Book Review Wednesday: Someone We Know by Shari Lapena

Shari Lapena is one of my favorite true crime novelists. She is known for giving us a typical, cliched mystery, stringing us along, and then pulling the rug out from under us. Lapena is excellent at weaving multiple paths and then taking the one most surprising. At first, it might seem like you are reading a predictable mystery novel but eventually, you see it's quite the opposite.

That is precisely the formula "Someone We Know" follows. That, in addition to the weird plot this book already has made an incredible story. 

I sped through this book and couldn't stop reading until I knew exactly what was going to happen.

Let's get into the review...

Publisher's Summary

"This is a very difficult letter to write. I hope you will not hate us too much. . . My son broke into your home recently while you were out."

In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses--and into the owners' computers as well--learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too.

Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate, and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches the breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they're telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their own secrets?

In this neighborhood, it's not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide . . .

My Thoughts

As much as I enjoyed this book, I hated all the characters. They were too many of them and it felt very chaotic... I also really disliked the detectives. I don't know why but whenever a book has overly pushy and dramatic detectives, I get the immediate ick. I know that doesn't make sense but it's how I feel and that's exactly how I felt about these detectives.

Characters aside, the plot of this book was a wild ride. I had no idea where it was going and how everything connected: how does the murder of a woman link to a teenager with a habit of breaking and entering? 

"Someone We Know" was impossible to figure out. You knew someone was keeping a secret, someone knew about the murder but who? And why was she murdered? It was extremely scandalous, chilling, and thrilling. You will never see the ending coming and truthfully, it made the entire book worth it. I was so/so on the book until you saw the secrets unraveling, mainly because of the annoying characters but wow, what a twist.

To wrap it all up, the last line of the book was blood curdling and it made me want a sequel. I guess we'll see if Shari Lapena delivers more of this insane story. 

The writing was incredible, the plot pace was perfect and it was truly a knock-out thriller.

What did you read this week?

xoxo
B