Someone We Know by Shari Lapena
Penguin Random House: 7/30/19
eBook review copy; 304 pages
ISBN-13:
9780525557654
Someone We Know by Shari Lapena is a recommended domestic thriller.
In Hudson Valley city of Aylesford,
N.Y., we know a killer is in the neighborhood. Lawyer Robert Pierce reports his wife, Amanda, missing, but the police and neighbors think she left him. At Paul and Olivia Sharpe's house, they discover that their teenage son, Raleigh, has been
breaking into neighborhood houses and hacking into their computers,
learning their secrets. Olivia makes Raleigh show her the two houses he
broke into and she secretly sends them anonymous letters apologizing for
her son's actions. This sets off one of the recipients to start going
house to house to discuss this home invasion and wanting to know who the
teen is. Suddenly the information pipeline goes rampant and starts spilling over with all manner of personal secrets and promiscuous affairs.
So, the plot does move along and suspects keep piling up as new
information is uncovered. Lapena throws out all sorts of twists and
turns to keep the reader guessing. The characters, however, are not
particularly well developed and there really isn't anyone you want to
support. You might want to shake a few people and tell them to snap out
of it, but they are all caricatures and don't feel like real people.
While suspense keeps the novel rolling along, mainly because everyone is
sleeping around - or with Amanda - and everyone is a suspect, none of
the characters are memorable or interesting. Olivia is just plain
stupid. What functioning adult would ever think it would be a good idea
to send out anonymous letters telling people their house was broken
into? Once she did that my interest and engagement in the plot
plummeted. Basically, I didn't really care what happened to any of these
people and kept reading for the big twist and final reveal. This is a novel to read for the suspense rather than the clever writing.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
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