Thriller Thursday Reviews: No One Can Know & There Should Have Been Eight

It’s Sharon’s Thriller Thursday!  I hope you are all doing well. I cannot believe tomorrow is March already. This week I am excited to share my thoughts on Kate Alice Marshall’s, No One Can Know and Nalini Singh’s, There Should Have Been Eight. I loved both of these books so much and I know nothing I said in my reviews will do them justice. If you have these on your to-read list or even if they are not, I definitely recommend them.

Author: Kate Alice Marshall

Publication Date: January 23, 2024

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Kate Alice Marshall is a relatively new author to me, but after reading No One Can Know, she is now on my auto buy list.

When Emma Palmer was sixteen years old, her parents were murdered. Emma had been out the night her parents were murdered, but when she returned home, her two sisters, eighteen-year-old Juliette and twelve-year-old Daphne were in the hallway where their mother lay dead. Emma did not know who killed her parents, but she took it upon herself to protect her sisters, even if that meant letting people think it was her who killed them. Emma is now thirty years old and has not been back to her hometown since she was eighteen. She has also been estranged from her sisters and has not seen or spoken to them in years, but Emma and her husband Nathan now need to return as they have lost their apartment and their bank account has dwindled to almost nothing. Coming home means that Emma must now face her past and finally get answers to who killed her parents.

The story is told from the POV of Emma, Juliette (who now goes by JJ), and Daphne, both in the present as well as the past. I really loved Emma. She got the short end of the stick when it came to her parents’ affection. Neither of her parents were great to any of the girls, but Juliette was the obedient one and her mother’s favorite, and Daphne kept in the shadows and was more their father’s favorite. Emma was the defiant one. I loved learning more about the girls and what happened that night from the past chapters. I really hated how Juliette and Daphne let Emma take the fall for their parents’ murder though. But I did like that as adults they were there for her now and had her back.

Emma is pregnant and being back home and seeing how everyone in town still thinks she is guilty of her parents’ murder has made Emma determined to find out what really happened. Emma does not want her child to grow up with a mother who everyone thinks is guilty of murder. The more Emma learns about what happened that night, the more her life was in danger. I loved her determination though. Her child is her top priority, even if it means she needs to turn one or both of her sisters in.

I was all over the place on who I thought was the murderer. With each new piece of information that Emma uncovered my mind would change on who I thought was guilty. No One Can Know was full of so many twists and turns right up until the very last page. I did not figure anything out and was shocked when all was revealed.  4 ½ stars

Author: Nalini Singh

Publication Date: November 21, 2023

Publisher: Berkley

I have only read one other book by Nalini Singh and when I read the synopsis for There Should Have Been Eight, I knew I was going to enjoy it. And I was right.

Luna, Vansi, Kaea, Ash, Aaron, Phoenix, Bea, and her sister Darcie met when they were teenagers and have all been best friends since. That is until nine years ago when Bea killed herself. Though they have stayed in touch, they are not as close as they once were. Darcie organizes a reunion at her family’s isolated estate. This reunion is a chance to reconnect and reminisce about Bea, as well as celebrate Aaron’s engagement to Grace. What starts out as a fun reunion soon takes a deadly turn. A storm has moved in, and the group is stranded at the estate and must fight to survive the night.

I loved everything about the book, though there is not a lot I can say without spoiling things. I loved the gothic setting. The estate has been in Darcie and Bea’s family for generations and is run down and has a lot of secret passageways to move about.  Nalini Singh did a great job of creating this eerie setting.

The story is narrated by Luna, and I just loved her. Luna is a photographer, and she was in her glory taking photos of the estate. I love to take photos, though I am in no way a photographer, so I was getting excited with Luna as she pulled out her camera to take photos of the estate and grounds. I also had a lot of sympathy for Luna. She has a condition that is making her lose her eyesight, which is just devastating for her. Luna is also having a hard time coming to terms with Bea killing herself. That was not like Bea at all, and Luna does not believe it for a minute. Luna is having a hard time forgiving Darcie, since Darcie had Bea cremated right away and scattered her ashes alone without any of the others there.

As things start to happen to the group – someone put a beloved doll of Bea’s on Darcie’s bed, cut Kaea’s hiking boots, so he fell while hiking and hurt his leg bad, pushed one of them down the stairs – the group realizes that someone is out for revenge. I thought I had things figured out, not only with who was behind everything that was happening at the estate, but also what really happened to Bea. I was kind of right, though not completely.

There Should Have Been Eight was a slow burn mystery, with lots of twists and turns. Singh did a great job of creating this story. Between the great characters, the eerie gothic setting, and the mystery of what was going on and who was responsible, I was engrossed from beginning to end.  4 ½ stars