Title: Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 399 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
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.
Review:
Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline is an intriguing mystery about a teenage prank gone terribly wrong.
In 1999, teenagers Allie Garvey, Sasha Barrow, David Hybrinski, and Julian Browne live in an upscale community in Pennsylvania. Allie is dealing with a tragic loss when she and Sasha come across David and Julian in the woods near their homes. The two young men have made an unexpected discovery that Sasha finds fascinating. Long obsessed with his next door neighbor, Julian uses Sasha’s interest to try to get close to her. David is dealing with his own issues but he goes along with his best friend’s plans. Newcomer to the housing development, Kyle Gallagher, is unwittingly drawn into their prank when Julian feels his chance with Sasha slipping away. After tragedy strikes, the teens go their separate ways until twenty years later. After they are reunited at a funeral, Allie can no longer bear the guilt that is destroying her marriage to husband, Larry Rucci. What impact will her decision to come clean about what happened that fateful night have on the rest of their group?
The summer of 1999 is already shaping up to be quite memorable for Allie, Sasha, David, Julian and Kyle. Allie’s family is falling apart following a terrible loss. Her mother is deeply depressed, her father is in denial and Allie is barely coping. David is under pressure from his family to become a professional tennis player. But it is a shocking accusation by his father that sends him reeling. Julian is an entitled only child whose crush on Sasha has crossed the line due his unhealthy behavior. Because of her parents frequent business travel, Sasha is left to her own devices as she is supervised by the family’s live in employees. Kyle’s recent move to Pennsylvania is shrouded in mystery as he and his mom try to maintain a low profile and avoid any type of attention.
Despite their privileged lives, Allie, Sasha, David and Julian are no different than other teens their age when it comes to making ill-thought out, stupid decisions. Allie’s and David’s moral compasses are more developed than Sasha and Julian, but this does not prevent them from joining Julian and Sasha. In the aftermath of their ill-conceived prank, their lives go in dramatically different directions than they initially planned. Allie is particularly tormented by what happened and the funeral is the catalyst she needs to right that long ago wrong. But will the rest of the group agree with her?
Written from several points of view, Someone Knows is a compelling mystery that keeps the pages turning at a blistering pace. The characters are richly developed and the storyline is engrossing. Lisa Scottoline brings the novel to action-packed conclusion that has plenty of unanticipated twists and stunning turns. A suspenseful mystery that I enjoyed and recommend to fans of the genre.
