Cover Image: I Know You Know

I Know You Know

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Member Reviews

I received a free ecopy of this book in return for an honest review. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

I first became aware of author Gilly Macmillan about a month ago when a friend leant me The Perfect Girl (thanks Anne-Marie). Sometimes there is a tingle of excitement when you find a new author you just know you’re going to love, and this was one of those times. So naturally I jumped at the chance to read I Know You Know.

This book is written largely in the form of a podcast. Twenty years ago, Cody Swift’s two best friends were murdered. The man convicted of killing them just committed suicide in prison. Cody never believed he was guilty and decides to investigate the murders for himself, broadcasting the interviews. The podcasts alternate with the viewpoints of Jessica, the mother of one of the boys, and Fletcher, a cop who found the boys bodies and is now investigating another body from that time period, that has just been found now. The narrative also flits between twenty years ago and now.

Actually through the medium of the interviews, the book manages to sneak many viewpoints in but the podcast format is a great plot device for keeping them all distinct. I had trouble keeping the two timelines separate. The past was shown in italics, which helped, but I had to keep stopping and checking. The book is a quick read with frisson. I blasted through it putting other things aside (who needs sleep anyway). The podcast layout meant that it was easy to pick up and put down if you prefer to read it that way though.

By far the most interesting character in the book is Jessica, mother of murdered Charlie. She progresses from abused child, to wild child single mother, to having her life together. Since we see her in two timelines, we see both the messed up young girl and the older, together Jessica at the same time. As a mum to Charlie we don’t see much affection, more regret, but towards the end, there is a moment when she calls him ‘my boy’ and I felt her deep and abiding pain.

This book isn’t perfect. I like to try to guess, as I read, what is going to happen and what the solution to the mystery will be. This book had some eleventh hour reveals that made my wonderings obsolete. Some aspects of the story which seemed very important, early on, are inconsequential by the end, so that I felt a bit cheated, since they still felt important to me as a reader. I can’t expand on this without dropping spoilers, so I will leave it there.

Having said all that, I still felt it was a darn good read. The final twist just left me in a spin. If you’re looking for a book to take on holiday, this one will keep you entertained as you sunbathe.

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I really struggled to finish this book. The premise has been done so many times.
Some parts are so unbelievable I just had to laugh and as for the ending, well what ending?????
Not for me.
I would like to thank the author, Little Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

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A really good read. This story is we written and well thought out. I was gripped the whole way through. The characters were great and I thought the ending was really good. There is a lot packed into this book and I feel that I want to sit down and read it again to see what I missed the first time.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Two boys are murdered, a man was imprisoned then everyone tried to get on with their lives as best they could. Twenty years later another body turns up...
Was the wrong person convicted?

The majority of the narrative is told in a podcast format which I'd never come across before, and I didn't really take to it. I thought the story was quite slow, so much so, that I almost didn't finish it. But I'm glad I persevered as it got better and I really enjoyed it.

I'm loved her writing style and will definitely be reading more from Gilly Macmillan.

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Two 11 year old boys are brutally murdered not far from home. Their friend Cody, by a stroke of luck, is grounded that night by his mother, an action that undoubtedly saves his life. A young man with intellectual disabilities is tried and convicted of their murders. Twenty years on and a set of bones is unearthed very close to the place where the boys were murdered. Are the murders connected? Detective Fletcher is tasked with finding out.

Cody, now 30 has always harboured doubts about Sidney's conviction for the murder of his two best friends and starts a podcast to look into the investigation himself. He talks to the people involved in the investigation and also to those that were around at the time. However, he is advised by more than a couple of parties to let sleeping dogs lie, for his own good.

With some qualifications, I really enjoyed this book. It is a compelling and compulsive read where the now and then stories are told through flashbacks, the podcast transcription and events in real time unfolding as a result of information unearthed through the podcast enquiries. I loved the podcast element and could almost hear the voice of Cody narrating events as they unfolded.

There are a lot of unlikeable characters in this book, nobody is as they seem and Ms Macmillan expertly drip feeds information slowly and teasingly ratcheting up the tension so that basically I ended up suspecting almost everyone. There are some chilling twists and turns, however, I found I was waiting for a final twist in the tale which, unfortunately, never came. The ending was a bit of a damp squib, and left me feeling a bit up in the air regarding certain characters, particularly the nasty character of Felix and where he really fit in to the whole storyline. For that reason I am giving the book 3.5/5*

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I received I Know You Know from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I Know You Know caught my eye when it was released in the US last year, and I was really excited when I saw it was on NetGalley. I’d heard some really great things about this adult thriller and I was keen to get my hands on it!

What I didn’t know about I Know You Know was that it’s told, in part, in a podcast format. I wish I had known beforehand because I would have liked to try the audiobook. On paper, it was still an entertaining way to get the story across, but I do wonder how the audiobook would have enhanced the experience.

As for the thriller plot, I did very much enjoy it right up until the ending was revealed. I was completely hooked on the mystery of who killed the boys, and I have to admit that Macmillan did a fantastic job building tension and making me suspect a few different people. That said, towards the end things started to unravel a bit and it wasn’t one of the strongest endings I’ve ever read. The last thirty pages or so felt incredibly rushed, and the ending wasn’t all that satisfying.

I think that aside from the ending, Macmillan tied everything together really well, and I was really intrigued by the story for the majority of the book. I’d definitely be interested in seeing what else Macmillan has published, and what else she’ll be releasing in the future.

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I loved this! So much so that I couldn't resist reading it on my phone whilst in company. Rude! It was engaging, addictive and well-written. I enjoy the inclusion of the podcast element in particular. I'm now going to seek out the author's other work.

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When two children are murdered, a man convicted of their murder, and then 20 years later it seems as if the same killer is back.... this raises some uncomfortable questions and is a great start to a new book! I enjoyed the book, and couldn't wait to finish it. Recommended.

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Nope, sorry, not for me this one.

I really struggled ploughing through this quite well written story that just didn’t seem to hang together and at the end, honestly wondered why I’d bothered.

I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to preview this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and of course the author for this digital ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

I really wanted this book to be good as I loved the interesting format, told through podcasts, emergency calls, flash backs and the present day I wanted to enjoy this style as much as I have before but it felt a little hard to settle in to though I kept going and did enjoy the read

20 years ago a pair of young boys are found brutally murdered. This case was solved, the murderer in prison. But now another body been found in the same area? Was there a mistake? Is the killer still at large? Are the cases linked? Did they get the right person?

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I really enjoyed this book - it has a great plot, excellent main characters and is a real page turner. I would highly recommend this book.

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I wanted to like this but it was another story trying to jump on the podcast bandwagon and relying on that rather than having a proper plot. There was no suspense and everything felt underwhelming. There was no pay off and i was left feeling very unsatisfied.

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I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for a review copy of I Know You Know, a stand alone psychological thriller set in Bristol.

Cody Swift returns home to start a podcast, determined to uncover the truth. He has come to suspect that the wrong man was convicted in the 1996 murder of his two childhood friends, 10 year olds Scott Ashby and Charlie Paige. In the meantime DI Fletcher, who found the boys all those years ago is investigating bones recently uncovered near the boy’s’ murder site. Are they linked? He’ll have to investigate both crimes to find out.

I thoroughly enjoyed I Know You Know which is a compulsive read with a shifting perspective, timeline and truth. I’m not always a fan of this approach, finding it difficult to get immersed but it works well here as the reader questions every character’s motive. There are three main narrative threads to the novel, the podcast which includes Cody’s memories and interviews with the main players who look back on events, DI Fletcher’s current investigation and his memories of the investigation into the boy’s’ murder and Charlie’s mum, Jessica’s memories and current actions. These are supplemented by contemporaneous sections of narrative from Fletcher’s original investigation. It sounds messy but it’s curiosity inducing and extremely addictive. Then, about half way in the twists start and anything the reader thinks they know becomes open to question. It is all extremely clever and I defy any reader to guess them.

I really like the podcast idea. By putting it verbatim into the novel it allows for a host of alternative voices, speculation and interpretation held together by Cody Swift and his own personal musings. It is a stroke of genius that gives the novel a shortcut to depth and a wider perspective. Fascinating and my favourite part of the novel.

None of the characters is particularly attractive, being revealed as mostly selfish and self interested as the novel progresses. Normally I find this off putting in a novel as I like to identify with at least one character but such is the strength of the plot and writing it didn’t deter me in the slightest. I also think that the warts and all depiction of them makes them very human and understandable.

I Know You Know is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

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An masterfully plotted psychological thriller. I absolutely loved this. I loved the dual timeline, past and present and the podcast chapters were original and modern. A plot centred around a twenty year old murder. Full of twists, turns and secrets. The perfect thriller.

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I really wanted to like this book as I thought the podcast style of telling the reader about a past crime was a current and intriguing idea as well as a little bit different. It didn’t quite work for me although I’m struggling to say why. I didn’t really find anything positive in the characters to get excited about and I don’t get as emotional as I would have expected considering the subject matter. The author writes beautifully which saved this for me plus an unexpected twist towards the end also lifted this to a level higher than I was expecting. Still looking forward to her next book though!

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Gilly Macmillan's standalone thriller is smart, beautifully written and so very well constructed with a narrative that revolves around a true crime podcast that goes back and forth in time. In 1996, two friends, 11 year old Scott Ashby and 10 year old Charlie Paige were brutally murdered in Bristol. Charlie died in the arms of police officer John Fletcher. The gentle giant, Sidney Noyce, a 24 year old learning disabled man, with a mental age of a 10 year old, is arrested, convicted and imprisoned for their murder. Sidney has always claimed his innocence throughout the years, and goes on to commit suicide in prison, and a newspaper article questions his guilty conviction for the heinous crimes. Close friend of Scott and Charlie, Cody Swift, was traumatised by the tragedy and haunted by it ever since, never able to forget it. He is now a film maker, and having doubts as to the Noyce's guilt, he and his girlfriend, Maya, begin a podcast to find out what really happened twenty years ago in the search for justice.

In the present, at a construction site near the site of where the boys were found all those years ago, human remains are found, is there any connection with what happened to the boys? DI John Fletcher now finds himself with a new case that has him opening the can of worms that was the original police inquiry. The dead man turns out to be Pete Dale, a local con man who disappeared around the same time as the killing of the boys. With a story relayed through multiple perspectives, the podcast revisits the major players from the past, documenting what is uncovered. Unsurprisingly, not everyone is happy to have the past reopened with its festering emotional wounds. One of these is Jess Paige, Charlie's mother, who has moved on into a new life, and she wants to keep buried her disastrous earlier life and her negligent parenting style. Will Cody's podcast reawaken the dangers of the past for him and others?

Macmillan writes a tense, multilayered and complex character driven story of corruption, ambition, betrayal, deceit, the nature of children and the world they inhabit, a troubling police investigation, blackmail, where everyone has secrets and where no-one can be taken at face value. The author particularly excels in the characters she creates, they have such depth and in how she develops them as the reader is hit by shock surprises and twists. This is an exciting and emotionally intense rollercoaster of a read which left me eagerly awaiting Macmillan's next novel. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

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Two cases of murder,are they linked,what's the link? An unusual police thriller told in large parts by the inspector involved in both cases. Lots of twists, surprises and red herrings.

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Twenty years ago, two boys were found murdered; a learning disabled man, Sidney Noyce, was - with echoes of the Stefan Kiszko case - convicted of the crime. In the present day the boys’ friend, Cody Swift, who only by chance wasn’t with them that day, is unconvinced of Sidney’s guilt and determined to find out what really happened. Via his increasingly successful podcast, It’s Time to Tell, Cody recounts both the events of the time and his ongoing investigations. Meanwhile we also follow police officer John Fletcher, both then and now, and Jessica Paige, the mother of one of the boys.

The podcast is an effective way of telling the story, though I was aware throughout that the narrative choice keeps us a step removed from Cody, and ensures we/the listeners are only hearing what he wishes us to know.

I did find myself becoming a bit confused towards the end of the story, and at times struggling to get my head around what was going on - this may well have been my own fault for not paying close enough attention, though. Fletcher was an interesting choice as a point of view character, for reasons which become apparent as the story progresses.

While I enjoyed the story I don’t think it quite, for me, measured up to Gilly Macmillan’s previous work, which I loved. I can’t quite put my finger on why, though. It’s a good read, nevertheless.

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Golly Macmillan has written a tense chilling thriller based on a podcast this well written mystery kept me racing through the pages.Multi layered with twists and turns grab this book, #netgalley#littlebrownuk

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Another book with a true crime podcast as it’s central theme I can’t get enough of them if they are done well and this one was. Clever plotting and an excellent finale.

Past and present collide as Cody returns to a difficult time in his life, the loss of his two closest friends. At the same time a body is discovered, dragging the original investigator back to a difficult and emotional case.

This one has a lot of layers but mostly it’s about tangled relationships, moral life choices and the shades of grey that are ingrained in human nature. It’s a gripping read with plenty of twists and turns of character, a strong emotional core and an unpredictable vibe that keeps you turning those pages.

I’ve loved Gilly Macmillan’s previous books and this one was no different – I immersed myself into it and read it over two sittings. Very good indeed.

Recommended.

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