“Full of slow-burning intrigue, Strawser’s second novel will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies and Jennifer Kitses’ Small Hours.” –Booklist *Book of the Month Club Selection An innocent night of fun takes a shocking turn in Not That I Could Tell, the next page-turner from Jessica Strawser, author of Almost Missed You. When a group of neighborhood women gathers, wine in hand, … Missed You.
When a group of neighborhood women gathers, wine in hand, around a fire pit where their backyards meet one Saturday night, most of them are just ecstatic to have discovered that their baby monitors reach that far. It’s a rare kid-free night, and they’re giddy with it. They drink too much, and the conversation turns personal.
By Monday morning, one of them is gone.
Everyone knows something about everyone else in the quirky small Ohio town of Yellow Springs, but no one can make sense of the disappearance. Kristin was a sociable twin mom, college administrator, and doctor’s wife who didn’t seem all that bothered by her impending divorce–and the investigation turns up more questions than answers, with her husband, Paul, at the center. For her closest neighbor, Clara, the incident triggers memories she thought she’d put behind her–and when she’s unable to extract herself from the widening circle of scrutiny, her own suspicions quickly grow. But the neighborhood’s newest addition, Izzy, is determined not to jump to any conclusions–especially since she’s dealing with a crisis of her own.
As the police investigation goes from a media circus to a cold case, the neighbors are forced to reexamine what’s going on behind their own closed doors–and to ask how well anyone really knows anyone else.
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I was so excited to get my hot little hands on Jessica Strawser’s second novel and I wasn’t disappointed. One night goes terribly awry amongst neighbors and friends and when the women wake up in the AM, bleary-eyed, one of them, Kristin, has disappeared, taking her children with her, leaving an estranged husband in her wake. Each of the women wracks their brain to make sense of the disappearance as their neighborhood is turned upside down in the midst of the investigation. Strawser is a master of painting believable, well-defined characters. Clara is a likeable protagonist and Izzy made me want to shake her most of the time and Kirstin, while absent, was just as much of a character as the rest of them. The book is a page-turner and it kept me guessing all the way until the end. Bravo, bravo!
I absolutely love this cover! This new novel by Jessica Strawser was suspenseful and full of surprises! I enjoyed the way Jessica gives bits and pieces of the mystery in a way that leaves you hanging, waiting to find out the truth. I also enjoyed the way the women’s friendships were portrayed, the fun moments of their interactions with the others and their children. One night, the women in an Ohio neighborhood have a little gathering at one of their houses. Two days later, one of these women is missing, as well as her young twins. This throws the neighborhood and the whole town into a sudden mysterious world. No one seems to know what happened to them. This begins a chain of events involving investigations, suspicions, and questions. This novel is about the dynamics of marriage and family. It is also about friendships and neighbors.
3.5 stars – rounded up!
I really enjoyed Not That I Could Tell. I usually enjoy a good domestic drama and this one had the perfect mix of women’s fiction, suspense (what happened to Kristin?) and an ending that definitely took me by surprise.
The story is told in alternating viewpoints between Clara and Izzy, but ultimately this is a story of friendship, family and of course, secrets. The writing style appealed to me and I liked the different mix of characters. I also liked how Strawser was able to develop the minor characters so that you really got a sense of who they were without spending too much of the story on them. It was done really well.
I would highly recommend this book to fans of Women’s fiction and it would probably be a good pick for a book club.
A great read. Loved the characters and that I could not predict the ending. Reminded me of Big Little Lies and Where’d you go, Bernadette books mixed together.
Women enjoying a care-free night, a night that turned into telling too many personal things, and then a morning that turned out badly.
The women of Yellow Springs and their specific neighborhood were all busy with work and children and enjoyed spending time with each other, but did they really know each other?
They all questioned themselves the morning that Kristin was found missing along with her twins, her mother’s china, and a million dollars.
Her estranged husband moved right into the house and kept a vigil as he waited along with the neighborhood. Did he have anything to hide, was he the reason for Kristin’s leaving, or did she leave for her own reasons?
The police questioned everyone in the neighborhood and school. Meanwhile two of the neighbors had some problems of their own. Clara had something in her past that still haunted her, and Izzy had her sister’s husband as her problem.
We follow along as the police and the community try to figure out what would have made Kristin leave, where she is, and is she safe?
Each chapter was headed with statements that left obscure clues but clues that kept you guessing who the unidentified character was and what they had to do with the situation.
NOT THAT I COULD TELL moved smoothly along with enough hints at what may have happened, that you felt for the characters and wanted to be there to join in the investigation and in their lives.
NOT THAT I COULD TELL was an intriguing, tension-filled mystery that increased in intensity as the secrets and surprises were revealed along with other underlying themes.
If you enjoy guessing and wondering, you will enjoy Jessica Strawser’s newest book. 4/5
This advanced reader copy was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Poignant, gripping, and impossible to put down, Jessica Strawser’s novel will have the reader fully absorbed even after they read the last sentence. The description lends the picture – an ongoing investigation into the disappearance of a mother with twins and how their small town community is dealing. Strawser’s use of imagery and word choice is what draws you in and makes you want more. It’s irresistible and “one more chapter” simply isn’t enough. She explores the stories of the neighbors – those who thought they knew her and those who weren’t as close to paint a realistic picture of how you would feel if this happened in your small town.
Strawser pulls the reader in and keeps them fully engaged in this gripping story. Why did she disappear? Did the neighbors ever suspect something was amiss in the house next door? Could they have done something to help? This book has a powerful message of “see something, say something.”
I highly recommend this book to everyone!!!! MUST READ!!!!!
I really enjoyed this book! It was easy-to-read and I loved how the story took various turns. It follows multiple perspectives to help build the story from multiple angles. Real world experiences and likable characters help drive the story home!
Let me start by saying that when I read the last chapter of this book my jaw dropped! I cannot think of another time in recent months when an ending took me by such surprise. This book is so well written and the subject matter of abuse/violence against women is so important to call attention to. I truly appreciated the author crafting such a suspenseful story around the subject matter. The character of Izzy, a single woman living alone and a possible target of an abuser, is an interesting character. Izzy had me frustrated with her need for a man and seemingly any type of man but the right one! Clara seemed a bit bored with her stay at home life and definitely was one of my favorite characters. Clara’s story is told over time and I was always surprised when more of her background was revealed. Kristen was a total mystery throughout the book which is probably what the author intended. Paul, Kristen’s husband was definitely not my favorite. It was so hard to guess what really happened to Kristen and her twins. There is lots of drama in this book but it still had that small town setting to it which I always seem to enjoy. This book literally kept me guessing until the end as to which direction it would go in in terms of Kristen and her twins disappearance, as I mentioned before my jaw dropped as I read the last chapter. I look forward to this authors next book.
There seems to be a surge of “no one really knows their neighbor” tales lately and after reading the blurb, I was seriously hoping to find at the least, a good mystery. The problem is the story is just not particularly mysterious. The answer to Kristin’s disappearance is pretty obvious from very early on and the rest of the story is a slow-moving jumble of everyday life with a few tidbits of Kristin’s life thrown in. The chapters alternate between Clara, a stay at home mom of two who seems to be friends with everybody, and Izzy, the newest addition to the neighborhood who is trying to get as far away from lost love as possible. Amid the lengthy descriptions of nursing and cranky babies, day care gossip, errands, laundry, housework, meals, etc, we get the odd glimpse of Kristin’s estranged husband and various theories about what might have happened to her and the twins. We do get a bit of excitement and a twist at the end, and I will say that the way it all played out was an interesting idea… If the story hadn’t been so bogged down in the details of everyday life for this neighborhood, most of which had absolutely nothing to do with Kristin or her disappearance. The only glimpses of the actual investigation that we see are from Clara and Izzy, and those are periphery at best for most of the story, so the bulk of this one boils down to the day to day lives of this neighborhood, which in all honesty, can be heard by having a drink with the neighbors in Any Town, USA on any given evening.
Neighbor women (Clara, Kristin, Randi, Rhoda, and Izzy) enjoy a GNO only to discover that one of them has gone missing over night! Where has Kristin disappeared to, and why? Does her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Paul, know anything about why she left?
Kristin is the seemingly perfect stay at home mother of twins, Abby and Aaron, school volunteer extraordinaire, and in the process of divorcing her OB husband, Paul. Clara is a stay at home mom busy with husband Benny, preschooler Thomas, baby Maddie, and caregiver to neighbor Natalie’s precocious 12 year old daughter, Hallie. She was also Kristin’s closest friend, but will soon wonder how well she really knew her. Rhonda and Randi are busy with baby Adele and their boutique, Moondance. Izzy is a single, radio station’s morning producer, and is grieving the loss of her best friend, Josh, after he recently married her sister, Penny. Yes, she was secretly in love with him.
Each woman is, of course, wrapped up in her own life, but once they discover Kristin—and her twins, Abby and Aaron—are missing, they will do anything to help find her! After Kristin’s disappearance, the women all felt “off balance” and Izzy “supposed scrutiny could do that to a group of people.” But, alas, “in Yellow Springs, good vibes bubble up,” so surely Kristin and the twins will be found safe and sound, won’t they?!? Read this suspenseful story to find out!
A year ago, I read the author’s debut, Almost Missed You and rated it 3 stars. I enjoyed the writing style but the ending seemed too contrived for me. This time, I loved seeing how her writing style and story had matured and grown, and it earned 4 solid stars. I would recommend this one for fans of the Desperate Housewives TV show and Big Little Lies!
Thank you to the author, the publisher, and the Great Thought’s Ninja Review Team for a free advance copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
I absolutely loved Not That I Could Tell! I was drawn into the story from the first page and felt like these women were MY friends. Not That I Could Tell is a captivating story of domestic manipulation and friendship with a twist of suspense and hope.
Predictable and boring