Bookouture – Read with Me

I Know You: A gripping suspense thriller with a heart-stopping twist by [Therme, Erik]

4 Stars

Publisher: Bookouture

Date of publication: April 12th, 2019

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Where you can find I Know You: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | BookBub

Sisters Bree and Alissa Walker share a special bond. Neglected by their parents, they have always looked out for one another. But one day, sixteen-year-old Alissa goes missing. When Bree discovers her green backpack with all her belongings, abandoned on the steps of their run-down trailer, she knows that something bad has happened …

Then she receives a chilling text message. Someone has Alissa. But Bree will have to give up something very precious in exchange.

Desperate to save Alissa, Bree looks at everyone close to their family. She’s sure that Alissa’s best friend is keeping something back about her little sister and a boy at school, and why has their estranged uncle, who they’ve not seen in years, been hanging around again?

It soon becomes clear that the person behind the message knows a lot about the dark truths within the Walker family and will go to any lengths to get revenge. And as the search for Alissa continues, Bree discovers something about her brother Tyler that she wishes she hadn’t, a dangerous secret, which is also the key to bringing her little sister back home …

My Review:

I am a huge fan of thrillers. I love being kept on edge while reading a book and not knowing what will happen next. When I read the blurb of I Know You, I knew that this was going to be a good book. My expectation of the book was met and then some.

The plotline of I Know You was frightening. When Bree sees Alissa’s backpack sitting on the steps of the trailer they live at, she has a feeling something terrible happened. Her feelings were confirmed when she gets a text that tells her Alissa has been kidnapped and not to go to the police. The kidnapper wants Bree to do one thing. She needs to find her brother, Tyler, and bring him to the kidnapper. As Bree searches for Tyler and Alissa, she learns that each has secrets. It is Tyler’s secrets that have an impact on her search. Will Bree find Alissa? What is Tyler’s secret? How will if effect Bree’s search?

I Know You was a very fast paced book. The plotline flew from the minute Bree got that text to the end. There were a few times where the plotline lagged, but the author was able to pull it back on track.

The characters in I Know You were dysfunctional. They were not likable. That is what made this book such a great read. Even though I didn’t like them, I could relate to them. These characters are like people that I deal with daily. That relatability made the book a good read for me.

I wasn’t surprised that Tyler was somehow involved in Alissa’s disappearance. I didn’t like him. Something about him grated on me. He reminded me of people I have known in the past.

I liked Bree. She was as tough as nails, and she was doing whatever it took to get Alissa back.

The secrets in this book were the backbone. Everyone had secrets. Each secret was worse than the last one.

There were a couple of twists in the plot that made me go huh? The first twist involved why Alissa got taken. It made zero sense to me until the second twist was revealed. That’s when I went “It makes sense now.”

The end of I Know You was great. The author didn’t hold back anything when everything was revealed about why Alissa was kidnapped. I felt bad for the kidnapper. The only thing I didn’t like was the very end. It made me go “Why?” when I read it.

I would give I Know You an Adult rating. There is no sex. There is language. There is violence. I would reccomend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread I Know You. I would also recommend this book to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

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3 Stars

Publisher: Bookoutre

Date of publication: December 5th, 2018

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Where you can find Keep Her Close: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Goodreads synopsis:

Someone took your daughter. And nobody believes you …

Then:
Three-year-old Ally was found alone in a parking lot.
She was barefoot and dressed only in a yellow sundress. In the middle of winter.
What kind of person would abandon their daughter?

Now:
Fifteen years later and Ally has a new family.
But her real father has sent her a letter.
And now Ally is missing.

A gripping twist-filled thriller that will have you looking over your shoulder. Perfect for fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and Teresa Driscoll.

My review:

Ally was found in a parking lot of a mall at 3 years old. With her was a sign that said “Free to good home” and nearby was the body of a woman who had committed suicide. Ally was adopted shortly later by the couple who found her. 15 years later, Ally is 18 years old. She receives a letter from a man claiming to be her biological father. Against her father’s wishes, she goes to meet with him. Only to disappear. Now her parents are frantically searching for her. Where is Ally?

I have reviewed for Erik Therme before and I generally like his book. So when he emailed me and asked me to review Keep Her Close, I said: “Why not“. Usually, his book are solid and a good read. Then I read Keep Her Close and came out disappointed.

The book started off well enough and it was focused until Ally disappeared. At that point, the book started going off on tangents that made no sense to the original plotline. Like when Cal was tied up at the hotel. Did I need to know who Tucker was? Did I need to know who Gary was? I didn’t need to know the background between Tucker and Gary. It had no bearing to the plot at all. There were a bunch of scenarios like that in the book. It took away from the plotline. If the book had stuck to one main plotline and one or two sub-plotlines, I would have been alright.

I could not connect to any of the characters. Dan’s anger issues made his character unlikable. Holly seemed co-dependent and useless. Cal gave me stalker vibes. And Nick was scum. Ally got on my nerves.

There were parts of the book I did like. I thought that it was well written. There was a good suspenseful element to the book also. I liked the relationship that Dan, Holly, and Ally had. I also liked the relationship that Cal and Maddie had.

I didn’t like how the book ended. I don’t like it when books end in cliffhangers. So when the book ended the way it did, I went “Whaaaaat!!!“. I ended up rereading the last few chapters of the book to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Which I didn’t. It frustrated me to read that. I wanted to know what was in that letter!!

I gave Keep Her Close a 3-star rating. I was disappointed in this book. The plotline was all over the place with unneeded tangents. The characters were not likable. And there was a huge cliffhanger ending. There were elements of the book that I did like. I thought it was well written. There was a good suspense element to the book. I also liked the family relationships that were shown.

I would give Keep Her Close an Adult rating. There is no sex. There is violence. There is language. There are trigger warnings. They are child abandonment, kidnapping, the death of a child, stalking and suicide. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I am on the fence if I would reread Keep Her Close. I am also on the fence if I would reccomend this book to family and friends.

I would like to thank the author and Bookoutre for allowing me to read and review Keep Her Close.

Category: Bookouture

I Know You by Erik Therme

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Keep Her Close by Erik Therme

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