves plenty of red herrings along the way.
Joy Maddison, the perfect wife and mother, disappeared without a trace during a sweltering summer heatwave five years ago while on her evening run. Over a hundred million people have watched the final video of Joy, which was posted online by her devastated husband. In the final shot, she smiles at the camera, waves, and bids farewell with "See you later, my darlin'" before heading towards the gate to the woods. And suddenly, she was nowhere to be found...
'You Know Her' is a contemporary thriller divided into two parts. The story has three key characters, Joy the missing influencer, Maddie a recovering alcoholic and substance misuse living rough in an abandoned warehouse, and Jono Maddie’s abs’s absent boyfriend. Maggie is becoming increasingly trapped in a dangerous situation as she works for local gangster Ned. Ned is unaware that Maddie has a secret. Memories of an unrecognizable life resurface as Maddie leaves behind her drug addiction. Maddie's life takes an unexpected turn after a random meeting with Lucy Joy's sister, a police officer.
The author's writing style is impressive, and they skillfully weaved the story throughout the book, even with a few repetitions. The abducted woman's experience was unbelievable, but she managed to get through it.
What a major twist at the end. I didn’t see that coming!!
Many thanks to @Netgalley @Stormbooks_co & @DEWhiteAuthor for a copy for review.
A really intriguing premise with a blurb that jumped off the page. I love a slow burn, but unfortunately this one was just a bit too slow for me to become engrossed - it felt like it lacked a bit of pace, and I struggled to engage with the characters.
Five years ago, during a sweltering summer heatwave, perfect wife and mother Joy Maddison set off for her usual evening run – and vanished without a trace.
The final video of Joy, posted online by her devastated husband, has been viewed over a hundred million times. In the last frame she smiles for the camera, waves and says, ‘See you later, my darlings. Love you all!’, before turning to open the gate to the woods.
And then she was gone...
Now, on the fifth anniversary of Joy’s disappearance, in the midst of another oppressive heatwave, a chance sighting – a brief glimpse of blue-green eyes, that direct gaze, the curve of her mouth – changes everything.
Could Joy still be alive? And if so, why hasn’t she come home?
This book was mainly about Maddie searching for Joy. I was very surprised at about 40% into the book something happened and the whole book changed. It was then that a slow book turned into a very different book. It became an intense read and I was suddenly surprised to be intensely involved. I can’t tell you what happened as it will ruin the book. You will have to read it for yourself. If you like a story about a missing person then you will enjoy this book..
This book tells us about the disappearance of Joy Maddison - beautiful woman, beloved mother and wife, and social influencer adored and reviled by her followers and her trolls respectively. So why did this woman - who apparently had a perfect life - suddenly disappear? Her sister Lucy, a police officer - along with the rest of Joy's family - is desperate to find out.
I had high expectations for this story, because it was an intriguing premise. And to be fair, the story delivered by author White is not the usual version of this trope. But I did figure out one key element very early on, and the final reveal was somewhat farfetched.
This story is mainly told from the perspective of Mattie, an ex-junkie who is battling substance abuse and living the dangerous life of a police informant. She also knows why more than she should about the death of Joy Maddison, because her (now missing) boyfriend Jono was an obsessive fan of Joy's...
My favourite character was actually Mattie's friend Bobby who brought a much-needed touch of sweetness to the story. This story will work best for folks who like gritty urban crime thrillers and don't mind if the storytelling involves a bit of a reach.
This book sounded really interesting when I read the blurb but I was disappointed. This book dragged. I never connected with the characters and the ending was entirely guessable. The second half of the story was better but there are much better books in this category.
I was not prepared for this twist at all!
Being a fan of thrillers and mysteries, I can usually see the plot twist early. However, let me tell you that "You Know Her" caught me off guard. This book felt very current, touching on social media influencers, their fans, and their private lives outside the camera. I can see this book as a movie for sure.
Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for the advance copy of this book.
I have read and enjoyed this author's Dove Milson series so I was delighted to be approved a copy of this stand-alone by Storm Publishers. I really liked this book, it was dark but with so much going on,
I must admit I found it slow going to start with but then once i had gotten to part 2, I was fully invested in the story and found it hard to put down. I couldn't wait to get back to reading it each time. So many twists and turns, an excellent read ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I liked the sound of this book but found it very slow going and I couldn't get into the story line or the characters and didn't finish it.
Joy Maddison: Darling Joy, popular vlogger, influencer, perfect wife and mother. Her millions of fans think they know her, every perfectly videoed image of her and her lifestyle, but do they really? When she sets off for a run and disappears everyone has their own theory about what happened to her – she’s been abducted, she’s dead, her husband cheated on her and she’s run away – but five years on no one, least of all her sister DI Lucy Merry, is any the wiser about where she is.
Mattie Woods: drug and alcohol addict, squatter in a derelict building, living on the margins, working casual night shifts at a fish market for a dealer who buys and sells fish and his brother, Ned who buys and sells drugs. Also a super fan of Joy Maddison, along with her boyfriend Jojo who also works for Ned. Mattie doesn’t remember much of her past but has terrifying nightmares about a shadowy man shouting at her. Mattie and Jojo also have a secret about Joy that Mattie is terrified to let the rest of the world know.
The novel starts off slowly, delving into Mattie’s world and her gradual journey towards wanting to leave her addictions and drifting life behind. It’s somewhat repetitive and could have been tighter, but makes you anxious for Mattie and how she is going to escape what her life has become. Halfway through, the book takes a sharp turn into Joy’s life and the mystery of her disappearance and who might know something about it. Again the pace is a little slow and never very suspenseful, more of a slow burning psychological thriller, but intriguing enough to keep reading to find out what becomes of Joy and Mattie.
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. Five years ago Joy Maddison disappears during her evening run. Now there is someone who resembles her and she has been recognized as potentially being the woman who vanished. Except her name is not Joy and she believes that Joy cannot be alive, so then what really happened?
The beginning starts out repetitive and slow, but I am glad I stuck with it. The story was interesting from the beginning and I needed to find out what happened. There were a few different really good twists to this story. A great psychological thriller!
To note: there is a heavy reference to drug and alcohol abuse.
Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Description sounded very good but I found this book to be a very slow start and I just couldnt get in to it. Sorry, this one isnt for me
Maddie Woods works in the local fish market in Brighton. A recovering drug addict and alcoholic, she remembers little of her past. Her partner Jono has disappeared, leaving her alone in the derelict house they shared. Maddie is also a police informer. She is gathering information about her boss Ned, one of the two owners of the market. She is aware of his drug supplying and trafficking activities and puts herself in danger as she gathers information to subsidise her meagre income from the market. With her scarred face and damaged leg, she is usually overlooked by Ned and his thugs, although being such a nondescript figure, she does come in handy to occasionally assist in their nefarious activities. When she works out a plan to gain the kind of information that will put Ned away for a long time and give her enough money to leave Brighton, she has no idea that her meeting with DI Lucy Merry will change her life completely and that quite by accident, DNA will reveal who she really is.
Wow! I was completely hooked on this book. The first part, detailing Maddie’s life in Brighton made me feel uneasy. She was dealing with some dangerous people, and things could have gone so badly wrong. When she returns to her old life she finds herself having to deal with a new set of challenges. With professional help, her dreams and flashbacks begin to shape her lost past. However, the more she begins to remember, the more danger is finds herself in. The owner of the mystery voice, who pops up occasionally, confesses they are responsible for what happened to her, and it’s clear they aren’t finished with her. But who are they? And why are they doing this?
A well-constructed twisty tale that I found difficult to put down. Very addictive.
I would like to thank Storm Publishing, the author and Netgalley for an ARC of You Know Her in exchange for an honest review.