Book Review: Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser

It feels good to get back into some good ol' thriller fiction. I always seem to come back to it after dabbling in other genres. I was definitely not disappointed by Jessica Strawser's second novel.

Not That I Could Tell starts with a group of neighbours struggling to remember the night they had round a fire pit in one of their backyards. Then one of them goes missing along with her young twins and suddenly a suburban neighbourhood is the centre of an investigation. The women at the campfire are a mixture of mothers with young children, a military wife, a newly single professional and a woman in the middle of a divorce. The women try to piece together any small hints of what could have happened to Kristen, when it seems that she managed to hide a lot of her life by becoming great at pretending her life was going so well.

The suspicion eventually falls on Paul, her soon-to-be-ex-husband, a much loved doctor who is visibly distraught, especially when allegations of domestic abuse arise. 
But how well do we really know the people who live around us?

I loved this book and I tried very hard to read it in 5-minute snatches of my days and eventually I managed to get to the final chunk in one solid time slot. At first the book seemed very predictable, the twist was pretty simple to follow and clues were being dropped all over the show. But then, a final twist was one I didn't see coming and it was perfectly planned. It also made the ending great for me
A trigger warning - domestic abuse, especially the emotional side, is brought up. There is also very minimal sensuality which I enjoyed, where relationships were real and sometimes messy but didn't need to be defined by sex.

I identified with the life stage of most of the women who were at home with young children, a lot of their emotions rung true with me. Like getting caught up in the neighbourly gossip, while still trying to be a good friend and keep things running smoothly.

A great book, slow to start but keeps getting better. I will definitely go back and read Strawser's previous novel and if you are a thriller fan then give this a go.

Published by Hachette NZ. Available from 10/04/2018. RRP: $37.99.

Thanks to Hachette for a review copy of this book.