Member Reviews
Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Kate Marshall for an advance listening copy of No One Can Know in exchange for an honest review.
If you love secrets galore, estranged family members, and small town drama, look no further then this book! I found myself questioning so many of our characters on their motives and what they were hiding. The narrator did a great job bringing the plot to life and kept me engaged. This one definitely deserves a spot on your TBR and will be out on Jan 24th!
So this was my first audio book. So take this with a grain of salt. I wasn’t a fan of the narrator. Mainly her male voice. It kept throwing me off. But again, my first audio book so this may be the norm.
As for the story line. It was great. I trailed off in thought a few time while listening so I wasn’t gripped enough. Characters were relatable and plausible. Story was full of surprises that I did not see coming. All in all it was a pretty good listen with a great story line. Glad I was able to listen while going on about life’s duties. Thank you for the opportunity to listen and review courtesy of author and Net Galley. .
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 I 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.
This one had my head spinning the whole time! There are so many clues and twists!
I was really surprised by who was behind everything. I thought every character was guilty at some point in the book. There are a few different storylines/side stories but everything is explained by the end so you really know what’s happening.
The three sisters became distant after the murder of their parents. When Emma came back they slowly started forming a relationship again (everyone was very cautious) and I really liked that for them :)
Book Title: No One Can Know
Author: Mary Alice Marshall
Narrator: Karissa Vacker
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: January 23. 2024
My Rating: 2.7 rounded up
Pages: 336
Story is told manly from the POV of the Palmer sisters – Juliette (J.J), Daphne, and Emma; and is told in two timelines – then and now.
Fourteen years ago when the sisters were 18, 16 and 12 they found their parents murdered. The girls decide that in order to survive no one can know what really happened.
When they were investigated by the police they stuck to the same story that they were together for a sleepover in the tree house ALL night!
Sixteen year old Emma was at odds with her (abusive) parents and the town folk believe she is responsible for their murder.
Now Emma is married to Nathan and they are starting a family. They are struggling financially and surely enough Nathan loses his job. Emma has never lied to Nathan but she also hasn’t told him what really happened the night her parents’ died. He knows they left the house to the girls and no one lives there; He convinces Emma that they should stay in the house until they get back on their feet – free rent is hard to turn down.
Emma is very uncomfortable in the house. Plus the town folk still have the belief that Emma is responsible.
Although the story was on the slow side at times, I was curious as I had my suspicions -my arm chair detective skills do get it right sometimes! So I hung in there to see if I was correct.
The audiobook narrator Karissa Vacker is great. I always enjoy her performance of the characters!
I did find these foul-mouth characters unlikeable –
(I am in the minority with my dislike of profanity. Most readers don’t even notice profanity. It seems F-
bombs are the only way to describe everything! But it certainly takes away from my
enjoyment of the story.)
Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this early audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 23, 2024.
No One Can Know is Kate Alice Marshall's sophomore adult thriller following the excellent "What Lies in the Woods." The story revolves around three sisters who inherited a house after their parents' unsolved double murder over a decade ago. Emma is in financial distress after her husband Nathan loses his job, they are about to be homeless, and are newly pregnant when she is finally convinced to return to her childhood home to clean it out and sell it, sharing the profits with her estranged sisters. None of the sisters have returned to their childhood estate after her parents were murdered in it and all three have secrets they would prefer to leave buried, but when an unexpected discovery occurs, the mystery of their parents' murder is about to be unraveled whether they want it to or not.
Kate Alice Marshall writes great thrillers that feel like a mix of the styles of Peter Swanson and Sally Hepworth. As a reader, you know more than what the main character knows and the situations the characters are thrown in tend to be more on the domestic side rather than high-stakes or life-threatening thrillers. Marshall balances this tightrope walk very well and her characters are crafted with a history, personality quirks, and unique thoughts that make it easy to tell which point of view you are in, essential when you are reading a novel featuring multiple POVs like this one. I will say that there are probably a few too many characters in this novel, over 10 if you include the side characters, so it can be confusing keeping track of all the ties they have to each other and how they play out in terms of the plot. This was a challenge when listening to the audiobook as I typically do not take notes on each character so when one was mentioned at a big reveal, I would have to go back or hope that I could figure out who this person was before the twist became irrelevant.
The narrator did a great job and I would listen to them again. I didn't notice them changing their voices too much for the different characters but Marshall does a great job making each character unique in terms of how they talk that it wasn't an issue.
The story was intruiging and kept me invested in seeing how the novel would end.
I look forward to Marshall's next adult thriller and will be recommending this to readers interested in thrillers.
This family drama/mystery thriller kept me guessing with plenty of twists. Set in a small town, this story is full of secrets, rumors, and suspicious characters. The story is told through the perspectives of three estranged sisters over a nonlinear timeline (then and now). Each sister’s point of view is compelling and well developed.
I swapped between reading my physical copy and listening to the audiobook. The narrator was excellent! Easy to follow and engaging.
Listen if you like:
▫️family drama
▫️multiple POV
▫️nonlinear timeline
▫️small town mystery
Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.
No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall and narrated by Karissa Vacker is a twisty thriller that had me hooked from the first chapter. In this book we meet Emma, Daphne, and Juliette, who are 3 estranged sisters. 14 years ago their parents were murdered in their home. The murder was never solved and but many in the community suspected Emma. Now, Emma and her husband are forced to move back into the home due to financial difficulties. She has not been honest with her husband about her past. Being back in her childhood home forces her to go back to that night and try and unravel the mystery of what really happened.
This book is told in the POV of all three sisters and has two timelines, then and now. The relationship between the sisters was intriguing and dysfunctional.I was worried how easy it would be to follow with one narrator but she did a fabulous job. I will be adding Karissa Vacker to my list of favorite narrators. This audiobook will be released on January 23, 2024. Do yourself a favor and give it a listen!
Listen to this book if you like:
* family drama
* secrets
* an ending you won’t see coming
* multiple POVs and dual timelines
* sister relationships
Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook. I voluntarily listened to this book and gave an honest review.
In “No One Can Know," the intricate tapestry of family secrets, sibling dynamics, and long-buried mysteries weaves a suspenseful tale that captivates from the first page. These sisters' return to their childhood home and set the stage for a riveting exploration of a past overshadowed by two unsolved murders. Emma, the protagonist, grapples with her silence over what she witnessed that fateful night, and as the layers of secrecy unravel, the narrative skillfully keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The novel delves into the complexities of sisterhood, the consequences of hidden truths, and the haunting question of what one is willing to sacrifice to protect the ones they love. A compelling blend of suspense and family drama, This book is an engaging and thought-provoking read that lingers in the mind long after the final page.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.
When Emma was a teenager her parents were brutally murdered inside their home. That night is a blur when Emma finds her two sisters distraught and covered in blood. They band together before going to the cops, all telling the same story. Emma immerged as the prime suspect, after all she did say she wanted them dead, but without enough evidence she was never arrested. The sisters were never the same, quickly estranged and out of each others lives, as they try to pick up the pieces. Now Emma finds herself married and pregnant with no place to live, when her husband encourages her to return to her childhood home. With the ghosts of her parents bringing up memories will she finally be able to put the pieces together and figure out what happened that terrible night.
I am a fan of Kate Alice Marshall and was very excited to get a copy of her new work, which is a good domestic thriller with a lot of suspects and even more questions. The narration is told mostly from Emma's point of view with her sisters chiming in for a few chapters. The story flips between now and the night of the murder slowly revealing what actually happened. It is a character study but I struggled with connecting with any of the characters and there are a lot of them. I was excited to see how the ending would unfold but it was a little weird and not very satisfying. Overall, it is a good mystery but not as strong as her previous work. I will continue to look forward to more stories by Marshall.
I had the audio version read by Karissa Vacker who I always enjoy listening to. She has great timing and delivery with unique enough voices to be able to follow whos speaking.
This one started out super strong, but I was a little underwhelmed by the ending. I still really liked it though!
Middle sister Emma came home to find her parents dead and her sisters covered in blood. She doesn't know which one of them did it, but she comes up with a plan to keep them all safe, even if it means she is suspected of the murder herself. She isn't convicted, and rebuilds her life over the next decade, eventually ending up married, newly pregnant, and extremely broke. She returns to her childhood home and the suspicion is still there following her around. Her sisters turn up, and a bunch of crazy stuff happens (no spoilers here). This book bounced between all 3 sisters, both past and present, as the past and present unraveled. Who really killed her parents? Can she really trust her sisters or her husband? What about her old friend, her lawyer, or the cops? This is a twisty tale that kept me guessing until the end, and even though I thought I knew who did it for awhile, it still threw up some curve balls right to end. I could not stop listening, the audio was really good. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.
No One Can Know is a fantastic psychological/ domestic suspense about three estranged sisters and two murders that took place in their home when they were young. It's been 15 years, and no one knows what really happened . The sisters are not talking, but the townspeople have their suspicions.
Told in duel timelines of 'then' and 'now' as well as each sister's POV this twisty thriller had me guessing until the very end.
I thought it was interesting how complex the sister's relationship was and the lengths they go to to protect each other.
If you're a fan of small-town mysteries, murder, family drama, and old mansion settings, this book is for you.
Dark secrets, town bias, and so much more make this a great read.
People have complained that it slows down in the middle, but listening to the audiobook I was completely engaged at all times. Karissa Vacker narrates beautifully and truly embodies all the different characters, bringing them to life..
This was my first book by this author but it won't be my last
Thanks to Netgally and McMillan Audio for the advanced copy. All opinions are strictly voluntary.
2.5 rounded up.
This is a fine mystery. Not necessarily as thrilling as I initially thought it would be. The trauma depiction was well done and carefully crafted. Nathan was insufferable!!!
A perfectly fine mystery. I guessed the core twists early, so it wasn't a wow for me (but I'm a good guesser, so maybe it will be for you!). For me, the biggest point in the author's favor is that the depiction of different people's reaction to trauma was masterfully done.
★ ★ ★ ★ //5
No One Can Know
by Kate Alice Marshall
THOUGHTS:
I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to read an audio-arc in exchange for my honest review.
As I always say — check you trigger warnings before reading if you are sensitive to anything. I am a Kate Alice Marshall fanatic and I think that more people need to read her work. Beautiful work, beautiful writing and this one was no different. I love her writing style and this was magnificent. You literally have no idea how the book will end, you are looking at everybody throughout the entire book and once you hit that last page your mind is blown. Multiple POV which is one of my favorite things as well as different timelines. All the best things about a mystery rolled into one book.
When Emma & her husband lose their apartment, his job, and subsequently their pending mortgage approval, Emma has no choice but to fall back on the only asset she has left..... the family home she hasn't been back to since her parents were murdered there more than a decade earlier.
I really enjoyed this one. It's an interesting premise; husband who knows next to nothing about wife's past is suddenly confronted by a very messy situation including two sisters in law that he barely knows, one of his wife's very attractive male friends, and a local police detective that may or may not be trying to help. The whole thing just left the author with a ton of places to go. Towards the end it got a little Scooby-Doo red herring with a lot of people who could have done it but didn't, but it wraps up nicely. All the characters are believable, the dual timeline is cool, overall just another awesome book from Kate Alice Marshall!
I also truly enjoyed the narration, though to be fair I would listen to Karissa Vacker read the phone book :)
No One Can Know is a mystery with so many twists and turns, multiple POVs, past and present timelines with Karissa Vacker as the narrator it was very easy to follow along and enjoy.
Emma, Juliette and Daphne are three wealthy orphaned sisters, their parents murder has never been solved and there have been plenty of suspicion that it was one of the sisters. Emma and her husband had fell on hard times at the beginning of the book which is how we find out about the town she grew up in and how no one ever forgot, but you will see how what lengths the sisters will go to even if their relationships may be on the rocky side.
The pacing and voices were perfect for this book, but warning there are mentions of child abuse.
No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall will be available on January 23, 2024.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.75★
Two dead parents, three sisters, and a whole web of lies. This fast-paced small town thriller picks up fourteen years after the mysterious deaths of Emma Palmer’s parents. No one knows who killed them but no one has ever told the whole truth either. This story quickly pulled me in and immersed me into the gossip of Arden Hills. Kate Alice Marshall did a great job putting together this winding story and kept me guessing.
I don’t love a dual timeline because it can get in the way of the present plot but in this book, it was sprinkled in just enough for it to be bearable for me. Marshall did a good job pulling each of the loose ends together and polishing the ending! It was a true whodunit, it just felt a bit redundant at times.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book had a nice twist that i honestly did not see coming. I thought it was well written and kept me guessing.