Someone We Know

Author: Shari Lapena
Genre: Suspense, Canadian
Type: Large Print Trade Paperback
Pages: 400
Source: Local Public Library
Publisher: Random House Large Print
First Published: July 25, 2019
Opening Lines: "She's standing in the kitchen, looking out the large back windows. She turns toward me -- there's a swing of thick, brown hair-- and I see confusion and then the sudden fear in her wide brown eyes."

Book Description from GoodReads: The new domestic suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, Shari Lapena--this time, a teenager's snooping reveals the cracks in the neighborhood, and the results are deadly

"I'm so sorry. My son has been getting into people's houses and meddling with their computers. He's broken into yours..."

That anonymous note has arrived at houses in a quiet leafy suburb of Rochester, New York. It seems that a teenager has been sneaking into houes and getting up to no good. His mom found out and felt she had to apologize. But she kept the boy's name out of it. So the cops wouldn't come calling.

But now, her neighbors know some kid has been through their homes, rooting through their lives, maybe finding out things best kept hidden. Starting with what happened to that woman down the street whose husband has reported her missing. He says he doesn't know where she is. But it's always the husband, isn't it?

Maybe her son found out something about that. Or maybe he found out something else. Because in this neighborhood there are a lot of secrets. Secrets that people might kill to keep quiet. And kill again ...

My Rating: 4.5 stars

My Review: Shari Lapena, the Toronto-based lawyer-turned-author, is on my short list of Favourite Suspense Authors Evah (clearly a coveted spot, if ever there was one. 😉) With her latest book, Someone We Know, she once again provides her readers with a fast-paced, suspenseful and twist-riddled whodunnit.

This was a thrilling ride through a suburb that is full of secrets, deceit and a dead woman with a complicated past. Ooooo, right? Lapena provides great twists and many plausible suspects leaving readers to question pretty much every character's motives. The characters are diverse and complicated bunch, but each felt well-developed and featured a wide range of personalities - with some being not so likable and others hiding deep, dark family secrets with smiles on their faces. You just don't know who to trust.

My only beef is a small one - it's but a wee moo - but I found there were a lot of characters to keep track of and with the police sometimes referring to characters as 'Mr. so-and-so' versus their first names, it got a bit confusing remembering who was who. The author is good at reminding the reader, but this suburb has a lot of residents readers will have to keep track of.

I don't want to give away any secrets or twists but I'll just say that Lapena has, once again, written a clever, compulsive, hard-to-put-down suspense read with a long list of culprits that will keep readers guessing (and second guessing) until the bitter end. You'll want to get your hands on this book ASAP.