I Know Everything – Book review **

Title : I Know Everything

Pub Date : 6th Aug 2019

Publisher : Thomas & Mercer

Author : Matthew Farrell

Plot Blurb :

Amanda Brock , psychiatrist Randall Brock’s wife dies in what seems to be a freak car accident .  Investigator Susan Adler is forced to take a second look at Amanda’s  case when the Medical Examiner’s office finds evidence pointing to murder .

When Brock thinks he knows everything about Amanda , he receives a visit from a stranger who lets him onto two of Amanda’s secrets – secrets which make him realize that he had not known his wife well .  The stranger also implies that Amanda was murdered and he knows more about Amanda’s death . In exchange for revealing Amanda’s secrets and information about her death to him , Randall must reveal his secrets to the stranger .

Randall too has his own secrets – things from his traumatic past which he thought he had buried all together . Having those secrets out in the open meant the end of everything he had rebuilt – his career , his life , his reputation . As this visitor lets him know that he knows too much about him and implicates Randall further with his every visit in Susan’s eyes about his involvement in Amanda ‘s death ,  Randall starts unraveling from the pressure of it all . Eventually he begins questioning his own sanity as evidence against him mounts…..

It is up to Susan now to find out who is Amanda ‘s  killer – Is it always the husband ?

Review :

The plot-line is brilliant but the story telling could have been better . Although the author kept the narrative taut during the first half of the book , by letting the reader on some of the hints which were better not given off  at that point , the author missed out on carrying the guessing game till the end . With almost everything spelled out in italics ( literally ) for the reader , it was not very difficult to guess the culprit .

There are a few really breath-taking twists and if not for the above mentioned flaw in the narrative , this book with it’s interesting story-line could have become one of my memorable suspense reads and this author , another suspense writer whom I would be following closely .

While the author has got every minutiae about the police procedural on the page , the psychological aspects could have been better handled – there were few scenarios as the plot progressed which raised several questions regarding their verisimilitude . As I cannot point out the scenarios without revealing some key plot points , it would suffice to say that verisimilitude quotient goes down .

The characters are fleshed out quite well but the too-descriptive / everyday – mundanity capturing prose sometimes slows the progress of the story . Investigator Susan Adler reminds me of Mary Higgins Clark heroines – smart , bold , feisty and upright . It can be seen that when the author is familiar with the character prototypes and the official proceedings , the characters like Investigator Susan Adler and her partner-in-investigation Tommy Corolla have come out really well . Conversely , where he probably needs some expert insights , he has taken up some boilerplate – prototypes of the characters without adding much to them .

Overall , the author has succeeded in creating memorable characters but Farrell should give her a good case to crack open . If Susan Adler’s next case has a much more credible plot-line , I would be game enough to join her a second time .

But for now , the rating stands at 3 / 5 .

**I received a eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review .

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