How far will you go to protect the only family you have?
When
Amy Gibson's mother is brutally murdered by her boyfriend, Amy's world
is completely undone. Overcome with grief and heartache, she withdraws
from everything around her—college, her friends, her entire life. Until
her estranged half-brother, Oliver, saves her, pulling her back into her
life and giving her family. Giving her a home.
Eight years
later, she's picked herself up and has worked hard to move forward.
She’s the host of a popular true crime podcast that focuses on crimes
against women committed by their partners and is finding purpose and
healing through helping women in ways she couldn't help her mother.
And
then Oliver is accused of the unthinkable—something that is so unlike
him. Something that horrifies Amy. But desperate to save the only family
she has, she sets out to prove her brother's innocence.
But as
the days pass and more information about Oliver and his past slowly
comes to light, Amy begins realizing that nothing is ever as it
seems—especially when it comes to family.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
I am so behind on my Kelley Armstrong books that when I got an opportunity to review her latest thriller, Known to the Victim, written as K.L. Armstrong, I jumped at the chance! Kelley has been one of my favorite authors since nearly day 1 and I've loved just about everything she's written, and that has been a lot! I swear she must not sleep because she keeps decking out all the books every year and I am forever behind! But it was nice to be able to pickup one of her standalones and get some enjoyment out of it without worrying about series information for later.
This was a decidedly spooky thriller, in the very realistic way that thrillers can be utterly terrifying. When Amy was a sophomore in college, her mother was murdered. Not by accident, not by some random mugging or serial killer rampage, but by someone she knew. Her mother was murdered by a man she had just started dating and if that's not enough to terrify any young single woman, I don't know what will. It had a huge impact on Amy's life, naturally. So much so that she changed her major and started a blog that turned into a podcast that looked into similar situations to her mother's. How sometimes a woman gets murdered by the person she was closest to and what signs might have been missed. She does it as a sort of tribute to her mother, and to help educate other young woman.
When Amy is doing a live, in-person presentation about her podcast, she is confronted by an audience member who accuses her brother do unspeakable things. Things that Amy talks about in her podcasts with other dangerous predators. Amy is sideswiped by this information, but handles it as professionally as possible, but yet she reaches out to her brother to give him the heads up, but is unable to reach him.
Then the unthinkable happens, the (half) brother who helped get her out of her depression after her mother's death and who was always there for her, has been accused of attempted murder. When her brother, Oliver's girlfriend is shot, she was convinced that it was Oliver who did it and Oliver is taken into custody and so, Amy is determined to prove his innocence. She has a PI friend she's used for help with her podcasts, but when she's out of town on another case, she's left with the partner, Dean Castillo. She and Dean have had what you can call a prickly business relationship but he's willing to help her out for a price...he is running a business after all.
Soon Amy and Dean are deep into the investigation about Oliver and his past relationships, because they are naturally brought up. Amy starts to see disturbing patterns and signs that she clearly missed over the years and not everything is adding up to what she thought she always knew. And the plot only thickens from there!
This book, was so twisty and so mysterious that I just ate up the pages. While I did have a busy weekend, I ended up finishing it long before Monday arrived and I honestly was not expecting that! Armstrong has always known how to draw her reader in, no matter the genre, and that only continues to remain true with this reader. What started out as simple facts and questions, I soon got so caught up into all the secrets and possible lies popping up and chance encounters that I just kept reading and reading and then I realized I finished it! It was simply unputdownable! It's a mystery so intricately woven that I was mesmerized and had to know all the answers, I was starting to make my own speculations and most of them proved to be right, so it was good to know I was on the right track!
What made this book feel even a little scarier is how realistic it felt. You think you meet the perfect guy and then little things start happening and then they get bigger, and then they get scarier. I really related to Amy and all her cautious traits, as I can be a bit paranoid and overly cautious myself. I appreciated how seriously Amy took things like that.
The working relationship between Amy and Dean was a delight! Dean comes off as this prickly grump, and while I wouldn't call Amy, Little Miss Sunshine, for that Grumpy/Sunshine vibe, they did like to butt heads more often than not. But this case kind of forced to them to work together and get a better understanding of one another. There are things to be worked out to between these two and all that comes to light as well. This is not a romantic suspense book, so don't worry about that if that's not your thing. There's very little romance between these two other than seeing them bond friendly together with the hint or spark of something maybe being there.
The ending was pretty much how I predicted it, but the whys of it all were another matter. I don't feel like I got the answer I anticipated, but at the same time, I didn't think we could ever really know the whys. Like with most mysteries, sometimes that will forever be the question. So I wasn't disappointed with that. The characters were what really kept me going! I enjoyed Amy and Dean so much! They had a nice camaraderie going. And even some of the other characters, namely suspects or persons of interest were well written too for the parts that they played.
Needless to say, Known to the Victim kept me on my toes and turning the pages! It was the literal definition of pageturner as I was desperate to know what was going to happen next and I would not be satisfied until I reached the end, which was in itself, very satisfying! Armstrong has once again bespelled me with her magical words even if the story involved no magic whatsoever. She pretty much has a fan for life out of me! If you're a fan of heart-racing thrillers with twisty secrets, then this is the read for you!
Overall Rating 5/5 stars
