Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new edition of Lil Red’s Book Club! Today we are going to discuss a thriller by Kate Alice Marshall called No One Can Know in a spoiler free setting. It has been a minute since I had the chance to read one of my beloved “LifeTime Movie” books, as Johnny likes to call them lol. Hey, he’s not wrong – the books I tend to like do read exactly like a LifeTime flick! No One Can Know was a recommendation from my big sis as we tend to both read the same things. She gave this book rave reviews, but it wasn’t my fave. Before we begin our review, I will be placing a trigger warning on No One Can Know for murder, child abuse, animal cruelty, and disturbing content. Now, let’s get to it:

Emma Palmer and her husband, Nathan, are officially down on their luck. Nathan lost his job, meaning they can no longer afford the house they planned on purchasing. They have to vacate their current housing and to top it off, Emma is pregnant. With no family to turn to and no other options available, they end up in Emma’s childhood home which hasn’t been occupied in a long time. The only thing remaining there is the horrible memories that Emma endured throughout her life.

Emma and her two sisters, Juliette and Daphne, lived in a gorgeous mansion with their parents in their youth. They had everything and wanted for nothing. Well, except for normal, loving parents that is. Emma and her siblings were subjected to physical and verbal abuse from their mom and dad. Juliette, as the eldest, did what she could to appease her parents to avoid their beatings. Daphne, the baby, was her father’s favorite and didn’t get the worst of it. That was all left to the middle child, Emma, who refused to obey the rules. Rather, she laughed at them.

All of the girls had had enough of their parents. But, enough to kill them – who’s to say? One night, when the girls were “sleeping” in their tree house, Irene and Randolph Palmer were shot to death. Although she was never arrested, Emma was the prime candidate for the murders in the name of protecting her siblings. Unsurprisingly, Emma isn’t popular in her original neck of the woods and, although it is expected, it is a harsh reality to return to after all of these years with her husband.

As Nathan and Emma set up their new digs, they are treated to vandalism and a near obsession with the cop who tried to arrest Emma as a teenager. Instead of constantly running from her past, Emma decides to face it head on to try and find out what really happened the night of her parents’ murder. Her sisters have to know something but, then again, Emma wouldn’t know because they have been estranged for fourteen years. Until now. If Emma didn’t kill her parents and she believes her sisters didn’t either, then there is still a killer at large. Can Emma, Daphne, and Juliette solve the case? Or will Emma finally be behind bars for her parents’ murder? Read No One Can Know to find out!

Based on the synopsis, No One Can Know sounds exactly like a book that I would like. I thought it was well written and the ending was pretty good even though I figured it out almost immediately. My major qualm with this book was the characters because they were, truly, nothing to sneeze at. To me, a book just isn’t great if I can’t get behind the main character and that’s how I felt about Emma. During the entirety of reading this book, I wanted Emma to get that bite back that she had in her youth. Rather, she was vague, distant, and read as weak. There was nothing exciting about her and nothing particularly likeable about her either.

I think I would have liked this book more if any of the characters had any redeeming characteristics, but that wasn’t the case. Juliette came off as insanely arrogant and sneaky and Daphne was just all together off putting. And, don’t even get me started on Nathan because he actively sucked. Perhaps the only person likeable was Gabriel, Emma’s old high school crush, but he was so rarely in the book that it didn’t even matter. With this combination of one of the worst casts in a book I have read recently, it certainly dragged on and I was SO ready for it to be over.

I am going to rate No One Can Know with a three out of ten stars. I thought it to be lackluster, at best, and wouldn’t recommend it. Whomp, whomp.

What are you currently reading? What should I read next? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah