What She Knew

A Novel

By: Gilly Macmillan

Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart

""The Changeling meets an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit but set in the UK.” -The Skimm

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In her enthralling debut, Gilly Macmillan explores a mother’s search for her missing son, weaving a taut psychological thriller as gripping and skillful as The Girl on the Train and The Guilty One.

In a heartbeat, everything changes…

Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.

Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.

As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite as she imagined it to be, not even her own judgment. And the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.

Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...

Hasn't gotten the recognition it deserves

This book was hard to put down. I'm really surprised that it isn't a #1 bestseller. You know from the description that it's about a boy who turns up missing and the media gets overly involved, pointing fingers at the mother and others. There's much more to this book than that. Surprising family secrets come out and just when you think you've solved it, another twist will come into play. You will keep guessing until the end!

If you like mysteries, this will be a great pick for you.

Great premise but so slow

Like several other reviewers said, I really wanted to like this book. But it was really slow. I found myself having to force myself to pay attention. So many times I had to rewind because I had lost track of the story. Maybe it would be better if it was read instead of listened to because the reading of emails and blogs is even more tedious. Just disappointing.

Okay

It was okay. Hard to follow at first. I had to keep starting the chapters over again. It was a little frustrating.

Good story line

Being a man, I don't think I could fully empathize with the mother’s angst over a missing child. The story could be a real life mother telling her tail. Real life, meaning kind of boring, if you know what I mean. That with a lot of digression in the story line makes me rate this as meh.

Much too long

This was a pretty good story but the author needs to learn that readers are not interested in endless similes of internal thoughts of the characters