I love Kate Alice Marshall!!!!! Her last book (debut adult title What Lies in the Woods) was a top 5 favorite of 2023. So this book had high expectations - and lived up to them! This book seemed to move a little slower, which I normally don't love but for whatever reason worked in this one. I was creeped out and second guessing myself the entire time while reading. I did think the ending was a little TOO over complicated - normally I like complicated endings (because it means you can't see where it's going) but this one psyches you out like 5 times within the span of 20 pages, which is a little much for me.

Overall, I still really enjoyed, and I will definitely be recommending this book! The audio was fantastic - I would absolutely recommend going this route for anyone curious!

I enjoyed this book. I liked the focus on sisterhood and family trauma.
I found the flashback scenes the most entertaining.
However, I wasn’t in love with the ending. It felt a little anticlimactic. I would recommend this to other thriller readers though.

The narrator of this audiobook did a great job, especially with the voices.
The story itself was good, I would rate it 3.5 stars, I just felt like the ending wasn’t very satisfying.

Another winner from Kate Alice Marshall and narrator Karissa Vacker. I binged this one in a day and I loved all the twists and turns. You might think that you know what is going on and where it is going but trust me you don’t. Very cleverly, the author slowly feeds us information in the present and the past so we can put the puzzle pieces together.

Emma never thought she would return to her family home, or see her sisters again. It has been 14 years and the memories are still raw. Her parents were murdered in that house, and everyone still thinks she is responsible. But when a series of events in her life occur, she is left with no choice but to go back. And of course, the past can’t stay in the past. Her husband is asking questions she can’t answer and the town still blame her. As they start to clean up the house, more questions come up and Emma knows she has to find out once and for all.

This narrator is one of my favourites there are quite a few characters, and time periods in this story, but she seamlessly jumps from character to character. Always a pleasure to listen to her reading 📖

Thanks you so much to Macmillan Audio for the early copy of this book to listen to. Released on February 23rd

5 ⭐️ for audiobook narration
4 ⭐️ for the book itself
4.5 ⭐️ overall

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.

Karissa Vacker’s narration of the audiobook is the superb performance I’ve learned to expect from her! Her strong vocal characterization definitely contributed to my positive experience of the constantly shifting POVs. She perfectly captured Emma, JJ, and Daphne as children/teens AND as adults.

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

My first book of 2024 turned out to be boring. 🥱 I was interested at first, but then it became a finger pointing game. It was this person, it was that person, no . . . it was the other person. It wasn’t bad. I just didn’t like the style of mystery solving.

Not as good as What Lies in the Woods

Emma and her two sisters have been haunted by a dark past, one they have tried to escape for years. They had long lost touch with each other until fate forced Emma and her husband to return to her childhood home, the very house where her parents were brutally murdered. Their killer never brought to justice. As Emma and her husband settled in, Emma's memories gradually resurfaced, leaving her questioning what exactly she had witnessed that dreadful night. Secrets that the sisters had kept buried began to unravel, and finally, the truth was exposed.

The book had a lot of promise, but I couldn't connect with any of the characters. Also, I was hoping for a more captivating and thrilling atmosphere. Overall, an okay read.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Alice Marshall, and Macmillan Audio for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

“It was just a story. But people needed stories to make sense of things.”

This was such a wild and twisted psychological thriller! It’s been awhile since a thriller has kept me this intrigued.

Three sisters, two murders 14 years apart, and a town full of secrets. When Emma and her husband come back to her home town and the home where her parents were murdered when she was 16, suspicions rise again, people talk, and new evidence comes to light. But who killed her parents 14 years ago?

This book had more twists than a cheap garden hose! And I mean that in the best way. Literally right up until the very end. While I was right in guessing the murderer this was still wildly amusing to get to that final conclusion. Told from the perspective of all three sisters in both the present and the past, this was a really well written and fast-paced whodunnit mystery. The audiobook narration was great and this plot really has me wondering if all families have such deep secrets. 👀 Fully recommend to lovers of small town, big secret psychological thriller lovers!

When Emma learns she is un-expectantly pregnant, she also learns that her husband, Nathan, has been keeping a few secrets. He was laid off and another job opportunity has fallen through all while the couple was attempting to buy their first home. With the earnest money lost, Emma reluctantly agrees to move into her vacant childhood home - where her parents were murdered. 14 years have past and the case remains unsolved, though the local law enforcement suspect it was Emma herself.

Emma harbored secrets from the night of the murder - to protect her sisters, Juliette and Daphne. Returning to Adren Hills will certainly dredge up the past and those unanswered questions, her sisters return to try and keep those secrets at bay.

This was a twisty ride and while I suspected the culprit early on, the twists had me second guessing myself and still left me shocked at times. I enjoyed this book and recommend it.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced audio copy.

This one was a page turner for sure, though it took me a little while to get the sisters separated in my head, and most of the time I felt like there was just too much going on. It was worth the read, but a lot of it seemed drawn out. Some of the twists were unexpected. Some of them were very predictable, and a touch cliché, and one or two of them just seemed unnecessary. I enjoyed the book as a whole, but I had expected it to be a little better...

Thank you to NetGalley for this free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Audiobooks are more my speed lately (2.5x to be exact) and this one was a great one to kick off the year. I enjoyed last year’s What Lies in the Woods and found this one to have equally engaging character dynamics and well paced story unraveling.

This one might be for you if you like:

* twisty plots
* dysfunctional families
* questionable narrators
* mysteries revealed piece by piece
* sister stories
* anything narrated by Karissa Vacker 🤩

In this book Emma goes years without questioning what happened on the night of her parents deaths, imagining that what happened is too awful for her to think about. Are you someone who could live with questions or do you need answers? I tend to think that the truth isn’t often as awful as the things we imagine, but I’m sure there are some things I’d rather not know 🤷‍♀️

Thank you to Flatiron books and MacMillan audio for review copies of No One Can Know. I really enjoyed this suspense thriller exploring a complicated story exploring a past unresolved murder with chapters that merge what happened "that night" with the present day settings that force the three sisters (main characters) to come back together to face what happened "that night". That night = the night their parents were murdered, the night when they made promises that no one can know, and the night that ultimately lead the teen girls on separate paths, paths filled with suspicion about who was guilty, until challenges force them to come back to their childhood home.

content notes: problematic parenting, adolescent substance use

There are a few things that worked well for me with this book!
1. the pacing, the story was fast paced and moved seamless between POVs and past and present without feeling confusing or hard to follow. At times this kind of format does not work for me but here it works well, there are constant well placed reveals that add pieces to the puzzle, and each character still felt well developed despite the switching voices.
2 as noted, good reveals as to what happened that night in a way that kept me engaged and wanting to know more. I never felt confused and the twists never annoyed me, never felt like there were a lot of red herrings to distract the reader.
3. some thoughtful themes about trust, family, adolescence, and parenting. I might have wanted some of the background as to what happened to each character between the night of the murder and their present day reunion but I also feel that would have slowed the book down, made it more character driven than plot focused which would have taken away from the goal of the author's writing style and approach. What was well done though were themes that about how each sister handled a really problematic family environment, it felt true to each character and their age the night of the murder, and helped to tie together the what happened/what didn't happen twists and turns!

The audiobook is nicely narrated by favorite Karissa Vacker! (though I preferred the physical book as I got sucked into the story and ended up mostly reading this late one night!)

Kate Alice Marshall is so weird and I love it. I really wouldn’t have her any other way. I think I would have enjoyed this a little more if I hadn’t read something similar at the end of last year, but here we are. It wasn’t bad, but it just seemed too similar to something else.

Ok so boom, you just found out that your partner has been lied to you about a significant amount of money and at the worst possible time, because you just found out you were pregnant. So the only thing left to do is go to the house where you lived as a child. Back to the house where they suspect you of killing your parents. And that’s basically the synopsis of this book. And man let me tell you, what you think you know…. You don’t lol

So I was able to guess who the culprit of each mystery was, but it pissed me off because of the way they did it. When you read it you’ll understand what I mean. Like how did no one figure out this? And the fact that all of the dominoes depended on one thing? That was crazy. And the way the rest of the story played out was just crazy. And then when all the answers start coming out, it was nothing that I thought it was. So basically I got the person, but the reason why was outta nowhere.

The characters in this were all crazy. And I mean every single one of them. From every person in town to the people that were involved, to just every last one of them. They were all terrible. Their parents more so than the others. This is a character driven book, so if you’re more into the plot movement, you might not catch on, but by watching them and the way they interact, will tell you everything you need to know. But I will say Marshall writes it in a way where you won’t really know for sure until she wants you to. (Unless you’re me lol)

The audio was really good as well. I’ve listened to other audios from her and I liked them all as well. Vacker is a great narrator and does well with making sure the feelings and intonation is there. Definitely makes each story she narrates feel real.

This was kinda weird, but I still enjoyed it. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to give it away, but just know if you want to read this, you’ll have to pay attention to the characters to figure things out before the other people in the story. Now the other book, if you’ve read it, let me know if you drew the same parallels as me!

No One Can Know is a novel about the death of two parents, no one convicted and estranged sisters who have kept secrets. Emma (one of the sisters) moves back to her hometown after financial issues into the home where her parents were murdered. The past murders are at the forefront of the community’s concern again Emma has returned. Countless twists and turns! In my opinion it was a heavy drop at the end and would have enjoyed it more throughout the book, but I still enjoyed this novel. The narrator Karissa Vacker was an excellent choice for this novel.

Release Date: January 23, 2024

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Flatiron Books, and author Kate Alice Marshall for this advanced readers copy.

This book was really good. I did a half read half listen and the narrator did a great job. If you listen to a lot of audiobooks like me, you may be familiar with @karissavacker. She is just great. She is becoming a favorite narrator of mine. She also narrated Bye, Baby which I am listening to right now. She reminds me a little of Julia Whelan. I just love her. But anyway, she is the narrator for this and she does a great job as usual. Sorry that was a little tangent, but I just had to give props to her real fast.☺️
Now onto the story itself. If you’re not familiar, real fast this a story about three sisters. It’s told in a Then and Now timeline. From the sisters’ childhood to their adulthood. Their parents were killed when they were teenagers. The details about the murders have always been sketchy. Not one sister really knows what happened that night their parents were murdered. They suspect each other, but at the same time, want to protect each other as well. This story keeps you guessing the whole time. Many twists and turns, I loved it. It was a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars for me. I definitely want to read more by this author in the future.
Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillanaudio for the approval of the audio version of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Pub Date: January 23, 2024. Be sure to grab your copy when it comes out.

This is a story that follows Emma, who is newly pregnant and married to Nathan, who has recently been laid off right after they put a huge deposit on a new house—which is ultimately not refundable. All these stressors force Emma to return to her old family home as a last resort. This is understandable as both of her parents were murdered there and the case remains unsolved. This move also triggers a reluctant reunion with her estranged sisters and there are a lot of townsfolk unhappy to see Emma return. The majority of the book centers around the mystery of her parent’s death and why the sisters were no longer in contact. The beginning was a tad challenging for me to read because of the set-up, including emotional and physical abuse with multiple characters. This was necessary to maintain tension as well as explain how murder may have been a way out for the a number of people. The second half shifted to more action and twists, which was a welcome turn. I was most invested in the sister relationships and exploring their past and present situations. This was well done and the highlight of the book. The plot was good and I felt the ending was satisfying, with many questions answered. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy family drama/murder in a small town. The narration by Karissa Vacker was excellent. Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

What a fun thriller this was! I haven’t read anything by this author until this book but now I’ll be on the lookout!

I always love a good audiobook and this one happened to be narrated by one of my very favorites, Karissa Vacker, who did a phenomenal job! I didn’t want to stop listening or put this book down until I figured out the mystery behind it all. And speaking of mystery, there was twist after twist and none of them I guessed 100%. That takes a unique thriller to be able to deliver that for me!

I loved the point of view change between the three sisters as well as the past vs present timeline change. Each character was intriguing and kept me guessing until the end. I also really loved the love story in this which was a side plot but perfectly interwoven within the main plot!

Overall I would highly recommend this book as well as reading it via audiobook format!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for my #gifted ALC!

So good I literally couldn't stop listening to it!
I loved the narration the writing. This one kept me guessing until the very end. I can't wait to read more from this author.

Very well narrated.

Given that there were so many character changes and timelines, I was impressed with how well the narrator differentiated them all. However, this was also the downside to this read for me. Unless reading along, it was easy to lose track of who was who and when was when which took away from the story. Certain storylines were more interesting than others. The fact that they were all intermingled was also interesting, but getting there was a struggle. It was another read that I was in a hurry to finish because it was overly complicated and I was ready to move on.

It wasn’t for me, but I was a huge fan or Kate Alice Marshall’s last book so I would still very much recommend.

Thanks so might NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the ARC audiobook

What a great way to start the new year! This audiobook was really fun and twisty. The narrator did a great job doing different voices for the characters, and it was easy to tell which timeline and which perspective each chapter was done in.

I’ve enjoyed Kate Alice Marshall’s YA books, and I liked What Lies in the Woods, but I think No One Can Know is my new favorite book by her. The twists were interesting and exciting without being unbelievable. I also found our main character very relatable and likable. I highly recommend this one if you’re looking for something with murder, family drama, small-town intrigue, and a big mansion.