This was the first book I've read by Gill Macmillan. It centers around Rachel, her son Ben and Ben's dad, John. John and Rachel are divorced. Ben lives with Rachel. One day, she and Ben are out for a walk with their dog and Ben disappears. Jim Clemo is assigned to investigate Ben's disappearance. Rachel's sister comes to live with her during this time and ends up revealing a family secret that Rachel never knew. This is the only thing that I can of that would apply to the "what she knew" that is the title of the book. ( )

Suspense

I did not realize that this was the first in a series, so that's something new lol. I'm assuming the books in the series are more stand-alone than must-read-in-order. Just an fyi for everyone.

This book is told from two different points of view. We see everything from the perspective of the mother whose child is missing and the lead investigator trying to find him. The switching back and forth took a little bit of getting used to, but it wasn't problematic or deter from the story. The chapters switched between narrators, and each one was marked for which character was talking.

The story grabbed me pretty quickly right off the bat. I think the first couple of chapters I was slightly confused, but got straightened out in my head rather fast. The chapters were relatively short and had a lot of plot within each one. It was easy to follow the story from one space to another. Based on the first couple of chapters, I thought there was going to be no solution to the disappearance, so I was surprised at the end (I won't tell you if it was good or bad, you have to read it to find out...no spoilers!). There were other small twists and turns that I didn't see coming, which was unexpected but definitely gave me something else to think about.

Character development was well done. The mother's narration was written with the stress and emotional pain you would expect from someone in her situation, and it didn't just say "she went on the news and read a script the police put together for her," it actually went into what she was thinking, how she was reacting. It was very powerful writing. As for the police investigator, his development was just as well done. It went into how obsessed he became with trying to find the missing boy, how he couldn't sleep, etc. I believe this is very true-to-life as far as investigators.

All in all, a great read. I finished it relatively quickly. It grabs you, pulls you in, makes you think and feel, and hope for a happy ending. I definitely recommend if you like reading anything that pulls at the heartstrings or has some mystery. If you are someone who is overly sensitive to crimes against children though, you may want to skip this one. Otherwise, please, read it. ( )

This one kept me guessing. Everyone is suspect... so when the kidnapper is revealed, I wasn't totally surprised.... but surprised enough. Great read. ( )

Un thriller che è stato una vera sorpresa, che mi ha catturato sin dalle prime righe e mi ha fatto vivere emozioni molto forti coinvolgendomi in una vicenda che mi ha dato anche molto da pensare. La storia, raccontata a due voci - quella di Rachel, la mamma di Ben, un bimbo di otto anni che sparirà durante una passeggiata nel bosco, e quella di Jim, il detective incaricato delle relative indagini - si dipana nell’arco di nove giorni e sconvolgerà la vita di tutte le persone coinvolte. Il racconto è incalzante e quello che mi ha colpito particolarmente, oltre alla fine analisi emozionale dei protagonisti, è stata la capacità della scrittrice di rendere tangibile l’impatto che hanno i media su vicende del genere e quali effetti devastanti possano arrecare. L’informazione e i social agiscono al di fuori del nostro controllo e per quanto noi possiamo pensare di trasmettere un’immagine di un certo tipo, la percezione esterna non è mai quella che ci aspettiamo. Una storia che vi terrà col fiato sospeso fino alla fine, un’indagine complessa che si svolgerà in mille direzioni, il tutto condito con sensibilità e trattando nel contempo temi di grande impatto e attualità. L’incipit del libro:
“Agli occhi degli altri, non siamo sempre come ci immaginiamo.
Quando incontriamo qualcuno per la prima volta, possiamo sforzarci di fare buona impressione, proporre la migliore immagine possibile di noi stessi, eppure può capitare che tutto vada orribilmente male lo stesso.
E' una delle trappole della vita.” ( )