Review--The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

 

Eighteen-year-old Arcadia wants adventure. Living in a tiny Florida town with her dad and four-year-old brother, Cadie spends most of her time working, going to school, and taking care of her family. So when she meets two handsome cousins at a campfire party, she finally has a chance for fun. They invite her and friend to join them on a road trip, and it's just the risk she's been craving-the opportunity to escape. But what starts out as a fun, sexy journey quickly becomes dangerous when she discovers that one of them is not at all who he claims to be. One of them has deadly intentions.

A road trip fling turns terrifying in this contemporary story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

 

 

 

 

 

Digging deep down into my TBR pile, I pull out Trish Doller’s standalone, The Devil You Know. I remember seeing mixed reviews about it when it first came out but I love a good thriller. Though this one was pretty predictable, it did make for an exciting read in the grand finale.

Note that I said grand finale. Up to then, this one was reading a little too contemporary for me. There wasn’t the present sense of danger, but knowing what the story entails, I knew it would be coming. Like the reviews before me said, it was slightly predictable. I mean pretty much from the get-go I knew whodunit before they even dun it! Lol.

Cadie is just your small town girl trying to find her place in the world. Since her mother died a few years ago, she’s somehow had to step into that role in order to care for her younger brother and father. Her father has been distraught since her mother’s death and not really present in all things. Then Cadie decides she needs a night off from it all and goes out to a party.

It is there that she meets two boys, cousins, Noah and Matt and there’s an instant attraction…to both of them. But when Matt walks away to talk to another girl, Cadie meets Noah and strikes up conversation with him. It’s not long before Cadie decides to join them on a road trip. Her old friend, Lindsey comes along too. It should be perfect right? Two boys, two girls. Shenanigans abound! But then the morning they would start the trip, Lindsey bails with a text and Cadie decides to go on a new adventure with these two boys…that she just met.

Yeah, not the brightest crayon in the box. I mean, Cadie does question her actions at times, but still decides to go along with the adventure. Naturally, Cadie and Noah continue to click and grow closer over the course of 4 days.

If you know me, you probably know how much I detest the insta love. Granted, Cadie and Noah are having more of a physical connection than anything. But it was just kind of blah. Who cares, you know? I like to see a relationship develop on deeper levels than just pure physical attraction.

It honestly takes a while before things to kick into thriller/mystery territory. I’d say it was roughly ¾ into the book, so yeah, definitely running the lines of contemporary than thriller/mystery here. And when the whodunit gets revealed, it was just as predictable as you can imagine. Though the reasoning seemed bland…if that was truly the catalyst. It’s hard to trust crazy and this character showed their true colors eventually and they were all crazy!

Since the book is shorter than my average kind of read it read pretty fast…in a sense. But coming from a reader who does not do well with contemporary I can say that it was exceedingly slow. I mean when a weird thing happens here and there, it’s enough to keep me hooked, but at the same time I’m wishing more of those weird incidences would happen.

All in all, The Devil You Know wasn’t a bad read, but it wasn’t the thriller that I was hoping for. Still plenty creepy at times, especially since it’s happening in Florida gator territory. Animal predators mixed with human ones make for an intriguing read and outcome!

 

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars