Someone Knows
Bestselling and award-winning author Lisa Scottoline reaches new heights with this riveting novel about how a single decision can undo a family, how our past can derail our present, and how not guilty doesn't always mean innocent. Allie Garvey is heading home to the funeral of a childhood friend. Allie is not only grief-stricken, she's full of dread. Because going home means seeing the other two people with whom she shares an unbearable secret. Twenty years earlier, a horrific incident shattered the lives of five teenagers, including Allie. Drinking and partying in the woods, they played a dangerous prank that went tragically wrong, turning deadly. The teenagers kept what happened a secret, believing that getting caught would be the worst thing that could happen. But time has taught Allie otherwise. Not getting caught was far worse. Allie has been haunted for two decades by what she and the others did, and by the fact that she never told a soul. The dark secret has eaten away at her, distancing her from everyone she loves, including her husband. Because she wasn't punished by the law, Allie has punished herself, and it's a life sentence. Now, Allie stands on the precipice of losing everything. She's ready for a reckoning, determined to learn how the prank went so horribly wrong. She digs to unearth the truth, but reaches a shocking conclusion that she never saw coming--and neither will the reader. A deeply emotional examination of family, marriage, and the true nature of justice, Someone Knows is Lisa Scottoline's most powerful novel to date. Startling, page-turning, and with an ending that's impossible to forget, this is a tour de force by a beloved author at the top of her game.
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Community Reviews
I was so worried that this book wouldn't address details that were mentioned at the beginning of the book. But! It did and I enjoyed reading it
Author Lisa Scottoline describes Someone Knows as "an exploration of a modern family, and of how the ties that bind are meant to nurture us, but may also warp us. It's also about justice, exploring themes of guilt and innocence. At it heart is this issue -- not guilty doesn't always mean innocent." Someone Knows is a domestic thriller examining how a teenage prank goes horribly wrong and effects everyone involved for decades.
As the story opens, Allie Garvey is en route to her childhood home to attend the funeral of a high school friend. Allie is grief-stricken and full of dread because she fears she will encounter the two surviving classmates with whom she has shared an unbearable secret for 20 years.
The action then moves back in time 20 years to a horrific night when the lives of five teenagers, including Allie, were changed forever. They were drinking and partying in the woods near the tony development in which they lived. One of them suggested they play a deadly prank on the boy who has just moved into the neighborhood. The prank results in tragic consequences, but Allie and her friends that went tragically wrong, turning deadly. The teenagers kept what happened a secret, believing that getting caught would be the worst thing that could happen.
But time has taught Allie that not getting caught was far worse. She has been haunted for two decades by what she and the others did, and by the fact that she never told. The secret has caused her to remain aloof and detached from everyone she loves, especially her husband in whom she has never confided. Allie has served as her own judge and jury, sentencing herself to a life sentence for her silence.
Allie is on the brink of losing everything she holds dear and knows that her silence has to end. At long last, she longs to stop wondering exactly how the prank turned deadly, but her inquiries lead her to a shocking and deadly revelation.
In her latest domestic thriller, author Lisa Scottoline takes her readers on an emotionally dark exploration of families whose lives appear, from all outside appearances, to be happy and stable. But those families harbor secrets and conflicts. No marriage is perfect, but in the case of Allie's parents, the chronic illness and death of Allie's beloved older sister strains her parents' marriage and destroyed her mother's mental health. Against that backdrop, fifteen-year-old Allie, grieving her sister's death the prior year from cystic fibrosis, goes along with the prank after drinking to excess and in order to impress David, the boy upon whom she has a serious crush.
Scottoline explores the home lives of the other teenagers, as well, as a foundation for the manner in which they behave. In particular, new kid Kyle, a talented basketball player who has been forced to move to the neighborhood with his mother after a scandal involving his father, is troubled. Julian and Sasha, from wealthy families, are popular, self-assured, and in search of thrills. David, whose best friend is Julian, is obsessed with reading the writing of David Foster Wallace and emulates him. His father is particularly critical of David, which causes him to question himself.
There is one overriding mystery in Someone Knows related to how the prank went horribly wrong, but Scottoline includes plot twists, false clues, and a jaw-dropping conclusion that readers will likely never see coming. Through it all, she asks readers to question what constitutes justice, who should deliver it, and the myriad ways in which secrecy can damage relationships. She inspires readers to ponder what they would do if placed in a similar situation. Someone Knows is fast-paced, thought-provoking, and sure to be another bestseller for one of the most inventive and creative contemporary storytellers.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Readers Copy of the book.
As the story opens, Allie Garvey is en route to her childhood home to attend the funeral of a high school friend. Allie is grief-stricken and full of dread because she fears she will encounter the two surviving classmates with whom she has shared an unbearable secret for 20 years.
The action then moves back in time 20 years to a horrific night when the lives of five teenagers, including Allie, were changed forever. They were drinking and partying in the woods near the tony development in which they lived. One of them suggested they play a deadly prank on the boy who has just moved into the neighborhood. The prank results in tragic consequences, but Allie and her friends that went tragically wrong, turning deadly. The teenagers kept what happened a secret, believing that getting caught would be the worst thing that could happen.
But time has taught Allie that not getting caught was far worse. She has been haunted for two decades by what she and the others did, and by the fact that she never told. The secret has caused her to remain aloof and detached from everyone she loves, especially her husband in whom she has never confided. Allie has served as her own judge and jury, sentencing herself to a life sentence for her silence.
Allie is on the brink of losing everything she holds dear and knows that her silence has to end. At long last, she longs to stop wondering exactly how the prank turned deadly, but her inquiries lead her to a shocking and deadly revelation.
In her latest domestic thriller, author Lisa Scottoline takes her readers on an emotionally dark exploration of families whose lives appear, from all outside appearances, to be happy and stable. But those families harbor secrets and conflicts. No marriage is perfect, but in the case of Allie's parents, the chronic illness and death of Allie's beloved older sister strains her parents' marriage and destroyed her mother's mental health. Against that backdrop, fifteen-year-old Allie, grieving her sister's death the prior year from cystic fibrosis, goes along with the prank after drinking to excess and in order to impress David, the boy upon whom she has a serious crush.
Scottoline explores the home lives of the other teenagers, as well, as a foundation for the manner in which they behave. In particular, new kid Kyle, a talented basketball player who has been forced to move to the neighborhood with his mother after a scandal involving his father, is troubled. Julian and Sasha, from wealthy families, are popular, self-assured, and in search of thrills. David, whose best friend is Julian, is obsessed with reading the writing of David Foster Wallace and emulates him. His father is particularly critical of David, which causes him to question himself.
There is one overriding mystery in Someone Knows related to how the prank went horribly wrong, but Scottoline includes plot twists, false clues, and a jaw-dropping conclusion that readers will likely never see coming. Through it all, she asks readers to question what constitutes justice, who should deliver it, and the myriad ways in which secrecy can damage relationships. She inspires readers to ponder what they would do if placed in a similar situation. Someone Knows is fast-paced, thought-provoking, and sure to be another bestseller for one of the most inventive and creative contemporary storytellers.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Readers Copy of the book.
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